214 An Expedition to the South Pole recommended. [March; with this subject which have been evolved, Professor Hanstein has gone further, and imagined that there also existed a North-east magnetic pole. But the variation between the attraction of these two magnetic poles, does not appear to legitimize the hypothesis which has been thrown out. The dip of the magnetic needle likewise has been thought to favour the hypothesis of the existence of some moving point of attraction within the earth; but these phenomena in the infant state of science, as connected with these points, hang so much on local circumstances which are yet to be more thoroughly ascertained, as to render it unsafe to hypothesize much on their basis. For the ascertainment, Sir, of these and other points, the Antarctic seas seem to present a more propitious field of discovery than the Arctic. Every thinking man, having long contemplated the North, must, therefore, turn his eyes to these Southern regions, since, unless some fortunate synchronism in physiology occur, those of the North appear to be chained up by the immutable laws of Nature to the advances of further discovery. "We have," says the intelligent Naturalist attached to the expedition of Kotzebue, "cast a look over the waters of the great ocean and its shores, and viewed its islands situated between the tropics; we now turn from these gardens of pleasure, to the dreary north, in the same ocean basin. We penetrate," he proceeds, "through the gloomy veil which eternally hovers over these seas, and shores, not shaded by a tree, inhospitably frown upon us with their snow-crowned summits." Having, in like manner, it may be said, for many years fixed our auspices on the Northern Pole, why should we not, Mr. Urban, as a nation, turn some portion of our attention to the South, where a new arena, interesting from its phenomena, and unexplored, seems to unfold itself? "We have," says the Naturalist, (ubi supra,) in opposition to the theory of Weddell, "we have to oppose one fact against the notion, that ice is only formed from the vicinity of land, which has been too little regarded: it is the state of the sea round the south pole; unless by a very arbitrary supposition, to which nothing entitles us, we should represent the southern fields of ice as attached to an undiscovered, inaccessible continent." If, therefore, in the language of the same writer, "the mass of evidence colleeted by Barrington and Beaufoy, appears incontestibly to prove, that in favourable years the sea, to the north of Spitzbergen, may be found entirely free from ice, and open for navigation to very high latitudes, as it really was found in 1754, 1773, and other years;" it equally proves, "that in by far the greater majority of years, the ice has hindered, and will hinder, the advance to the north, even under the 80th degree of latitude.” If these hitherto insuperable difficulties have, on the other hand, been proved not to exist in a high Southern latitude, what obstacle, Sir, should prevent a maritime expedition from penetrating to the vicinity at least of the South Pole, undertaken on the same scale of magnitude as Captain Parry's to the North? St. Pierre, as is well known, uniformly, while speculating on these subjects, maintains the theory of cupolas of ice surrounding the poles, whose periodical effusions occasion the currents in the middle regions of our globe; but here we have a fact, as seen by Weddell, almost, it may be said, directly militating against the theory. The experiment, (and it is by no means one of visionary calculation,) would be regarded with deep interest by the scientific, not only of Europe, but of the other parts of the world; and the same sums which, in the shape of a national equipment, have been directed, fruitlessly, to the North, might, at least, carry a solitary expedition or two across the equator to the South. The allegation that no great commercial purposes are involved, since the south-east and south-west passage forms not here a desideratum, avails little. If the purposes of commerce are not subserved, those of science may be most materially; and if the merchant is not benefited, the theory of the earth's axis and the polarity of the needle, are still dark subjects of speculation, which need the continued aud ardent research, and further illuminations, of discovery. Melksham. Mr. URBAN, ENT ALCIPHRON. Fonthill Gifford, NTERTAINING a great veneration and respect for the memory of my much lamented friend and 1829.] Lectures of Dr. teacher, Dr. Geo. Pearson, from whom, I may truly say, I imbibed the first principles of the practice of physic and chemistry, I should consider myself ungrateful, were I not to express the high sense I feel of his great worth, in furtherance of a just biographical tribute to those exertions, which have so highly contributed to the progress of science; of chemistry in particular, as well as the practice of medicine on sound principles. As a lecturer, he was plain, distinct, comprehensive, and impressively energetic; and on many subjects he was argumentative, often witty, and even eloquent, when a favourite subject was the object of display. To his pupils, he was kind and communicative, and even in his common conversation there was such a degree of deference and friendly attention, (fatherly I might say,) to those who were attentive to him, that his pupils were generally much attached to him. His lectures on Therapeutics and Materia Medica, were the most instructive