Richard Bright : the Bright Oration delivered at Guy's Hospital on July 8, 1927, on the occasion of the centenary of the publication of the first volume of Bright's Medical Cases / by W.S. Thayer.

  • Thayer, William Sydney, 1864-1932.
Date:
[1927]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Richard Bright : the Bright Oration delivered at Guy's Hospital on July 8, 1927, on the occasion of the centenary of the publication of the first volume of Bright's Medical Cases / by W.S. Thayer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    he returned to London, becoming a pupil of Bateman at the public dispensary. In the summer of 1814 “ his love of travel again carried him away from London ” 93 on a journey which took him through Holland, Belgium and Germany, where, at Berlin, he spent some months “ attending the hospital practice of Horn and Hufeland, besides profiting by the acquaintance of other eminent men of science,” notably Klaproth, Rudolphi and Heim. From Dresden he went to Vienna, where he spent the winter of 1814-15 studying with Hildenbrandt, and in the ophthalmological clinics of Rust and Beer. He appears to have had pleasant acquaintance with many interesting men, including Jacquin the botanist, Frochaska and the older Frank. Napoleon at Elba, the allies in Congress at Vienna were dining and dancing and struggling with the problems of peace. Bright gives an interesting account of the social pomp and ceremony associated with the occasion, and a not unentertaining description of some of the leading figures as they passed before him at an evening function. His account of a visit to the little prince at Schonbrunn is rather touching. In the spring of 1815 Bright made a long journey through Lower Hungary, arriving in Brussels again two weeks after the battle of Water¬ loo ; here his experiences in the military hospitals are said to have been valuable. These travels he describes in a handsome quarto volume 14 illustrated with his own sketches. The book is essentially the diary of a young Englishman in a relatively untravelled country. To one familiar with his later work these notes are exceedingly interesting. Bright is struck by the simple emotions of the people, their unrestrained grief at a funeral, their spontaneity. He is very much impressed by the tran¬ quillity of the ordinary country inn, by the absence of the boisterousness of an English ale-house, and he comments especially on the lack of inquisitiveness of the public on the arrival of a new guest. Individuals, he observes, may walk ri into an inn, rest themselves and depart without demand on i their own part or solicitation by others. He is impressed by the religious freedom in Hungary, especially in the University of Pesth. Some things he criticises, but his criticisms are never unkind. He comments on the sad condition of prisoners and on the crude methods of legal pro¬ cedure, but follows this by reference to the circumstance that conditions not wholly dissimilar had existed in England to / within a year or two of that time. That which he is less inclined to pardon seems to be the laziness of the peasants. He is