Second letter to the Right Honourable the Lord Provost and Town-Council of Edinburgh / by Dr. Knox.

  • Knox, Robert, 1791-1862.
Date:
[1837]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Second letter to the Right Honourable the Lord Provost and Town-Council of Edinburgh / by Dr. Knox. 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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    Without referring again to the sufficiently notorious and odious manner in which the Chairs of General Patho- logy and Surgery were originally instituted, or to circum- stances which must be exceedingly well known to your Honourable Council, and which, though trivial in them- lifications of Dr Thomson, was not required or expedient, since the subjects appropriated to it are inseparably connected with several other established departments of medical instruction, and most profitably taught in con- nexion with them ; and knowing that the circumstance of such a course being imperative on candidates for graduation in Edinburgh, is peculiarly oppressive, as there is no similar Chair in any other University of Great Britain or Ireland—we earnestly desire that this Professorship be abo- lished—and we, therefore, respectfully propose to the Council that it be now abolished, and that the retiring allowance to Dr Thomson shall be de- frayed from the proceeds of a course of Lectures on General Pathology, which we are willing to undertake to deliver annually during his lifetime, on the understanding that the fee shall not exceed what may be estimated as sufficient for the purpose, and that any incidental surplus shall go to the matriculation fund. We are willing to bind ourselves to make good the full amount of Dr Thomson's salary; and we hope that this proposal will appear to the Council sufficient proof, that, in desiring the abolition of the Chair of Ge- neral Pathology, we are actuated solely by our thorough conviction of its being unnecessary, and injurious to the interests of the Medical School, and by our anxiety to maintain the credit and efficiency of the University. (Signed) W. P. Alison, P. Institutes of Medicine. R. Chkistison, p. Materia Medica. James Stme, P. Clinical Surgery. Chables Bell, P. Surgery. Edinburgh, Jth Jtdy 183?. We, the undersigned Medical Professors in the University of Edin- burgh, beg to express our entire approbation of the measures proposed above by our colleagues. (Signed) James Home, P. Practice of Medicine. G. Ballingall, p. Military Surgery. T. S. Traill, P. Med. Jurisprudence. Thos. Chas. Hope, P. Chemistry. 11. Graham, P. Medicine and Botany. ''Jas. Hamilton, P. Midwifery.'