The Sun.
London, England, 1812-06-11 00:00:00

FdR THE SUN.

7t,:- 7.. EDITOR,

In your Paper, about this time twelvemonth, I
recollect some pertinent remarks on the manage-.
'of nt of the City Hospitals, which induced me to
ip6uire into the conduct of them, ,nd 1 find, lifer
trier GOveraments, that a great deal of money is
rt ceived into their treasuries, and a great many
jobs are donciWhile the' executive part is carried.
on, as in other places, some officers doing their
duty by deputies, some acting' conscientiously,
and others malting sinecures of their situations.
-0

here is a vacancy now of a Surgeon to one of
them, as appears by advertisement", and the candi-
dates suppose themselves fitted for the succession
by .liifereat qualifications : one young. gentleman
says he has givep Lectures in Anatomy for nine
yzars past, so that he inult have began to teach
either before he was, out of his apprenticeship, or
bad arrived at years of d6cretion. Now, Sir,
according to modernideas,,anatomy is so essen-
tial to surgery, that he who' can cut up a dead
body best, must of course be the most dexterous at
a living one ; and as the art of operating, of mangl-
ing and maiming the human subject is deemed much
more essential than the art of healing wounds,- .or
curing maladies, so the education of a modern
surgeon is directed to the minutia of anatomy,
instead of the practical points of his art. Many
can tic up the main branch of an artery, divide a
delicate nerve, or destroy an urethra by burning
caustic,—but
.cannot cure aninfiamed eye, apply a
truss tc a rupture, or manage another complaint
with out creating a stricture.
For tile modern illustration of these facts I will
not appeal to hospitals, Where, if report , speak
truth, a woman seven months gone with child has
been sometimes tapped for the dropsy, and a man
. ,
operated upon to cure orke aneurism, while he
had halt' a dozen more existing,
:Wit to the cases
of some late distinguished characters, whpse
names-need-not be- menzioned, and many others
which I cOuld enumerate, while truss-makers,
co ru-e u rs , and bougie-manufacturers, ride about
in as smart whiskies as. man-midwives or hogpital

Si:FL`CUiI` .

,
to the public good,•and
to the Of charity and humanity, :I(qt 'LI'
election of a ,sur[4eori to so benevolent an institu-
tion. as a ,City tiospital,-Jhe Governors should
loot; for ,ne:-1 solid and established abilities, -as are
not lihely to be led away by fashionable experi-
ments., but to practise and teach those rules df
their art which have been laid down by their great
predecessors; for I cannot allor that the present
eminent surgeons are superior, if equal, to the
Sharps, Potts,-Girles, Warners, or Elses, of my
remembrance. •
Let it therefore be understood, that anatomy is
only one.m-echdnical part.of the art of surgery, and
that the Resurrection Nall who attends the Thea-
t,:e, shortly-becomes a greater adept at dissection
than a pupil to a couple of courses ; and if the
aprrenticefis capable of reading Lectures at one
1.r::1 twenty years of age, deep learning is not es,
sentialstOr anatomy, which requires due attention,
but no genius ; and I could name a young Philo-
sophical Butcher who, both in dissecting and
practical knowledge, would shame half the young
men who come forward as examined and arprov-

•
ed surgeons.
If the talent for operating was theefore check-
ed, and the art of healing more cultivated, the
poor wretches in hospital; would have less to
complain of, and the nursn also have more time
to attend-, to cleanliness : at present, in some
places, these.women are employed half their time
iu doil.g the duty of the young students.

Let the Governors, therefore, look to their
choke, and make as much inquiry into the conduct
of their officers, as

Your humble servant;
VERITAS.