An inquiry into some of the effects of the venereal poison on the human body : with an occasional application of physiology, observations on some of the opinions of Mr. John Hunter and Mr. Benjamin Bell, and practical remarks / by S. Sawrey, surgeon.

  • Sawrey, Solomon, 1765-1825.
Date:
1802
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into some of the effects of the venereal poison on the human body : with an occasional application of physiology, observations on some of the opinions of Mr. John Hunter and Mr. Benjamin Bell, and practical remarks / by S. Sawrey, surgeon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    A physiological reasoner directing remedies, of the power of which he has already obtained some tolerable notions, can hardly tail to benefit individuals; but if any one administers them at random, he may be right by a lucky chance, but it is more probable that he will do much mis- chief. In applying remedies to gonorrhoea, the prac- titioner must be much governed by his opinions on its pathology. Whether he thinks with Mr. Hunter, that the matter of chancre and of gonorr- hcea is the same, or with Mr. Bell, that they arc caused by two distinct poisons his practice, if at all consistent, will be much influenced by the opinion he espouses. When it is clear that the com.plaint has a ve- nereal cause, we give mercury to cure it:—But if v/e should be of opinion that its nature is not venereal, we should, of course, omit to use that remedy, and depend upon others. But what will be the practice, and what the embarassment of a practitioner, desirous of doing what is right, but not having sufficient experience of his own to decide his judgment ? He is agitated between those opinions, and cannot strictly follow the mode of cure which either suggests. Doubt- ing whether he has chosen a wrong system, he changes his opinion and practice as often as he per.