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The first appearance of Dr Hamilton’s book was not, indeed, hailed with the universal approbation of men of professional distinction. Many, if not all, of the objections which were urged against his practice arose from a complete misapprehension of the
principles on which it was founded, and a neglect of the cautions which the author had uniformly observed,
and which he anxiously recommended to others. Without referring to the writers whose animadversions never provoked Dr Hamilton to engage in any controversy, we may take notice of the remarks of Sir
Gilbert Blane, introduced into his work entitled Elements of Medical Logic, in which work
Dr Hamilton’s practice is controverted, particularly with respect to the exhibition of purgatives in the cure of Typhus, Scarlatina, and Chorea Sancti Viti.
Dr Hamilton on this occasion, though he adhered to his previous resolution to restrain from publishing any defence, thought it prudent to print for private circulation among his friends a few copies of a Letter to Professor James Russell,
containing remarks on some passages in Sir Gilbert’s book.
In this letter he contents himself with reminding the readers of his work, that he had never employed
