A letter to His Royal Highness the Duke of York, president, the vice-presidents, treasurer, and governors of the Small-pox Hospital, on the present state of that charity.

  • Ring, John, 1752-1821.
Date:
1808
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to His Royal Highness the Duke of York, president, the vice-presidents, treasurer, and governors of the Small-pox Hospital, on the present state of that charity. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    LETTER, Gentlemen, Salus populi suprema lex. That in- dividual opinions and-interests should give way to the public good, are maxims not less sacred from the authority of time, than from the justness of their principles. The welfare and happiness of a nation depend more on measures of internal than of external policy ; and a wise statesman is per- fectly aware, that the true riches of a country con- sist as much in a numerous and well-regulated po* pulation, as in its manufactures and commerce.—• To apply this to our subject: suppose a new^ dis- ease, of unparalleled malignity, were to break out in a country, of so extremely contagious a nature, that wherever it appeared, no individual could hope to escape its fury ; that, after a time, a mode were to be discovered of communicating it to persons, •lander proper restrictions, w'llh. comparative safety.