Annals of medicine. No. 1, Sir James Graham's bill repudiated / by John Thomson.

  • Thomson, John, 1765-1846.
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annals of medicine. No. 1, Sir James Graham's bill repudiated / by John Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    believe that this primary and sole object of their infirmary can be the fruit of such confusion confounded. The second best plan- medical officers acting gratuitously—has been rejected. 1 now c aim the best plan,—That a resident physician be appointed in 111s infirmary for the exclusive benefit of the poor patients, and jj \ p • -p p ^ management of the umfries Infirmary be entirely assimilated to that of the Crichton Koyal Institution. More I need not say to recommend my in¬ tended motion. The charter makes it imperative that a physi¬ cian and surgeons be appointed. The resident physician obeys the first portion of the behest; and if surgeons were not speci- cally mentioned, he might act in the infirmary both as physician and surgeon. The proposed arrangement, as stated in my in¬ tended motion, ‘ that two unpaid surgeons be elected to take charge of the surgical cases in the house,’ explicitly satisfies the charter, and, in addition, must keep up operative surgery among practising surgeons in Dumfries, to the great benefit of the com¬ munity, without a shadow of injury or disadvantage to the poor patients m the infirmary. thought that my appeal had given information to the go¬ vernors sufficiently ample to fix their attention upon that cruel, m ecent abuse—dissection. I have been disappointed and dis¬ gusted to find within the infirmary a regular dissecting room, lit y gas. With all this provocation I shall not, at present, ven¬ ture farther detail, trusting confidently that the correct manage¬ ment of a resident physician must extinguish that abuse. ° A resident physician placed in the infirmary, resembles a mechanical power placed in the centre of a circle, regulating xed and positive mechanical action. He resembles the father of a family, tenderly and anxiously, and diligently and econo¬ mically providing for the comfort and the wants of his helpless inmates—keeping every servant to his duty, and in his proper place. What would any family be, if managed upon precisely the same plan and principle as the Dumfries Infirmary is ? What would the consequence be, if the Commercial Hotel was ma¬ naged upon precisely the same plan and principle ? There would beyond doubt be ‘ a nominal Commercial Hotelbut no Com- “1 f the benefit of worthy proprietor or travellers. It would soon come to an end.’ Like the infirmary, every