Essays by Members of the Birmingham Speculative Club

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Williams & Norgate, 1870 - Medicine - 295 pages
 

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Page 87 - The men of experiment are like the ant, they only collect and use; the reasoners resemble spiders, who make cobwebs out of their own substance. But the bee takes a middle course: it gathers its material from the flowers of the garden and of the field, but transforms and digests it by a power of its own.
Page 154 - For forty years she was the true and everloving helpmate of her husband; and, by act and word, unweariedly forwarded him, as none else could, in all of worthy that he did or attempted. She died at London, 21st April, 1866; suddenly snatched away from him, and the light of his life as if gone out.
Page 86 - Those who have handled sciences have been either men of experiment or men of dogmas. The men of experiment are like the ant ; they only collect and use ; the reasoners resemble spiders, who make cobwebs out of their own substance...
Page 84 - But experience may be acquired in two ways : either, first, by noticing facts as they occur, without any attempt to influence the frequency of their occurrence, or to vary the circumstances under which they occur ; this is observation : or, secondly, "by putting in action causes and agents over which we have control, and purposely varying their combinations, and noticing what effects take place ; this is experiment.
Page 278 - To me it has been a life-long wonder how vaguely, how ignorantly, how rashly drugs are often prescribed. We try this, and, not succeeding, we try that, and, baffled again, we try something else ; and it is fortunate if we do no harm in these our tryings.
Page 152 - That the principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes - the legal subordination of one sex to the other - is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; and that it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no power or privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other.
Page 154 - Her great and loving heart, Her noble soul, Her clear, powerful, original and Comprehensive intellect Made her the guide and support, The instructor in wisdom, And the example in goodness, As she was the sole earthly delight, Of those who had the happiness to belong to her. As earnest for all public good As she was generous and devoted To all who surrounded her, Her influence has been felt In many of the greatest Improvements of the age, And will be in those still to come.
Page 150 - These metaphysic rights entering into Common life, like rays of light which pierce into a dense medium, are, by the laws of nature, refracted from their straight line. Indeed in the gross and complicated mass of human passions and concerns the primitive rights of men undergo such a variety of refractions and reflections that it becomes absurd to talk of them as if they continued in the simplicity of their original direction.
Page 7 - ... le penseur ne se croit qu'un bien faible droit à la direction des affaires de sa planète, et satisfait de la portion qui lui est échue, il accepte l'impuissance sans regret. Spectateur dans l'univers, il sait que le monde ne lui appartient que comme sujet d'étude, et lors même qu'il pourrait le réformer, peut-être le trouverait-il si curieux tel qu'il est, qu'il n'en aurait pas le courage (1).
Page 204 - That in all cases of hopeless and painful illness it should be the recognized duty of the medical attendant, whenever so desired by the patient, to administer chloroform, or such other anaesthetic as may by-and-by supersede chloroform, so as to destroy consciousness at once, and put the sufferer at once to a quick and painless death...

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