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THE WEBB STREET SCHOOL.
301
other peculiarity, which is not easilygreat majority of the medical gentlemen discovered. Dissection, in my case, disco- practising in the sea-port and government vered great and general vascularity in the towns throughout the kingdom, and I patimucous membranes of almost all the viscera, I en tly await your remarks as to the best mode but whether the rapid course and termina- of obviating the following abuses. tion of the disease is attributable to inflamI complain that many medical men conmatory action, or some depression of the nected with government hospitals, and renervous system, or to the discharge of blood handsome salaries, with every proswhich occurred, I am not prepared to hazardI pect of promotion in their profession, most any conjecture. I shall endeavour to unprofessionally and unjustifiably trespass that in condemning my remedies, and givingon the practice of those who have no certain such a fearful history of his own, Mr. Moore income, and whose families look up to them must have drawn his conclusions from false I for support. It is no argument for these premises, or if they were facts, they are gentlemen to say, We take no fees ;" the not universal. fact, if it be true, does not lessen the unfair Mr. Wilson and Mr. Dennis, medical mode of depriving the private practitioner of feas; their philanthropy, in many inpractitioners in this town, of deservedly great celebrity, have assured me that they stances, maybe deemed great; but, in the have treated very severe examples of pur- majority, it is but a disguise, assumed to pura hasmorrhagica by mercurial purgatives, attract public attention, and to pave their and with perfect success. Dr. Harty, of way into a practice. These no-fee gentleon some
ceiving
prove, !
"
his
has given the most unquestionable men are a great temptation to sick persons, proof of the efficacy of calomel combined and numerous instances occur, in which wit!i jalap ; this gentleman observes, after !patients well able to pay for advice, and in fact, are in affluent circumstances, having witnessed the death of a patient treated in the usual way, he was uniformly who, consult them. I could state many occasions successful in upwards of a dozen cases, since on which these philanthropists have dehe relied SOLELY upon the liberal adminisan old and respectable member of tration of purgatives ; he prescribed calomel trie profession of patients, thereby reducing and jalap, ill active doses, daily, which ap-his income, and injuring his famdy.
Dublin,
prived
the hasmon’hagic peared equally beneficial in * in the simple purpura.
In conclusion, Mr. Moore must fended, if I recommend him to
not be use
I cannot tax myself with falsely hastily; 1 fed the abuse to exist, and many other members of the profession feel it also. I therefore entreat you, Sir, to tnrn your attention to the by doing which I feel assuted you will alleviate, if not remedy the evil. In thus charging some membera among the government medical officers, I wish it clearly to be understood, at the same time, that I except others, who have too good a sense of what is correct, and what is deemed honourable, to interfere with the practice of those whose income is precarious and unsettled. Relying oz the truth and justice of my complaint, I leave the case in your hands, and Remain yours, &c.,
speaking
or
as
of-
more
definite language when he again writes, on this or any other scientific subject, and to examine whether or no some misapprehension of the nature of the disease may not have led him to condemn, in such an unqualified manner, a most useful remedy. I would really thank Mr. Moore to favour us with some description of the " appeanances "on dissection, to which he alludes; and to specify, if he please, what he coilsiders to have been produced by the remedies, and such as he believes to have resultpd from the disease. After he has done this, should lie still consider the " remedy i worse than the disesase," Mr. Moore must forgive me for differing in opinion from and confessing myself a sceptic to his doctrines.
subject,
JUSTITIA.
’
him,
Alnwick, May 16th,
1329.
Portsmouth, May 6,
1829.
,
THE WEBB STREET SCHOOL. GOVERNMENT MEDICAL OFFICERS.
To the Editor
LANCET. other instructor in SIR,—Your vigilance in detecting, can- the obstetric art than Dr. Hopkins, and bedour in exposing, and ultimate success in lieving him to be conscientiously anxious eradicating, abuses, induce me to address for the progress of his pupils, I am suryou on a subject of much importance to a prised at the tone in which your correspondent " of the Webb Street School" Edin. Mod. Surgical Journal for April speaks of his occasional (and, I dare say, 181J. unavoidable) absence from the lecture-room, To the Editor of THE LANCET.
