A letter to Sir William Garrow, His Majesty's attorney-general, on his proposed Bill for regulating the practice of surgery throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland / By James Hamilton.

  • Hamilton, James, 1767-1839.
Date:
April 11 1817
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Sir William Garrow, His Majesty's attorney-general, on his proposed Bill for regulating the practice of surgery throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland / By James Hamilton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    It has been already stated, that, in Country Practice, and Provincial Towns, necessity obliges the same individuals to act as Apothecaries, Sur¬ geons, Men-M id wives, and Physicians; and that it is only in populous cities that a minute Subdivision of the Duties of the Profession can be encoura¬ ged. But it is a self-evident proposition, that in such populous cities, no individual of competent talent could find it his interest to combine the Practice of Midwifery with that of Surgery. Thus, suppose such an at¬ tempt were made, and that the Surgeon were called to perform an impor¬ tant operation,—Amputation of a lower extremity, for example ; By the time he had accomplished this task, he might be sent for to a woman in the pangs of Child-Bearing, whose case should require his constant and protracted attendance,—What would happen, if the amputated stump of his Surgical Patient should begin to bleed ? Or, suppose that the Surgeon were in the more humble walk of his Profession, and that his chief Surgical duty should consist in dressing Sores, how could he attend Patients at the regular stated times for that purpose, if he were engaged in the Practice of Midwifery ? Perhaps it is unnecessary to remark, that in some states of sores, unless the dressings be regularly removed at the distance of a certain interval, most injurious consequences follow. While an individual, thus circumstanced, could not possibly fulfil his engagements with punctuality, the opulent part of the community would be little disposed to place confidence in him. It cannot be alleged, that the same objection applies to conjoining the Practice of Midwifery with the duties of a Physician, for cases where mi¬ nute punctuality of attendance is indispensible, do not nearly so often occur in the Practice of Physic as in that of Surgery. A most conclusive proof that the duties of Surgery, and of Midwifery,, are not necessarily connected, and that in large towns they are incom* patible with each other, is afforded by the fact, that neither in London, nor in Edinburgh, nor in Dublin, does any eminent Surgeon practise Mid- wifery* Indeed^