Lectures on surgery / delivered by Mr. Wardrop.

  • Wardrop, James, 1782-1869.
Date:
[1833-1834]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on surgery / delivered by Mr. Wardrop. 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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    LECTURES ON SURGERY, DELIVERED BY MR. WARDROP. t INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. The science of medicine, since an early period of history', has been divided into two grand branches, one of which has been designated by the term Surgery, the other by that of Physic. However indefinite and unphilosophical such a division may he, yet the term sur- gery, in its usual acceptation, will suffi- ciently answer as a general title to the lectures which are now to engage your at- tention. But before we consider any of the particular parts of this course, I propose to offer some general observa- tions for your consideration, and to point out what appear to me to he some im- portant circumstances which ought to be attentively considered in studying this characteristic division of the science of medicine. At once then it may he stated, that in order to acquire a knowledge of surgery, it is essentially necessary that you should be well acquainted with the natural structure of the human body, that you should he well acquainted,“not only with what Bichat very properly denomi- nated general anatomy, or the anatomy of the different textures or tissues which en- ter into the composition of the body, and also with special anatomy, being the ana- tomy of particular organs, but that your attention should be particularly directed to what has been denominated relative anatomy, or the anatomy of regions, by which term is to be understood the rela- tive positions which the different parts of the body are known to occupy. In the study of any of the sciences, but more especially of a subject so boundless as that of medicine, you must he w'ell aware that years of application are neces- sary to qualify you for the discharge of the important duties that are involved in thepractice of a surgeon, and that nothing but habits of the most unwearied dili- gence will enable you to acquire a com- petent knowledge of that profession, even after a prolonged course of study. There is, however, a charm, more par- ticularly in the branch of medicine under consideration, which will assuredly reward your utmost diligence. Surgery is, above all others, that science which, when skil- fully directed, will enable you to he most useful to your fellow beings, and thus place you amongst the most esteemed members of the community. As an in- tellectual pursuit, surgery opens an in- exhaustible treasure of the most interest- ing description; whilst it offers to the dili- gent, as well as to the ingenious, many paths yet unexplored, in which a rich harvest may be gathered. You cannot trace back the history of surgery, even for a few years, without being gratified with the extraordinary ra- pidity with which it lias advanced, and the perfection which many of its branches have attained. Thus the rules laid down for performing many operations, appear to he as nearly perfect as human experience and reason can, probably, render them. But, it is not in the manual part of the art that modern surgery has to boast of its most important improvements; the suc- cessful application of medicine in the cure of diseases, thereby preventing the neces- sity of operations, ought to be considered as the perfection, or, rather, the triumph, of A