A speech delivered at a quarterly statutory meeting of the Senatus Academicus of the University of Edinburgh : on the 15th of January 1825, accusing James Hamilton of having published a false and calumnious libel against the Senatus Academicus as a corporate body; against the institutions of medicine, as a branch of education at Edinburgh; and against the present professo [sic] of institutions of medicine, as an individual / by Andrew Duncan, sen.

  • Duncan, Andrew, 1744-1828.
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A speech delivered at a quarterly statutory meeting of the Senatus Academicus of the University of Edinburgh : on the 15th of January 1825, accusing James Hamilton of having published a false and calumnious libel against the Senatus Academicus as a corporate body; against the institutions of medicine, as a branch of education at Edinburgh; and against the present professo [sic] of institutions of medicine, as an individual / by Andrew Duncan, sen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    u That Memorial, Sir, I have read over with great attention ; and, after serious and repeated consideration, I will confidently venture to pro¬ nounce it one of the most singular productions that I have ever known to come from the pen of any Professor. It is indeed artfully written, and may readily tend to mislead those who have had no opportunity of being acquainted with undeniable facts. But after removing, as far as I am able, every bias from my mind, I am led to the lamentable conclusion, that I have seldom read any production which demonstrates, on the part of the author, a greater degree of arrogant self-conceit, or of wilful ignorance of the most important facts respecting the power of the Patrons, and of the University. Per¬ haps I ought rather to have said, willful, sup¬ pression of truth; for I can hardly allow myself to believe, that Dr Hamilton was ignorant of several undeniable facts, which he was in duty bound to have stated, but which are totally sup¬ pressed in his Memorial to the Patrons. After repeatedly reading Dr Hamilton’s Memorial, my opinion is, that it may be viewed as a most artful and infamous quack-bill. And in this sen¬ timent I am by no means singular; for I know it is also the opinion of some of the most eminent medical philosophers of the city of Edinburgh. The great object at which Dr Hamilton aimed in his Memorial, was to persuade the