Address of the President, Samuel Solly, F.R.S., to the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, at the Annual General Meeting, March 2nd, 1868.

  • Samuel Solly
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address of the President, Samuel Solly, F.R.S., to the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, at the Annual General Meeting, March 2nd, 1868. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ]6 have not been sick, and I do not see very clearly. I proposed to take some blood, either by cupping, leeching, or directly from the circulation by opening a vein in the arm. Without a moment's hesitation he replied, The latter if you please. When ten ounces had been quickly drawn, I was about to remove the bandage, he being then seventy years of age ; but he said, Not yet, let the blood flow, I am easier. I yielded to his wish until sixteen ounces had been abstracted. He then in the most cool and self-possessed manner remarked, The pain here is quite gone, the blood was never out of its own vessels. On calling at Ealing Park the next day, I found that he was gone to town, leaving a message that he felt perfectly well, and so he con- tinued. This case in my humble opinion may be added to others I have related elsewhere to show the value of bloodletting in the old as well as in the young; I have no hesitation in saying that in all human probability, by the sound judgment of Mr. Cooper and the good sense of Mr. Lawrence, his life was prolonged about fourteen years. During the many years that Lawrence held the office of Sur- geon to Bethlem, I am sorry to say he did little to advance the pathology of insanity. He sent a series of post-mortem examina- tions to this Society, but as he omitted all special mention of the condition of the hemispherical ganglion, they were consequently of little value. I mention this now because I fear that this subject has not received the attention, even from younger men, which it deserves. I must now close this imperfect sketch of one of those men who has done very much to exalt the science of our profession both here and abroad. May I confess the hope that those who are nobly striving to do all Lawrence has done for scientific surgery may avoid bis failings and take lesson from his errors, that when they are in the Council of the College as reformers, they will con- tinue the same- till every recognised abuse is corrected. The difficulty which I must confess I have deeply felt (in my attempt to speak justly and truthfully of Lawrence, avoiding, on the one hand, timidity in dealing with his errors, or too great enthusiasm in recording the service ho rendered the profession of