Observations on the effects of mercury on the organs of hearing, and the improper use of it in cases of nervous deafness / by W. Wright.

  • Wright, William, 1773-1860.
Date:
1822
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the effects of mercury on the organs of hearing, and the improper use of it in cases of nervous deafness / by W. Wright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    Ifausel i^rcuiy inay be indispensable. Yet lipon this v^^^ljand^uncertam idea of its usefulness in nervous ^^esjs^ wliicV even the modern advocate of the pW^t^e declared was erroneous, the most delicaie females/as well as persons of all ages, liaye 1jcen, in- Sisenminatelv saturated wLtli mercury, anA ilie piiMic h\ye been Javoured from time to time with accounts ot^cure's of persons by this method, who sccni to iiavc n^j(rier a local habitation nor a name, for tlie iiiilials kve given, which, with ihe exception oi' tlirce or ]^our, comprize all the letters of the a!|)habct, sonify (if which, to add to their imjwrtaiice, are graced with tr|le§. This publication of anonympus cases cairies no* conviction to the mind of a person of common in- lellect, for he has before him only the ex-parte sta(e- ment of a person who is interested in proving to the world, as far as hi^ ipse dixit will do so, that he is siiperior to every other person in the treatment of a peculiar species of disease. As far as concerns the profession, this conduct is illiberal; and as concerns the interest' of the party adopting it, the plan is ill fuiiged; for the public, and the respectable part of profession, look upon most of these things as ir^ere advertisements, and the veriest empiric will sur- pass any practitioner of real merit by the imblns/iiuo- f^rdniei-y with which he will fabricate cases, and even introduce the names of some of the nobility as^ hi^ patrons or patients, who never heard of him, but 'n'e- gleet to expose the imposition lest they should^lii giving importance by noticing the falsehood. ' !lifi Ilard, by the publication of his numerous cases, ii'as, I understand from a French physician, lessened the value of his work very considerably in the estimatitift of .the scientific; although venal reviewers are to t>6 Tojind iujlhat' country, as well'a^ ili Yhi'^, who wi'f 1 |^ive their 'u'n4uariiie'd approljat'iori'''of ^Wfiat' f'Bifejr' tifev^i