John Abernethy

“ Lawrence to say, "that the quotation of his own words rendered it impossible for him to shield himself under the pretext of uncertainty,” or to suggest that my lectures (which were excited as an act of self-defence) were meant chiefly as an attack upon his conduct and character? Is it becoming in Mr. Lawrence to hold me forth to public view as one blinded by national prejudice to the merits of persons of other countries? On the contrary, I consider all mankind as brethren, yet all brothers have not the same sentiments and dispositions. ”

“ There are those who think that a still further subdivision of the subjects of medicine might lead to a more perfect knowledge of them. Yet the ultimate structure of all parts of the body being the same, their diseases must be similar, and treated upon the same general principles. If also, to investigate and understand any subject in nature, art, or science, a great deal of collateral knowledge be required, which serves like light shining from various points, to illuminate the object of our attention ”

“ Youth is the season for acquiring knowledge: reflection would but retard its attainment, and would be unavailing from deficiency of facts and experience. That the mind is often wayward and irrational in youth as well as in age, is apparent; but that it exhibits as powerful intellect when excited and when it possesses adequate means for its exertion in childhood, as at any period of life, must, I believe, be acknowledged on a full examination of the subject ”

“ We can feel no surprise, therefore, that a large party of the medical profession should segregate themselves, and resolutely interdict the use of reasoning in medical practice, steadfastly resolving, in their conduct to be guided solely by the dictates of experience. Neither indeed can we wonder, that even erring reason still found advocates in the minds of men. ”

“ He found the knowledge of this subject encumbered and perplexed with false and absurd assertions and doctrines, which he removed, and endeavoured to make physiology as much like science as possible. He saw the necessity for an exact knowledge of anatomy, both human and comparative; for any reasoning with respect to function which is incompatible with the facts relating to structure must be invalid. He saw no mode by which function could be scientifically investigated, except by experiments made on living animals ”

“ Yet if the directors of hospitals, poor-houses, and prisons, were to establish it as a regulation, that the body of any person dying in those institutions, unclaimable by immediate relatives, should be given to the surgeon of the establishment for dissection, upon his signing an obligation so to dispose of it, as to give no offence to decency or humanity, I am convinced, that it would greatly tend to the increase of anatomical knowledge amongst the members of our profession in general, and consequently to the public good. ”

“ They openly avow their designs, solicit the assistance of others, and assist them in return; they note the slow degrees by which they advance in knowledge, their frequent failures, and the imperfection of their own powers; they also compare the aggregate of their advances with the illimitable nature of those objects to which they have merely approximated. Whilst those who make power, wealth, or any species of notoriety, the object of their ambition, are secret, selfish, suspicious, cunning, and conceited. ”

“ Hunter’s life was one of continual exertion, perplexity, and irritation. He was constantly engaged in the search and consideration of new facts. “My mind,” said he to me, "is like a bee-hive and the simile struck me, on account of its correctness. For, in the midst of buz and apparent confusion, there was great order; regularity of structure; and abundant food, collected with incessant industry, from the choicest stores of nature.
It will be generally admitted, that the want of money would be an adequate cause of perplexity. ”

“ It is indeed a surprising example of the scarcely to be expected improvement which may be effected by the industry of an individual when exerted in a right direction, and aided by that intelligence which reviews accumulated facts, compares, discriminates, combines, and arranges them; whilst it also draws cautious inferences from them, and suggests new subjects of enquiry, and new modes of research.
Of the genius, reflection, talents, and industry of John Hunter I have already spoken ”

“ Hunter was convinced that life was not the result of organization; and though many may have conjectured life to be something not dependent on structure, Mr. Hunter was the first who deduced the opinion, as a legitimate consequence of legitimate facts, that life actually constructed the very means by which it carried on its various processes, and that it could operate in semifluid and even fluid substances. His intelligent mind further perceived that no system of physiology could be perfect that did not equally explain the morbid as well as the healthy actions of life. ”

“ That children also possess the more energetic qualities of mind, those which chiefly characterize its distinct and superior nature, in as great a degree as at any period of life, will not, I think, be denied by any who has carefully attended to their conduct. Yet surgeons possess particular opportunities of making such remarks, and the communication of instances, which are not to them very uncommon, may be useful in the general consideration of this subject. When I first attended St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, one of the old surgeons was a most benevolent man, whom all the patients loved. ”

“ We must understand structure and function, and the changes produced in each by disorder and disease. There is no short cut, nor “royal road,” to the attainment of medical knowledge. The path which we have to pursue is long, difficult, and unsafe. In our progress, we must frequently take up our abode with death and corruption; we must adopt loathsome diseases for our familiar associates, or we shall never be thoroughly acquainted with their nature and dispositions; we must risk, nay even injure, our own health in order to be able to preserve or restore that of others. ”

“ Hunter, has represented him as an honest, independent, perfectly candid, and most industrious man, indifferent about money, and much attached to science. Now though I believe this sketch to be perfectly correct, yet there were finer traits of character requiring to be depicted ere I should recognise the intellectual resemblance of John Hunter. Those who make the study of nature, and of science, or the attainment of moral good, the ultimate object of their endeavours, are candid, disinterested, benevolent, and humble minded. ”

