Letter to the fellows of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of Edinburgh, respecting the proposal to abolish the Chair of General Pathology in the University / [William Thomson].

  • Thomson, William, 1802-1852.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letter to the fellows of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of Edinburgh, respecting the proposal to abolish the Chair of General Pathology in the University / [William Thomson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    That though Physiology and Pathology, or the general doc¬ trines of Health and of Disease, are in many respects connected with one another, yet the particnlar subjects of investigation in each of these branches, and the proper modes of prosecuting them, are so different, as to render it desir.able for the promotion of medical knowledge, that they should be separately studied, and taught by se])arate Professors. Your Memorialist begs leave farther to represent, that he has l)een for a long series of years diligently engaged in the study of Pathology, as relates both to the Structural and Functional derangements of the Human Body, and in particular, that he has procured from hospitals abroad and at home, with consider¬ able pains and difficulty, and with much expense to himself, a large collection of Coloured Delineations of the Morbid Altera¬ tions of Structure, which occur in the different Textures and flrgans of the Human Body. That this mode of teaching Pathology, which he believes he has been the first to employ on an extensive and systematic plan, in lecturing on the Practice of Physic, w'ould, if applied to a dis¬ tinct Course of Lectures on Pathology in the University of Edinburgh, and with a reference to the specimens of diseased structure that are preserved in the Museums of the LTiiversity and of the Royal College of §urgeons, convey to Students of Medicine much more correct notions of many diseases, and of the morbid appearances to which they give rise, than can possibly be done by verbal descriptions alone. That your Memorialist is persuaded that a distinct Course of Ticcturcs on Pathology, conducted on the plan he has suggested, w'ould facilitate greatly the Study of Diseases, and render the (yoursc of Medical Education in the University of Edinburgh more complete than it has hitherto been, without interfering with the proper duties or pecuniary interests of any of its Medical Pro¬ fessors. In the event of your Lordship approving of the Institution of a Professorship of Pathology in the University of Edinburgh, your Memorialist humbly begs leave to offer liimself as a Can-