Clinical manual for the study of medical cases / edited by James Finlayson.

Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical manual for the study of medical cases / edited by James Finlayson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    agreed to keep steadily in view the relation of the departments undertaken by them to the general scheme of the book; and so to keep the description of mere details in subordination to those aspects of disease important in an ordinary physician's practice: indeed the space available for these subjects forbade any attempt to deal with them in full detail. Certain parts of the clinical investigation were likely to be neglected in the plan of such a book, if a more general view of the aspect and physiog- nomony of the patient were not also supplied : to meet this want an introductory chapter on the Physiognomy of Disease has been furnished by Professor Gairdner, who has throughout given much assistance in the rest of the work. A concluding chapter on the Method of performing Post-mortem Examinations has been added by Dr. Joseph Coats : imperfect methods of examin- ing the body after death often lead to the practical loss of most important and laborious clinical investigations. No attempt has been made to follow out any very strict nosological plan or classification of subjects. The guiding considerations have always been convenience and utility. The limitations of space forbade any attempt to deal with the treat- ment of disease, although occasional allusions are to be found to the effect of remedies. When the nature of a case has been thoroughly mastered, so as to afford a trustworthy guidance to its position in respect of a true diagnosis, the whole literature of medicine is laid open for our assistance in the treatment. Many portions of this book are adapted more for reference than for reading in a continuous manner; but others, it will be easily seen, can be read best in sequence. Some subjects are dealt with more fully than others : this has been deter- mined, in large measure, by considering what were the parts of the clinical inquiry in which the student required most assistance, or in which his present books seemed defective for clinical purposes. Some references have been given at the openings of most,, of the chapters for the benefit of beginners, who might not know the names of special treatises dealing with the various b