A review of Professor C.B. Coventry's introductory lecture : delivered before the class of medical students of Geneva College, session of 1843-4 / by C.D. Williams.

  • Williams, C. D. (Charles Draper), 1812-1882.
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A review of Professor C.B. Coventry's introductory lecture : delivered before the class of medical students of Geneva College, session of 1843-4 / by C.D. Williams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    by secret enemies within ; we very naturally wish to in- quire, why it is that he especially, should hold the station of one of the guardians ; what and where this citadel may be ; and who are the open foes without and secret enemies within ? And knowing no other reason, why he should be one of the guardians, than because he is a professor in Geneva Medical College, we must hence conclude that he is guardian ex officio, and that the citadel is none other than the college itself; and as it is the Homoeopaths he subse- quently attacks so fiercely, we are to suppose those Homoe- opathic physicians, who happen to be practicing in Geneva, are the open foes without; and that whatever Homoeo- pathic students are attending lectures must be the secret enemies within. After having fully understood this matter, we next learn that the humble followers of Thompson, and the visionary advocates of that most sublimated of all humbugs—Homoeopathy, have all united in their efforts against the regular profession ;. so that it has now become a serious question whether the profession [par excellence] is to retain that rank among the liberal professions to which its vast importance and deep responsibilities entitle it; for al- though Homoeopathy can never be established as the accus- tomed practice of the land, except by its superior success in curing disease ; yet such an event would of course be regard- ed as removing the profession from its rank among the liberal professions. And this consummation he seems much to fear; for, in the most moving terms, he appeals to the venerable clergy, to the legal profession—the sacred guardi- ans of the temple of justice—to pause before they take from him and his profession ': the influence of their bright names and unsullied ermine. to place them in the scale of Homoeo- pathy ; for, having hitherto been the most strenuous oppo- sers of empiricism,'' they have now been beguiled by the pretensions of Homoeopathy—the assertion that it is founded on the inductive philosophy ; and, incompetent to judge from