Correspondence between Professor Christison and Dr George E. Stewart on homoeopathy.

Date:
[1851]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Correspondence between Professor Christison and Dr George E. Stewart on homoeopathy. 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.

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    tentions in reference to practice, are entirely out of place and irregular, that I was quite prepared, had any such been put to me, to decline answering them upon that ground, and to abide the consequences, taking my appeal, in case of necessity, to the Scnatus and Patrons of the University. A candidate for a Degree is not, in my estimation, to be regarded as pledging himself to practise at all, much less to fol- low any particular method. He rests his claim for a diploma on the fact of his having, in the acquisition of medical know- ledge, spent both time and money, for which the diploma is the receipt. If the examiners find, by his answers to their ques- tions, that he has prosecuted his studies successfully, they recom- mend him for graduation, and here their responsibility ends. For liis future conduct as a practitioner, he is answerable only to his own conscience and the laws of his country,* and to neither of these tribunals need he fear to appeal, when the charge brought against him is that he has investigated a plan of treatment which he had heard stated to be superior to that he had been taught at college, and that, finding this declaration true, he dares to act upon it. In regard to the number of graduates, I am quite certain that five were believers in Homoeopathy at the time of graduation, and are now prosecuting its study, with a view to practice. I also know of as many more who had then a leaning to it, and who, I have no doubt, are now daily becoming more convinced of its superior efficacy. I cannot but remark, also, that any such observations upon the conduct of those who are now Graduates of the University and your professional brethren, as were made by you, on your own confession, in the absence of those to whom they applied, are, in my opinion, highly undignified and indiscreet, as well as un- academical. Having made this statement, I should have here ended, had you confined yourself to the single point adverted to in my first note, and to which the preceding remarks apply; but, as you have taken the opportunity to express your regret that any