AN 
 
 ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE. 
 
 OF 
 
 SIR PATRICK DUN, 
 
 AND OF 
 
 THE SEVERAL ACTS OF PARLIAMENT PROVIDING FOR 
 ITS APPROPRIATION, 
 
 PARTICULARLY AS THEY RESPECT THE 
 
 FOUNDATION 
 
 OF AN 
 
 HOSPITAL ESTABLISHMENT, 
 
 SUBSERVIENT TO 
 
 MEDICAL INSTRUCTION, 
 
 ■ k -ft**.. 
 
 Oufcltn t 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM PORTER, 
 
 CHAttON-STREET. 
 
 X8O4, 
 
•^4 2 
 
 THE following Pages have been printed 
 in confequence of the publication, of an Addrefs 
 to the Students of Phyjic , by Doctor Hill. 
 The Statement which they contain will be found 
 to lead to conclujions conflderably different from 
 thofe adopted by the Author of the Addrefs. This 
 Statement is every where confirmed by authentic 
 references. No matter has been intentionally 
 introduced which was not necejfary for bring¬ 
 ing forward the merits of the cafe. 
 
 ROBERT PERCEVAL. 
 
 Aj 
 
 k 5566I 
 
 V 
 
An Account 5 &c. 
 
 CMR Patrick Dun, in a deed or inffru- 
 ment in writing, bearing date June 8th, 1704, 
 (p. 5&6*) declared it to be his intention that one 
 Profeffor, ftiled a Profeffor of Phyfic in the Col¬ 
 lege of Phyficians, in Dublin, or two (p. 6) the 
 provifion proving fufikient, lhould be elected by 
 the Provoft of Trinity College,! the Profdfors of 
 Phyfic in the fame, with the Prefident and the 
 two eldeft Cenfors of the College of Phyficians; 
 (an examination being held for that purpofe) 
 and that the profeffor or profeffors fo c'nofen, 
 lhould read lectures in anatomy, furgery, botany, 
 and pharmacy, for the inftruction of ftudents in 
 phyfic, furgery, and pharmacy. The fupportof the 
 
 effablilhment 
 
 * See the recitals of the a ft 21ft, George II. for vacating 
 of the office of the King's Profeffor of Phyfic in Dublin, upon 
 the death or furrender of the prefen t King’s Profeffor, and 
 for ere&ing three Profefforfhips of Phyfic in the faid city, 
 inftead thereof; odiavo copy—printed 1747. The claufes of 
 the adl not being numbered, the pages of the above mentioned 
 copy are referred to. 
 
 + Compare p. 47 of Dodlor Hill’s addrefs, where it is af- 
 ferted that the Pleads of the Univerfity were “ ftrangers and 
 unrecognized by any of the adts of Sir P. Dun.” 
 
6 
 
 eftablilhment was tobe derived from therefidueofa 
 real and of a perfonal ellate, (remaining after the 
 difcharge of certain legacies, &c.) which ellates 
 he deviled to two of his relations, “Patrick Dun, 
 “ of Tardy, and Doftor Patrick Mitchell, for 
 “ their own ufe, uniil a ProfelTorlhip of Phyfic 
 “ Ihould be eftablifhed in the College of Phyfi- 
 “ cians, according to rules, &c. exprelfed in the 
 “ paper above referred to; then, in trujl , that 
 “ the faid Patrick Dun of Tardy, and Patrick 
 “ Mitchell, and the furvivor of them, and his 
 “ heirs and affigns, Should by fuch conveyances 
 “ and methods as lTiould be reafonably defired by 
 “ the council of the faid College of Phyficians, 
 “ convey and axTure, or fecure the faid refidue of 
 “ his faid real and perfonal ellate fo to them de- 
 “ mifed, to anfwer and fulfil his intentions ex- 
 “ prelfed in the fame paper ; be it by ad of par- 
 “ liament or otherwife howfcever.” (Aft p. 5). 
 
 A fuit wasinliituted to compel thetrufteesto fulfil 
 the trull (Aft p. 13). They were accordingly com¬ 
 pelled by a decree of the Court of Chancery, 
 July the 16th, 1723, (Aft p. 14) and in purfuance 
 of the injunctions of that decree, made long after 
 the death of Sir P. Dun, and not of his will (as 
 is intimated p. 46 of the addrefs) the property of 
 the real and perfenai ellate was veiled in the Col- 
 
 lege 
 
7 
 
 lege of Phyficians in truft for the fulfilling the 
 purpofes of his will. (AS p. 17). 
 
