Seven lectures on somnambulism / translated from the German of Dr. Arnold Wienholt; with a preface, introduction, notes, and an appendix; to which is now added a letter to Professor Gregory ... relative to his recent exposition of the experiments of Baron Reichenbach. By J.C. Colquhoun, Esq., advocate.

  • Wienholt, Arnold, 1895?-
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Seven lectures on somnambulism / translated from the German of Dr. Arnold Wienholt; with a preface, introduction, notes, and an appendix; to which is now added a letter to Professor Gregory ... relative to his recent exposition of the experiments of Baron Reichenbach. By J.C. Colquhoun, Esq., advocate. 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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    uncertainty of medicine. Sir Gilbert Blane speaks out still more openly and honestly. He observes that, “ in many cases, patients get well in spite of the means employed: and sometimes, when the practitioner fancies he has made a great cure, we may fairly assume the pa- tient to have had a happy escape.”—^^Such is the science of medicine in the opinion of many of the most compe- tent judges I And yet Dr Forbes refuses the appella- tion of science to animal magnetism, which is built upon an immense mass of observations gathered from the coin- cident observations of mankind during thousands of years. We would gently remind the learned Doctor that those who dwell in houses of glass should not be the first to commence throwing stones. For our own part, we have always thought that medicine might derive great advan- tage from an association with magnetism; and that the two arts or sciences (call them which you please) ought to be conjoined in friendly union, instead of continuing to stand in an attitude of detemiined hostility towards each other. Dr Forbes alludes to an article written by him, some years ago, in the British and Foreign Medical Review, To speak candidly, we do not think that the article in question, whether we regard its matter or its style, did much credit to the author. The few redeeming senten- ces in that paper are referred to in the pamphlet now before us, as affording evidence of the author’s impartia- lity. With this exception, the article exhibited no traces of that quality. At the period when it was written, in- deed, medical men, in this country, were exceedingly sore upon the subject of animal magnetism; and having as yet too little knowledge of the matter to enable them to handle it reasonably, they betook themselves to hard words and the most outrageous abuse, in order, if possi- ble by such means, to exterminate the hideous and hated monster “ Hew of his honde, his legge, his theye, his armijs : It is the Turkl though he be sleyne, none harm is.” The tone and temper, however, of our leaders of pub'