Illustrations of disease with the microscope : clinical investigations, aided by the microscope, and by chemical reagents, with microscopical observations of pathological specimens, medical and surgical, obtained in Charleston, S.C. : a contribution intended to disclose the minute history of the diseases prevailing in this latitude, and to assist future students / by Francis Peyre Porcher.

  • Porcher, Francis Peyre, 1824-1895.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Illustrations of disease with the microscope : clinical investigations, aided by the microscope, and by chemical reagents, with microscopical observations of pathological specimens, medical and surgical, obtained in Charleston, S.C. : a contribution intended to disclose the minute history of the diseases prevailing in this latitude, and to assist future students / by Francis Peyre Porcher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    But the drawings, though, executed with the pen for the most part, will remain for any persons coming after to iden- tify, interpret, or comment upon as they please. Their value consists in this—that, after much trouble in secur- ing them, the}' were executed from an inspection of mor- bid specimens that existed of many diseases observed repeatedly. In the preparation of the wood cuts, I have caused to be retained almost every object originally repre- sented from an inspection of the field of the microscope, because they serve to show the predominance of certain substances, and some, though apparently valueless, may one day be recognized as peculiar or important. Dr. Lionel Beale says, on this subject, in his work, the Mi- croscope in Medicine : It may almost be said that all progress in our knowledge of minute structure, both in healthy and diseased tissues,, depends upon the drawings which are made. It is almost hopeless for an observer to attempt to describe what he sees in words, and such descriptions, however careful they may be, cannot possibly be compared with those of others. On the other hand, a truthful drawing of what a man has seen lately, may be compared with others which may be made a hundred years hence, although the means of observation will be far more perfect than they are at present. Much will be learned by such comparisons. I am sure that an honest enquirer cannot be of greater use, in his time, than by making good drawings of what he has seen ; they will be of far greater help to our successors than any amount of description we can write for them, and we may feel sure they will look at our drawings if they are honest copies of nature, while we all know that, comparatively, very little of what we write will be read, when the whole aspect of this department of science shall be changed. * * * A good knowledge of drawing, of the stethoscope, of the opthal- moscope, and, indeed, of any other investigation accessory to medical research, requires far more devotion than is implied in the mere sacrifice of the money which is neces- sary for the purchase of books and instruments. So it is