ON PUERPERAL FEVER. 
193 
nions*” It would not become me. Sir, to contradict this state- 
ment; but I maybe allowed to express astonishment that in this 
very article of his he has not been able to overturn or even 
weaken one of these “ worn-out arguments ;” but has been 
obliged to turn to the Number for March last for the whole of 
the matter for this paper; and all that he has been able to object 
to in this very objectionable article, is, that I have mis-stated 
him. This, Sir, in due time, I shall take notice of ; but first I 
must remark on the tone of exultation with which he contrasts 
the success of his cases with mine. He is quite welcome to all 
the assistance that this may afford to his opinions. Yet you 
must allow me to state to him, that I did not send my cases to 
The Veterinarian to make a boast of them ; and if it were 
necessary, I might tell him that these are not all my successful 
cases that appear in The Veterinarian; but he ought to 
know that, from the very nature of the proofs I wished to esta- 
blish, I was obliged to record unsuccessful ones ; how else 
could I have given post-mortem examinations? But I might 
get into the very error which I wish to correct, if I said more of 
myself here, and I refrain ; though I intend to indulge my- 
self for this forbearance with a smile at Mr. Wilson’s excessive 
fondness for the rule-of-three. He says again, “ If I have saved 
the first three cases, (by the means heretofore mentioned), 
surely it may be inferred that I shall save the next three, -en- 
trusted to my care, by the same mode of treatment.”. 
Such, Sir, are the gilded day-dreams of youth and inexperi- 
ence. Most of us, after we have first restored to convalescence 
some of our worst and most alarming cases of disease, have been 
ready with Mr. Wilson, in a tone of exultation, to congratulate 
ourselves that we have surmounted the highest hill of difficulty, 
and that in all such cases, for the future, we shall be able to claim 
the meed of the conqueror. But the stubborn realities of life 
are not to be overturned by the enthusiast. It matters not that 
high in hope, strong in the confidence of his own ability, and his 
brow flushed with the pride of recent victory, he may career 
along the high road of existence : without the lamp of experi- 
ence to guide him, he is sure, by running his head against a 
post, to awaken to the full consciousness of that stern truth, that 
“ ’Tis not in mortals to command success. ” 
But the balance of good and evil in this world is, perhaps, 
more equally adjusted than we generally at first sight can disco- 
ver: we discern it not, because we will not, or because we view 
it through a wrong medium. For instance; it is precisely this 
VOL, X. C C 