 Thus it appears, that by no aS of Sir P. Dun 
 were the College of Phyficians appointed to fuc- 
 ceed his relations in the truft. The nature of the 
 truft he left undefined. That it was not intended by 
 him that the College fhould poftefs unlimited “ do- 
 minion”over the eftates, may fairly be inferred from 
 his qualifying the provifions which were to be made 
 for fecuring the property fo as to fulfil his benevo¬ 
 lent intentions towards that body, by the words 
 “ as may reafonably be defired by the council of 
 “ the College of Phyficians,” and by his intima¬ 
 ting that an aS of parliament might be neceffary 
 for that fecurity. 
 
 The income of the eftate having confiderably 
 rifen in value, the aS (21 ft George II.*) was pafied 
 to eftablifti three Profeftorftnps, to be held by per- 
 fons filled (AS p. 24) King’s Profeftors in the city 
 of Dublin—of pbyfic—of furgery and midwifery 
 —and of pharmacy and materia medica. The Pro- 
 fefibr of Phyfic was to teach both theory and 
 praSice. (AS p. 22 and 24) 
 
 This aS (p. 21) aftigns, as a reafon for 
 not ereSing Profefiorlhips of fome of thofe 
 branches of phyfic mentioned by Sir P. Dun in 
 
 his 
 
 * Thus quoted in the recitals of the Aft 25th of the King. 
 
8 
 
 his deed, 6{ That leCturefhips in thofe branches.* 
 4 ‘ had, fince his death, been eftablifhed in Tri- 
 “ nity College.” It was brought into parliament 
 in confequence of a petition prefented by the 
 College of Phyficians. 
 
 Thus it was the manifeft defign of the legifla- 
 ture to render the King’s Profefforfhips fupple- 
 rnentary to the eftablilhments of Trinity College, 
 in order that the whole might form as complete 
 a fyftem of medical inftruftion as the income of 
 the eftate would, at that time, admit of. This 
 defign is more fully evinced by the provifion of 
 the aft, (p. 40) that no King’s Profeffor fhould 
 be Profeffor or Le&urer in any of the branches of 
 anatomy, chemiftry, or botany, and that no fuch 
 Profeffor or Lecturer in Dublin College fhould be 
 eligible as a King’s Profeffor, unlefs he forthwith 
 refigned the Leciurefirip or Profefforfhip he held 
 in the College of Dublin. 
 
 The aft of the 25th* George III. followed up 
 the fame principle, confidering the King’s Profef- 
 forfhips as fupplementary to thofe of the'Univerfi- 
 tv,and thus propofing,for its object, as the title ex- 
 preffes, the eftabiifhinent of a complete fchool of 
 
 phyfic. 
 
 * The numbers of reference to this aft and to that of the 
 40th George III. point out the claufes or numbered para¬ 
 graphs of the a£ts : The firft was printed in fmall form in the 
 year 178j, the latter in the year 1800. 
 
9 
 
 phyfic. Accordingly, itfubftituted (cl. 2d) in the 
 place of theProfefforfhip of Surgery and Midwifery, 
 (in both of which departments, fince the 21ft 
 Georgs II. leftures had been given in Trinity 
 College) that of the Inftitutes of medicine, efta- 
 blifhing a diftinft Profefforfhip for the praftice. 
 The fame claufe likewife provided for aProfeffor fhip 
 of natural hiftory ; this part of the aft was never 
 carried into effeft, in confequence, as I believe, 
 of the eftablifliment of a mufeum of natural 
 hiftory in the univerfity,* The Profeftbrs are, 
 in the aft, ftiled “ King’s Profeftbrs in the city of 
 Dublin on the foundation of Sir Patrick Dun.” 
 
