An address delivered before the Southern Reform Medical Association at their annual meeting in Macon, March 2, 1858 / by O.A. Lochrane.

  • Lochrane, O. A. (Osborne Augustus), 1829-1887.
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address delivered before the Southern Reform Medical Association at their annual meeting in Macon, March 2, 1858 / by O.A. Lochrane. 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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    REFORM MEDICAL PRACTICE. COMMEKDATIONS OF THE PRESS AND THE PROFESSION. The Editor of the Georgia Telegraph, printed in Macon, says : Tins is probably the largest work—no doubt, the largest scientific work ever printed in Georgia. Ithaabeengot up primarily to meet a pressing want o the College—a text Book containing the description, causes and diagnosis ot disease, with the method of treatment prescribed by the Reform School.— Until this publication no such work was in existence, and the students nad been compelled, at much expense, to resort to standard allopathic books in their studies upon the origin, character and symptomatic developments of dis- ease The work, however, is of equal convenience and adaptation to the re- form practitioner in the field. Ne sutor ultra crepidam,' saith the proverb, aud we shall not. therefore, set up as censor upon the manner in which the learned doctors have performed their task. We are no physician, and thank Cod. never had much occasion for personal interest in medicine. Our idea, however, is that there has been altogether too much mere scholasticism in medicine, and that probably every existing school had its origin in a discove- ry of means or theorv worthy of patient and scientific investigation. We think, there is already a growing disposition to latitude of inquiry and re- source among the doctors, and that there is occasion for it. It is a fact startling to the uninitiated who may have a life interest in the solution of it. that his doctor is applying remedies which other physicians, equally skilled, it maybe, pronounce to be death dealing, ineradicable poisons. What satisfaction is there in the lancet, when it has just been demonstrated to you by the Chrono- Thermalist, that in losing blood you are losing life—that Washington himself was act ually bled to (tenth ! We knew a question of bleeding argued in a sick room—one'physician said to bleed, was to kill in five- minutes—the other said bleeding was the true remedy. The point was decided by the friends in favor of the lancet, and death gained a minute and a half on the doctor's prognosti- cation. There is no field of human thought or inquiry, which ought to be ranged with more unfettered step—more unbiassed mind, than that of medicine. The book before us i? one which will hardly (nil to leave its impress upon the mind of the inquirer. The publication is itself a striking evidence of the progress of the Reform School and the stable prosperity of the College. Both are unmistakably pro gressing. The College has for its Faculty men not only of literary and scien- tific ability—but. men earnestly devoted to their system—thoroughly impres- sed with its value, and energetically pushing it forward. This College is now as efficiently endowed as any in the State—has probably larger classes than any. It has, it is true, received the benefit of two appropriations from the State Treasury, but it has also sustained great losses by lire. We suppose it to be the most prosperous Medical School in Georgia. The Editor of the Empire State, printed at Griffin, Ga., -ay,-: '-It is a valuable accession to tic Medical productions of the age, and bears the. marks of deep research, thorough investigation, and profound knowl- edge of the intricate subjects of which it treats The Editor of the Georgia Citizen, published in Macon, I considers it a handsomely gotten up work, and thinks it should be at once re eeived as a standard text book of the Reform School of .Medicine, and says : The preparation of such a comprehensive Volume was a task requiring her culean energy and will be a monument of perseverance and patient toil of the' Faculty, that'will endure, long after they have rested from their labors.'' Prof. Jos. D. Friend, of the Metropolitan College, N. Y., of whose commendation any author might be proud, reiterates the favorable opinion of the work that be had previously expressed on a more cursory ex- amination, recommends it to the students ot that College, and says it will be accepted by them as one of our most valuable text books. (Continued on -V Page of Cover.)