Knoxville Whig and chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1875-1882, 1875-03-03
American surgery.

TO the Editors of the Chronicle;
Some Englishman is said to have
asked the following question "Who
ever reads an American book 2"
Whatever that parsonage might
have thought of Americans, and their
books, matters not. rs an offset to
such query, we will quote some ex-
tracts from an address delivered by
Mr. Ericksea at the University Col
lege Hospital in London, on his re-
turn from this country. This address
is well merited and gracefully deliv-
cred tribute to the American medical
profession.
Mr.. Erickson travelled in the United
States last summer, and visited IA large
number of our cities.
This gentleman is an eminent Sur
geou, residing in London, and it Is
/ gratifying to know Of the impressions
/ he formed while in our midst. Sur
cry in the United States, he thinks,
stands at very high level of excel
leuce. Not only in the large cities, but
! throughout the country, the standard
of Operative Surgery seemed to him
very high. The bent of the mind of
the American Surgeon is, he say :, like
i that of the English Surgeon, prac-
teal rather than Scientific ;
in fact he finds shrinking similarity
between American and British Sur
gerry. This he attributes to the fact
that we have both drawn our knowl-
edge from the same source; that the
names of Cooper and the bells, of Lis
ton and of Brodie, are as familiar to
our ears as to those of his own coun-
trymeu. We should not forget that
the literature of the two countries is
practically the same that every En-
glish writer writes for public OF
eighty millions. If, as Billroth
says, ian eminent German writer
English Surgeons stand highest, and
English Surgical literature is the best
in the world, we should be gratilied
by the favorable comparison. The
truth is, American Surgery does stand
very high, and other countries are be-
ginning to realize the fact.
The reform in hospital construction
has also found England somewhat be
hind-hand. The experience gained II
our late war has given us the lead IL
this movement, and the enterprise o
our Physicians has produced vas
variety Of structures which in th'
O.. light of future experience will go IA
toward solving the difficult problem
I
Mr.. Erickson thinks the Roosevelt
Hospital, in New York, without eX
ception, the most complete medica
charity, in every respect" that he ha'
ever seen.
In times past, American Physician
} and Surgeons have not been so wide
ly known as those of many older II ,
. tons. With the present facilities o
transportation, we are daily hruugh
in closer contact with all parts Of thu
world, and the fault will be ours if th'
profession does not take that stant
, which the merits of our country mel
are Undoubtedly able to give it-BoS
T ton Med. d; Sug. Journal.
; In no department of literature or sci
ence, is there mole intimate inter
i change between the United States an'
Europe, than in Medical and Surgica
publications.
+ The journals published upon boti
: continents, circulate freely and exten
j sively. All new suggestions and i'm
provements made and effected upol
either side of the Atlantic, are sool
made available at the bedside. A tarif
+ may he laid upon books, but the idea
. are common property. AS in medica
r science, so in everything. American
, are wide awake, and do not fall benin
, the old nations beyond the sea.