Reply to Dr. McGilchrist's "Remarks" on Professor Bennett's introductory lecture, "The present state of the theory and practice of medicine" / by John Glen.
- Glen, John, M.A.
- Date:
- 1856
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Reply to Dr. McGilchrist's "Remarks" on Professor Bennett's introductory lecture, "The present state of the theory and practice of medicine" / by John Glen. 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.
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![^ Dpe, appear not only from your own careful perusal of both pam- ilets, but also from the remarks which, with your permission, shall uow proceed to offer. They may be ranged under two ivisions. The first contains a synopsis of Dr Bennett's lecture id refutation of Dr M'Gilchrist's expressed objections. The oond contains an exposure of the mistakes which further •cur in the more irrelevant portions of Dr M'Gilchrist's iticism. Permit me then, first, to direct your attention to a synopsis f Dr Bennett's lecture and a refutation of Dr M'Gilchrist's ifbjections. To estimate the success of an effort, it is necessary to know !' le object it designs to accomplish. In the present instance, 'P)r Bennett's lecture is not designed to ' trumpet forth raicro- ii copic wonders to a generation of mankind asking for one grain ) f hope,' but to direct his own students to two points of interest, : -st, The relation of medical science to other branches of know- i' jdge ; 2d, The influential relation it has recently borne to the i ractice of medicine. According to the critic, its professed ;j bject is to set forth the practical triumphs of theoretical I liicdicine over disease, but, as Dr Bennett himself explains his ; 'bject to be twofold, we must regard the critic's representation i-s misrepresentation No. I. In pursuance of his own purpose, and in regard to the first loint of interest [the relation of medical science to other ' inches of knowledge], Dr Bennett shows (pp. 1-7), that dicine is related to several sciences by the common feature of Miiiplexity and imperfectness of generalization. The laws of licine are many in number; each governs its own group of 'lenomena with deference to the influence of other laws ; but, as vet, there has not been established one great law known to influence every vital phenomenon. But, secondly, under this I'lead, Dr Bennett shows (pp. 7-9), that the advancement of](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21478168_0007.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)