 Provifion was thus made for lectures in all the 
 different branches of medical fcience—ftiil an 
 eftablifliment, the moft efiential to medical in- 
 ftruftion, remained to be provided for, that of prac¬ 
 tical leftures on the cafes of the fick, grounded 
 on reports taken by the patients bed fide. To 
 fuch an inftitution, carried on in an extenfive 
 and commodious infirmary, built, at great ex¬ 
 pence, for that exprels purpole, the fchool of 
 Phyfic in Edinburgh is indebted for a principal 
 
 B fliare 
 
 * On this ground, certainly, it was not mentioned in the 
 aft, now in force. (40 George III.) In this aft the Profcf- 
 fors are ftiled by the fame title of “ King s Profeftbrs in the 
 
 city of Dublin, on the foundation of Sir P. Dun.” 
 
io 
 
 fliare of its deferved reputation. The act (25th 
 George III.) directs that fuch lectures fhall be 
 given (cl. 33.) ; and appropriates the furplus of 
 the fund, after the payment of the ProfefTors’ 
 falaries, fpecifically, to the fupport of thefe lec¬ 
 tures. The purchafe of medical books for the 
 ufe of Students is likewife mentioned as another 
 object to which the furplus may be applied.* But 
 that no defign was entertained of applying any part 
 of this furplus to the fupport of a botany garden 
 is evident, not only from the total omiffion of 
 any expreflion intimating fuch a defign, and from 
 the general principle of the a£t which feparates 
 completely the eltablilhments of the two colleges, 
 but is explicitly proved by the 9th claufe of the 
 ifatute, which enafts, “ that the univerfity pro- 
 “ feffors fhall be fupported at the expence of the 
 “ univerfity. 
 
 The acl (cl. 34) anticipates the foundation of 
 an hofpital fubfervient to the inftitution lately 
 mentioned, directing “ that, until an hofpital can 
 be provided for giving clinical kclurcs, they fhall be 
 
 given 
 
 * This object was poftponed in the aft 40th George III. 
 The medical library having then been furnifhed with a con- 
 fidcrable number of books, and the library of the univerfity 
 affording to the Undent an opportunity of confulting manr 
 
 r. ore. 
 
given in fome hofpital of the city^ appointed by 
 the President and Fellows of the College of Phy¬ 
 ficians.” Theeredion of an hofpital was, at the 
 time of palling the ad, incompatible with the 
 ftate of the furplus fund, one of the Profdfors, 
 under the old eftabiifhment, (fill furviving, and 
 receiving, as his falary, an entire third part of the 
 ififues of the elfates. After his demife, and in 
 confequence of communications tranfmitted to the 
 framer of the ad, (25th George III.) from the 
 College of Phyficians, an ad of parliament (31 
 George III.) was palled, the exprefs purpofe of 
 which was to eftablilh an inftitution fo indifpenfa- 
 bly neceflary to the exillence of a fchool of phyfic. 
 The experience of fix years had evinced that no 
 hofpital in the city was adapted to the purpofe of 
 medical inltrudion, and that houfes taken for the 
 temporary reception of the fick, were both in¬ 
 convenient and expenlive. 
 
 This ad, 31 Geo. III.* empowered the College of 
 Phyficians to raife £ ioco. on the eftates of Sir P. 
 Dun, in order to defray the expence of a build¬ 
 ing, which might make a portion of an extenfive 
 hofpital, to be fupported, partly, out of the 
 furplus fund of SirP. Dun’s eftates, and, partly, 
 by public fubfcriptions. The refolutions of the 
 College of Phyficians which preceded this ad, and 
 B 2 which 
 
 * Faffed in 1791. 
 
13 
 
 which (until November 1794, when the King’s 
 Profeflbrs’ claims were brought forward) uni¬ 
 formly followed up the principle on which it was 
 founded,are detailed in another place (p.41); in this, 
 no more than in the former ftatutes, is the flighted 
 intimation given of charging the funds of Sir P. 
 Dun with any fum in fupport of a botany garden. 
 
 Doctor Hill, however, truly dates that, in 
 1789, an overture was made by the board ofTrin. 
 Coll, to co-operate with the Coll, of Phyficians 
 in the eftablifhment of a botanic garden, in confe- 
 quence of which a propofal for granting ^100 a 
 year out of Sir P. Dun’s funds was twice read and 
 paflfed in the Coll, of Phyf. # At that time, no pub¬ 
 lic botanical inflitution exifled in Ireland ; and, it 
 was judly fuppofed, that to create and fupport a 
 garden fubfervient to indrudion in the various 
 branches of fo extenfive a department of na¬ 
 tural hiflory, would require 4 larger fum than 
 could be fpared from the applicable funds of the 
 univerfity. That confiderable difficulties attend¬ 
 ed the execution of the plan may be inferred, as 
 well from the final confideration of it hav¬ 
 ing been podp®ned for fo long a time, in the 
 College of Phyficians, as from the intention 
 and tenor of the feveral ads of parliament al¬ 
 ready 
 
 * Hence, however, it is by no means to be inferred that the 
 College was in any degree pledged to the grant. See Appen¬ 
 dix No. II. 
 
