Reply by Mr. Quain to a pamphlet entitled The official resignation of the Professorship of Surgery, in University College, London, with observations addressed to the President and Council, by Samuel Cooper, F.R.S., late President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England : with a resolution of the Council of the College respecting Mr. Cooper's statements.

  • Quain, Richard, 1800-1887.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reply by Mr. Quain to a pamphlet entitled The official resignation of the Professorship of Surgery, in University College, London, with observations addressed to the President and Council, by Samuel Cooper, F.R.S., late President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England : with a resolution of the Council of the College respecting Mr. Cooper's statements. 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.

    11/20 (page 11)
    course I did not “verbally illustrate” any such statement “ ludicrously ” or otherwise. The privilege of negation may be further allowed me while I state that no Member of the Senate either formally opposed the Resolution or suggested any other course. Stress is laid by Mr. Cooper on the circumstance that there were present but five (he erroneously says four) of the Medi- cal Professors; but he omits to state that every absent Medical Professor knew of the proposition to be made, and gave it his sanction. It is to be presumed that Mr. Cooper was present on the occasion, in the discharge of his duty to the College; and if he thought any other course than that submitted to the meeting a better or a fairer one, he was surely quite at liberty to propose it. The Professors of the Faculty of Arts, although they might not be good judges of the professional attainments required in the Pro- fessor of Clinical Surgery, were good judges of the weight and value of professional reputation ; and their opinion, that, after the loss of Mr. Liston, it was expedient to offer the vacant chair to a gentleman of acknowledged eminence, is entitled to as much respect as that of their Medical colleagues. Moreover, if any different course had been suggested by Mr. Cooper or any other Medical Professor, they would have been not only impartial but competent judges of the weight of argument by which it was supported. Before concluding these observations on the circumstances attendant on the recommendation of Mr. Syme to the office of Professor of Clinical Surgery, I feel justified in questioning the propriety of Mr. Cooper, all things considered, having constituted himself the judge of those circumstances, as well as the manner in which he has performed the office he iissuined. That he should be displeased with the appointment of Mr. Syme may not be unreasonable; that ho should have earnestly sought the appointment of his near relative instead of that gentleman may be quite naturalthat, ho\vever, while