John Lizars, Esq, Surgeon, against James Syme, Esq., Surgeon, Monday, 26th July 1852 : (before the Lord Justice-General and a Jury).

  • Lizars, John, 1787?-1860.
Date:
[1852]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: John Lizars, Esq, Surgeon, against James Syme, Esq., Surgeon, Monday, 26th July 1852 : (before the Lord Justice-General and a Jury). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    stand you to say, that you would not meet a man in consultation who had placed himself beyond the pale of professional respect and courtesy. Would you meet a man in consultation, who had so placed himself in regard to the profession generally ? That being proved I would not. I cannot lay down rules to the profession ; I must have the grounds on which rules are to be laid down. If you believed that the party had been long placed beyond the pale of 4 professional respect and courtesy/ either in regard to one individual or in regard to the profession generally, would you meet that party in consultation on these two grounds ? I would not. If the statements in that letter had not been limited to the po¬ sition of Mr. Lizars and Mr. Syme, would you think it a curious thing if they were said of any body ? So much so, that I would not have consented that such a statement should appear in the Journal of which I was one of the conductors. Were you, in point of fact, consulted whether this letter should be inserted in the Journal or not ? Yes. By whom ? I suppose we consulted one another ; we frequently met, and the consultation may have been incidentally. If I understand your answer, you cannot say that you were con¬ sulted about this particular matter ? Yes, there was a consultation on this and every other matter of importance; we consulted with one another, but I do not recollect how this was brought before me. Tell me what took place about this particular article ? That the approbation of the conductors was given to it. Were you asked to read it ? It was very likely that I would ask to read it myself, and I did read it before it was published. Was that at a meeting of the conductors ? I think it was, but I may have read it before. Were the conductors all present at the meeting ? I do not know, but a number of them were, certainly. I think it is next to a cer¬ tainty that all the conductors saw it before publication. Are they all in the habit of reading all the articles ? Not all. How is that managed ? A great deal must be left to the discre¬ tion of the editor. Did you read this article before it was published with any parti¬ cular view ? Not more than this, that I look over all the articles put before me, either incidentally or intentionally, on the part of the Editor.