THE Medical and Physical Journal. VOL. XXVI.] JULY, 1811. [NO. 149. Printed for R. PHILLIPS, by E. Hemsted, Great New Street, Fetter Lane, London. 1 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PROGRESS OF MEDICINE FOR THE YEAR 1810, AND FROM JANUARY 10 JUNE 1811. (No. 5.) [To be continued Half-yearly.] "A thousand writers, perhaps for a thousand years, have been improving this Art and Profession; and he that industriously studies those authors will, in a short period of time, find out as much as if he had lived a thousand years himself, or employed those thousand years in the study of Physic." FREIND. LUCRETIUS. "Floriferis ut Apes in saltibus omnia limant." FOR four years, an historical view has annually been given in this JOURNAL of such circumstances in the science of Medicine, that were of importance sufficient to arrest the attention of the medical Faculty: to flatter into hope, or to depress with apprehension. In the conduct of this detail it was always the object of the writer to give due honour to the science, rather than to encourage the art: to record sound and rational principles, whenever or wherever they were found to select and arrange interesting facts and ingenious observations; to excite a steady attention to the laws and operations of Nature, and to advise, the student at least, neither to disdain nor to neglect the collateral and auxiliary sci ences. The change which has taken place in the management and déconomy of the Medical and Physical Journal, will in no wise alter the principles or objects of this Report, or affect its usual detail, except, that instead of being published annually, it will, in future, be given every six months, and ne-cessarily become a species of prolegommena to each volume. Ir has been thought a propriety to begin a view of the Progress of Medical Science, with an account of the efforts which occasionally are made for improving the respectability of that science, and the consequent good of mankind: to shew the progress of these efforts: to point out the obstacles (No. 149.) B they they have met with, and the objections to their principles, or their operative detail. During the period under consideration, the persevering spirit of Dr. Harrison, still pursuing its object against the coldness of neglect, the hostility of interest, the argument of knowledge, and the jest of wit, contends for a specific mode. of amending the condition of the medical profession, and for giving to it a CODE, to be rendered permanent by an act of the legislature; which shall, in future, determine the essential qualifications required in those who enter on the exercise of the medical art; which shall distinctly point out certain regulations applying to those who may be deemed qualified for this important office, and detailing other circumstances calculated, more or less, to alter the condition, legal or social, of persons employed in every branch of the science of healing. The advance so far, of Dr. Harrison's project, as to indicate an immediate application to the Commons House of Parlia ment, was not beheld by the Faculty without sensations of a very opposite and contradictory nature. These sensations drew their character from circumstances in the classes of medical persons among whom they arose. When Dr. Harrison published the outlines of his intended Bill, much was said, and it was proper that much should be said upon it; and that the operation of its principles, and their final effects, should be deeply investigated, and fully ascertained. Of the mass of heterogeneous opinions, which were either whispered in the seclusion of private society, or boldly claimed the public car, a solution might be offered. It was obvious to remark, that those who were in possession of exclusive pri vileges thought this Bill was not called for, or that its clauses went too far. Those who actually were, or thought themselves inequitably kept out of certain rights, held, or as they said, usurped by some privileged orders, though they approved of a change, pronounced Dr. Harrison's Bill to be imbecile and inefficient: in short, for them, it did not go far enough. Another class, enjoying no corporate privileges, and expecting none, may be considered as neutrals. If this Bill gave them nothing, it took nothing from them, for its principle was to leave the present race of medical men undisturbed and they were content, whether, the project was fated to success or to defeat. It would argue a want of candour to` deny, or not to state, that there were to be found among the Faculty many individuals who were warmly solicitous to meliorate the science of medicine, to improve the condition of those properly employed in it, to suppress cheats and im-. postors, to protect honest merit, and to reward talent, see the healing art rescued from the mean and degrading cir cumstances To cumstances in which it was often found, was the laudable object of these individuals; to place it in a station which its importance demanded, and to protect it by wholesome and rational laws which its usefulness deserved. To them it was not important from whence the desired reform came; and though they might not assent to every iota in Dr. Harrison's Bill, they could not withhold their approbation of his public spirited perseverance, and did not object to him because he resided in the fens of Lincolnshire, or was not a fellow of the Royal College. Whatever may have been said about the inherent desire for change in the human mind, it seems a proposition equally defendable, that an attachment to old customs and long established habits affords more than a counterpoize to the principle of mutability. It is not certain that this attachment to customs consecrated by ancient usage, did not influence the opinions and feelings of many well-meaning meinbers of the medical faculty, and lead them to resist the purposed improvment, upon the principle that the change of es tablished forms is always dangerous. "Omnia Fata laborant Si quidquam mutare velis; anoque sub ictu Stat GENUS MEDICUM." Those who held privileges, and those who held none; those who believed themselves deprived of their rights, and those who feared a changé upon the ground that all change. was dangerous, united into a phalanx compact, formidable, and impenetrable. Against this host, drawn together by various motives and feelings, but all looking to particular interests, fearing the loss of some good already possessed, or apprehending the demolition of some expectancy, it would have been unwise to contend; and Dr. Harrison, judiciously perhaps, suspended his projected plan of reform, to resume it however, if the past is to predict the future, at some more auspicious period. It will be right to state the principle, and the prominent features of this Bill, which had penetrated into every rank and degree of the children of Esculapius; and spread alarm from the college chief to the lowest medicaster, the pro bono distributer of salutiferous pills and antibilious bolusses. Under the operation of various irritations, it is creditable to the understanding and to the temper of Dr. Harrison, that he has proceeded with coolness and moderation; that he has replied to suspicion, to wit, and to argument, with temperate explanation, and a professed desire to profit by observations of every quality and tendency. Under these dispositions, and assisted by persons learned in the law, it appears that the principle of the projected Bill was devised, and its clausęs B 2 |