A tribute to the memory of Dr. William Hawes / [William Hawes].

  • Hawes, William, 1736-1808
Date:
1808]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A tribute to the memory of Dr. William Hawes / [William Hawes]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/4
    FROM THE LIBRARY OF DR. T. J. PETTIGREW A Tribute to the memory of dr. william hawes. L—— THIS truly benevolent Physician was born at Islington, Nov. 28, 1738; and received the early part of his education in his native village, at the seminary of honest John Shield; and completed it in St. Paul’s School. He wras afterwards placed with Mr. Carsan, an ingenious medical practitioner riear Vauxhall; arid, on the expiration of his apprenticeship, was for a short time an assistant to Mr. Dicks, in the Strand, whom he succeeded in business ; and, by his application, and unwearied attention to his patients, ac¬ quired a considerable degree df reputa¬ tion and affectionate esteem. Iri May 1759, he married an amiable woman, by whom he had a numerous family, arid who Survives to lament his loss. In 1773, he became deservedly popular, from his incessant 2eal in calling the attention of the publick to the resuscita¬ tion of persons apparently dead, princi¬ pally by drowning ; plans for which, fof 30 preceding years, the Editors of this Miscellany had been recommending and encouraging. [See vol. XLIV. Preface. ] In this he encountered much opposi¬ tion, and some ridicule. The practica¬ bility of resuscitation was deniedj He as¬ certained its practicability by advertising rewards to persons, who, between West¬ minster arid London Bridges, should, with¬ in a certain time after the accident, rescue drowned persons from the water, and bring them ashore to places appointed for their reception, where means might be used for their recovery, and give immediate notice to him. The public mind being thus awakened to the subject, greater ex¬ ertions were made by individuals than had ever before been known; and many lives were saved by himself and other medical men, which would otherwise have been lost; and Mr. Hawes, at his own expence, paid the rewards in these cases for twelve months, which amounted to a considerable sum. His excellent friend Dr. Cogan, (then somewhat known to the publick, and since much better known, by several most valuable publications), who had long turned his thoughts to this subject, remonstrated with him on the injury which his private fortune would sustain from a perseverance in these ex- pences; and he at last consented to share them with the publick. Dr. Cogan and he agreed to join their strength, and each of them bringing forward 15 friends to a Meeting at the Chapter Coffee-house, in 1774, the Humane Society was in¬ stantly formed. In the following year, an admirable Sermon was preached in recommendation of it by the late Rev. R. Harrison, at St. Bride’s Church. From this period the weight and organization ©f the infant Institution devolved in great measure on Mr. Hawes ; whose undevi- tating labours have, it is hoped, esta¬ blished it for ever; and without which, there would very probably not have been at this time a similar establishment in Europe, America, or India; where Hu¬ mane Societies have flow multiplied with, every great stream that fructifies the soil of those different regions. In 1774, he published, “ An Account of Dr. Goldsmith’s last Illness,” whose death he ascribed to the improper ad¬ ministration of a popular medicine*;' and from this unfortunate event he deduced many useful, cautions respecting the ex¬ hibition of powerful medicines. In 1777, appeared his “ Address on Premature Death and Premature Inter¬ ment;” which he liberally distributed, in order to awaken attention in the pub¬ lic mind, against the to® early interment of persons supposed to be dead, before it was clearly ascertained that life was totally extinct. This performance had been suggested to his mind, even prior to the establishment of the great object of Resuscitation which he afterwards so suc¬ cessfully pursued; and which, in effect, the following declaration confirms : “ At a General Court of the Directors of the Humane Society in 1776, Dr. Tow¬ ers sat as Chairman; and, after congra¬ tulating the Society on a variety of suc¬ cessful cases of astonishing recoveries, he thus proceeded: “ To the well-known humanity of his (Mr. HaweS’s) disposition, and to that ac¬ tivity of benevolence for which he was so remarkable, this Society, in a great de¬ cree, owed its origin. The reasonableness and