286 



The original works on Medical Subjects produced in this country- 

 are almost all of them general treatises, intended especially for stu- 

 dents. The national practical tendency shows itself in the best of 

 these to good advantage. To contrast the American mind and its 

 prototype, the English, with that of some other nations, it might be 

 said that the Frenchman considers most in disease what there is to 

 see about it, the German what there is to think about it, the Anglo- 

 American what there is to do about it. The object of these works 

 sufficiently accounts for their generally elementary character, and 

 for the fact that few of them pretend to do more than serve a tem- 

 porary purpose, and then give place to newer compilations. A few 

 exceptions have already been referred to as of more permanent value, 

 but it must be confessed that the part of our present medical litera- 

 ture most likely to reach posterity is in the form of fragmentary con- 

 tributions to science rather than of any more formally and elaborately 

 organized productions. The Translations made in this country are, 

 with few exceptions, from the French, and have naturalized many of 

 the best practical authors of that country. Many of the higher class 

 of works remain yet untouched; those of Rayer on Diseases of the 

 Kidneys, and of Grisolle on Pneumonia, may be mentioned as exam- 

 ples. The three great Dictionaries have proved too formidable for 

 transfusion, and the incomparable Compendium de flfedecine, a work 

 which has more erudition and more actual intellectual outlay em- 

 ployed in its construction than would furnish forth twenty "Practices 

 of Medicine," is absolutely ignored, so far as the Committee are 

 aware, with a single exception, by all the writers of this country. 



It cannot be denied that the great forte of American Medical scho- 

 larship has hitherto consisted in " editing" the works of British 

 authors. The Committee are not disposed to disguise the fact that 

 this business has been carried on in a very cheap and labor-saving 

 fashion. A tacit alliance between writers and publishers has infused 

 the spirit of trade into the very heart of our native literature. The 

 gilt letters of the book-binder play no inconsiderable part in the cre- 

 ation of our literary celebrities. Sometimes the additions by the 

 "American Editor" have been real and important, oftener nominal 

 and insignificant. The following calculation of the proportion added 

 to different recently published works, taken at random, will show the 

 average amount of material so contributed. The Editor's proportion 

 was, in two instances, one-fourth ; in two more one-eighth ; in one 

 one-ninth ; in another one-tenth ; in others one-fifteenth, one-seven- 

 teenth, one-nineteenth, one-twentieth, one-twenty-eighth, one-fifty- 



