On chloroform and other anaesthetics : their action and administration / by John Snow ; edited, with a memoir of the author, by Benjamin W. Richardson.

  • Snow, John, 1813-1858.
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On chloroform and other anaesthetics : their action and administration / by John Snow ; edited, with a memoir of the author, by Benjamin W. Richardson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    vu post of apothecary to the Westminster Hospital, Mr. Snow, with much promise of support from the medi- cal staff, competed for the vacant post. He pre- sented excellent testimonials from Mr.Hardcastle, Mr. James Allen of York, Dr. Conquest, Mr. W. B. Lynn, Surgeon to the Westminster Hospital, Mr. Anthony White, Sir Anthony Carlisle, Mr. Warburton, and Dr. Hunter Lane. His canvass was very satisfac- tory; but he was compelled to resign his claims from a cause which he did not expect. By the laws of the hospital, the office of apothecary could only be held by a member of the Apothecaries' Com- pany. In those days the worshipful Company were sometimes lenient in admitting students to examin- ation. The leniency, however, clearly extended to those only who had friends at court. To render himself eligible, Mr. Snow addressed a very simple, earnest, and gentlemanly request to the Court of Examiners of the Apothecaries' Company, begging to be allowed to go up to his examination at the second court in July instead of the first in October, at which he was legally admissible. The request, under the circumstances, was not very great; but for some reason it met with refusal. After the refusal he addressed a second note to the Court, equal in tone with the first. In this note he urged the simple character of the request; he reminded the sapient body that they had allowed a similar extension of privilege to that asked by himself to others, and even for less important reasons. He explained that he had attended the practice of the Newcastle Infirm- ary; and promised that if he could be admitted, he would fulfil the required term of hospital curriculum rigidly. Lastly, he stated the expenses into which the canvass had led him, and once more prayed for leniency of the examiners, from confidence in their kindness. The confidence was misplaced. The Blackfriars Shylocks demanded the pound of flesh;