at that period given in London; and he took great pains to point out, as far as was then ascertained, the principles of action of medicine, and their peculiar properties and doses. Thus far he went, preferring general principles to that cramped method of instruction, of giving prescriptions for supposed cases, since no two cases of diseases occur, corresponding in every distinctive symptom and particular. In some respects he may have been deemed eccentric; but, to make a long lecture on a dry subject appear short, as well as with the view of impressing it on the mind of his hearers, he frequently introduced anecdotes, which were often droll, yet generally possessed of some pithy meaning connected with the subject of lecture. The great and inestimable value of his lectures on the Practice of Physic, was, that it rendered his pupils independent of the shackles of nosological forms, by teaching principles, or giving the outline of diseases, to be filled up by future experience in practice. In his lectures on the principles of Medicine, and on the Practice of Physic, although he dwelt a greater length of time than the generality of students like to devote to an abstruse and difficultly acquired subject, yet there was much future practical good to be derived from his then supposed George Pearson. 215 tiresomely lengthy subject, "Excitability;" as every one must, froin their experience, now allow, from their having found the value of those intuitive principles upon which to ground their practice, as being productive of far more real benefit at the bedside of sickness than was ever anticipated. As regards Chemistry, I confess I am still attached to his grammar-like mode of teaching this science, by first instructing the pupil in the properties of simple substances; and, as the mind expands, then the more complex union of simple substances, hinting at their affinities; and ultimately, when the student was in a state capable of comprehending them, to point out the laws which govern chemical attraction. His favourite subjects were Excitability; Cow-pox as a substitute for Small-pox; Fever; Diseases of the Lungs Tubercles. In Chemistry, the decomposition and recomposition of Water; the decomposition of Carbonic Acid in Carbonates, and the separation of their Carbon; Steel, and its Carbon; Antimonial Powder of James; the proof that Alcohol exists in Wine, as a product of fermentation, and not of the process of distillation, by which it is separated. Dr. Pearson had a habit, when much absorbed and very intent on his subject, or whenever he was more particularly desirous of recollecting a particular object or remarkable circumstance, of pushing up his spectacles, or of taking them off and on, holding them in one hand, and in this way he would repeat the same word or sentence many times, till at length his stores of "mental lore" were regularly assorted and found ready for delivery; he would then amply make up to us for our lost time and patience, by going on in a powerful strain of energetic language, when he would, on a sudden recollection of the time, abruptly terminate his lecture by a fa vourite annunciation of "But more of this subject to-morrow, Gentlemen." JOSEPH FROWD SPENCER, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. 214 An Expedition to the South Pole recommended. [March, with this subject which have been evolved, Professor Hanstein has gone further, and imagined that there also existed a North-east magnetic pole. But the variation between the attraction of these two magnetic poles, does not appear to legitimize the hypothesis which has been thrown out. The dip of the magnetic needle likewise has been thought to favour the hypothesis of the existence of some moving point of attraction within the earth; but these phenomena in the infant state of science, as connected with these points, hang so much on local circumstances which are yet to be more thoroughly ascertained, as to render it unsafe to hypothesize much on their basis. For the ascertainment, Sir, of these and other points, the Antarctic seas seem to present a more propitious field of discovery than the Arctic. Every thinking man, having long contemplated the North, must, therefore, turn his eyes to these Southern regions, since, unless some fortunate synchronism in physiology occur, those of the North appear to be chained up by the immutable laws of Nature to the advances of further discovery. "We have," says the intelligent Naturalist attached to the expedition of Kotzebue, cast a look over the waters of the great ocean and its shores, and viewed its islands situated between the tropics; we now turn from these gardens of pleasure, to the dreary north, in the same ocean basin. We penetrate," he proceeds, "through the gloomy veil which eternally hovers over these seas, and shores, not shaded by a tree, inhospitably frown upon us with their snow-crowned summits." Having, in like manner, it may be said, for many years fixed our auspices on the Northern Pole, why should we not, Mr. Urban, as a nation, turn some portion of our attention to the South, where a new arena, interesting from its phenomena, and unexplored, seems to unfold itself? "We have," says the Naturalist, (ubi supra,) in opposition to the theory of Weddell, we have to oppose one fact against the notion, that ice is only formed from the vicinity of land, which has been too little regarded: it is the state of the sea round the south pole; unless by a very arbitrary supposition, to