Observations on the present system of medical education,with a view to medical reform / by a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London.

  • Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the present system of medical education,with a view to medical reform / by a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    102/104 page 94
    Another gave three different kinds of draughts—- one to produce heat, the other to produce cold, and the third to modify the effects of the other two. This is the nullifying system with a vengeance; but still the patient had to pay at least 4^. Qd, for what the prescriber himself confesses could be of no service. I had myself an opportunity of witnessing the absurdity of the present system in nearly the first case which I attended. It was a case of confirmed enteritis: neither bleeding nor^leeches had been applied, and I attended the case in consultation with the late Dr. T. The apothecary, or rather druggist, who preceded us, had sent draughts, pills, and powders, with the following directions: One draught to be taken every two hours. One powder every two hours. One pill every two hours. The stomach rejected every thing taken into it. The patient recovered by bleeding copiously from the arm, and leeches. It was a case where no medicine could be taken by the mouth but with disadvantage during a cer- tain stage of the disease; it was consequently a case either to starve the apothecary or destroy the patient. Does not such a system need reform ? Does not society demand it ? Does not the apothecary, in his own defence, call for it ? The fault is not always with the apothecary; the
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3