Inquiry respecting Mr. Charles Whitlaw's practice in scrofula and cancer : and the propriety of instituting an asylum, under his care, for these complaints, &c. / by A. Rennie.

  • Rennie, A.
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Inquiry respecting Mr. Charles Whitlaw's practice in scrofula and cancer : and the propriety of instituting an asylum, under his care, for these complaints, &c. / by A. Rennie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    beside mc, if such a course had been followed from the very com- mencement; and I cannot help offering my tribute of unqualified approbation of the answer of a venerable and most respectable clergy- man of my acquaintance, to the pressing solicitations of Mr. Whitlaw to ^procure his patronage: No, no, Mr. Whitlaw; all that you say may be very true, but I neither know you, nor am I a judge of these matters; go you to Sir Astley Cooper, or any other medical man, on whose professional abilities and moral character I can rely; get him to stand between you and the public, and to declare your practice safe and efficient; and then I '11 ^ve you the little influence I possess with all my heart. Nearly a similar answer did he receive from two other respectable clergymen, on whom he had made the same attempt. These gentlemen displayed a most laudable caution, which cannot be too highly commended. Unfortunately, I fear, for society, he has met with those even of this profession, who have been induced to listen to his requests and to believe his representations. Against these persons I bring forward no other charge than that of precipitancy. They, I believe, possess the purest motives, and 1 have no doubt that it was nothing else than their humanity and benevolence which may have rendered them so credulous as to patronize and recommend a man of whom they know nothing, and a practice they do not understand. To such I would beg leave to suggest a few considerations, well deserving of serious attention. Every one who reflects on the nature of the medical profession, must admit that there is no 6ne profession which implies a weightier and more awful responsibility, no one in which the necessity for the highest qualifications is more urgent. The practitioner has the life of his fellow-creatures in his hands—in many cases it hangs entirely upon his knowledge, upon his caution, upon his judgment. We will venture to affirm, that no man of true principle will engage in such an office unless he is conscious of being qualified to the full, and after he has engaged in it he will shudder at the thought of treating, except with the most cautious circum- spection, any case he does not thoroughly understand. A single un- guarded stroke of his knife - a single injudicious hasty prescription, may launch a soul into another world ; that soul shall, in the day of judgment, be required at his hands. Sure I am, that if this awful impression were borne about with us in our daily walks of profes- sional duty, it were enough to imprint the aspect of cautious, and studious, and unassuming deliberation on every one of our doings. If this incontrovertible and seriously important truth were duly appre- ciated, the murderous reign of quackery, and imposition, and pre- sumption, and ignorance, over the lives of the afflicted, would speedily pass away. A person would not be found, who, to accumulate even a princely fortune (Mr. Whitlaw's own words to a friend of mine), would profess to cure diseases of which he was entirely ignorant; nor would such an one meet with a single individual to exhibit him to the notice of credulity; because, when a human life is at stake, no