which nothing entitles us, we should represent the southern fields of ice as attached to an und inaccessible continent." If, therefore, in the language of the same writer, "the mass of evidence collected by Barrington and Beaufoy, appears incontestibly to prove, that in favourable years the sea, to the north of Spitzbergen, may be found entirely free from ice, and open for navigation to very high latitudes, as it really was found in 1754, 1773, and other years;" it equally proves, "that in by far the greater majority of years, the ice has hindered, and will hinder, the advance to the north, even under the 80th degree of latitude." If these hitherto insuperable difficulties have, on the other hand, been proved not to exist in a high Southern latitude, what obstacle, Sir, should prevent a maritime expedition from penetrating to the vicinity at least of the South Pole, undertaken on the same scale of magnitude as Captain Parry's to the North? St. Pierre, as is well known, uniformly, while speculating on these subjects, maintains the theory of cupolas of ice surrounding the poles, whose periodical effusions occasion the currents in the middle regions of our globe; but here we have a fact, as seen by Weddell, al. most, it may be said, directly militating against the theory. The experiment, (and it is by no means one of visionary calculation,) would be regarded with deep interest by the scientific, not only of Europe, but of the other parts of the world; and the same sums which, in the shape of a national equipment, have been directed, fruitlessly, to the North, might, at least, carry a solitary expedition or two across the equator to the South. The allegation that no great commercial purposes are involved, since the south-east and south-west passage forms not here a desideratum, avails little. If the purposes of commerce are not subserved, those of science may be most materially; and if the merchant is not benefited, the theory of the earth's axis and the polarity of the needle, are still dark subjects of speculation, which need the continued aud ardent research, and further illuminations, of discovery. Melksham. Mr. URBAN, ALCIPHRON. Fonthill Gifford, E NTERTAINING a great veneration and respect for the memory of my much lamented friend and 1829.] Lectures of Dr. teacher, Dr. Geo. Pearson, from whom, I may truly say, I imbibed the first principles of the practice of physic and chemistry, I should consider myself ungrateful, were I not to express the high sense I feel of his great worth, in furtherance of a just biographical tribute to those exertions, which have so highly contributed to the progress of science; of chemistry in particular, as well as the practice of medicine on sound principles. As a lecturer, he was plain, distinct, comprehensive, and impressively energetic; and on many subjects he was argumentative, often witty, and even eloquent, when a favourite subject was the object of display. To his pupils, he was kind and communicative, and even in his common conversation there was such a degree of deference and friendly attention, (fatherly I might say,) to those who were attentive to him, that his pupils were generally much attached to him. His lectures on Therapeutics and Materia Medica, were the most instructive at that period given in London; and he took great pains to point out, as far as was then ascertained, the principles of action of medicine, and their peculiar properties and doses. Thus far he went, preferring general principles to that cramped method of instruction, of giving prescriptions for supposed cases, since no two cases of diseases occur, corresponding in every distinctive symptom and particular. In some respects he may have been deemed eccentric; but, to make a long lecture on a dry subject appear short, as well as with the view of impressing it on the mind of his hearers, he frequently introduced anecdotes, which were often droll, yet generally possessed of some pithy meaning connected with the subject of lecture. The great and inestimable value of his lectures on the Practice of Physic, was, that it rendered his pupils independent of the shackles of nosological forms, by teaching principles, or give ing the outline of diseases, to be filled up by future experience in practice. In his lectures on the principles of Medicine, and on the Practice of Physic, although he dwelt a greater students like to devote to an abstruse and difficultly acquired subject, yet there was much future practical good to be derived from his then supposed George Pearson. 215 tiresomely lengthy subject, "Excitability;" as every one must, from their experience, now allow, from their having found the value of those intuitive principles upon which to ground their practice, as being productive of far more real benefit at the bedside of sickness than was ever anticipated. As regards Chemistry, I confess I am still attached to his grammar-like mode of teaching this science, by first instructing the pupil in the properties of simple substances; and, as the mind expands, then the more complex union of simple substances, hinting at their affinities; and ultimately, when the student was in a state capable of comprehending them, to point out the laws which govern chemical attraction. His favourite subjects were Excitability; Cow-pox as a substitute for Small-pox; Fever; Diseases of the Lungs; Tubercles. In Chemistry, the decomposition and recomposition of Water; the decomposition of Carbonic Acid in Carbonates, and