A study of doses : essay LVII / by William Sharp.

Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A study of doses : essay LVII / by William Sharp. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

    7/48 (page 7)
    an opinion or liypotliesis, and it lias been fruitless of any practical result—lifeless and useless—as all conjectures so left must remain. Moreover^ it makes no reference to tbe dose. Tlie conjecture respects tbe drug, that it acts one way in health, and the contrary way in disease, so that Autipraxy is not approached by it. It is impossible for a law-fact thus to remain inoperative unproductive, unfruitful. It may be so for a time; its light shines upon objects hitherto in the dark, and they are imperfectly seen; but it continues to shine, and eyes become better able to perceive objects by it. A fact of this kind necessarily suggests practical changes, and these when seen are cheerfully recognised and adopted. I knew nothing of this hypothesis; the hopeless con- fusion in which the question of dose was enveloped dis- tressed me, and at every opportunity that pi'esented itself the necessity of trying experiments in health was urged as the only way of throwing light upon the subject. At length, as no one more competent seemed disposed to undertake the task, I ventured to begin it. I had no theory, not even an opinion or conjecture, but after many experiments on myself, and on a few friends, the fact of the contrary action of some larger and some smaller doses of the same drug presented itself to me so dis- tinctly in 1872, that no doubt of it has since been enter- tained. The following year the fact was made public, and since then I have not ceased to try experiments on myself, and to do all in my power to persuade others to try them. Surely, all this is legitimate, honest, and professional. For many years, with the exception of one individual only—Gf. M. Seabroke Esq., P.R.A.S.—none seemed willing to listen. Now, at the end of 1889, a happy change has taken place, and several gentlemen, lay and medical, (all of them busy men, but it is the busy men who do the extra work), are giving some of their time and attention to this matter, and as I think, immensely to their credit, are working in earnest in this vein of experi- ment on themselves. They have my hearty congratu- lations and my grateful thanks, and there now follow extracts from their letters, and the best summary of their reports that I could make. When, in the next century, hundreds of medical men are expeinmenting on themselves with three or four