A letter to Andrew Duncan, senior, M.D. ... regarding the establishment of a new infirmary / by Richard Poole.

  • Poole, Richard, 1780?-1870.
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Andrew Duncan, senior, M.D. ... regarding the establishment of a new infirmary / by Richard Poole. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    cesses of power, and so accomplish changes, essen- tial to their own reputations and talents. I would decree the highest honours to the first a- mong them, who should refuse to hold a knife in the house, until he saw carried into effect, what he knew was no less requisite to success, than the skill with which he could wield it; and, I sincerely hope, the time is at hand, when they will be emulous of the praise and the efficacy of such courage. One fact is all I shall offer in relation to a cer- tain part of your admission, but it is one of mighty urgency; and, I trust, that it will be duly re- garded by those, who have still to make up their minds as to the expediency and necessity of a new Infirmary. A private practitioner informs me, and can prove, that since the last operation for stone in the bladder performed in the Royal Infirmary, he himself has performed it upwards of twelve times, on persons, who, from their cir- cumstances and rank in life, would have entered that establishment for the purpose of undergoing it, had their prejudices, no matter what or whence, permitted. Reasoning, as I may, from this single example, I feel entitled to declare, that a new Surgical Hospital is already commenced, though without name, or funds, or visible establishment. Henceforward, then, let no one, fostering the really ridiculous idea, that Edinburgh, considered as a medical school, is superior to the rest of the world, and has attained an excellence which can-