An examination of the strictures in the New-England journal for October 1823, and in the North-American review for October 1823, on Essays on fevers, &c / by Thomas Miner and William Tully.

  • Miner, Thomas, 1777-1841.
Date:
1823
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An examination of the strictures in the New-England journal for October 1823, and in the North-American review for October 1823, on Essays on fevers, &c / by Thomas Miner and William Tully. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    wt Extract from Essays on Fevers, fyc. It is proper to notice a common* error, which is prevalent among a certain good sort of people, who are little acquainted with mediujd subjects. They affect to consider, that there is some truth, and soffie mistake, on either side, which physicians have taken, in the management of modern Typhus. The fact is, that no com- promise is admissible. It is a questfon of guilty, or not guilty— a dispute respectingyjmck/wienta/ principles and facts. Do Spot- ted-fever, and other sinking diseases [which are attended with a dangerous deficiency of vital power, through their whole course] ever admit of depletion, or reducing agents, in any stage ? Thi an all-important point. There is no question, that evacuations are often indispensable, in some typhoid diseases ; but arc they indicated, because they reduce, or because, while removing a parti- cular symptom, their counteraction overbalances their reducing effects? Every human being is liable to mistake, in the application of true principles; yet such principles are as firm and immoveable, as the rock of ages. Was the Spotted-fever of Hartford to be cur- ed by depletion and reduction ? Did the Yellow-fever appear in Middletown, in 1820 ? Does regular Typhus admit of resolution ? Are our late Fevers phlogistic, in any stage ? There can be no com- promise, no splitting the difference, upon such questions. The maxim in medio Veritas, however applicable it may be, in many cases of practice, has no bearing upon questions of mere feet, and upon fundamental principles. A physician, therefore, who is ever boasting of his candour upon these essential points, or who values himself for having no decided opinion upon such vital questions, or upon pursuing an in- termediate course, can be considered in no other light, than as a timid and inert practitioner; or as an artful, time-serving man, who is ever ready to sacrifice the life of a patient, for the sake of pre- serving a little temporary popularity. When important facts and fundamental principles arc concern- ed, timid friends, who are afraid of offending by taking a decided part, do more to injure the cause of truth, than its open enemies. We know, on what ground to meet the attacks of the latter ; whereas, the former are ever tantalizing us with private approba- tion^ without daring to give us open support. JVbw trthbvs aux- itiis