t 



Aledidne. 297 



SON, FoRDYCE aiid Chisholm do honour to the 

 British nation. Among the French Senac and 

 LiELTTAUD, and among the Germans Storck and 

 De Haen hold the first rank; to say nothing of 

 many others, in almost every cultivated part of 

 Europe, who have obtained much distinction by 

 their practical writings on medicine. 



SURGERY AND OB3TETRICKS, 



That department of medicine which treats of dis- 

 eases to be cured or alleviated by the hand, by in- 

 struments, or by external applications, is denomi- 

 nated Surgery. At the close of the seventeenth 

 century this art had considerably emerged from 

 the low state in which all preceding ages had left 

 it. Many respectable writers had appeared in the 

 course of that century, whose exertions to improve 

 the practice of surgery, and to diffuse the know- 

 ledge of such improvements, were attended with so 

 much success as to render the progress of it com- 

 paratively rapid at the commencement of the 

 eighteenth century. 



It will be easy to perceive that the numerous 

 improvements in other branches of medicine, which 

 are detailed in the preceding parts of this chapter, 

 must have greatly advanced the progress of sur- 

 gery. Ev^ery step in the cultivation of anatomy 

 and the theory and practice of physic confers 

 some advantage on medical or operative surgery. 



Bpicuous by the purity of his moral and reh'gious character, and the ardour 

 of his philanthropy. His great influence was continually exerted for the 

 increase of human happiness. Of every institution within his reach, which 

 had for its object the advancement of useful knowledge, or the interests of 

 humanity, he was a zealous and active promoter. Of public and private 

 charity he was an illustrious example; and we are informed, that a large 

 number of those improvements which have so much contributed to th(* 

 health of the city of London, either originated from his counsels, or were 

 effected, in a great measure, by his influence. 



