A vindication of the forceps described and recommended by Dr. Leake : in which the injudicious and illiberal remarks on that subject, signed Thomas Denman, are examined and refuted / by a late pupil of Dr. Leake's.

Date:
1783
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A vindication of the forceps described and recommended by Dr. Leake : in which the injudicious and illiberal remarks on that subject, signed Thomas Denman, are examined and refuted / by a late pupil of Dr. Leake's. 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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    merit in the hands of feveral Praftitioners of the firft name in France, RuJJia, and Holland, as well as Great Britain and Ireland. With fo many and fuch refpedtable Suffrages in its favour, I thought the credit and ufe of the new Forceps had been univerfally eftablifhed, till I was lately convinced, by perufing your Remarks on that Injlrument, that there was at leaft one diflenting voice. When, or in what manner, thefe Remarks were firft ufhered into light, I will not take upon me to fay ; but I am apt to think they had a clandejline Birth, as I do not remember to have feen them advertifed in the tifual way ; a circumftance which would not have readily elcaped me, as my fondnefs for Improvement, efpecially at fo great a diftance from Town, makes me always very attentive to the Ar- ticle of new Publications. It was by mere accident therefore, and only very lately, that I had the happy opportunity of feeing this ftriking Specimen of your Candour and literary Talents ; and as foon as I had glanced it over, I was determined to employ my firft in- tervals of leifure, from the duties of my Profeffion, in vindicating Dr. Leake from fo illiberal and injurious an Attack. Together with this motive you may attribute as much as you pleafe to the vanity of a young man, whom you may fufpeft, perhaps, of feeking for an occafion to try his ftrength in the lifts of Controverfy ; and in- deed, to be perfectly ingenuous with you on this head, I will frank- ly own, that fo far as it may be natural to take courage from the' weaknefs of an Advcrfary, 1 did think I could never hope for a bet- ter opportunity of making a firft eflay with fo little hazard to my Reputation. In cenluring Dr. Leake's Forceps, which you are pleafed to de- clare an ineffectual as well as a dangerous Inftrument, you alledge the public good as your foie inducement for undertaking the trouble of your precious Remarks upon it. This is certainly a good Plea, and worthy of a good Man ; but it has been fo often hackneyed and abuled, that we are fometimes apt to fufpect a counterfeit. It is a convenient