ll
the attention of practitioners and the public to the subject of these
pages, and shall thus discharge, as I conceive, an imperative duty to
society. Having mentioned what I am induced to consider a frequent cause
of inflammation of the investing membranes of the brain in children, my
undertaking is completed. The Profession does not require, and the
public would not be benefited, by the addition of lengthened
therapeutical rules; for I am convinced, there is not a greater
imposition to be found than the doctrine that non-medical persons can
treat diseases with success by means of popular systems of medicine,
'_practical_' treatises, &c. Such books have often done irreparable
mischief--certainly much more harm than good; and so far from injuring
the profits of medical practitioners (as some appear to suppose), have
greatly added to the number of their patients.

I avail myself also of this opportunity to enter my protest against the
ill-judged and mischievous practice of those patients who confide upon
many occasions in the opinion of their nurse, rather than that of their
medical attendant, and who, in consequence, often injure themselves
essentially by deceiving the latter. With respect to this mistaken
preference, Dr. Dewes has well observed--'Let it not be hastily assumed
that there is more safety in following the directions of a nurse than
those of the physician, because she may have had some experience; for it
must be quickly perceived that the calculation is much in favour of the
latter, since the nurse can attend but twelve patients per annum, while
the physician may visit many hundreds in the same period--besides, his
knowledge of the laws of the human system gives him a very decided
superiority.'

In conclusion, it is right to observe, that protracted suckling being a
custom much more prevalent among females of the lower orders than those
of a superior rank, it must follow as a necessary consequence, that
_Meningitis, and other disorders resulting from this cause, are
proportionably less frequent in private than in public practice_. This
remark, it is evident, should be remembered, in order to obviate
apparent discrepancies which otherwise might appear irreconcilable with
the opinions I have expressed. In the truth of those opinions I feel the
most perfect confidence, and cannot but hope that their promulgation
will hereafter prove extensively beneficial, since precautionary, and
even therapeutical measure