Lectures on Some Important Points in Connection with the Surgery of the Urinary Organs
Authors: H. Thompson
Journal: BMJ (1884)

receipt in a book; for so many grossly mistake, and do themselves more harm than good."Our lives as practitioners of medicine can never be tame or mono- tonous.Constantly on the stretch, with unknown responsibilities facing us on all sides, liable to all the varied misconceptions and mis- understandings which the anxieties among which we work engender, we cannot wonder that it has been written: "Unhappy he, whom fabe does urge on To practise as a country surgeon."When we consider the great proneness of each atom of matter to take on the action of surrounding atoms, and regard ourselves as each one the centre of a following of devoted friends and patients, to whom we are as oracles, we can, on a larger and calmer view of the whole case as it stands, welcome our losses and rebuffs as a wholesome corrective, reducing us to our proper level, and preventing us from be- coming the victims of what Dr. W. B. Carpenter calls " disease of the ideational faculties."What effect upon ourselves has our daily contact with human suf- fering?Does it make us callous ?A ready reply is to be found in the crowd of impostors who throng our consulting-rooms.in the cha- ritable appeals which crowd upon us, and in this fact, that none in our various neighbourhoods are to be found more forward in promoting good and kindly social schemes than those who have retired from active practice.In truth, there is no calling which is more exercised in the daily practice of altruism.Ease, pleasure, needful rest, and that study necessary to keep pace with the times, must all give way to the calls of duty; and ours were a dreary daily round, did we not idealise it and bring'our commoin love for humanitv into work as a motive power; so that it may be truly said of the medical worker:"Love took up the harp of Time, and smote on all its cords with might, Smote the chord of Self, which, trembling, passed in music out of sight."So heavy are the demands upon our vital energy for the discharge of our work, and for influencing the hopes and allaying the fears of its subjects, that the yearly holiday is a necessity of our continued use- fulness.This should be taken thoroughly, and not in the spirit of- I"leigho !' yawned one day King Francis, 'Distance all value enhances.When a man's busy, why leisure Strikes him as wonderful pleasure.Faith ! and at leisure then is he, Straightway,he longs to be busy."' In the present day, the work of medicine includes many outside questions of sanitation; and, although we often preach to deaf ears, we must be reconciled to do our duty, regardless of its success or want of success, recognising in our work a grand field for the growth of the higher qualities of humanity.And I close my short summary in the words of Robert Browning."So grind away, mouth-wise and pen-wise, Do all that we can to make men wise; But, if men prefer to be foolish, Ourselves have proved horse-like, not mulish.Sent grist, a good sackful, to hopper, And worked as the Master thought proper."ASYLUM FIRE-ESCAPES.-Trialswere recently made with two im- proved telescopic fire-escapes, sent to the Hants County Asylum by Messrs. Merryweather and Sons, of Long Acre.The escapes will reach third story windows, and an ingenious apparatus has been adapted to travel with the sliding ladders, so as to be available for rescuing persons from either second or third floor windows with equal ease; and helpless patients can be rapidly put in at the top, and al- lowed to slide down to the ground without assistance or danger of injury.The escapes can each be raised, lowered, or wheeled about by one man, and a close box is fixed to contain and preserve the canvas shoot when out of use.In two minutes, an escape was wheeled 120 yards, and placed in position at an upper window ready for service.EDUCATIONAL OVERPRESSURE.-Areturn has been presented to Parliament of the evidence given before the coroner relative to the death, on February 12th, of a child, aged 8, named Elizabeth Emma Rowley, who had been attending a school at Cheltenham, and whose