*
SIR,—Having had
of THE no
302
and at the into
sly attempt
to construe
such ab-
systematic neglect of duty. The writer, after ostentatiously exhibiting the several counts in his indictment, sence
a
seeks to convey the idea that he has more complaints in reserve ; thus he talks " of some of those evils existing," &c., and threatens to come into your pages with " facts of more importance" next season. There is, Sir, a vulgarity, and littlemindedness in this ruse, which defeat its purpose; and therefore
" To be hated—needs but to be seen." This
EFFICACY OF
QUININE IN PERIODICAL HEMICRANIA.
To the Editor pf THE LANCET. SIR,—In No. 298, I see Mr. Winslow recommends blisters to the abdomen, in cases of obstinate periodical hemicrania. I ilave found the sulphate of quinine completelyf cure the affection after the failure of various remedies, and should, therefore, prefer it to the painful one of blisters. A case particu. larly corroborative of my assertion in favour of quinine occurred when on a visit in Gloucestershire, two years since ; the pati. ent had been afliicted with very severe periodical hemicrania for some years, and had been a patient of Dr. Porter, of Bristol, as well as of several eminent practitioners in and near Bristol, but the cessation of paroxysms was very. short: after taking the quinine in six grain doses for a few days, she was entirely cured, and has had no return. I have seen several cases relieved by the same remedy, but the one stated particularly shows its utility. I remain yours obediently, E. lllooan. MOORE.
complains that he full nor a regular meal, and that a lecture—unless it occupy an hour in the delivery—is nothing worth. It is evidently the complaint of a very young man, who, in his next year’s professional campaign, will, perhaps, wish he had been more prodigal of his hands and eyes, and cared less for indulging his ears. Midwifery, of all sciences, is a practical one ; and the highest eulogy on the " Webb Street School" is to say, that untoward cases interfere occasionally with the hour of lecture. It cannot be insinuated that the reIslington, May 18. currence of these cases is feigned, in excuse for absence ; such an imputation would be P.S.—Will Mr. Winslow be kind enough as indelicate as I know it to be unmerited. to inform me on what principle he first To secure Dr. Hopkins’s presence and thought of applying blisters to the abdomen sanction in the lying-in-room, it is not in cases of periodical hemicrania, or if it necessary that each case should be difficult, was merely exp. gr. ? it is sufficient that the attending pupil be Mr. Moore states, in answer to the inquiry young, timid, or unpractised. I speak from of A., of Hebden Bridge, in No. 298, that he on this it and when point; experience has never found the ergot of rye retard the is further recollected, that many of the Doctor’s old pupils are settled in practice in lochial discharge, and that on inquiry among and about London, who often avail them- his medical friends, he finds none of them selves of his known readiness to assist them have observed any such effect from it. in cases of emergency, we may cease to In a case of amenorrhoea that came under wonder at his sometimes being unable to his care a short time since, which had been 11 found a weak reach his post. The " Pupil" appears to be very obstinate, he adds, of walking experience. He will, therefore, decoction of the ergot (i. to ibss. of aq.) c. thank me for recommending him occasion- given in conjunction with the pil. fer. in doses of a table-spoonful three myrrh to to bend his Queen Square, ally steps each where cases are to be obtained very fre- times a-day, and five grains of the pill Should have a beneficial effect. time, any quently, and where Dr. Hopkins’s cliniques of your readers have observed the same almost render his lectures (good as they are) effects, or should they have an opportunity unnecessary. of so doing, they will oblige by communiAs Dr. Blundell has no where a warmer the results of their practice." cating than Dr. see I cannot panegyrist Hopkins, what for reason, heavenly or earthly, he is introduced, unless it be to exhibit his magnanimous contempt for a shower of rain. CURIOUS DISEASE OF THE HEAD. I remain, Mr, Editor, Yours obediently, To lite Editor of THE LANCET. THOMAS EVANS EVANS. SIR,—Having lately met with a ease not 31, Arlington Street, dissimilar (except in result) to that very Camden Town. related by Mr. Everett, in No. 292 of your a publication, I am induced to send short account of it.
