FOOTNOTES:[1]The Editor of this work, on once going the nightly round with the head-officer of the Queen Square police, was shown into a house of this kind in one of the most remote and obscure streets in Tothill Fields; and it is rather singular that Bishop, who has lately forfeited his life on the scaffold, was then in the house. A celebrated resurrectionist of that time, of the name of Alexander, was also present; and on the officer familiarly asking Alexander, if he had no particular business on hand that night, he answered, with the greatestsang froid, "No—I had a good drag last night;"—and shaking his coat-pockets, added, "I have got a rare set of grinders here, all young and white." The countenance of this man bespoke his trade;—it had neither the sharpness nor the acuteness of Bishop's; but it would have served a Correggio for the model of the determined, resolute, and undaunted villain.[2]We also know of a medical man who reversed the case by treating a dropsical woman as a pregnant one, as in the case of Johanna Southcott, by Dr. Reece, of Chemical-hall notoriety. Mr. Sleight must, however, be aware that the treating of a pregnant woman as a dropsical one, is by no means a rare case; it is of very frequent occurrence, and for reasons which need not here be stated. Theskillof the professional man is in these cases wholly out of the question; itmustbe dropsy, or ——verbum sat. It was theinterestof Dr. Reece to declare the pregnancy of the immaculate Johanna. The Southcottonians flocked to him from all quarters, as the chosen man by whose obstetrical aid young Shiloh was to be brought into the world; it was a case of InterestversusSkill, and the latter was nonsuited. We should not, however, have entered into this exposition, had it not been to invalidate the argument of Mr. Sleight, that the mere treatment of a pregnant woman as dropsical, implies a want of professional skill; we have merely thrown out the hint, thatcircumstancesdetermine the case. It is either dropsy or pregnancy, accordingly as the patient wishes or determines that it shall be.
[1]The Editor of this work, on once going the nightly round with the head-officer of the Queen Square police, was shown into a house of this kind in one of the most remote and obscure streets in Tothill Fields; and it is rather singular that Bishop, who has lately forfeited his life on the scaffold, was then in the house. A celebrated resurrectionist of that time, of the name of Alexander, was also present; and on the officer familiarly asking Alexander, if he had no particular business on hand that night, he answered, with the greatestsang froid, "No—I had a good drag last night;"—and shaking his coat-pockets, added, "I have got a rare set of grinders here, all young and white." The countenance of this man bespoke his trade;—it had neither the sharpness nor the acuteness of Bishop's; but it would have served a Correggio for the model of the determined, resolute, and undaunted villain.
[1]The Editor of this work, on once going the nightly round with the head-officer of the Queen Square police, was shown into a house of this kind in one of the most remote and obscure streets in Tothill Fields; and it is rather singular that Bishop, who has lately forfeited his life on the scaffold, was then in the house. A celebrated resurrectionist of that time, of the name of Alexander, was also present; and on the officer familiarly asking Alexander, if he had no particular business on hand that night, he answered, with the greatestsang froid, "No—I had a good drag last night;"—and shaking his coat-pockets, added, "I have got a rare set of grinders here, all young and white." The countenance of this man bespoke his trade;—it had neither the sharpness nor the acuteness of Bishop's; but it would have served a Correggio for the model of the determined, resolute, and undaunted villain.
[2]We also know of a medical man who reversed the case by treating a dropsical woman as a pregnant one, as in the case of Johanna Southcott, by Dr. Reece, of Chemical-hall notoriety. Mr. Sleight must, however, be aware that the treating of a pregnant woman as a dropsical one, is by no means a rare case; it is of very frequent occurrence, and for reasons which need not here be stated. Theskillof the professional man is in these cases wholly out of the question; itmustbe dropsy, or ——verbum sat. It was theinterestof Dr. Reece to declare the pregnancy of the immaculate Johanna. The Southcottonians flocked to him from all quarters, as the chosen man by whose obstetrical aid young Shiloh was to be brought into the world; it was a case of InterestversusSkill, and the latter was nonsuited. We should not, however, have entered into this exposition, had it not been to invalidate the argument of Mr. Sleight, that the mere treatment of a pregnant woman as dropsical, implies a want of professional skill; we have merely thrown out the hint, thatcircumstancesdetermine the case. It is either dropsy or pregnancy, accordingly as the patient wishes or determines that it shall be.
[2]We also know of a medical man who reversed the case by treating a dropsical woman as a pregnant one, as in the case of Johanna Southcott, by Dr. Reece, of Chemical-hall notoriety. Mr. Sleight must, however, be aware that the treating of a pregnant woman as a dropsical one, is by no means a rare case; it is of very frequent occurrence, and for reasons which need not here be stated. Theskillof the professional man is in these cases wholly out of the question; itmustbe dropsy, or ——verbum sat. It was theinterestof Dr. Reece to declare the pregnancy of the immaculate Johanna. The Southcottonians flocked to him from all quarters, as the chosen man by whose obstetrical aid young Shiloh was to be brought into the world; it was a case of InterestversusSkill, and the latter was nonsuited. We should not, however, have entered into this exposition, had it not been to invalidate the argument of Mr. Sleight, that the mere treatment of a pregnant woman as dropsical, implies a want of professional skill; we have merely thrown out the hint, thatcircumstancesdetermine the case. It is either dropsy or pregnancy, accordingly as the patient wishes or determines that it shall be.