Letters concerning the internal dropsy of the brain : to Charles William Quin, M.D. ... from William Patterson, M.D. ...

Date:
1794
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letters concerning the internal dropsy of the brain : to Charles William Quin, M.D. ... from William Patterson, M.D. ... Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    [ *7 ] the cranium in childhood bear the effects of fra£lure and depreffion in a degree far exceeding what can be borne by the encephalon of adults, and to an ex- tent, which, if applied to the brain of the latter, would be to ihefe immediately fatal. To give greater latitude to reafoning or fpecula- tion on a fubjefl which you think can effeflually be illullrated by fafls only, you confider inadmiflible. Facts, it is true, when an adequate number can be obtained, are the bell grounds on which reafoning can be built. But when they are few, deduftions from them will not be very latisfaflory; the fa£ls themfelves are often fallacious; and falfe experience is a fource of confiderable error in Medicine. We are frequently obliged, in fubjeds intricate and in- terefting like the prefent, to indulge in fpeculation, and to endeavour from fmall data, to acquire, by means of our rational faculties, a releafe from total uncertainty, if we cannot attain entire fatisfadlion ; 'at any rate, in the exercife of thofe powers, we i may gain a more accurate method of thinking on ! the fubjeft, w’hich may finally lead to fomething in- ; firuftive concerning it. Give me leave, therefore, ! to fay in the words of the poet, “ Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the ojtenf what the covert yield.” ! Endeavouring always, during the purfuit, to “ eye nature’s walksand never inconfiderately turn afide Trom them in tracing the caufes of morbid phasno- unena. In C