An introductory lecture on the rise and progress of midwifery, from the earliest period to the present time : delivered at the Central Infirmary, Greville Street, Hatton Garden, May the 30th, 1828 / by Michael Ryan.

Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introductory lecture on the rise and progress of midwifery, from the earliest period to the present time : delivered at the Central Infirmary, Greville Street, Hatton Garden, May the 30th, 1828 / by Michael Ryan. 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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    by all the most enlightened and impartial medical men, that the different branches of the healing art are not only indivisible, but so intimately connected and dependant on each other, that the perfect knowledge of each and all is absolutely indis- pensable to the medical practitioner, whether physician, surgeon, accoucheur, or general practitioner; he cannot otherwise practise with a safe conscience, or with satisfaction to himself, or with even probable benefit or impunity to his patients. The line of distinction, fruitlessly attempted in the study of medicine and surgery, serves neither, but is a positive injury to both; for the healing art is one, and therefore those who advocate the necessity of seperate study, advocate both ignoranee and dark- ness. In further proof of this assertion, we now observe that every branch of the healing art is taught at our numerous schools of medicine and surgery, a system further adopted in all the distinguished colleges and schools in the polite nations in the vast continents of Europe and America. The most eminent and distinguished members of the different professions of medicine, in every country, also recommend this system cf acquiring medical knowledge, which is not more compatible with medical experience than with the reason and common sense of mankind in all ages. Thus Moses, the most ancient historian, informs us, in the Book of Genesis, chap. 1, (A.M. 2315, A.C. 1689,) That Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm the body of his father; an operation which was consigned to the surgeons, in.all the subsequent ages, and so continued to the present time. This is the first and most authentic account of physicians; but the same inspired and most ancient historian, in the 35th and 38th chapters of the same book, speaks of midwives; and hence it would appear, they were anterior to the male practitioners of the healing art. Medicine, however, is decidedly the most ancient of all the arts and sciences, as it originated from the innate principle of self- preservation.. It was nearly coeval with man, in consequence of the calamities entailed upon him by his fatal disobedience, namely, the deprivation of eternal life, the liability to corporeal diseases, and to death itself. The vicissitudes of season.