Pneumonia : its supposed connection, pathological and etiological, with autumnal fevers; including an inquiry into the existence and morbid agency of malaria / by R. La Roche.

  • La Roche, R. (René), 1795-1872.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pneumonia : its supposed connection, pathological and etiological, with autumnal fevers; including an inquiry into the existence and morbid agency of malaria / by R. La Roche. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    scientific investigation which form attributes of the American mind. With these facts before him, every American physician who is alive to the honour, dignity, and interest of his profession, will unite in the opinion that we have, so far as medical literature is concerned, a character, not to uphold merely, but to establish; and that conse- quently it behooves him, while neglecting no means to improve himself in the various branches of medical science, to shun care- fully, and to reprove in others, every practice which may, in any degree, retard the accomplishment of so desirable an end. It would be impossible, in the space allowed me on this occasion, to point out in detail the several baneful influences here alluded to; let it suffice to dwell on two of the more prominent. It is not un- common to find inexperienced medical writers in this country—as, indeed, elsewhere—hazarding, on physiological, pathological, etio- logical, or practical subjects, opinions completely at variance with those which the enlightened portion of medical men, throughout the civilized world, regard as placed beyond the reach of cavil or disputation, or, at least, as entitled to the most respectful considera- tion. Some, in their dissent from the current opinion of the medi- cal world, content themselves with throwing out a simple conjecture, or perchance pronouncing a positive statement. Others, more am- bitious, bring forward a complex theory, or do not hesitate to enter upon systematic developments. Nor is it less common to find these scientific aspirants upholding their novelties by an ostentatious dis- play of argument, by an appeal to collateral illustrations, and by a triumphant reference to facts of a more or less apposite character ; the whole seasoned with a confident and uncompromising assertion of the legitimacy of their deductions, and with a decided, sometimes contemptuous, condemnation of the views entertained on the same subjects by all preceding or^ contemporary writers. As might be foreseen, such attempts at innovation, the detailed enumeration of which wonld form an amusing chapter in the history of our profes- sion, have so far, with occasional exceptions, failed to produce the effects intended, and to cornmand general and continuous atten- tion. Novel explanations of known phenomena are offered; analogies or differences heretofore unthought of, are pointed out and insisted upon; effects are ascribed to causes, which before were unsuspected of producing them; while, on the other hand, the agency of morbid influences, universally regarded as occasioning certain phenomena,