Postscript to Dr. Hamilton's letter of September 27th 1824, to the members of the Senatus Academicus of the University of Edinburgh.

  • Hamilton, James, 1767-1839.
Date:
[1824]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Postscript to Dr. Hamilton's letter of September 27th 1824, to the members of the Senatus Academicus of the University of Edinburgh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    duty, point out the vegetable productions which are poisonous, and the symptoms which they occasion when acting as such. It is part of the duty of the Professor of Surgery to state the evi- dences by which it can be determined, in cases of homicide, whether the acts of violence had been the immediate cause of death ; and both he and the Professor of the Practice of Physic must, in the progress of their instructions, describe the changes which take place after death, from natural and from violent causes. Finally, As to all the questions respecting pregnancy, concealed or simulated,—the appearances of the Infant at the different periods of its existence, from conception to the full time,—the duration of preg- nancy,—the evidences of infanticide, &c., such subjects can be best elucidated by the Professor of Midwifery. These observations of our Colleague made a great impression upon my mind, but I did not accede to his conclusion,, that a Profes- sorship of Medical Jurisprudence must be quite unnecessary. I held, that when a Regius Professorship is offered, it should always be thankfully received, and that it might be of great importance, that those Students who could bestow much time (without regard to ex- pense) upon their education, might have all those subjects brought to their recollection in one general view. While I cordially assisted my old friend Dr Duncan senior in his endeavours to establish this Professorship, I was at the same time fully aware, that questions upon Medical Jurisprudence and Medical Police occur infinitely more rarely in this free Country, than in the Conti- nental States of Europe, where little regard is paid to personal free- dom, and where the morals and the manners of the inhabitants are very different from those of our intelligent countrymen. Notwithstanding