The physiology of the carbohydrates : a reply to Dr Pavy's "Epicriticism" / by D. Noël Paton.

  • Paton, Diarmid Noël, 1859-1928.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physiology of the carbohydrates : a reply to Dr Pavy's "Epicriticism" / by D. Noël Paton. 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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    I shall take no further notice of the personal animus which Dr Pavy has unfortunately introduced into the discussion. His opinion of my character and conduct, and my opinion of his, can have no interest for anyone but ourselves, and has no bearing on the fate of sugar in the animal body. With his dispute with the Council of the Eoyal Society I have nothing to do. I did not consider it “obligatory, in vindication of the position in which 1 stood before the Eoyal Society, that I should make endeavour to upset his (Dr Pavy’s) work ” (p. 66).^ I was and am perfectly willing to leave the matter to be judged by physiologists familiar wdth the subject. But I did object, and do object most strongly, to his publishing a book for medical men, entitled The Physiology of the Carbo- hydrates, ill which not a trace of the mass of evidence opposed to his views is considered. Had he published it as a contribution to the subject addressed to physiologists already familiar with both sides of the question, such omissions might have been pardoned, but in publishing the work with such a title he is dealing in a hardly fair manner with the general medical reader. Dr Pavy cannot expect others to have tlie same unbounded confidence in his work which he expresses on p. 13. However satisfactory his work may be to himself, by the rest of mankind it must be considered side by side with the work of other investi- gators. A r^sumi of the work of these other investigators I attempted to give in my article, and Dr Pavy is mistaken in saying (p. 14) that I have “contented myself with drawing from the conflicting testimony existing the material that has fallen in with what I wanted.” That this is not so—that I have not suppressed evidence favouring his views—he himself admits on p. 110, and he nowhere, in support of this contention, brings forward the work of others not quoted by me. When Dr Pavy wants support for any of his statements, in spite of his contempt for the work of others, he habitually says,— “ authorities ” speak of this or that (pp. 103, 109, and 111), or “ modern accredited authority ” (p. 116) gives such and such results. Why does he not give his authorities, so that it might be possible to consider their value ? Dr Pavy’s Accusations of Misrepresentation. Dr Pavy accuses me of consistently and persistently misrepre- senting him. He says:—“ It is a relief to come across a state- ment entirely free from misrepresentation ” (p. 138), and speaks of my article as being “ freely interspersed with attacks founded on unpardonable misrepresentations.” As a matter of fact I find, to my sincere regret, that upon three points T have formed miscon- ’ Throughout this article the pages refer to the reprints of my article, and to Dr Pavy's “ Epicriticism.”