Proposals for publishing by subscription, A synopsis of the general practice of physick ... / Translated from the Latin of Joseph Lieutaud.

  • Tomlinson, Thomas
Date:
1770
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Proposals for publishing by subscription, A synopsis of the general practice of physick ... / Translated from the Latin of Joseph Lieutaud. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Profeflion: for tho’ every medical gentleman is fup- pofed to be capable of reading the Latin language with facility, yet there are very few who have the patience to feek through a barbarous idiom (in which foreign medical Latin is generally wrote) for fen timent and indrudiion. If the tranflator therefore can fave this trouble by rendering the original of Lieutaud into a purer language, he flatters himfelf that he fhall per¬ form a talk in that refpedl meritorious, which is all the honour he afpires to, and for the attainment of which he is content to undergo the drudgery of tran- flation, and engage in one of the lowed departments of' literature. In refpedi to any prejudice againd Lieutaud as a Frenchman, it is fuperfluous to ob- ferve to fo generous a people as the Englifh, that no man’s country can be urged as an objedlion to his genius. Science belongs to all nations however op- polite in interefts and politics, and the mod hoflilc frequently borrow from each other with advantage, as France and England have mutually felt and acknowledged. Upon the fame principle, Science is declared to be totally free from anv party difputes in any country, and it is to be hoped that all liberal minds will concur in advancing the intereds of that: however they may differ in opinion upon other fubjeCts. But notwithdanding the evident utility of his plan, there is a formidable difficulty which occurs to the tranflator in refpedl loilvz expence, which wili unavoid¬ ably attend the execution of this work ; an expence greater than what any prudent man would chufe to rilk alone, upon fuch an uncertainty as the fale of a phyfical book. It mud be a long time before any performance however excellent, which is confin’d merely to Sience, can podibly make its way in the world; for which realon, Authors would be (deterred from engaging in works of this nature, unlefs abid¬ ed by the generofity of the Public. To this previous af- fidance^the Tranflator of Lieutaud flatters himfelf he