Report of the Standing Committee on Medical Literature ... presented to the American Medical Association, at its third annual meeting, held in Cincinnati, May, 1850.

Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Standing Committee on Medical Literature ... presented to the American Medical Association, at its third annual meeting, held in Cincinnati, May, 1850. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    REPORT OF THE Grafted thus with the strongest offshoots of the parent tree, Ameri- can literature would rapidly attain a degree of luxuriance and fruit- fulness, which is quite impossible under the present system of its culture, or rather neglect. But the benefits would be reciprocal; our writers would become English writers, and find an attentive and appreciating audience among a people who even now receive them gladly, and award to those who deserve it no scanty meed of praise. Until within a short time, the copyright law of England, more liberal than our own, was construed to permit foreigners to enjoy pri- vileges which are denied to British subjects in the United States. But by a recent decision in the Court of Exchequer, “a foreign author residing abroad, or his assigns, is not an author within the meaning, and could not have the benefit, of those acts which were intended for the encouragement of British talent and industry.” In consequence of this decision, American works, which had been libe- rally paid for by certain English publishers, were immediately re- printed by others and sold at a reduced price; so that American books are now as completely at the mercy of the foreign trade as English works are at the mercy of our own. Considering how far from equitable the practice of American publishers has been, we dare not, with any show of reason, contend against the late unfavour- able construction of the statute of Queen Anne, and must be content to witness the exclusion of our authors from a field where they were gaining emolument as well as honour, and destroying the prejudices entertained against us as an illiterate people, careless of success in any but commercial pursuits. Nothing short of an international copyright law can place this matter upon an honourable footing; and so prevalent has the conviction of this truth become, that perhaps not a single man of letters, and scarcely a publisher of books, can now be found to oppose it. Not many years ago there was an equally general feeling adverse to the measure, at least among publishers, although there never was a time when our authors did not plead for justice to their foreign brethren and themselves. So marked yet gradual a revolution in opinion can be traced to no other cause than the power of truth. Yet it is not complete, nor will it be until Congress moulds it into the form of law, and, in conjunction Avitli the British government, breaks down this wall of separation betAveen tivo nationswhich else, “like kindred drops, had mingled into one.” But under a government like ours few important measures can be perfected, unless an impulse is received from AYitkout, unless the aa islies