Introductory lecture delivered to the class of the Starling Medical College : November 1st, 1848 / by Frederick Merrick.

  • Merrick, Frederick.
Date:
1848
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Introductory lecture delivered to the class of the Starling Medical College : November 1st, 1848 / by Frederick Merrick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    According to the difficulty of detecting these causes and determining their relative influence, will be that of deducing the general principles of the science to which they belong. Herein consists the difficulty of establishing some of the general principles of medical science. The causes of disease, and the counteracting influence of remedies, are often so occult as to defy discovery. Take for example one of our most common diseases, and the remedy most frequently employed in its treatment — intermittent fever and quinine. What do we know of the cause of this disease ? We may be told that it is malaria, or, as it has been called, marsh-miasma. But what is this ? I am aware there has been much research and speculation in order to ascertain its nature, and some have ventured to suggest its chemical compo- sition ; but after all, even its materiality remains to be proved. The more prevalent] opinion, at the present time, that it is sulphuretted .hydrogen is not a legitimate induction from facts. Indeed, the facts which stand opposed to this theory are more decisive than any which can be urged in its favor. But allowing its constitution known, what is known of its causal power ? Its action in producing functional de- rangement ? Absolutely nothing. And what do we know of the remedy ? Its natural history and chemical composition are well known ; but what is known of it as a cause, as it acts in removing the disease ? We know that certain effects follow its use, but these effects are not direct, and who can trace the connection ? In some cases all that can be said is, that it substitutes its own peculiar impression for that of the disease — the expression of a fact, of which, however, no philosophical explanation can be given. Let me not be understood as intimating that all is uncertainty in the practice of medicine. Far from it, for such is not the case. What I assert is, that its general principles have not yet been fully estab- lished. Much, to be sure, has already been done towards its accom- _plishment, and that more has not been done, is not to be attributed to the want of a fair amount of philosophical acumen on the part of medical men. As a profession they have furnished some of the most profound interrogators of nature — men of clear apprehension and sound judgment. If the remark, therefore, of Bacon be true, that • medicine is a science which hath been more professed than labored, and yet more labored than advanced—the labor having