Inquiry respecting Mr. Charles Whitlaw's practice in scrofula and cancer : and the propriety of instituting an asylum, under his care, for these complaints, &c. / by A. Rennie.

  • Rennie, A.
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Inquiry respecting Mr. Charles Whitlaw's practice in scrofula and cancer : and the propriety of instituting an asylum, under his care, for these complaints, &c. / by A. Rennie. 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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    14- at one time liatl exhausted his j)i'{)perty, both capital and interesf. In one instance to which he alluded, Mr. Whitlaw accompanied him to a garret where a female was confined by disease, and reduced to the lowest ebb of misery. She had tried every remedy in vain, and had been dismissed from the Middlesex Hospital as incurable. Her head was exposed by sores to the bone. Mr. Whitlaw visited and sup- plied her with remedies ; she gradually and perfectly recovered, and the flesh closed over the sores like the bark of a wounded tree. The other was the case of a young gentleman, who was so afflicted that he was quite loathsome to his companions. His studies were laid aside, his mind was become gloomy, and he was actually in despair; his afflicting maladies were now removed, his wounds were closed, and he was completely recovered. Mr. MiTFORD moved a vote of thanks to the Chairman for pre siding on the occasion, and for his very able and impartial conduct in the chmr. Mr. Harris said, that he should be extremely sorry for it to go forth to the world, that the meeting was at all prejudiced by the dis- cussion which had taken place; but of this he was assured, that the more the question was agitated, the more fully the efficacy of Mr. Whitlaw's system of treatment would be displayed. Sir Claudius Stephen Hunter returned thanks, and said, that although the meeting was not so fully attended as he could have wished, great things frequently resulted from small beginnings. He mentioned our holy religion as an illustration ; and concluded with an earnest wish, that, by the blessing of Divine Providence, the plan for establishing the proposed Asylum might be successfully carried into e:fecution. Oft this account, in the same paper of tlie 24th, I found it ne- cessary to make the following remarks: ** To the Editor of the Morning Post. Sir,—In two accounts which I have seen of what passed at the meeting on the 11th, in the City of London Tavern, to consider pro- posals for the erection of an Asylum for Scrofula and Cancer, under Mr. Whitlaw's superintendence, my reasons for objecting to the plan are stated in a manner so curtailed, as by no means to convey their real force. Having no object in view but the discovery of truth, I beg you to do me the favour to lay before the public the following state- ment of the result of my observations hitherto of Mr. Whitlaw's treatment as exhibiting my grounds of objection. I thought the Report read by the Secretary unsatisfactory. This Report commenced with glowing representations of the dreadful na- turej of the diseases proposed to be cured, Cancer and Scrofula. This, though no: doubt calculated to awaken feelings of sympathy and commiseration for the afflicted in every humane breast, could