“ The dissection of the bodies of persons who die in the hospitals of Paris, produces at present no indignation, no sensation in the public mind. Yet even in the time of Haller, the laws and prejudices against purloining a dead body, were so strong, that he left France with all possible speed, lest the receiver should be considered as bad as the thief.
It was not, however, until the sixteenth century, that anatomy made any considerable advances, when some great anatomists distinguished themselves, particularly Eustachius and Fallopius in Italy, Sylvius and Vesalius in France. ”

“ Haller was a physician, Hunter a surgeon . both were anatomists and physiologists, both therefore equally qualified, as far as their knowledge of the animal economy extended, to discern the nature and mode of cure of the diseases in either department of medical science; yet, doubtless, each most competent to decide upon the best means for effecting the latter purpose in that to which he had been educated, and his attention chiefly directed. Medicine is one and indivisible: it must be learned as a whole, for no part can be understood, if studied separately. ”

“ It is by comparing the nature and treatment of diseases with one another, that we improve our knowledge and practice with respect to those of particular organs, or portions of the body. If, however, after an enlarged education, if after knowing the whole, our observations were exclusively directed to a part, it is probable that increase of knowledge might result from such concentration of attention. Yet those, in general, who study the diseases of particular organs or portions of the body, think that they may save themselves the trouble ”

“ Now without any knowledge of anatomy, or the animal economy, persons of the medical profession, by drawing inferences from mixed facts, might suppose, that a fire was kindled throughout the body to warm and cherish it, which, if in excess, might set our juices into fermentation, and thus produce partial or general disorder; they might suppose, that there were elements in the body, which ought to be combined in definite proportions, and that different diseases might result from the excess or deficiency of one or other of these elements. ”

“ We are sometimes called upon to examine the bodies of the dead, in hopes of our being able to discover the cause of death for the satisfaction of their relatives, when such examination affords us no additional knowledge; for we see only the common appearances of disease with which we are familiarly acquainted: and yet we are frequently denied the same opportunity when we most earnestly solicit it, from the belief that we shall obtain important information by the investigation. ”

“ The advantages which we derive from anatomical knowledge are, that it enables us to judge of the nature and probable event of injuries and diseases, by the exact information we possess of the situation and connexions of every part of the body; that it enables us to perform the operations of surgery with confidence in ourselves, and security to our patients ”

“ Hunter did not begin to learn anatomy till he was eighteen years of age; but when the book of nature lay exposed to his view, he read it with facility, interest, intelligence, and diligence; and the idle youth became a most industrious man. Like Haller, he devoted himself to physiology. ”

“ As a teacher of young men I felt particularly anxious that they should possess just, benevolent, and honourable sentiments, and therefore was I interested in maintaining those opinions respecting life, which seem to warrant the further opinion of the distinct and independent nature of mind ”

“ Lawrence’s late publication contains but a repetition of assertions which I have in general objected to, as he continues to harp upon words without attending to thoughts, and without even seeming to have noticed what I have said with relation to the subjects under discussion, I have nothing further to add to the foregoing lectures, except upon one point on which he has a little enlarged. He maintains the assertion that the mind, like the body, is imbecile in youth as well as decrepit in age. ”

“ In the very feeble and almost blind state attendant on the infancy of medical science, a caution not to attempt to advance, unless supported and conducted by an unerring guide, seemed really requisite, yet to prohibit such endeavours in the present vigorous and enlightened state of medical science, would be as preposterous as to recommend the conduct proper to be pursued in infancy, to be continued during the whole state of manhood. ”

“ Anatomical knowledge is the only foundation on which the structure of medical science can be built. Without this, we should but increase the sufferings of those afflicted with diseases, and endanger their lives. Opportunities of dissection should therefore be afforded to us. The bodies of persons dying in the hospitals abroad are given to the surgeons for dissection, and even with the acquiescence of the public. ”

“ After human anatomy had become moderately well known, the different nations of Europe were involved in war, and the same attention was not paid to the support of academical institutions, for teaching anatomy and medicine. Therefore, anatomists again had recourse to the dissection of animals, from which, however, they derived very important advantages. They were thus led to an extensive knowledge of the comparative structure of living beings in general, and to make observations and experiments illustrative of function. ”

“ Hunter’s character was evident in all his actions. He readily told all he knew or thought upon every subject ; and was pleased in assisting others to acquire knowledge. It is indeed highly improbable, that a wise and good man should be otherwise than candid. For wisdom teaches him not to form opinions but on sufficient grounds and consideration j and these he would freely reveal, being equally desirous that they should be corrected, if wrong, and acknowledged, if right. ”

“ Even at that time, the authority of Galen was held in such high respect, that when Vesalius showed his errors, and his ignorance of the structure of the human body, the hatred of all was turned against the defamer. People could not bear to be set right by so young a man, and even his preceptor Sylvius denounced perpetual enmity against him. I need not tell my present auditors what scrapes Vesalius got into, or what injuries he sustained, in consequence of the public prejudice against dissection. ”

“ Temporary irritation alone incited him to adopt this mode of expressing his strong conviction of what it became equally his duty to perform, and theirs to permit, for the attainment of knowledge, the most important to humanity. ”