The principles and practice of medicine / [John Elliotson] ; edited by Nathaniel Rogers and Alexander Cooper Lee.

  • John Elliotson
Date:
1842
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles and practice of medicine / [John Elliotson] ; edited by Nathaniel Rogers and Alexander Cooper Lee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    trials—guided by the best analogy we may discern, or by some fortuitous occurrence—will enable us (if we are disposed to labour) to effect much in extending our knowledge of the powers of particular remedies over par- ticular diseases. Lord Bacon a regrets that physicians apply themselves so exclusively to general indications;—neglecting the peculiar properties of remedies in particular diseases. “Medici hujusce setatis”, he says, “licet generales intentiones curationum non male persequantur; particulars tamen medicinas qua? ad curationes morborum singulorum proprietate quadam spectant, aut non bene norunt, aut non religiose observant.” b He remarks that they merely go on, in their prescriptions, “ addendo, et demendo, et mutando, circa medicinas, prout iis libitum fuerit; et fere, pharmacopoeorum more, quid pro quo substituendo ”0; and he advises that some physicians “ et eruditione et practica insignes, opus aliquod conficiant de medicinis probatis et experimentalibus ad morbos particulares.”(1 Such experimental facts, however insulated they may at first appear, gradually arrange themselves with others into general principles; and thus what is, at first, little better than empiricism, becomes science. 1 confess that I look with more hope to this source of improvement, than to any other.e Medical Education in England.-—From the want of a University, Medicine and Surgery were, for a long time, scarcely taught in London a “ Instauratio Magna.”—First Part. ° “ Physicians of the present day, it is probable, may fulfil the general indications of cure not inefficiently ; but the particular medicines which, by some special property, are fitted for the cure of particular diseases, they either do not well know, or do not sufficiently regard. ” c “ Adding, diminishing, and changing medicines, as freely as possible ; and gene- rally, according to the custom of apothe- caries, substituting one drug for another of similar value.” d “ Eminent both for learning and ex- perience, should prepare a work on the ap- proved and the doubtful medicines, adapted to particular diseases. ” e To such investigations, therefore, I have sedulously applied myself; and those of my results which were successful, are before the profession:—I. Cases illustrative of the Efficacy of Hydrocyanic Acid in Affections of the Stomach; with a General Report upon its Medical Powers. II. Some Facts respect- ing the Inertness of ordinary Antimonial Powder. III. The Use of Opium in Dia- betes ; and the Necessity of Varying the Doses of Medicines, in Various Circum- stances. The foregoing were published, in the year 1820, in one octavo volume. IV. Nine Papers, published in the 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, and 18th volumes of the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, on the following subjects:—1. The Medical Pro- perties of Quinine (Volume 12, Page543). 2. The Use of the Sub-Carbonate of Iron in Chorea, and its General Properties (Volume 13, Pages 263 and 464). 3. The Use of Sub-Carbonate of Iron in Tetanus (Volume 15, Page 161). 4. The Use of Sulphate of Copper in Chronic Diarrhoea (Volume 13, Page 451). 5. Rupture of the Stomach (Volume 13, Page 26). 6. Fallopian-Tube Pregnancy (Volume 13, Page 51). 7. Glanders communicated from the Horse to the Human Subject (Vo- lume 16, Page 171). 8. The Discharge of Fatty Matters from the Alimentary Canal and Urinary Passages ( Volume 18, Page 67). 9. Additional Facts respecting Glanders in the Human Subject (Volume 18, Page 201). V. Lumleyan Lectures on “ The Re- cent Improvements in the Art of Distin- guishing the Various Diseases of the Heart.” VI. Two Papers in the “ Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine”: — 1. Acupuncture (Volume 1, Page 32). 2. Neuralgia (Vo- lume 3, Page 165). VII. A Paper on Acu- puncture, in the “ Cyclopaedia of Practical Surgery ” ( Volume 1, Page 44). I make this statement for the purpose of easy reference; as some of my friends wish me to collect into one volume these,—the whole of my professional attempts, except the English edition of Blumenbach’s Phy- siology, and an Introductory Lecture upon State-Medicine [delivered in Mr. Grainger’s Theatre, Southwark, on Thursday, Novem- ber 1, 1821]; and I feel disinclined to follow their advice. [To the above list we may add Dr. Elliotson’s Edinburgh Thesis (on Inflammation) ; his “ Address delivered at the Opening of the Medical Session, in the University of London, October 1, 1832”; and a Letter “ to the Gentlemen who com- posed Dr. Elliotson’s Class of the Practice of Medicine, in University - College.” (March 4, 1839.)]
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