Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1854 edition. Excerpt: ... ON SELF-LIMITED DISEASES: "A DISCOURSE DELIVERED BEFORE THE MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SOCIETY, AT THEIR ANNUAL MEETING, MAY 27TH, 1835. At the beginning of this discourse, the customary obituary notice was taken of eminent members of the society, deceased during the previous year. The death of medical men is an occurrence which eminently demands our attention, for it speaks to us of our science, and of ourselves. It reminds us, that we, in turn, are to become victims of the incompetency of our own art. It admonishes us, that the sphere of our professional exertions is limited, at last, by insurmountable barriers. It brings with it the humiliating conclusion, that while other sciences have been carried forward, within our own time and almost under our own eyes, to a degree of unprecedented advancement, Medicine, in regard to some of its professed and most important objects, is still an ineffectual speculation. Observations are multiplied, but the observers disappear, and leave their task unfinished. We have seen the maturity of age, and the ardent purpose of youth, called off from the half cultivated field of their labors, expectations and promise. It becomes us to look upon this deeply interesting subject with unprejudiced eyes, and to endeavor to elicit useful truth from the great lesson that surrounds us. In comparing the advances which have been made, during the present age, in different departments of Medical science, we are brought to the conclusion, that they have not all been cultivated with equally satisfactory success. Some of them have received new and important illustrations from scientific inquiry, but others are still surrounded with their original difficulties. The structure and functions of the human body, the laws which...
