William Cooke

“ To cherish the most latent doubt that the illustrious Princess did not derive the utmost aid from human experience, will heighten and pervert the general lamentation; and were it possible the surviving Prince could be accessible to such a feeling, how would it embitter future years, which, with undissembled sincerity, we hope he will survive, in useful and happy life! ”

“ We have seen striking indications of disregard to human suffering in our hospitals; and often has it called forth a disgusting expression of risibility amongst the students. Painful, indeed, is it to observe the mistaken excellence attached to an apparent disregard of human suffering: it seems to be thought, that there is something philosophical in conquering the common sympathies of human life, although it is by them society is cemented. ”

“ The gentleman referred to, desired that his body might be conveyed to a medical school for the benefit of the students, and having been satisfactorily examined, that it should be returned to his friends for interment. Such a laudable practice as this, need not be confined to surgeons: the public are at least equally interested in it; and most sincerely do I hope, that this eminent example may not want followers, either in or out of the profession. One of this gentleman’s declared objects was to recommend such a practice, and it has every thing noble and useful to recommend it. ”

“ But the nurse is supposed to have gained much knowledge, beyond the immediate obligations of her own station, by her intercourse with medical practitioners. She thinks herself competent to the comparison of the different methods of management which may consist in mere circumstantial differences, but which by her are made important. She thinks herself competent to change diet, to administer medicine, to regulate the time of rising and sitting up, in the absence of the practitioner, and often even contrary to his orders. ”

“ But these gentry may receive a graver and heavier rebuke; such as, from its eminent and official source, shall convincingly teach them, that to conspire against the future prospects of any man, by raking up a groundless charge of felony against him, when his character is untainted, and his pursuits even in the imputed felony are useful and honourable, is in itself so very contemptible, and yet so heinous an offence against common society, as to require a direct rebuke from the Chief Magistrate, and to deserve that severe punishment which would follow an action at law. ”

“ It is true, artifice has often taken precedence of merit. Attractive as popularity undeniably is, the practitioner who solicits the aid of artifice to rise into notice, not only forfeits his character, but hazards the sacrifice of future professional honor and success, on the altar of a most precarious goddess:—
“To seek honor, is to lose liberty.”
Recently the most strenuous efforts have [Pg 10] been made to render the medical profession more worthy of public confidence, but the appropriation of means has surely been surprisingly perverted. ”

“ You know, I presume to think, Sir, that it is difficult for men even of enlarged minds to divest themselves of opinions once formed,—perhaps publicly declared.—Rumour has a thousand tongues, and prejudice catches every whisper;—is it fair then, that I, or any one else should be tried by a jury who could by any possibility prejudge the question? ”

“ Mayor, men of eminent ability will, certainly, be compelled by their less gifted fellow citizens, to assume high and responsible situations: and dazzling as their elevation may be to the vulgar eye, we are assured that the cares and toils of office, are ever in proportion to its dignity and importance. None can be supposed to enjoy distinction and honour unqualified and unmixed. ”

“ The endurance of pain, ever raises more or less anxiety for ease; and as in child-birth it is known there is a limit—a period when the trouble shall instantly cease—there is peculiar desire to ascertain the probable duration of suffering. The hopes and wishes of practitioners often seduce them into a definition. The period arrives, and is succeeded by disappointment—another is fixed, which equally disappoints the expectation, and ceaselessly enervates the patient. ”

“ Whilst almost every occupation is more or less suspended, as a tribute to departed excellence, and as a token of loyal sympathy, it would be disreputable to a profession, so important to the welfare of mankind, to withhold its share in the general emotion.
The public feeling of sorrow is honorable to the British nation, and illustrates the superior sensibility and the moral pre-eminence derived from the diffusion of Christian principles. ”

“ Peel is well known to entertain the most liberal views upon the subject, and it would be strange indeed, if a gentleman so distinguished, so much a scholar, and so much a patriot, should, amid numerous wise enactments, overlook those serious obstacles, which prejudice, ignorance, and vulgarity throw in the way of medical and surgical science. Upon these hopes I would congratulate the profession, and their patients no less, as upon a promise of a very important good. ”

“ The mind is in the condition of the quickest sensibility. Every thing transacted about the patient should be done openly. All whisperings or attempts at secrecy, excite the utmost curiosity, and essays at evasion only heighten the distress. All allusion to unfavourable cases should be most sacredly avoided. Nothing should tempt the individual on whom reliance is placed in these instances, to concede the truth—a falsehood once detected, contravenes all future trust ”

“ To the great majority of thinking men, it will appear as if I were going about to prove that pain was an evil, by advancing arguments in proof of the necessity of Anatomy. But I have good reasons for believing, that certain persons who talk loudly about the horrors of disinterment, are quite unaware of the nature or object of that science, which they would consent to sacrifice at the shrine of an ill-directed, if even a praiseworthy feeling. ”

“ Surely we are traduced—and on an occasion like this it will neither be thought unphilosophical, nor unworthy the attention of a scientific mind, to incline itself to an event which has agitated the country, and which especially fills the bosom of every female in the land.
Collectively, it is impracticable to exhibit their interest on the occasion, but as individuals there is an important niche which they, and none else can occupy. It would neither be wise nor honorable to extinguish sensibility, nor to suppress the salutary eloquence of social grief ”

“ Lest, however, our patients should delicately refrain from seeking information of their medical attendants, as supposing that they would be unwilling to betray the secrets of their art and mystery, let them be assured, that necromancy and juggling are not farther removed from the practice of medicine and surgery, than are reserve and mystery from that theoretical information, which every educated practitioner is, at all times, willing to afford. ”