13 
 
 ready quoted. A committee, however, confid¬ 
 ing of members of both colleges, was appointed 
 to confer on the fubjeft. Doftor Hill came for¬ 
 ward with the opinion of lawyers, who, on his 
 own ftafement, agreed to the competency of the 
 College of Phyficians to allocate the fum in quef- 
 tion, to the fupport of a botany garden ; he 
 admits* that thefe opinions were deduced 
 from a perufal of the aft (25th George III.) ; a 
 fimilar remark is entered in the minutes of the col¬ 
 lege meeting (Sept. 27th, 1797) ; but more point¬ 
 edly, for two out of three are dated to have been 
 formed on the perufal of that aft only. The recitals 
 in the aft; 21ft George II. which explain the in¬ 
 tention of Sir Patrick Dun to render his medical 
 edablilhments independent of thofe of the univer- 
 fity, and to provide for fuch alone as did not there 
 exid, ftana oppofed to the affertion of Dr. Hill, 
 that the 25th George III. was “ the only ad that in 
 “ any point afiefted the difburfements from the re- 
 “ venues ol the edates veded in theCollege of Phy- 
 “ ficians by Sir Patrick Dun.” But farther, it did 
 not appear to the college that any allocation could, 
 with propriety, be founded on a legal poffibiiity, 
 in violation of a principle of this very aft, as ex- 
 preffed in the 9th claufe,f and explained by former 
 datutes. The affair was, however, left open to 
 farther difcuffions in the committee,! and 1 was 
 
 authorized 
 
 * P. 26, Add. , 
 
 f Which provides “ that the Univerfity Profeffors fhall be 
 fupported by the Univerfity.” ± See Appendix, No. III. 
 
authorized by the college to convene them—as no 
 time for their meeting was appointed, either by 
 the committee or the college, the exercife of that 
 power I confidered as difcretional, unlefs I Ihould 
 be applied to by Dodor Hill, or fome other mem¬ 
 ber of the committee; but no fuch application 
 was ever made, either by him or any other mem¬ 
 ber. I conceived myfelf fufficiently in poffeffion 
 of the fentiments of the college, which were de¬ 
 clared explicitly, when, on the 15th of January 
 1798*, they rejected the motion for appropriating 
 /100 a year, to the fupport of the botany garden. 
 Thefe fentiments, thus unequivocally declared, 
 muft, of courfe, have ended the negotiation. 
 
 When, afterwards, the ad was framed for the 
 final fettlement of the truft, I laid before the 
 Chancellor (with whom alfo the board of Trinity 
 College communicatedf) a full account of all the 
 tranfadions in the College of Phyficians, relative 
 to a botany garden. He rejected the arrangement 
 in tolo , as opening the fund to the claims of the 
 other Univerfity Profeffors, as contravening the 
 exprefs declaration of the act, 25th George III. 
 (cl. 9) that the Univerfity fhould fupport its own 
 Profeffors, and as diverting the means of render¬ 
 ing effectual an eftablilhment of the utmoft im¬ 
 portance, to the fupport of an inftitution of far 
 
 inferior 
 
 * At the third time of reading the propofal. See Appendix * 
 No. II.--f See Appendix, No. IV. 
 