literary
neither gets
cormorant
a
YM
other peculiarity, which is not easilygreat majority of the medical gentlemen discovered. Dissection, in my case, disco- practising in the sea-port and government vered great and general vascularity in the towns throughout the kingdom, and I patimucous membranes of almost all the viscera, I en tly await your remarks as to the best mode but whether the rapid course and termina- of obviating the following abuses. tion of the disease is attributable to inflamI complain that many medical men conmatory action, or some depression of the nected with government hospitals, and renervous system, or to the discharge of blood handsome salaries, with every proswhich occurred, I am not prepared to hazardI pect of promotion in their profession, most any conjecture. I shall endeavour to unprofessionally and unjustifiably trespass that in condemning my remedies, and givingon the practice of those who have no certain such a fearful history of his own, Mr. Moore income, and whose families look up to them must have drawn his conclusions from false I for support. It is no argument for these premises, or if they were facts, they are gentlemen to say, We take no fees ;" the not universal. fact, if it be true, does not lessen the unfair Mr. Wilson and Mr. Dennis, medical mode of depriving the private practitioner of feas; their philanthropy, in many inpractitioners in this town, of deservedly great celebrity, have assured me that they stances, maybe deemed great; but, in the have treated very severe examples of pur- majority, it is but a disguise, assumed to pura hasmorrhagica by mercurial purgatives, attract public attention, and to pave their and with perfect success. Dr. Harty, of way into a practice. These no-fee gentleon some
ceiving
prove, !
"
his
has given the most unquestionable men are a great temptation to sick persons, proof of the efficacy of calomel combined and numerous instances occur, in which wit!i jalap ; this gentleman observes, after !patients well able to pay for advice, and in fact, are in affluent circumstances, having witnessed the death of a patient treated in the usual way, he was uniformly who, consult them. I could state many occasions successful in upwards of a dozen cases, since on which these philanthropists have dehe relied SOLELY upon the liberal adminisan old and respectable member of tration of purgatives ; he prescribed calomel trie profession of patients, thereby reducing and jalap, ill active doses, daily, which ap-his income, and injuring his famdy.
Dublin,
prived
the hasmon’hagic peared equally beneficial in * in the simple purpura.
In conclusion, Mr. Moore must fended, if I recommend him to
not be use
I cannot tax myself with falsely hastily; 1 fed the abuse to exist, and many other members of the profession feel it also. I therefore entreat you, Sir, to tnrn your attention to the by doing which I feel assuted you will alleviate, if not remedy the evil. In thus charging some membera among the government medical officers, I wish it clearly to be understood, at the same time, that I except others, who have too good a sense of what is correct, and what is deemed honourable, to interfere with the practice of those whose income is precarious and unsettled. Relying oz the truth and justice of my complaint, I leave the case in your hands, and Remain yours, &c.,
speaking
or
as
of-
more
definite language when he again writes, on this or any other scientific subject, and to examine whether or no some misapprehension of the nature of the disease may not have led him to condemn, in such an unqualified manner, a most useful remedy. I would really thank Mr. Moore to favour us with some description of the " appeanances "on dissection, to which he alludes; and to specify, if he please, what he coilsiders to have been produced by the remedies, and such as he believes to have resultpd from the disease. After he has done this, should lie still consider the " remedy i worse than the disesase," Mr. Moore must forgive me for differing in opinion from and confessing myself a sceptic to his doctrines.
subject,
JUSTITIA.
’
him,
Alnwick, May 16th,
1329.
Portsmouth, May 6,
1829.
,
THE WEBB STREET SCHOOL. GOVERNMENT MEDICAL OFFICERS.
To the Editor
LANCET. other instructor in SIR,—Your vigilance in detecting, can- the obstetric art than Dr. Hopkins, and bedour in exposing, and ultimate success in lieving him to be conscientiously anxious eradicating, abuses, induce me to address for the progress of his pupils, I am suryou on a subject of much importance to a prised at the tone in which your correspondent " of the Webb Street School" Edin. Mod. Surgical Journal for April speaks of his occasional (and, I dare say, 181J. unavoidable) absence from the lecture-room, To the Editor of THE LANCET.
