Postscript to the last number (XLVIII) of the British and foreign medical review / by John Forbes.

  • John Forbes
Date:
[between 1800 and 1899?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Postscript to the last number (XLVIII) of the British and foreign medical review / by John Forbes. 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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    able influence on its circulation. A man who is just hesitating ■whether he shall take-in a certain journal or not, may very likely be influenced j)ro or con by a favorable or unfavorable notice of his book or paper at the time; and a certain portion of the more sensitive will even be led by a severe though just criticism, to throw up the journal previously subscribed for. This is a fact well known to pubUshers. So well was this principle of action known to an editor whom I once knew, and so fully was its importance appreciated by him, that he adopted the system of general laudation as a commercial principle, and with great success. Now, in looking for the causes of the comparatively small sale of the ' British and Foreign Medical Review,' it is probably fair to reckon what has been called its severity, but which I call its impartiality and justice, as one of them. It is undoubtedly true that in its pages, quacks, cheats, pre- tenders of all sorts, and ignorant and illiterate writers of all ranks found little or no mercy; while even men of eminence were often severely cri- ticised, without reference to their position in letters or station in society, but merely in relation to the actual merits or demerits of their books. It is equally true that never were there lavished in any journal more cordial and sincere commendations than were bestowed on works of real merit; but even in these cases, fair criticism, or even partial blame, was never withheld when it was thought due. Some instances of the curious effect of such mixed or neutralizing criticism on the minds of authors have come to my knowledge. And more than once, in the course of the publication of the Review, I have had an amusing illustration of the different way in which the same mind wiU view a criticism when directed at the production of another and at its own. I refer to the case in which a contributor has himself afterwards published a book. When this book has been reviewed by one of his colleagues, and under- gone gentle criticism—it might possibly be somewhat more gentle on account of the previous relationship of the author to the Review—it has been amusing to see the quondam contributor exhibit the same sensitive- ness to reproof as if he had never bestowed any on others; entirely for- getting how he himself had formerly laughed at (in others) the very feelings he now indulged as legitimate! 8. It appears from the Table that there has been a slight falling oflf in the sale during the last and present year. The greater part of tliis is easily explained by the fact that last year the Review began to be reprinted in America; consequently there has been a considerable decrease in the number of copies sent out to the United States. I think it likely, also, that a portion of the defalcation may be caused by the cry raised by some of the weekly Journals—pretty loud for a month or two—against certain articles in the Review on the subject of Homoeopathy and Hydropathy.* These articles, while especially suited to the taste and judgment of the more philosophical members of the profession,—by whom, indeed, they were generally commended,—were likely enough to be misunderstood by the ill-informed generally, and especially by the numerous class of rou- tineers whose knowledge of their profession is mainly empirical, and whose ideas of practice are almost entirely limited to the conventional ad- ministration of drugs. In no instance since the publication of the Review have I had more cause to be satisfied with the efl'ect produced by any ar- ticles, than by these. In no case have I received such numerous, strong, • The same cry wiU probably be raised against the excellent article on TeetotaHtm in the present number.
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