A letter to the Presidents of the Westminster Medical Society, on cholera / [John Webster].

  • Webster, John.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to the Presidents of the Westminster Medical Society, on cholera / [John Webster]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    LETTER TO THE PRESIDENTS OF THE WESTMINSTER MEDICAL SOCIETY. • H £ fit * lT4F¥ ki -;—*—-- ..._ .. • ___ In the controversy now agitating the medical profession, and to the satisfactory settlement of which; the public mind is directed with the most intense anxiety, too much importance, in my humble estimation, has been all along attached to the point, whether or, not, the disease now prevalent in the Metropolis, and in the north of England, be really identical with that seen in Poland, in Russia, and so well known to the inhabitants of India. Because, even if this question was settled, beyond the shadow of a doubt, it would prove hut little; and certainly, could not give any important information, either to satisfy the pub¬ lic, or to instruct the practitioner. To my mind, the question which ought to be discussed, as the one most essential at the present period, and because on its decision must principally hinge the measures of government, and the opinions as well as practice of medical men, undoubtedly is; not whether the disease prevailing in Southwark he the same, as that common in India, under the name of Cholera; but whether this epidemic be really a new disease, and if not, it must be an aggravated and more fatal type of that Cholera Morbus so admirably described by Sydenham, by Morton, Heberden and other authors ; with which complaint, most practitioners in this country are familiar, although generally only observed in a milder, or less rapid form. Now I would respectfully ask, who are the judges most competent to decide this important question ? not surely those who have passed their whole professional life in India, in the navy, or in the army; but with all due respect for gentlemen, who have served their country, with credit to themselves, and advantage to the state, I should assuredly think, medical men who have been long conver-