*5 
 
 inferior utility.* It is natural enough that,Doctor 
 Kill fiiould be difpleafed at the ill fuccefs of an ar¬ 
 rangement which would have augmented his 
 eftablifhment by £100 per annum. Yet, can¬ 
 dor probably would admit, that a mind not infen- 
 fible to the duty of, a public truft, and ftrongly 
 impreffed with the conviction, that an opportu¬ 
 nity of medical experience ought to be afforded 
 to the phyfician, before he is authorized to prac¬ 
 tice in public, might purfue its object with ardour 
 and perfeverance, without being either impelled 
 by a vindictive fpirit, or affirming an hypocritical 
 predilection for a charitable inditution—efpeciallv, 
 if it appears from the foregoing fiatement, that 
 
 i > 
 
 in adopting this line of conduct, no more was 
 done than to execute what the legislature had 
 enacted, and to follow out the intentions of the 
 original teftator, as explained by them ; L c . to 
 efiablifh a fchool of phyfic in this kingdom, as 
 complete as was compatible with the income 
 which his eftates then afforded. The increafe of 
 
 that 
 
 * A botany garden, which, in fituation, extent, and the 
 elegance of its confervatories for foreign plants, yields, per¬ 
 haps, to none in Europe, was then eftablifhed in the neigh¬ 
 bourhood of the city ; this comprifed all the mod; expenfive 
 botanical collections. What remained to be provided was 
 comparatively of fmall expenCc—a garden for the cultivation 
 of thofc plants, in the knowledge of which, the phyfician is 
 principally interelled, either as objects of experiment in the 
 feience of vegetation, or as fpecimens of Materia Medica. 
 
16 
 
 that income impofed a duty on the truftees to 
 multiply the different means of medical inftruc- 
 tion, refpeCt being had to their refpeCtive im¬ 
 portance and utility, and to the exigence of fub- 
 fidiary eflablifhments. In the year 1800, an ex- 
 tenfive plan for an hofpital juflly confidered by 
 the heads of the univerfity as indifpenfably necef- 
 fary to medical inftruCtion, and fanCtioned by re¬ 
 peated aCts of the College of Phyficians, remain¬ 
 ed to be carried into effeCt ; a great botanical in- 
 flitution was already in exiftence, of which, how¬ 
 ever unconnected with the college, the Students 
 of Medicine might avail themfelves. 
 
 Had Doctor Hill exerted himfelf to emulate the 
 example of his predeceffor, who laboured under 
 the fame difadvantzges as he did, he would have 
 had more reafon for complaint. To improve to 
 the utmoft, at lead, not altogether to neglect, the 
 cultivated fpot where DoCtor Span had brought 
 together no contemptible affortment of medical 
 plants—to make a collection of all thofe which are 
 indigenous in the environs of the city—to culti¬ 
 vate fome of thefe as a private amufement— 
 would have been the occupation of a mind of 
 more energetic character. There was then no 
 reafon for compelling the letter or fpirit of the 
 laws to a compliance with Doctor Hill’s claims. 
 
 in 
 
i7 
 
 in favour of his zeal to promote the objefls of 
 his profeffbrfhip. As to the reft:—if the fund of 
 Sir Patrick Dun was fhut againft botany, it was 
 at the fame time fhut againft chemiftry. If I 
 was the inftrument of depriving Doftor Hill of 
 his privilege of truftee of Sir Patrick Dun’s es¬ 
 tates, whilft he remained a profefior, I deprived 
 myfelf of the fame privilege. 
 
 % 
 
 Afp 
 
i8 
 
 Act oj Parliament , 40 th cj the J}ing, 
 
 THE detail of the tranfa&ions in the College 
 of Phyficians which rendered this a£t neceffary 
 is altogether omitted by Dodlor Hill, although he 
 informs us, truly, that he bore a confiderable part 
 in them. Thefe originated in an attempt made 
 by three King’s Profeffors, members of the Col¬ 
 lege', in November, 1794, to charge the eftates 
 of Sir P. Dun with the fum of £ 1664 : 1 8.r. : 6 d. 
 part of an arrear fuppofed to be due to them, 
 and to provide IC that, in future, each Profeffor 
 “ fhould receive his rateable diftribution of two 
 il thirds bf the rents of the real, and intereft of 
 “ the pcrfonal Eftate of Sir P. Dun, and alfo an 
 “ additional ,fioo per annum.”—Minutes of 
 College of Phyficians. November 3, 1794. 
 
