[No. 108. [Oct. 1, 1825.]

THE LANCET.

ADVERTISEMENT.

IN commencing the Ninth Volume of this Publication, we have the satisfactionto announce, that the circulation of THE LANCET, during the last year, has in-

creased to an extent which we believe to be unprecedented in the history of anyScientific Journal in this country. If an extension of circulation were the sole

object of our labours, we should have to thank our enemies as well as our friendsfor our increasing prosperity, since the persevering malignity with which a faction,interested in the continuance of abuses, has endeavoured to effect the suppressionof THE LANCET has had the usual effect of exciting a corresponding dispositionto support a Publication which has laboured unceasingly, and in many instancessuccessfully, to promote the interests both of the Profession and of the Public.We confess, however, that we have no great talent for saying civil things to ourenemies-some of our opponents will, perhaps, give us credit for this avowal-a,ndto our friends, we shall best express the sense we entertain of their support, notby indulging in the customary cant about patronage and continued exertions, butby stating that it is our intention to extend the limits of our Publication by a veryconsiderable outlay of capital, and to increase its usefulness by opening newsources of intelligence.Before we proceed, however, to call the attention of our readers to the improve-

ments we propose to introduce, we must make an observation or two, in passing,on some of the events which have occurred in the course of the last year. We

should occupy more space than we can at present afford, if we were to notice thethreats of prosecution, and the impotent attempts at intimidation, which havebeen resorted to, on various occasions, by the advocates of the " Hole and

Corner" system. The disgraceful proceedings of the secret meeting at the Free-masons’ Tavern, which we recently detected and exposed, afford a tolerable spe-cimen of the spirit in which the opposition to THE LANCET has been conducted.We shall confine ourselves, on the present occasion, to the legal proceedingswhich have been instituted against ns ; and first, pace taitti ’!Ï1’i, let us be per-mitted to take a passing glance at that mirror of literary honesty-that faithfultranscriber of the pages of THE LANCET-that singularly accurate and authenticreporter of all, aye, and more than all that ever fell from the lips of Sir ASTLEYCoopER—the veritable SIMON PURE. We are unable to maintain our wonted

gravity, when we reflect on the position in which SIMON placed himself by hismost ill-advised action against THE LANCET; it is a position which is calculated

Let it never be forgotten, that in the volume purporting to be the only authen-tic report of Sir Astley Cooper’s Lectures, Simon actually transcribed a passagenever uttered by Sir Astley, but written by our own Reporter for the sake of iltns-trating a topic indirectly connected with the subject of the Lecture.--See LANCET,Vol. V. p. 112.

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to disarm hostility, and to convert any indignation which we might have felt at

the coolness with which our labours were appropriated, into a feeling of a verydifferent description. Undoubtedly we cannot help thinking it a little inconsistentwith the supposed dignity of a Hospital Surgeon, to descend to the humble task

of transcribing our Reports, and to the pitiful expedient of puhlishing the:’1 as hisown ; but we have already more than once declared our opinion that the inva-luable principles inculcated in the Lectures of Sir ASTLEY COOI’ER cannot be tooextensively diffiised, and we trust, therefore, that SIMON qlay not find his occu-

pation as useless as it is inglorious. Unfortunately for SIMON, the powerfal elo-

quence and the blighting ridicule of 1Vir-. BROUGHAM will contriblete to keep alive

the memory of the circumstances which called them forth, aud the Ninnyhammersof St. Thomas’s Hospital will be preserved, like reptiles iv spirits, itt one of the

most splendid addresses that was ever delivered at the English bar.The Proceedings in Chancery on Mr. ABERNETHY’S two Motious for ao In-

junction against the publication of his Lectures, though otiginating in the same

spirit as the action of SiMON, are of far greater importance, as they involve a

question of deep interest to the Public. We again repeat, that we do not claim-the right of-publishing the Lectures of any individuals, except those who, by aninfamous bye-law, have procured for themselves a monopoly 4)f lecturing to 8tu’-dents in Surgery, and who have thereby excluded the Profession. and the Publiefrom all the benefits of competition. We maintain, that the Lecturers, protectedby the regulations of the Court of Examiners, stand in a totally different situationfrom private- Lecturers; that, having declared themselves alone capable of in-

structing the youth of England-in Surgery, and- hav-ing enforced that declaration

