720 
sion the justice to say, that, with a very 
few exceptions, there is every disposition 
to take into consideration the circum- 
stances in which patients happen to be 
placed. 
The following remarks are well wor- 
thy the serious attention of the candid 
physician. 
«« At the close of every interesting and 
important case, especially when it hath ter- 
minated fatally, a physician should trace 
baek in calm reflection, all the steps which 
he had taken in the treatment of ite This 
review of the origin, progress, and conclu- 
sion of the hoses ; of the whole curative 
plan pursued ; and of the particular opera- 
tion of the several remedies em:ployed, as well 
as of the doses and periods of time in whith 
they were administered, will furnish the most 
authentic documents, on which individual 
experience can be formed. But it is in a mo- 
ral view that the practice is here reeommend- 
ed; and it should be performed with the 
most scrupulous impartiality. Let no self- 
deception be permitted in the retrospect; and 
if errors, either of omission or commission, 
are discovered, it behoves that they should 
be brought fairly and fully to the mental 
view. Regrets may follow, but criminality 
will thus ‘be obviated. For good intentions, 
and the imperfection of human skill which 
cannot anticipate the knowledge that events 
alone disclose, will sufficiently justify what 
is past, provided the failure be made consci- 
entiously subservient to future wisdom and 
xectitude in professional conduct.” 
The commencement of that period of 
senescence when it is incumbent on a 
physician to decline the offices of his 
profession, it is not easy to ascertain, and 
the decision of so nice a point, the au- 
thor justly observes, must be left to the 
moral discretion of the individual. 
«« As age advances, therefore, a physician 
should, from time to time, scrutinise impar- 
tially the state of his faculties ; that he may 
determine, bona fide,’the precise degree sin 
which he is qualified to execute the active 
MEDICINE, SURGERY, ANATOMY, &c. 
and multifarious offices of his profession, 
And wheneyer he becomes conscious t 
“his memory presents to him, with faintness, 
those analogies, on which medical reasonin 
and the treatment of diseases are founded ; 
that diflidence of the measures to be pursned 
perplexes his, judgment ; that, from a defi- 
ciency in the acuteness of his senses, he 
finds himself less able to distinguish signs, 
or to prognosticate events ; he should at once 
resolve, thongh ‘others perceive not the. 
changes which have taken place, to sacrifice 
every consideration of fame or fortune, and 
{0 retire from the engagements of business.” 
With regard to the behaviour of phy- 
siclans to apothecaries,.the author. re- 
commends every proper attention to:that 
very useful class of men, who are gene- 
nerally the precursors of physicians, and 
with whoman amicable intercourse, and 
co-operation, if conducted with regard 
to decorum and etiquette, (which should 
always be steadily observed) willadd to 
the authority of the one, the respectabi- 
lity of the other; and the usefulness of 
both. 
The 4th chapter treats of professiona 
duties in cases which require a’ know- 
ledge of law. In many circumstances 
in which physicians and surgeons may 
be placed, it is desirable for them to have 
not only a certain acquaintance with the 
principles of jurisprudence, but of the 
forms and regulations adopted in courts 
of judicature. The necessity of such a 
knowledge, will evidentty appear from 
the perusal of this chapter, in which 
much useful information is given on the 
subject. An extensive appendix is added 
to this valuable work, which contains a 
sermon on hospital duties preached by 
the author’s son, in the year 179i, for 
the benefit-of the infirmary at Liverpool, 
and a variety of notes and illustrations 
connected with the subjects of the preced- 
ing pages, and equally deserving a mi- 
nute attention. = 
Art. V. Observations on the Constitution of Women, and on some of the’ Diseases-to 
which they are more especially liable. 
By Sayvex Wacker, MM. D. of the Royal Col- 
lege of Physicians London, Physician to the City of London Lying-in-Hospital, and to 
the City Dispensary, 12mo. pp: 228. 
THE diseases of women form a large 
and important branch of medical prac- 
tice, and have received from the author, 
more than ordinary attention, during a 
long period in which he has acted as 
physician to an extensive lying-in cha- 
’ rity.. His work may be regarded asa 
useful compendium of the practice 
which is now most generally employed 
in female diseases, but we do not observe 
that he has, by the observations which 
he had an opportunity of making, thrown 
any new light upon the subject. 
studiously avoids entering into any dis- 
cussion on disputed points in the patho-_ 
logy of female complaints, which we 
should have considered as natural objects 
of particular consideration; and contents 
himself with merely stating theopinions of 
other writers, where such subjects occur. 
