An introductory lecture on the rise and progress of midwifery, from the earliest period to the present time : delivered at the Central Infirmary, Greville Street, Hatton Garden, May the 30th, 1828 / by Michael Ryan.

Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introductory lecture on the rise and progress of midwifery, from the earliest period to the present time : delivered at the Central Infirmary, Greville Street, Hatton Garden, May the 30th, 1828 / by Michael Ryan. 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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    s and more enlightened society * The general diffusion of know- ledge among the great mass of mankind, has given rise to corresponding improvements in every art and science ; has intro- duced such invaluable and improved systems, that the oldest and most venerable institutions must adapt themselves to the spirit of the age. The just murmurs, and respectful but firm remonstrances of the medical profession, have not only reached the portals, but entered the temple of the legislature. That profession, the most useful and important to the sublunary condition of mankind, (for the conservation of the public health is the sovereign law of every nation), has, at length, come under the consideration of the government, and of the senate, the members of which, in their wisdom, will display that great and brilliant spirit of improvement, that so highly distinguished their recent proceedings, and will introduce those changes in the laws regarding the practice of the healing art, which will render it more perfect, and better adapted for the preservation of public health. Some of our Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, until a very recent period, refused admission to all persons, who had demeaned themselves by practising phar- macy ; though without the composition of medicines, neither physicians, or surgeons themselves, could efficiently pursue their respective avocations. These august corporations enforced a similar sapient self-constituted by-law against all those who practised midwifery, as if the structure, functions, and dis- eases peculiar to the female organs of generation, were not as important, and the diseases as fatal, as those of any other organ in the human body. The pure physicians and surgeons would not deem themselves degraded, by treating the diseases of the female bladder and rectum, while they wisely considered that the treatment of the diseases of the intermediate organ, the uterus, as highly degrading and ignominious. I have already * This was admitted by the Marquis of Lansdowne and the Right Hon- ourable Robert Peel, in correspondences which I had the honour of having had with them, on the necessity of improving the laws relating to the medical profession in the United Kingdoms.