TO DRS. FORBES AND CONOLLY, Editors of the British and Foreign Medical Review, &c. IN No. XIII. page 231, of your Review, is noticed my System of Practical Surgery, part I.;-upon which article I expect that, in your next Number, you will, from a sense of justice, give my remarks. In his very first paragraph, the self-elected judge pronounces upon the work an unqualified sentence of condemnation; with which may be contrasted the last paragraph, concluding, "that we cannot recommend it, (the work) to our readers on such grounds as these, that it doubtless contains many valuable facts," &c. The intervening part of this effusion is no less entertaining. My book is consigned to oblivion upon the following allegations: the want of definite and indefinite articles; the want of the causes of luxations; the want of differential diagnosis: and the want of accuracy in the diction. He has pointed out, I think, three typographical mistakes; for these I am obliged to him; I have myself discovered a few more equally unimportant, but none of them shall be overlooked. The rest of the errors exist only in his own inventive imagination. I should wish an explanation of "differential diagnosis," as well as of the novel doctrine, "that many valuable facts" are no recommendation. This writer piques himself upon his skill in composition, and his grammatical acumen. Let us test his modest pretensions by the document before us.-It begins, "It is painful to us to be called on to pass judgment-as we are sorry to say, we not unfrequently are," &c. "It is painful to us to be,"-here is a childish solecism. This unhappy being, indeed, is overwhelmed with pain and sorrow, but what is painful? is it the passing of the judgment? no, it is the being called on: what is he sorry for? not the judgment which may injure his neighbour, but, to say, is the cause of his affliction! It is desirable to have an explanation of the as, for its use here puzzles me as much as the "differential diagnosis." What boy, in his first essay, ever produced so much ungrammatical nonsense in so few words? Line 15.-"But as our time will not allow us to comment upon its whole contents, we shall select," &c. The shall here reminds me of a London Professor, who wrote to his Scotch friend, "Will you dine with me to-day?" The answer returned was, "Yes I shall!" Might we not have expected better English, even from a north-country adventurer? Line 26.-" Studying causes in dislocations of bones." Is this an advice to lawyers, or are we to have a new science of etiology? To me certainly the observation is inapplicable, seeing that in my work the causes of dislocations are given in ample detail. Line 33.—“ About flattening of the deltoid muscle:"—these five words exhibit a violation of the common rules of grammar given in every school-book; and the whole proves that our erudite censor knows as much of the use of articles, as of any other part of speech. This grand specimen of correct and elegant diction comprises about five dozen of lines, in which it were not difficult to point out at least an equal number of palpable blunders. It has been said of the author of Hudibras, "that his satirical poem is a burlesque upon poetical language;" but I am not inclined to give my monitor the credit of purposely displaying the faults of which he complains; every intriguing creature is not a Butler. man. Any competent person who may take the trouble of "examining" the surgery of this sapient critic, will find his literary and surgical accomplishments of equal value; and that to decide upon a system of Surgery, he is a marvellous proper I am, Gentlemen, your obedient Servant, Edinburgh, 33, York Place, 21st January, 1839. To the above letter I received an answer from Dr. Forbes, refusing to insert it without payment, and to which the following was my reply. JOHN LIZARS. J. L. Edinburgh, 9th Feb. 1839. DEAR SIR,-Your answer to me of the 30th ult., is written in a friendly style, though in effect it declares, that, in your Journal you will publish any tissue of calumny and falsehood, but no vindication. It has been said, that the corruption and servility of the periodical press are the opprobium of the present age; I fear, that the Foreign Quarterly will not prove the assertion unfounded. You advise me, no doubt disinterestedly, to suppress my letter, as your Reviewer did, to withdraw my work on surgery, but the greatest ornaments and ablest men of our profession differ from him in opinion. From your offer of inserting for payment my defence in your extra-limites, I infer, that impartiality and truth unbought, find no place within your boundaries; I will therefore, apply where I believe, I shall meet with a more favourable reception, and having given you, and your literary English friends, a practical illustration of will and shall, I am, Dear Sir, Your very obedient Servant, JOHN LIZARS. SPECIFIC FOR FEVER, NOW FIRST INTRODUCED INTO EUROPE. Address to the Public. HAVING, as I perfectly believe,-(and my own convictions are confirmed by the opinions of many experienced Physicians and others, who have witnessed its effects,)-discovered a certain Remedy for Fever, of any type, I feel it to be a duty which I owe to my own character as a professional man, to the Public, and more especially to my Medical brethren, to communicate some particulars relative to this Medicine. Having ascertained its efficacy in my own practice, my next anxiety was to have the Medicine tried by others, and reported upon. By great exertion, and at considerable expense, I prepared a quantity sufficient for upwards of seven thousand cases, the whole of which I distributed gratuitously into various parts of British, Dutch, and French Guiana, the West Indies, North and South America, Batavia, and the East Indies. The Deputy Inspector General of Army Hospitals in British Guiana, who authorized the use, and officially reported upon the effects, of the Medicine among the Troops in that Colony, also forwarded to the home authorities a number of bottles of it, with a recommendation that it should be tried in the Military Hospitals in Malta, Gibraltar, the Ionian Islands, &c. The Reports which have hitherto received, are uniform in their testimony to the immediate and beneficial effects of the Medicine. It is my earnest wish, that here, as has already been the case in the West Indies, this Medicine shall rest its claims to public confidence solely on its ascertained merits. I therefore invite the Physicians of the principal Medical Establishments in Great Britain, to the strictest trial of my Fever Drops; and I have stipulated with MESSRS. PARKER AND COMPANY, King William-street, Charing Cross, that the requisite Medicine for such trials shall be furnished gratis, upon proper application. The form in which I exhibit it, is that of a Tincture. Doses, two; quantity per dose, two drachms and a half; interval between doses, three hours. The effects uniformly produced, are, relief of pains in the head, back, and limbs; slightly narcotic, and highly sudorific. Usual period for total eradication of Fever, from three hours to twenty-four. London, 13th March, 1839. CARL WARBURG, M.D. |