*
SIR,—Having had
of THE no
302
and at the into
sly attempt
to construe
such ab-
systematic neglect of duty. The writer, after ostentatiously exhibiting the several counts in his indictment, sence
a
seeks to convey the idea that he has more complaints in reserve ; thus he talks " of some of those evils existing," &c., and threatens to come into your pages with " facts of more importance" next season. There is, Sir, a vulgarity, and littlemindedness in this ruse, which defeat its purpose; and therefore
" To be hated—needs but to be seen." This
EFFICACY OF
QUININE IN PERIODICAL HEMICRANIA.
To the Editor pf THE LANCET. SIR,—In No. 298, I see Mr. Winslow recommends blisters to the abdomen, in cases of obstinate periodical hemicrania. I ilave found the sulphate of quinine completelyf cure the affection after the failure of various remedies, and should, therefore, prefer it to the painful one of blisters. A case particu. larly corroborative of my assertion in favour of quinine occurred when on a visit in Gloucestershire, two years since ; the pati. ent had been afliicted with very severe periodical hemicrania for some years, and had been a patient of Dr. Porter, of Bristol, as well as of several eminent practitioners in and near Bristol, but the cessation of paroxysms was very. short: after taking the quinine in six grain doses for a few days, she was entirely cured, and has had no return. I have seen several cases relieved by the same remedy, but the one stated particularly shows its utility. I remain yours obediently, E. lllooan. MOORE.
complains that he full nor a regular meal, and that a lecture—unless it occupy an hour in the delivery—is nothing worth. It is evidently the complaint of a very young man, who, in his next year’s professional campaign, will, perhaps, wish he had been more prodigal of his hands and eyes, and cared less for indulging his ears. Midwifery, of all sciences, is a practical one ; and the highest eulogy on the " Webb Street School" is to say, that untoward cases interfere occasionally with the hour of lecture. It cannot be insinuated that the reIslington, May 18. currence of these cases is feigned, in excuse for absence ; such an imputation would be P.S.—Will Mr. Winslow be kind enough as indelicate as I know it to be unmerited. to inform me on what principle he first To secure Dr. Hopkins’s presence and thought of applying blisters to the abdomen sanction in the lying-in-room, it is not in cases of periodical hemicrania, or if it necessary that each case should be difficult, was merely exp. gr. ? it is sufficient that the attending pupil be Mr. Moore states, in answer to the inquiry young, timid, or unpractised. I speak from of A., of Hebden Bridge, in No. 298, that he on this it and when point; experience has never found the ergot of rye retard the is further recollected, that many of the Doctor’s old pupils are settled in practice in lochial discharge, and that on inquiry among and about London, who often avail them- his medical friends, he finds none of them selves of his known readiness to assist them have observed any such effect from it. in cases of emergency, we may cease to In a case of amenorrhoea that came under wonder at his sometimes being unable to his care a short time since, which had been 11 found a weak reach his post. The " Pupil" appears to be very obstinate, he adds, of walking experience. He will, therefore, decoction of the ergot (i. to ibss. of aq.) c. thank me for recommending him occasion- given in conjunction with the pil. fer. in doses of a table-spoonful three myrrh to to bend his Queen Square, ally steps each where cases are to be obtained very fre- times a-day, and five grains of the pill Should have a beneficial effect. time, any quently, and where Dr. Hopkins’s cliniques of your readers have observed the same almost render his lectures (good as they are) effects, or should they have an opportunity unnecessary. of so doing, they will oblige by communiAs Dr. Blundell has no where a warmer the results of their practice." cating than Dr. see I cannot panegyrist Hopkins, what for reason, heavenly or earthly, he is introduced, unless it be to exhibit his magnanimous contempt for a shower of rain. CURIOUS DISEASE OF THE HEAD. I remain, Mr, Editor, Yours obediently, To lite Editor of THE LANCET. THOMAS EVANS EVANS. SIR,—Having lately met with a ease not 31, Arlington Street, dissimilar (except in result) to that very Camden Town. related by Mr. Everett, in No. 292 of your a publication, I am induced to send short account of it.
literary
neither gets
cormorant
a
YM