 Thus the fund for thefupportof clinical le&urcSj 
 Sc c. was on the point of being annihilated,* not- 
 withftanding the offer which the Profeffors made 
 to relinquifh the fum of £8 13 : 17 s. : id. (being 
 the difference between their demand of /’1664 
 i8r. : 6 d. and the money then accruing out of 
 the eftates of Sir P. DunJ “ for the fake of pre- 
 
 “ ferving 
 
 * The income of the Eftates, head rent deduced, amounts 
 to £1298 ; 
 
1 9 
 
 “ ferving exifling eftablilhments conducive to the 
 “ fuccefs and fupport of the fchool of phyfic (un- 
 “ til equally ufeful and more oeconomical ones 
 “ fhould be devifed), and for difeharging fuch 
 “ debts as had already arifen upon the faith 
 “ of the College of Phyficians.”—Minutes as be¬ 
 fore quoted. 
 
 That their claims, though founded upon legal 
 opinions, were contrary to the true fpirit and 
 intention of the act 25th George III. is fufficiently 
 evinced by the declaratory adt* of Sir L. Parfons, 
 who, as a reprefentative for the Univerfity in Par¬ 
 liament, could not fail to be acquainted with the 
 original deftgn of the Legiflature,~--by the decree 
 of the Court of Chancery, which difmiffed the 
 ProfelTors’ bill, founded on thofe claims, with 
 colls, and by< the confirmation of that de¬ 
 cree by the Iloufe of Lords. It is necelfary to 
 obferve that this attempt was made foon after the 
 death of the Provod (Rt. Hon b . !e J. II. Ilutchin- 
 fon), who framed the aft and brought it into 
 Parliament.! 
 
 C 2 The 
 
 * This limited the ProfefTor's falaries to^jco a year. 
 
 f The a& (40 George III.) continues the King’s Pro- 
 fefibru’ falaries at £\ 00 per annum, according to the true 
 
 fenfc 
 
1 he various means which were employed to 
 infure fuccefs to the King’s Profe-ffors claims have 
 not been laid before the public. Such as ap¬ 
 peared directly to infringe on theconftitutionof the 
 College of Phyficians, I found it neceflary to date 
 in the appeal which, in the year 1796, was lodged 
 with the vifitors of the College then appointed by 
 charter only. 
 
 Their legal jurifdiction having been difproved, 
 on the ground of the College of Phyficians being 
 a lay body, the merits of the cafe (truck them fo 
 forcibly, that, extrajudicially, they expreffed a very 
 marked difapprobation of the proceedings dated 
 in the appeal, and infided on the neceflity of an 
 a£t of parliament to regulate the trud and the con- 
 ditution of the College fn fuch a manner as might 
 
 prevent 
 
 fenfe of the aft (25th of the King') which limited them to 
 that fum, in conformity with the ufage at Edinburgh.—Ex" 
 perience had Ihewn that, with larger falaries, Profeflorfhips 
 proved ineffective, and that emolument ought to be derived 
 rather from the number of pupils than from a ftated income. 
 An inequality with regard to the endowments of the Uni- 
 verfitv Profeflbrlhips has been complained of. The average 
 of the yearly income of the Profdfor of Chemiltry for the 
 laft feven years, from 3797 to 1823 inclufive, as paid by the 
 univerfity, is £\ 22. Befides procuring afiillants to conduct 
 the experiments, it is neceffary to defray the expence of the 
 materials and many articles of perifhable apparatus required 
 for them alfo of fervar.ts to attend at the laboratory. 
 
prevent any fuch attempts from taking place in 
 future. Many circumftances concurred to render 
 fuch an arrangement neceffary. The mod promi¬ 
 nent was the danger of committing a truft to a 
 corporate body, the adts of which are the afts of the 
 majority, and of which the majority might, and 
 probably always would be perrons either adlually 
 deriving or expelling to derive emoluments from 
 a large unappropriated fund, the object of the 
 truft. From the fignature of the College minute 
 book, it appears that, fince the year 1786, the 
 number of attending members s has once only 
 amounted to twelve, and at an average has not 
 exceeded nine—of fuch a number fix members 
 might be Profeffors, who, allowing for accidents 
 of non-attendance of the other members, might 
 be fuppofed always to form a majority. According 
 to Doctor Hill’s own admiffion (p. 85), the Col¬ 
 lege has been reduced to fo fmall a number as fix, 
 and thus might confift, entirely, of interefted 
 parties. 
 
