Address to the Society of the Alumni of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery / By James Robinson.

  • Robinson, James.
Date:
1850
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address to the Society of the Alumni of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery / By James Robinson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    31/42 (page 29)
    [From the American Journal and Library of Dental Science.] COURT PATRONAGE AND PROFESSIONAL JEALOUSY IN ENGLAND. The present communication will furnish the professional public of the United States with some rather curious revelations of the working of a sys¬ tem from which, we trust, they are exempt; indeed, we have reason to be¬ lieve, that in no civilized country in the world but this, could so barefaced and unjustifiable an interference with the right of the government (what¬ ever its form may be) to confer, or the claim of the individual to receive, the usual honors and distinctions to which he was fairly entitled, be permit¬ ted, without subjecting the party at once to the contempt and indignation of his professional brethren and the public. The following statement, for the accuracy of which we can vouch, will show the difficulties in which professional men are occasionally placed, and the nature of the opposition they have to contend against, when back-stairs influence, and the under¬ hand working of a clique are resorted to for the purpose of monopolizing honors, and emoluments, and crushing, if practicable, all fair and honora¬ ble rivalry. In the month ofMay last, Mr. James Robinson, of Gower street, who, if he does not hold the very highest position, enjoys, at least, one of the most extensive dental practices in the metropolis, having among his patients a large number of the aristocracy, including several of the immediate per¬ sonal attendants upon her Majesty and the Prince Albert, was induced at the suggestion of several of the nobility to apply in the usual form for the honorary appointment of surgeon dentist to his Royal High¬ ness. After some little delay, a warrant appointing Mr. Robinson “Sur¬ geon Dentist to His Royal Highness Prince Albert,” duly signed and sealed by the Marquis of Abercorn, his Royal Highness’s Groom of the Sole, was forwarded to that gentleman, and as is usual in such cases, the appointment was announced in most of the leading political, literary, and medical journals of the day, with some complimentary remarks upon the character and professional attainments of the individual so honored, which, as the result will show, gave great offence in a certain quarter. By some inadvertence, the appointment was stated in one or two of the