Domestic medicine : or, a treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases, by regimen and simple medicines: With an appendix, containing a dispensatory for the use of private practitioners / by William Buchan.

  • Buchan William, 1729-1805.
Date:
1820
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Domestic medicine : or, a treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases, by regimen and simple medicines: With an appendix, containing a dispensatory for the use of private practitioners / by William Buchan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    omission. No science lays open a more extensive field of use- ful knowledge, or affords a more ample entertainment to an in- quisitive mind. Anatomy, Botany, Chemistry, and the Male- na Medicay are all branches of Natural History, and are fraught with such amusement and utility, that the man who entirely ne- glects them has but a sorry claim either to taste or learning. Jf a gentleman has a turn for observation, says an excellent and sensible writer *, surely the natural history of his own species is a more interesting subject, and presents a more ample field for the exertion of genius, than the natural history of spiders and cockle-shells. We do not mean that every man should become a physician. This would be an attempt as ridiculous as it is impossible. All we plead for is, that men of sense and learning should be so far acquainted with the general principles of Medicine, as to be in a condition to derive from it some of those advantages with which it is fraught; and at the same time to guard themselves against the destructive influences of Ignorance, Superstition, and Quackery. As matters stand at present, it is easier to cheat a man out of his life than of a shilling, and almost impossible either to de- tect or punish the offender. Notwithstanding this, people still shut their eyes, and take every thing upon trust that is admi- nistered by any pretender to Medicine, without daring to ask him a reason for any part of his conduct. Implicit.faith, every- where else the object of ridicule, is still sacred here. Many of the Faculty are no doubt worthy of all the confidence that can be reposed in them ; but as this can never be the character of every individual in any profession, it would certainly be for the safety, as well as the honour of mankind, to have some check upou the conduct of those to whom they entrust so valuable a treasure as health. The veil of mystery, which still hangs over medicine, ren- ders it not only a conjectural, but even a suspicious art. This has been long ago removed from the other sciences, which in- duces many to believe that Medicine is a mere trick, and that it will not bear a fair and candid examination. Medicine, how- ever, needs only to be better known, in order to secure the ge- neral esteem of mankind. Its precepts are such as every wise man would choose to observe, and it forbids nothing but what is incompatible with true happiness. Disguising Medicine, not only retards its improvement as a science, but exposes the profession to ridicule, and is injurious to the true interests of society. An art founded on observation never can arrive at any high degree of improvement, while it is confined to a few who make a trade of it. The united observa- • Observations on the Offices and Duties of a Physiciar.