 In the medical profeffion, the duties of which 
 are of fo imperative a nature, accidents to 
 prevent attendance at the College meetings 
 mult frequently occur. Indeed the time of 
 a phyfician in full bufinefs is fo much occupied 
 that he cannot, without confiderable inconve¬ 
 nience, 
 
nience, devote an occafional hour to extra-pro- 
 fedional employment, particularly, during the 
 bufy part of the day. Accordingly, the dated 
 meetings of the College are ordered for half pad 
 five in the afternoon. Evening attendance on 
 patients will often limit the time of thefe meetings 
 to lefs than two hours: Thefe are frequently occu¬ 
 pied by the examination of candidates—other bufi- 
 nefs, of courfe, mud be hadily tranfa&ed and the 
 ■ adjudment of complicated and di'cordant intereds 
 mud be found a talk too difficult even for thofe 
 •who are impreffed with the drongeft fenfe of pub¬ 
 lic duty. In luch difcuffions, diffenfions mud 
 arife, highly derogatory to the reputation of the 
 profeflion, and no lefs prejudicial to the commu¬ 
 nity at large by introducing perfonal anirrtodties 
 amongd thofe who ought, both in their public 
 meetings and private confultations, to confer with 
 mutual conddence and unprejudiced minds, oq 
 topics of a very different defcription. 
 
 To feek the redrefs of thefe evils, which threat¬ 
 ened either to defeat altogether the purpofes of 
 the trud, or to involve the College in endlefs 
 contention, appeared a duty incumbent upon me 
 both as a Truflee and as a Fellow of the College. 
 —Accordingly, in the beginning of the year 
 1799, though unconnected with the late Lord 
 
 Chancellor,'* 
 
Chancellor,* by ar.y private tie whatever, yet re¬ 
 lying on that adivc fenfe of juftice which dil- 
 iinguifhed his charader, I prefumed to folicit 
 the fpeedy execution of the parliamentary arrange¬ 
 ment which he and the other viators had pro_ 
 pofed, and which, now, by various delays, had 
 been poftponed for upwards of two years.-}- To 
 urge more ftrongly its necefiity, I fuggefted to 
 him, that whilft matters remained in this unfet¬ 
 tled date, the intereds of the fchooi ofPhyfic mud 
 be negleded, and that the plan for the founda¬ 
 tion of an hofpital, with which the ultimate fuccefs 
 of that fchooi was neceffarily conneded, moft 
 probably, would be abandoned. Farther, to re- 
 prefent the danger which might affed the funds 
 themfelves, I reminded him of what I had form¬ 
 erly dated in my appeal, that a confiderabie fum 
 had been applied by the College (a majority hav¬ 
 ing voted for fuch application) to fupport the 
 claims of the plaintiffs (the King’s Profeffors) in 
 a caufe in which the College were oftenfibly the 
 
 defendants— 
 
 * I opened the bulinefs to him, in a few words, at the Pre¬ 
 volt's houfe* where he came in order to attend the Shrovetide 
 commencement of that year. He, in confequence, deli red 
 farther communication with me. 
 
 f The a£t of union was then impending. .Any farther 
 delay mull have oppofed to the arrangement difficulties a'mofl 
 
 infuperable. 
 
defendants—a fum which had fincebecn encreafed 
 by feeing council to refill fny appeal, &c. &c.* 
 whilfl the payment of the fees of Sir L. Parfons’s 
 acl, which had been advanced by me, for fecuring 
 the funds, had long been evaded, and I was reim- 
 burfed only in confequence of the powerful in- 
 terpofition of his Lordfnip and the other vifitors. 
 And this, although neither I, nor any other 
 
 member 
 
 * It appears from a return made to the Houfe of Lords in 
 eoniequenee of their order dated April 5th, 1799* and au¬ 
 thenticated by the Prefident of the College, Do£tor Hopkins, 
 that a fum amounting to^i 12 12s. 3 cL was difburfed by the 
 College out of the funds of Sir Patrick Dun, and that a fum 
 amounting to £221 2 5. Sd. was difburfed by the College out 
 of its private funds (making in the whole ^’333 14J. lid.) 
 between the 21 ft November, 1794, and the 5th November, 
 1798, for the following purpofes, viz. for lawyers opinions 
 on the claims of the King’s Profeflbrs, taken by themfelves, 
 without the dire&ion of the College.—For the fupport of 
 thefe claims in the Court cf Chancery, and at the bar of the 
 Houfe of Lords in their appeal from it’s decree—for oppofing 
 Sir L. Parfons’s a£l at the bar of the Houfe of Commons, and 
 for refilling Do£lor Perceval’s appeal at the vifitation of the 
 College of Phyficians. 
 
