Address to the governors & subscribers of the Charing Cross Hospital, on some extraordinary proceedings that have lately taken place at that institution, and on the management of the Hospital in general / by T.J. Pettigrew.

  • Pettigrew, Thomas Joseph, 1791-1865.
Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address to the governors & subscribers of the Charing Cross Hospital, on some extraordinary proceedings that have lately taken place at that institution, and on the management of the Hospital in general / by T.J. Pettigrew. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    LU operations necessary to be performed, and one who could share with me the responsibility attaching to such onerous duties. It was admitted; and I was told by Dr. Golding, in the presence of Dr. Shearman, that, in consideration of the length of my con- nection with the Institution and the exertions I had made, I should be permitted to name a person with whom I should like to be associated, and who would be received with the sanction of my colleagues, if an acceptable and proper person. It was further stated that it should be distinctly understood by who- ever should be chosen to co-operate with me that he would not be entitled to receive any part of the emoluments derivable from the office for a period (and five years was expressly named by Dr. Golding, the Director), as it was held to be unfair and unjust to place upon an equality any individual who might not have taken any part in the establishment of the Hospital with one who had devoted so many years of labour and contributed so much to its support. Upon its being known that the appointment of a second Surgeon was thought of, Mr. Howship applied to me upon the subject. He was at this time a stranger to me; we were not in the habit of visiting each other, nor had I ever been in his house. He represented to me that he should be delighted to be con- nected with me in the Charing Cross Hospital, and that he should consider any assistance rendered him in attaining this object as the greatest of obligations, and never forget it. He urged the particular advantage of his collection of preparations, foolishly eulogizing them as exceeding in value those of St. George's Hospital, and put forward other reasons to induce me to favour him as a colleague. Duly considering the matter, and with a firm determination to do my duty to the Hospital, I weighed well Mr. H.'s pretensions. I regarded him as an experienced and qualified individual of even longer standing in the profession than myself, a Member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons, the author of some works on surgery, one in the habit of lecturing, furnished with prepara- tions to illustrate a course of lectures on surgery, and, above all, living contiguous to myself, and therefore readily to be ob- tained to supply my place if absent in any case of emergency that should arise. These were, in my mind, advantages which outweighed those suggested to me by many others who pro- posed to me on the same matter; and I therefore resolved to communicate to him freely and unreservedly that which had been proposed to me by my colleagues. I stated the offer made to me of naming a person who should be acceptable to them, and their conviction that I was entitled to receive the whole of the emoluments derivable from my department for the period I have