John Scott on the treatment of diseases of the joints, and of ulcers and chronic inflammation : a new edition, with an introduction and a chapter on the constitutional origin and treatment of diseases of the joints / by William Henry Smith.

  • Scott, John, 1798-1846.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: John Scott on the treatment of diseases of the joints, and of ulcers and chronic inflammation : a new edition, with an introduction and a chapter on the constitutional origin and treatment of diseases of the joints / by William Henry Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    of the means by which the progress of disease can be arrested ; liut, strange to say, such is not the order in which contributions to the science of medicine are estimated. A.n accurate de- scription of diseased states, the discovery of some phenomena about them not previously recognised, are hailed by the pro- fession, and confer immediate distinction on the authors or observers, whilst remedies, or plans of treatment, however effective and valuable, are always received very coldly, often with perfect indifference, and sometimes meet with unsparing and unscrupulous opposition. The history of this work of Mr. Scott well illustrates this professional prejudice. The father of Mr. Scott obtained a very extensive popular reputation for the cure of diseases of the joints and ulcerated legs. He resided at Bromley, in Kent, and that village was constantly filled with patients who resorted to him from the metropolis and all parts of the kingdom. We have abundant and unimpeachable testimony that he succeeded in curing numbers of surgical cases which, had they come under the care of the most eminent surgeons of the day, would have been pronounced hopeless. In fact, he saved for his patients innu- merable limbs which had been condemned to amputation. Mr. Scott was not a writer, consequently a certain degree of odium was attached to him by the profession, as it appeared that he pursued some secret process, and this is so opposed to the maxims of professional ethics that even the appearance of it could not be tolerated. His son, the late Mr. John Scott, having obtained the posi- tion of surgeon to a large hospital, and having had long experience of the success of his father's practice, published the method of treatment he had seen and practised. His work, it must be admitted, was not very favourably received by the profession. The medical journals about the