The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-08-03 00:00:00

~....M.

SAMUEL WHITBREAD• "EsQ.
.This excellent Patriot was chiefly known to his
country and to the World by the strenuous and' per.
severing exertions which he made in Parliament, foi
the liberty and happiness of the human race. .It was
net so generally known, that in the discharge of his
private duties in society he was equally, ardent, and
indefatigable in the promotion of eierY spivios of he-
-nevolence by which human suffering could be alle-
viated, or the covidithin of man be improved.--
Amidst all the avocations that piessed upon his time,
.1130. the. conflicting .intsvrests that preyed upon his
V.psind, be found leisure for the indulgence of the
finest sympathies of the heart ; and it is an ho.
"Ignorable trait in his character that one of the last,
if not the very list labour ef his life, was the publi.
Cation of a small volume, rotommending a 'new treat.
anent of that horrible disease the Cancer, in the care
of which Isis own feelings as a man were sharpened
by his reverence as a son—bis fa,her having este.
'dished a Ward in the Middlesex Hospital for the
treatment of this iffltcting malady. Mr. Whitbread
having heard that a Mr., Young had successfully
treated thisdisease in a new manner, sought him out
—invited him into Beitordsliire—and, under the in.
bisection of an excellent physician, Dr. Penrose, put
lasteier his care several patients afflicted with .this
cruel disease. After attending to the progress of the
treatment for several months, he was so much satisfi-d
"with the result, that he put his name to a statement
of the eases, and recommended the pamphlet to the
Governors of the Middlesex Hospital. by the follow.
jng introductory letter, which. our Readers will see is
dated only'ob the 10th of June last. Such was the
patriot we have lost •


TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE LESEX
HOS L.

• The circumstances which. attended the foundation
Of the wetsl for the reception of cancerous patients
in. the Middlesex Hos Pita), have naturally led me to
the encouragement otevery rational effort directed to
the cure or alleviatioh of cancer, one of the greatest
of human calamities; and you will rejoice when in-
fovmed of a successful experiment.
• 1. have lately witnessed the happy effects of the
practice of a surgeon, known to the medical ivorfil
by an approved Treatise on Cancer, published 'be-
fore he had adopted the plan which he now pursues -
audit Swish to fdv befdre ydtt-stid the public, the
bistory of some of the cases which have been treated
y Mr. Samuel Youtiv date. buy acquaintibee with
jhim.
Mr. Toone receivid(i• put of his favlical educa-
tion in the Middlesex Flospitit; 'and %tai fbr ino
l?,me Sturm to the House. IfilttOrstArds' settled
himself in the town of Minttgthiery. Prom that
place, in the month of May, 1814, be addressed a
Letter 'tome oh therrilfriiiiit of Cancer. A
lb-rlispomience followed, Wittch ended to my re.
toast; that he would tome into Bedfdrdshit* to gibe
Mg' sidticte to a near I.lstion' of my iokrnV.afillepted
With a disease called cancerous ; and apply his mode
of treatmeot, if approved by the physician, whose
opinion, from an long experi-nce of his general
science, talents, and liberality, I had determined to
take.
On the 151 h of September last, 1 met Mr. Yonne
at the hrtn•e of Dr. Penrose, at liatueld ; and having
received from the latter the most positive assurance
that 04 plan could not produce any miechief, and
aff-rded a prospect of relief, the experithent was' de-
cided upon ; and no the nett day it-commenced, at the
residence of the patient, • within a two& distance of
the town of •Bedford, in the presence of Dr. Penrose
Rod myself. On thev same day Anne Wildman,
whose case is amongst the most rema• kable of those
detailed by Mr. Young, was brought from the Bed-
ford House of industry', and atter minute mink*.
tiros by Dr. Penrose, subjected to the same procesi.
From that period Mr. Young has resided in Bed:.
ford and its neighbourhood ; and several patients af-
flicted with cancer, or diseases of that teodency,

have been placed under his care.
The minutes of the cases are drawn up by Mr.
Young ; and the attestations and opinions of .the Me-
dical men, and others who had known the origin, or
seen the progress of any particolar'case, or who bid
been called in to decide upon the effect .of the treat-
ment, are given in their own words.
• 'The very remarkable cittle*lrerein the practice was
$o promptly adopted by Mr. Mactitathli of Biggles-
seade, from having seen its aptlinition tinder the
hands of Mr. Young, Is described by Mr. Maci;rath;
the value of whose testimony is known to an extensive
circle.
I thought it might be of some service to the cause of
hums nits , to see with my own eyes some of'the cases ;
stud I have been more than repaid by witnessing the
progressive ano.n.lment of the patients, and by bear-
ing from time to time their jos fol declarations, that
they were greatly relieved from the torment of their
preOloos pnin.
Where Mr. Young has introduced- my name, he has
faithfully described my impressions. It is undoubted.
ly a misfortune, that three patients, all going on
prosperously towards 'the cure of the local disease,
Wi!rlntan, Timings, and World, should all three have
died before theie•cdre *as' complete ; althotigh; in
the case of Wildmrin; it was nearly perfect. But our
eonvirtion of the 'innocency stud 'edicacy of Mr.
Young's plan, cannot he shaken by these untowand
evelits. Wildman and Thomas Were two puttied,
whose constitntinns were exhausted. ' Both were ha.
bitual dram.dr inkers, and the observation made upon
each, n hen first seen, was, " If the patient can bat i
be kept alive, for a length of time sufficient for the'
experiment
' Unfortaitetely the constitutions of both Wailed.
Wildman, hOweeer, would in all probahiiity have
survived her cancer, if, it had not been for the accU
dental excess mentioned in the history of her cake,
which was the immediate cause of her death. The
circumstances of the general habit of Wood aregiven,
and sufficiently account for her decease.
All three were indebted to Mr. Young for having
passed much of the latter parts of their lives, in that
blessed state of repose from pain ; the luxury of
which none can appreciate bat those who have suf-
fered acutely.
• In the_ cage of Lee, lime thought it expedient to
subjoin his two letters,
.addressed to me; containing
Ms ova blunt, but intelligible account of tlle disease
'tad its cure. I saw his lip whdn the swelling upon
it Was large) and the colour of the deepest black: