-
Articles/Ads
Article Untitled Article ← Page 4 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
the enraptured listeners to his eloquence— " ye are my wings ;"—or whether the aisgust presence of the judge suggests to these candid inquirers the necessity of seeing both sides of the subject ( but only one at a time ) , —it is quite clear , that except for these results of their contentions , professional opinions on matters of law would be at a
sad discount with the public . There is one simple method indeed by which the law of any question may be ascertained without going into court . Let the interested person endeavour , without prejudice , to ascertain , either by his own moral sense , or by the advice of judicious friends , which is the side of justice ; and he may pretty safely conclude that law is on the other side .
Professional questions are sometimes extremely difficult , especially if the evidence required is not easily procured . And this is particularly the case in the medical profession . The following curious instance was recently brought before the Medical Society of London . A child less than two years of age had been observed to walk lame for some days . A surgeon was consulted , who could find no cause
for the lameness , and the child was taken to a consulting surgeon of the highest eminence , who pronounced the case " incipient hip disease . " He ordered the hip joint to be encased in an immoveable frame-work , with a view of making the joint stiff for life , as the only mode of preventing the destruction of the joint by ulceration , to the
extreme danger of the patient ' s life . Moreover , the child was ordered to the sea-side . After a month ' s residence on the coast , a surgeon in practice there was requested to examine the joint . He did so , and pronounced it sound ; and even ridiculed the idea of incipient disease . The splint was taken off , and the child managed to walk . The
lameness had disappeared , to the great joy of the parents . On the next day , however , the child was as lame as ever . It was now thought that the affection was sympathetic of some insidious form of dyspepsia . Medicine was administered with this view , and immediately the limb was again restored ; the child walked , and ran , and jumped with the greatest glee . Clever doctor ! But stay;—in a day or two the
child was as lame as ever , nay worse ; nothing could ^ persuade the poor child to place its foot on the ground . Another dose was administered , and with the same happy result . But again and again lameness recurred , and that for weeks and months together . Other opinions were sought , other explanations offered , other remedies
tried : but the end was mystery . At length , some eight months after the first attack of lameness , the child complained of a sore place on the instep , on examining which , the nurse perceived a little boil , from the centre of which projected the point of a rusty needle . This being extracted , the lameness never recurred . The needle had entered the
limb , when , and where , and how , is unknown , but had evidently in its travels occasionally penetrated some nerve , and thus lamed the child , and puzzled the doctors . Such cases as these should teach the profession a lesson which all are slow to learn , Nothing is more difficult than for a professional man to acknowledge himself as ignorant on a given point as his clients .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
the enraptured listeners to his eloquence— " ye are my wings ;"—or whether the aisgust presence of the judge suggests to these candid inquirers the necessity of seeing both sides of the subject ( but only one at a time ) , —it is quite clear , that except for these results of their contentions , professional opinions on matters of law would be at a
sad discount with the public . There is one simple method indeed by which the law of any question may be ascertained without going into court . Let the interested person endeavour , without prejudice , to ascertain , either by his own moral sense , or by the advice of judicious friends , which is the side of justice ; and he may pretty safely conclude that law is on the other side .
Professional questions are sometimes extremely difficult , especially if the evidence required is not easily procured . And this is particularly the case in the medical profession . The following curious instance was recently brought before the Medical Society of London . A child less than two years of age had been observed to walk lame for some days . A surgeon was consulted , who could find no cause
for the lameness , and the child was taken to a consulting surgeon of the highest eminence , who pronounced the case " incipient hip disease . " He ordered the hip joint to be encased in an immoveable frame-work , with a view of making the joint stiff for life , as the only mode of preventing the destruction of the joint by ulceration , to the
extreme danger of the patient ' s life . Moreover , the child was ordered to the sea-side . After a month ' s residence on the coast , a surgeon in practice there was requested to examine the joint . He did so , and pronounced it sound ; and even ridiculed the idea of incipient disease . The splint was taken off , and the child managed to walk . The
lameness had disappeared , to the great joy of the parents . On the next day , however , the child was as lame as ever . It was now thought that the affection was sympathetic of some insidious form of dyspepsia . Medicine was administered with this view , and immediately the limb was again restored ; the child walked , and ran , and jumped with the greatest glee . Clever doctor ! But stay;—in a day or two the
child was as lame as ever , nay worse ; nothing could ^ persuade the poor child to place its foot on the ground . Another dose was administered , and with the same happy result . But again and again lameness recurred , and that for weeks and months together . Other opinions were sought , other explanations offered , other remedies
tried : but the end was mystery . At length , some eight months after the first attack of lameness , the child complained of a sore place on the instep , on examining which , the nurse perceived a little boil , from the centre of which projected the point of a rusty needle . This being extracted , the lameness never recurred . The needle had entered the
limb , when , and where , and how , is unknown , but had evidently in its travels occasionally penetrated some nerve , and thus lamed the child , and puzzled the doctors . Such cases as these should teach the profession a lesson which all are slow to learn , Nothing is more difficult than for a professional man to acknowledge himself as ignorant on a given point as his clients .