Authentic memoirs, biographical, critical, and literary, of the most eminent physicians and surgeons of Great Britain; with a choice collection of their prescriptions, and account of the medical charities of the metropolis, &c. &c.

Date:
1818
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Authentic memoirs, biographical, critical, and literary, of the most eminent physicians and surgeons of Great Britain; with a choice collection of their prescriptions, and account of the medical charities of the metropolis, &c. &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    144/680 (page 98)
    Perhaps tlieve is no situation so delicate for the test of professional abilities as this, from the number of compe- titors each individual has to contend with, and from the patients being chiefly those who have been long under medical treatment; who have, in fact, been in many hands; and who, while at this seat of health and restora- tion, have nothing to engage their attention, but the merits of their medical attendants to descant on. The patients that resort here may be divided into two classes: the votaries of fashion, whim, and ennui; and the real sufferers from constitutional diseases. The first are the most difficult to treat; for it is not easy for a man of sense to be serious with nonsense: and with the last, a phy- sician can have little credit, for such maladies as gout, gravel, and a worn-out habit, are incurable. The repu- tation, therefore, of a physician at Bath, is generally short lived. lie is hailed on at his arrival as a new acqui- sition, and eagerly sought after; but the moment the novelty is over, he sinks into insignificance. The reason of this is plain. In the metropolis, the physician gra- dually makes and extends his connexion, which is gene- rally, unless his own fault, permanent. In Bath, there is no proper connexion fixed to the spot. The patients are chiefly birds of passage : and while there, it is novelty, and the name at the moment, that solely attracts them. But in spite of these unpropitious circumstances, Dr. Bain preserved, during his residence there, both a high repu- tation and respect: nor did he allow himself to he led astray by an attachment to those dangerous studies, to which the physicians of this noted place too often give way; and, for want of their time being sufficiently en- gaged in professional pursuits, consume the midnight hours in the chances and hopes of wealth that the gaming table affords. Such a conduct generally entails in the end irreparable ruin; and the first abilities in this vortex of