by compelling Students to produce certificates of attendance on their Lectures,they have no right to claim the protection due to private Lecturers, in order -toconceal from the public the manner in which the functions they have monopolizedare discharged. Is it not monstrous that Mr. ABERNETHY should, by one act, con-fer upon himself-the exclusive right of Lecturing as a public functionary, and byanother claim the protection due to private Lecturers, on the ground of the ifljmywhich his reputation or his pecuniary interests sustain from the pnbtication of hisLectures ? The question has not yet been fairly argned on this ground, exceptin our pages, and we are so convinced of the justice of our claim, that we are rc-solved not only to bring it again before the Court of Chancery, but, if we should’be again defeated, to appeal to the highest tribunal in the country. We are

aware, indeed, that an appeal to the House of Lords is little more than an appeal-from Titius in Lincoln’s Inn to Titius at Westminster Hall ; but neither the uncer-

tainty nor the expense inseparable from legal proceedings shall deter ns fromusing our utmost exertions to obtain for this question the fullest investigation, andto bring it to a just and equitable decision.

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One word as to the value of Mr. ABERNFTHY’s Lectures. It has been said,that we praised them in the outset, but that our opinion of their merits was alteredby Mr. A13ERNI!THY’S motion for an Injunction. The fact has not been fairlystated; we certainly spoke favourably of the Introductory Lecture, but the opi-nion which we gave as to, the general merits of the Lectures was foynded uponan impartial examination of the w hole Course, and we, are persuaded that we onlyechoed the general voice of the Profession, when we characterised them as loose in

arrangement, deficient in illustration derived from cases, and altogether unworthycr

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of the reputation which the Lecturer has acquired. Mr. ABERNETHY is unques-

tionably a man of some talent, but his besetting in is affection; it is this sicken-

ing ingredient which pervades his language, his Lectures, and his professional prac-tice ; and he has yet to learn that quaintness is not originality, nor a disregard forthe common courtesies of life, philosophy. Apropos des Battes f We cannot close

this article without presenting our Readers with tht po-rtrait of a celebrated Phy-siciao, whoflourished in the reign of Queen Anne; as drawn by Dr. MANDEVILLV,in his " Fable of the Bees," Vol 1. p. 230, edit. Edinb. 1755 :-" That a man with small skill in physic, and hardly any learning, should by vile

arts get into practice, and lay up great wealth, is no mighty wonder; but thathe should so deeply work himself into the good opinion of the world, as to gainthe general esteem of a nation, and establish a reputation beyond all his contem-poraries, with no other qualities but a perteo: knowledge of mankind, and a capa-city of making the most of it, is something extraordinary. If a man, art tved tosuch a height of glory, should be almost distracted with pride, sometimes give hisattendance on a servant, or any meart person, for nothing, and at the same timeneglect a nobleman that gives exorbitant fees; at other times refuse to leave hisbottle for his business, without any regard to the quality of the persons that sentfor him, or the danger they are in : if he should be surly and morose, affect to be anhumourist, treat his patients like dogs, though people of distinction, and value noman but what would deify him, and never call in question the certainty of his ora-cles : if he should insult all the world, affront the first nobility, and extend his insolenceeven to tlie Royal Family: if, to maintain, as well as to increase the fame of hissufficiency, he should scorn to consult with his betters on what emergency soever,and look down with contempt on the most deserving of his profession., and neverconfer with any other physician but what will pay homage to his snperior genius,creep to his humour, and never approach him but with Fill the slavish obsequionsnessa court-flatterer can treat a prince with : if a man in his life-time should discover,on the one hand, such manifest symptoms of superlative pride, and an insatiablegreediness after wealth at the same time, and, on the other, no regard to religion,or affection to his kindred, no compassion to the poor, and hardly any hmmanity tohLs fellow creatures; if he gave no proofs that he loved his country, bad a publicspirit, or was a lover of arts, of books, or of literature, what must we judge of hismotive and the principles he acted from."

We have to call the attention of our Readers to !he augmented size of otfr pagesir. the present number, which will enable ns to introduce additional matter equi-valent to seven pages of our last number.

It is our intention to give an ahstract, from the various Scientific Journals of

Europe, of all articles connected with the progress of medical science. The space

acquired by the new arrangement will also enable us to give admission to muchvaluable Correspondence, which our former limits frequently compelled us toexclude.

We have engaged Reporters at the Hotel Dieu, and Hôpital de la G’harite at

Paris, who will regularly transmit to us an accurate account of all important caseswhich may occur in those Institutions.

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We shall in future entirely exclude Advertisements from the body of the Work;but that our Readers may not be deprived of this species of Medical News, THELANCET will be published with a wrapper, and Advertisements will be receivedas usual at our Office.