the separation of their Carbon; Steel, and its Carbon; Antimonial Powder of James; the proof that Alcohol exists in Wine, as a product of fermentation, and not of the process of distillation, by which it is separated. Dr. Pearson had a habit, when much absorbed and very intent on his subject, or whenever he was more particularly desirous of recollecting a particular object or remarkable circumstance, of pushing up his spectacles, or of taking them off and on, holding them in one hand, and in this way he would repeat the same word or sentence many times, till at length_his stores of "mental lore" were regularly assorted and found ready for delivery; he would then amply make up to us for our lost time and patience, by going on in a powerful strain of energetic language, when he would, on a sudden recollection of the time, abruptly terminate his lecture by a favourite annunciation of " But more of this subject to-morrow, Gentlemen." JOSEPH FROWD SPENCER, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. 216 Dissections not indispensable to the Study of Surgery. [March, endeavour to alarm the public, in order to obtain a Law for furnishing the number of bodies which the lecturers wish to have. It should be borne in mind, that evidence given by interested persons should be very cautiously attended to. Those who read the evidence given before the Select Committee of the House of Commons, will plainly perceive that some of the witnesses are anxious for an Act of Parliament, fearful, if there is not one, that they shall not gain by their pupils what they heretofore have done, by their lectures, demonstrations, &c. It by no means appears to me to have been proved, that it is necessary there should be in London one thousand medical pupils instructed annually. It has not been proved that no one can be a good surgeon, who has not himself dissected two bodies to learn the structure, and perforin operations on one body. Much useful knowledge may, no doubt, be obtained from anatomical preparations, models, casts, and prints, with accurate descriptions. Many cases there are in surgery which do not render it necessary that the surgeon should have dissected a dead body. That the very numerous dissections which have taken place since the late Dr. Hunter first gave lectures in London have been of use, is not doubted; but that great evil has been the consequence also is to me very clear. Causing distress to people who, after they have followed the bodies of their relations or friends to the grave, discover that they have been stolen for dissection, is a very great evil. The encouragement given to men to commit the offence of stealing dead bodies is another; to which may be added, amongst the demoralizing effects of this practice, corrupting the minds of watchmen by bribing them to betray their trust, bribing grave-diggers and feeing undertakers' men for giving information when funerals take place; also the encouraging people to commit murder !! An extraordinary letter to Mr. Peel is inserted in the Morning Herald of Saturday the 7th instant, hoping and expecting that some measure will be adopted by Parliament to protect society against "exhumation, as well as against acts similar to those most nefarious and unparalleled ones which have lately occurred in Edinburgh.” This amounts, if I understand it right, to a supposition at least, that, if Parliament does not adopt some measure for supplying bodies to teachers of anatomy, they will go on in the way they have been used to, and give encouragement to theft and murder. The increase of the mischief which of late years has taken place, may probably be traced to a Bye-law of the College of Surgeons requiring a certificate that candidates for their diploma have attended two courses or more of dissections. To prevent theft and murder let this Bye-law be repealed. For a method of obtaining much useful information without robbing burial-grounds, see your Magazine, January, 1796. We do not find that the surgeons who wish for the bodies of the poor (under certain restrictions) have either requested their own bodies should be given up for dissection, or that they have given the bodies of their relations or friends for that purpose. The surgeons (some at least) appear_to_be endeavouring to bring the English hospitals on a level with those in France, the practices in which, there is reason to think, are very abominable. I particularly allude to one of the Lying-in hospitals, where the treatment of the women who are in it is said to be such as a writer in the Lancet (Oct. 4, 1828, p. 32,) is of opinion no women in this country, not even the most depraved class of females, would submit to. It It appears to me that the hospital surgeons are by degrees gaining an ascendancy over the governors of hospitals, which it behoves them to be aware of, and check. The very improper practice lately adopted of printing the names and diseases of the patients, surely cannot be willingly countenanced by benevolent governors. should be recollected, that hospitals ought to be established for the express purpose of curing people who, from poverty or other misfortune, cannot have proper attendance at home. An hospital, such as that proposed to be attached to the London University, should it ever be established, will, there is reason to fear, be very injurious to many of the patients. A Parliamentary inquiry into the management of, and practice in medical hospitals, is very desirable. AN OCCASIONAL CONTRIBUTOR. |