Account of the life and works of Maister Peter Lowe : the founder of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow / by James Finlayson.
- James Finlayson
- Date:
- 1889
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Account of the life and works of Maister Peter Lowe : the founder of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow / by James Finlayson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
100/130 (page 64)
![favoured by the denunciations of many who, according to Clowes, “ haue most unseemely behaved themselves behind his backe chiefely about the answering of this present booke before a sort of them had ever seene him, or understood whereof the9|]intreated .... and yet some of these hideous Monsters in humanitie, are as it were fallen asleepe, in their owne beastly ignorance.” Peter Lowe’s ideas seem to have gone beyond the intention of aiding the education of young surgeons, and of those practitioners who might be unable to read Latin and French authors. The title page to his second edition bears that the work “is not onely profitable for Chyrurgions; but also for all sorts of people : both for preuenting of sicknesse; and recouerie of health ” ; and in the “ Spanish Sicknes ” (Chap. 12.) he says :—“ Now seeing by Gods helpe, I haue found out things so profitable for the recouerie of health, in an infinite number of people, I will not hide it, but publish the same so plainly, that euery man by his owne industrie, may attaine to the knowledge heereof.” His projected book with the title of “ The Poore Mans Guide” indicated a further effort in the direction of self treatment, without having recourse to ignorant deceivers, by those who were unable to procure really skilled atten- dance. He probably saw that for a long time to come, even with the restrictive powers he had obtained for the Glasgow Faculty, such irregular practitioners must abound there and elsewhere. In thus placing works of medicine or surgery in the hands of laymen, at that time, we must remember that although the readers might, indeed, be comparatively poor, yet in order to read and understand such works considerable education and intelligence were then required, and this, of course, was an important safeguard. We may, therefore, safely conclude that Peter Lowe’s motives in publishing his work on Surgery and his translation from Hippocrates were laudable. What advantage, of a base or even of a personal kind, was he likely to reap, especially from his second edition, which he had enlarged and illustrated so fully ? In Glasgow and its neighbourhood, where he was settled, he was clearly facile princeps in all surgical matters, and at his age no transference to higher spheres of practice was likely, or even desirable. The pecuniary reward from the sale of such a book can scarcely have been worth consideration, unless medical authorship was then much more lucrative than now. Clearly he was actuated by the feeling (call it vanity, if desired) that from extensive reading with long observation and practice, both at home and abroad, he had much](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24926929_0102.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
