A letter addressed to Sir Benjamin C. Brodie, bart. : containing observations and strictures upon certain parts of his lecture on spinal complaints, delivered to the young gentlemen of St. George's Hospital / by Edward Harrison.

  • Harrison, Edward, 1759-1838.
Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter addressed to Sir Benjamin C. Brodie, bart. : containing observations and strictures upon certain parts of his lecture on spinal complaints, delivered to the young gentlemen of St. George's Hospital / by Edward Harrison. 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.

    11/66
    to repress their rising ardour in the pursuit of knowledge, than encourage them to profit by useful hints. It must, however, be confessed, that, limiting his observations to the routine modes of British practitioners, Sir Benjamin was jus- tified in going still further and saying, “ that once atorxj, she is awry for life.” The above conclusion, the result of experience, has been too often verified to admit of any doubt. In misshapen spines, the obvious indication is, in the first place, to remove the contortions, and thereby restore the entire column to its primitive form. Such, undoubtedly, would have been the mode pursued long ago, had medical men thought for themselves, and not been misled by the fanciful and erroneous notions of the late Mr. Pott. The vague suggestion of a cure, witnessed by Hippocratesfrom the interposition of an accidental sore, induced this surgeon to employ caustic issues and setons, for the removal of ulcerations in the ver- tebras. His practice has been almost universally followed ever since, at least in England. As it never efiected any beneficial change in the arrangement of the spinal pillar, although the invalids often found temporary ease from the accompanying rest, the patients were left unrelieved at the end of a tedious course of cruel torture. The continual disappointments of the faculty, and the increasing discon- tents of the sick, forced the former, at length, to think of some other mode, and they substituted gymnastics, or muscular exercises, but with 110 better success. These increase the size and the strength of the muscles acted upon, making them clumsy and unsightly; but, however long continued, produced no favourable impression upon the twists and bends in the spine. The distortions always remain un- abated, and of the same intensity to the last. Gymnastics have been so long and so universally employed, that the faculty and the public have begun, at length, to discover their futility and uselessness as remedies for spinal maladies. So many disappointed candidates for health have, of late, applied to me and received cures, that I know, from experience, that the other practices never effect any beneficial change upon deformed vertebral columns ; and are, there- fore, useless expedients. The accompanying rest, as already ob- served, produces temporary relief in the one mode of treatment; and agitation of the dorsal muscles increases their power in the other. The patients and their friends, perceiving these encouraging altera- tions, are naturally buoyed up with the hope of ultimate success. The cheering prospect continues for a time, but at length closes, and leads to greater disappointment. Thus disappointed they have re- course to me; and the previous delay, together with the effects of the modes previously pursued, have given the malady the opportunity of acquiring so strong a hold, that its disentanglement is rendered much more difficult and tedious than it would otherwise have been. Such being the result of my own observations, in regard to both external irritants and muscular exercises, I declare my conviction boldly and See Mr. Pott’s Chirurgical Works, Vol. III.