Page:Harveian Oration for MDCCCXXXVIII; being a tribute of respect for the memory of the late James Hamilton, Sen. M.D (IA b30377353).pdf/17

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tice will constantly preserve its use and efficacy.” In this letter, dated 24th January 1827, Mr Lafisse states that Dr Biet had adopted Dr Hamilton’s treatment, with much profit, in cases of cutaneous diseases at the Hospital St Louis.

A less complimentary notice of Dr Hamilton’s book was communicated to the public a few years afterwards, in “ Dr Stoke’s Observations on Enteritis, Gastritis, and Gastro-Enteritis,” contained in the “Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine.” Among the causes of the prevailing ignorance of the pathological states of the alimentary tube, Dr Stoke is pleased to assign this as one, namely, "the spread of the doctrines of Hamilton, so popular to many minds from this, that, under the name of science, was put forward an empiricism, easy in its application, though destructive in its results, and saving the trouble of thinking and the necessity of study.”

Dr Hamilton had the satisfaction of seeing a very temperate and judicious defence against this allegation, in No. CXVI. of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal; and he soon afterwards (on the 9th of September 1833) printed and circulated among his friends a few observations, in the course of which he states that the experience of thirty years had fully