Lecture introductory to the course of institutes and practice of medicine in the Medical College of the State of South Carolina / by Sam'l. Henry Dickson.

  • Dickson, Samuel Henry, 1798-1872.
Date:
[1856?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lecture introductory to the course of institutes and practice of medicine in the Medical College of the State of South Carolina / by Sam'l. Henry Dickson. 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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    stimulant for the heroic and depletory in so great a number—the tem- porary and local reign of Brunonian and Broussaian views—the perpetual differences between the best authorities as to the nature and modes of causation of our most familiar maladies—the mistakes in Diagnosis so often made by the most confident and dogmatic—and the unhappy uncertainty and feebleness of our Therapeutic in so many of our most fatal diseases—these may serve as examples. I will offer you a word of advice as to this matter. Do not admit the dependence of any malady upon any alleged mode of causation, until a wide variety of conditions shall have been inquired into. There may be more causes than one; or one may be extensively diffused. Do not admit the efficacy of any remedy in any disease, until it is ascertained whether it is absolutely o1' conditionally relevant;—whether it may not be dispensed with, and whether its apparent influence may not be a mere seeming coincidence. Time would fail me if I were to go into the further details as to the scepticism necessary to guard you against the self-delusion of the hypo- chondriac and the imbecile, the arts of the cunning actor or actress, whose inscrutable motive leads to an exultant deception, and the man- agement of the interested malingerer. Be ever on your watch against these: doubt every thing;—scrutinize everything; cross-examine and test every thing. Truth alone can stand the close inquiry. Above all other men, a Physician should be courteous. Politeness, an artificial necessity of civilized society, is with us an indispensable quality. I lay the more stress upon this point because a mistaken notion has become in some measure prevalent that an eccentric rudeness has tended to the success of certain distinguished practitioners. Let it be clearly understood that these men succeeded, not because, but in spite of their egregious defect. A gentle tenderness, a soft kindness of speech and act, are due to suffering humanity, and must be. accorded. To break the bruised reed; to trample on the bowed down and afflicted; to fret harshly the sensitive; to abash the timid ; to insult the lowlv ;— what can be more unworthy of the man, the gentleman, the Christian, the philanthropist! Nothing can excuse or even palliate such conduct He who indulges in it, under whatever plea of eccentricity or humour, is a brute or a madman, and totally unfit for a place among us. Some minor points may perhaps merit suggestion. Thoughth regard of the slighter annoyances to which we may subject our patients is inconsistent with the nicer degrees of gentlemanly propriety. We should pay some regard even to fastidiousness and prejudice. I would not willingly offend a delicate fine lady by approaching her with clothes and hair reeking with the fumes of tobacco—even supposing that there