The Sun.
London, England, 1812-11-27 00:00:00

z: • 7 -
FOR THE SUN:

MR. EDITOR,

The hubbut? 4u;ong the ,Apothecaries gni Man-
midWi4s; who „assembled_ last week to dChate
which would be the most profitable way, to dose
us in future, most evidently proves how eve have
been drenched bytheir 'remedies for Many years!
past, and. obliged to swallow fOur draughts
day, instead of. a pill or a powder, in order to
supporttheirchariotS and whiskeys,.and'to enable
their Ladies to dizen -C:emselves -out at a fashion-
able - and play sixpenny whist at Apo-
thecaries' la, .

A comparison between the useful and necessary
Man that an Apothecary formerly was, when-he
diSpensed Chemicals and GalenicalS, wholesale
and retail, worked an elaboratory khind his shop,
taught the young Physician how to prescribe, and'
how to make up preseriptions, and a inodern.dra-
o.oon lectured into the fanciful opinions,of the
Experimental Clr,:mist; the Anatomist, and the
Man-midwife, biding his shop and his-apprentice
in the back partour, driving about the streets in
his. „whiskey, and learning Veterinary Surgery
from his.companion, the groom.; a comparison of
this kind, I say, would shew us the little reason
they have to complain, and the cause why the
Physician is careless where his prescription is pre-
pared, provided that he is not troubled- with a
coxcomb in consultation, for whose benefit he
must -be obliged to write down a whole long
page of foolscap.
• An undertaking of this kind would lead me
into some history of the revolutions-which have
taken.place in the practice of medicine, some in-
vestigation into the merits of what have been •
'called Quack Medicines, many of which have lost
their title by being regularly adopted into the'
last edition of the London Pharmacopeia, and
would oblige me to examine the modern mode of
medical education, by juvenile Lecturers and
Trainers, who undertake, for a few guineas, to
fit a pupil to pass an examination, and to receive
a license to •do 'as much, mischief as may fall to'
his- share in any expedition, or other service to..
Which he may be • vppointed by a Medical Board.,
This,.however; would be a task too prolix for
the limits of your paper; therefore as the long
speeches Of the newly-elected .Senators
_are about
occupy their accustomed -share of pour
pages, I will defer the prosecution of this
subject to the 'Christmas vacation, when our an-
nual long bills, 'for lotions and potions, for the
four draughts repeated daily, with the fomenta--- '
tiOns, the eollyriums and embrocations,l will
serve to convince us how little these Gentlemen
have to complain of, particularly if we come into
their proposal 'of returning the phials, corks, and
gallipots, which, by their own account, are the
Most valuable parts of their articles.

I am Sir,
Youl obedient Servant,
A PATIENT AND SUFBEEEB•

FOR THI4. SUN.

AIR. EDI:TOn,

is it, not advisable, for you to decline the
icitnission into your Paper of any Vaccine, facts
which are not authenticated by the persons who.
are named ? 'By the cciatrary praCtice yOu occa-
sionally give unnecessary alarms to the tin id,
and injure the cause of truth.
l'Our correspondent on Wednesday last statea
that, " The daughter of Mr. BrOwn, surgeon, in
Blackfriars-road, aged about• seven years, now
lies most dangerousty ill of confluent Smoll-pox,
I calle( at Mr.. Brown's house; and learnt that
the young girl was recovering rapidly, the erup-
tion scaling oft, and her illness, according to the
Opinion of MIS. Brown, strongly corrpborawi,the
utility of Vaccination. The case, which is a sin-
.gular one,,, is, I qui assured, to b‘: published for
the instruction of the profession, in a Medical
Journal.

It is needless to contradict every account
which theAuti-vaecinists print froth vexation at the
success Of .a practice Unit preserves all from death.,
-by Small-pox on whom it is employed. Your
Paper might do infinite service to the community
by publishing, not adenymous, but antla,nticated
facts, such as are contained in ;the Weekly bills
of mortality : where you will find that,:for the
last three months; from forty to sixty persons
have died of Small-pox every week. Nor is it a
matter of doubt now, that this hOrrid slaughter
is solely owing to the perseverance .in the inocu-
lation of, this fatal' contagion. Becaase in all
those towns and districts where Small-pox inocu-
lation is abandoned, the mortality from Small-
pox invariably declines and ceases.
The respectable Mr. Alderman Rigby, ofN:lrwich,
has lately published an adthirable work upon the
management'of the poor, and upon the effects of
'Vaccination, in that -populous city. Not -One
child has died 'of Small-pox' fin' three years in Nor-
wich, and the SrnallLpo.c is then: completeii;
tinguished by Vaccination. •
1 well know that•nothing will restraiii the pen
or the lancet of the Anti-vaecinists; for the in-
cyease of the Small-pox is their principal sup-
port :_though I would it could be proved, for
the honour of the medical profession, that the
shameful attempts to mislead the world on this.
subject were not made by- surgeons,' but by
undertakers.

Theabove.is not written by a guilty spreader
of infection, but by a ngui who feels lie has in his
breast' a • ,CONSCIENCE.

Rear-Admiral BEnFoan is appointed Captain
of the fleet in the North Sea, under Admiral
YOUNG. He is an Officer of great merit and
skill, and well qualified for the situation of Cap-
tain of the fleet. Rear-Admiral BEDfroan was
First Lieutenant of the Queen, of 9S guns, under
Admiral Lord GARDNER, on the glorious Ist of
June, 1794.

We understand that ten sail of the line, fifteen
frigates, and 20 large gun-brigs, are to 'be fitted
for the- American station
,directly. Le. Rhin; of
44 guns, now in Plymouth Sound, is one of the
frigates: The Admiralty hare adopted a very wise
regulation in increasing the crews of -the 44 gun
frigates with forty additional hands, the 32 gun
frigates with thirty additional hands, and gun-
brigs in proportion, to meet, on equal terms, the
large American frigates.