A letter to Sir William Garrow, His Majesty's attorney-general, on his proposed bill for regulating the practice of surgery throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland / by James Hamilton.

  • Hamilton, James, 1749-1835.
Date:
1817
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Sir William Garrow, His Majesty's attorney-general, on his proposed bill for regulating the practice of surgery throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland / by James Hamilton. 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.

    5/24 (page 3)
    to practise in diseases affecting the general constitution, as fever, &c. or in disorders requiring a Surgical operation. For a long time after Physic and Surgery were thus practised by diffe- rent individuals, the superintendence of the act of Child-bearing was en- trusted exclusively to women, except in those rare cases of extreme difficulty and danger, where a mechanical operation was required, when recourse was had to the assistance of a Surgeon. But towards the end of the seventeenth century, certain Surgeons in Paris began to devote their time and attention to the charge of pregnant women; and soon afterwards a similar subdivision among Medical Practitioners took place in London, with this difference, how- ever, that the individuals who made Midwifery an exclusive profession in that city were Physicians,—and hitherto the Chief Practitioners and Teachers of Midwifery in London have been Physicians. Thus, in the reign of King Charles II. Dr Chamberlain became emi- nent as a Practitioner of Midwifery, and invented an instrument, by which the infant can be extracted alive, without injury to the parent, in cases where it was formerly deemed absolutely necessary to sacrifice one life. Dr Chapman, who first taught Midwifery in London, lived about the beginning of the eighteenth century. He was succeeded by Dr Smellie, who improved greatly upon the French mode of teaching, and whose Works are still deservedly held in much estimation. , Dr William Hunter followed Dr Smellie, and published a Set of Plates, illustrating the Anatomical Structure of the Gravid Uterus, which may be said to have laid the foundation of some of the most important improvements in the Practice of Midwifery. After Dr Hunter’s time, several Physicians, among whom may be enumerated die names of Dr Colin Mackenzie, Dr Orme, Dr Lowder, Dr Denman, Dr Garshore, Dr Osborne, Dr Clarke, Dr Thynne, Dr Bland, and many others, practised or taught Midwifery in London with high reputation, and, by their writings, improved very greatly the principles of the Profession. That