Experiments on life, as fundamental to the science of preventive medicine and as of question between man and brute : an address delivered on August 3rd, 1881, at the opening of the State Medicine Section of the International Medical Congress then assembled in London / by John Simon.

  • Simon, Sir John, 1816-1904.
Date:
1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Experiments on life, as fundamental to the science of preventive medicine and as of question between man and brute : an address delivered on August 3rd, 1881, at the opening of the State Medicine Section of the International Medical Congress then assembled in London / by John Simon. 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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    occasion, I may perhaps usefully have regard to that consideration. So, chiefly in that point of view, and with intentions which I hope may explain themselves as I go on, I shall offer you some remarks on certain of the scientific relations of State-Medicine. I trust that the thoughts and convictions which I shall express- will be fully as much yours as my own, and will thus be far more deserving of public attention than if I pretended to call them original; and, indeed, as regards one practical purpose which I have in view, there is nothing I would so much desire as that I may be deemed merely your mouth-piece or interpreter. First: a few words on what may be called the general theory of our subject-matter. The term State-Medicine corresponds to the supposition that, in certain cases, the Body-Politic will concern-, itself with the health-interests of the people—will act, or com- mand, or deliberate, or inquire, with a view to the cure or the prevention of disease. Before any such supposition can be effectively realized, the Science of Medicine—that is to say,, the exact knowledge of means by which disease may be prevented or cured—must have reached a certain stage of development; and,. unless the science be supposed common to all persons in the State, the existence of State-Medicine supposes a special class of persons whom the unskilled general public can identify as pre- sumably possessing the required knowledge. Thus, given the class of experts to supply the required exact knowledge, the Body-Politic undertakes that^ within the limits of its omi con- stitutional analogies, it will make the knowledge useful to the community. I have intimated that in State-Medicine (just as in private medicine) the medical function may be exercised either in curing- ox in preventing disease; but practically these two departments of State-Medicine are not of equal magnitude, nor are dealt with in quite the same spirit. As regards Curative Medicine, modern governments have in general found it needless to interfere in much detail in favour of persons who require medical treatment. It is true that for