“ Royalty has no exemptions from disease; nor is there any royal exoneration from the contingencies of human life. If a female, in ordinary rank, die of fever, it is not brooded over to excess; and if one in these subordinate walks fall in the hour of child-birth, soon its influence subsides. ”

“ But, something ought to be done to relieve the medical profession from the disgusting necessities under which it is placed. Criminals whose bodies are sentenced to dissection, afford, happily, a very inadequate supply. Instances of persons bequeathing their remains for the purposes of science are very rare. An eminent example, however, of that kind of liberality occurred lately in the metropolis, and the donor was of the Medical Profession. It has been said, Why do not Surgeons generally set an example of such devotedness to science? There is no justice in such a demand. ”

“ And under this and every other instance of human instability and calamity, one common principle remains as a hope which cannot be shaken. We can look from earth to heaven, and say, ‘Thou, O Lord, remaineth for ever, thy throne from generation to generation.’”—Dr. ”

“ There is that, however, which “makes all doctrines plain and clear,” and it is the duty of every man to acquire popularity—his interest at least—and if his interest, then his duty: because, if it be the duty of a citizen to promote the general good, how can he do that in a readier way, than by promoting his own good? ”

“ The scientific mind ought to appreciate the influence which one human being is capable of exerting over another; and by reflecting on it, the most available line of conduct in the removal of disease will be discovered. ”

“ But, surely, it is a little hard upon the profession, not only to deny to them any fair and agreeable means of procuring subjects, but after compelling them to converse with the most equivocal characters that they may procure what is absolutely necessary to them, to denounce their dealings with such men as criminal and felonious. ”

“ But if we allow the ascendancy of mind, its agency becomes most powerful when most sensitive; and when, with this morbid sensibility, it is most subjected to molestation.
How interesting and impressive are the claims of a female under these circumstances; and attempts to administer relief, by the unassisted aid of medicine, will, not unfrequently, issue in disappointment.
The causes of miscarriage vary; and as various as are the causes, must be the medical treatment. These causes primarily belong, in general, to the parent; but they may exist independently in the conception. ”

“ On the other hand, how numerous are actions against surgeons merely for supposed want of skill in treating fractures and other cases, when the patient does not acquire that relief which he expects. Suppose I were exposed to an action from my prosecutors for ignorance in that science which they have just prosecuted me for studying, who would be more ready to prosecute than they? ”

“ A legal gentleman, perceiving that it was a charge of disinterment, and no more expecting an indictment for felony than one for high treason, neglected, for some days, to inform me that it was necessary I should plead to so serious a matter in person. A general exclamation of surprise and merriment attended its relation; except in some persons, who conceived it too serious a piece of malice to be met in any other way than by indignant deprecation. For my own part, I was content: I felt assured of the view which an enlightened judge would take of the subject ”

“ Some men have directed all their time and talents to insulated departments of medical or surgical practice. Does not this make them pedantic? Although they have risen high in these departments, yet having but partially appreciated other objects, they are contemned, notwithstanding they are effecting equal good by different agency. Division of human labor has its advantages ”

“ My uneasiness (whatever may have been the nature of theirs) consisted in a participation in the distresses of those persons, whose private feelings had been so deeply and (as I fear they supposed) cruelly wounded; and in the reflection, that the disgusting subject of human disinterment must be again agitated, commented upon, written upon; a subject which, of all others, whether relating to a necessity or not, ought to be kept profoundly silent, and almost mysteriously secret. ”

“ To designate a disease is by no means difficult; but to describe on paper all the distinctions of an experienced eye, and all the erudition of habituated touch, and to impart to them the full energy of the original source of demonstration, would require a power of delineation which is unattainable. ”

“ Or, he opens the vein, he divides some of the nerves, or he ties them up with the artery. It is all the same. He might as well have laid open the original tumour, and thus have killed the patient at once.
That man’s prejudices against Anatomy, Mr. Mayor, and even against disinterment, must be rooted indeed, who, in the face of such facts as these, would still oppose himself against some slight sacrifice of feeling, to secure such important advantages as anatomical knowledge has been seen to confer. But, Sir, the law requires of medical men that they be Anatomists. ”

“ Varied as the cases of parturition are, if the principle is kept in view, an intelligent mind will supply the deficiency. And a female will be conducted through a lingering labor with much less suffering, and much less exhaustion than under more unguarded treatment. ”

“ Nay more, when we exert ourselves, and procure it in the best way we can, in a state scarcely fit for handling, the implement being utterly useless for any other purpose, we are rewarded with complaints and abuse. Would this were all: we are prosecuted. (Once, we were, facetiously enough, indicted for a felony upon this score; but it need not be feared a second time: for the wit of the proceeding not happening immediately to appear, this merry conceit assumed too much the tone of malice aforethought, to render the jest expedient in future.) ”

“ They cannot but discern that the persons most competent to administer encouragement, are those to whose management their health is entrusted; and upon their accoucheur it unequivocally devolves not only to assist in the moments of child-birth, but to use every precaution to conduct to that period in safety. Timidity and apprehension often modify the nature of child-birth, without any extraordinary occurrence. Instances of predicted death, and predicted suffering, have been fully authenticated ”

“ This operation well performed, and under favourable circumstances, effects a perfect cure. But it is dreadful for any man to attempt it, (and there are many operations much more difficult,) without the most exact anatomical knowledge. It were far better that he allowed his patient to die secundum naturam, than that he presumed to hasten his death, by destroying him secundum artem. And, better were it many times over, that he experimented upon his own, than upon the throats of his unfortunate patients. Does he know the exact situation of the artery relatively to the deep parts about it? ”