 A tranfeript of the account, with references to the dates 
 of the orders and payments in the treafurers books, is now in 
 my pofTefiion. A limilar account I wifhedto make out in the 
 year 17975 during the treafurerfhip of Do6lor Hill ; but he 
 thought proper to refufe me acccfs to the books of the Col¬ 
 lege for this purpofe ; his condudl on that occafion is not juf- 
 titied by the opinion of Mr. Saurin which he quotes, p. 46 
 of his addrefs. 
 
member of the College who had a&ed with me 
 in oppofing the King’s Profeflbrs’ claims, charged 
 the College with any part of the expence which 
 had been incurred by the oppofition. 
 
 Such was the converfation which a majority of 
 the College animadverted upon as unneceffary, in 
 their refolution of the ill of July, 1799, cited 
 by Doctor Hill, p* 61 of his addrefs. Soon 
 after thefe tranfa&ions, fome of the olded and 
 mod refpefl.able members refigned their fellow r - 
 fhips and withdrew from the College. It remain¬ 
 ed for me to follow their example and then pub¬ 
 licly to inculpate a body, for Several of the mem¬ 
 bers of which I entertained the highelt perfonai 
 regard, or to accept the office of Prefident of the 
 College to which I was on the 5th day of Novem¬ 
 ber, 1799, elected, on the resignation of Do&or 
 Cullen who had been chofen to that office on the 
 18th of October preceding. The latter part of the 
 alternative was preferred, not only for the reafons 
 above dated, but from a refpeft to the abilities and 
 profeffionai character of thofe gentlemen whofe 
 conduft as trudees I could not approve, and from 
 a wiffi, which I dill entertain, to condgn to ob* 
 livion (fo far as a necefiary vindication of my 
 own conduct will admit), all pad tranfadions 
 
 I) which 
 
%6 
 
 which might perpetuate animofity. In my capa¬ 
 city of Prefident, I prefented at the bar of the 
 Iloufe of Lords the draft of a bill which the Col¬ 
 lege were defirous fhould be brought into parlia¬ 
 ment. accompanied with their petition. The 
 Chancellor undertook to bring in the bill. When 
 he afeed my opinion on feveral of the arrange¬ 
 ments which it propofed (the nature of which 
 Doctor Hill has (efficiently explained) I made 
 no fcruple in delivering my fentiments, without 
 referve, as I had done before to the College, in 
 every ft age of the difeuffion. That any opinion cf 
 mine could produce effedt upon the mind of that 
 fugacious and upright judge, independently of 
 the obvious merits of the cafe, is a fuggeftiontoo 
 ridiculous to be noticed in any other point of 
 view', than as it evinces the prejudice under which 
 the mind of its author labours. What I had ad¬ 
 vanced in private, I afterwards fubftantiated in 
 evidence both with regard to the adminiftration 
 of the trull, and aifo with regard to the principal 
 object for which the act provided. To the fame 
 points the moft rcfpedlable members of the profef- 
 fion* were examined as well before a committee of 
 
 the 
 
 ♦ Doctors Harvey, Plunkett, Hopkins, and Cullen were 
 examined on oath before the committee of the Houfe of Lords 
 on the 17th April, 1799- Doctors Purcell, Harvey, and 
 Plunkett were afterwards examined before the Jioufe. 
 
the Houfe of Lords as publicly in the houfe. Some 
 of thofe gentlemen were in habits of profeffional 
 intercourfe with the noble Lord, and no doubt en¬ 
 joyed his private confidence. In the communi¬ 
 cations which had taken place between the Col¬ 
 lege of Phyficians and the Board of Trinity Col¬ 
 lege, the alterations which were intended in the 
 bill had been canvaffed. On thei8thof April,1800, 
 the draft bill was ordered by tl\e College of Phy¬ 
 ficians to be laid before the board of Trinity Col¬ 
 lege, whofe amendments were propofed to theCol- 
 lege of Phyficians on the 1 ft of May. On the 2d of 
 June I fignified to the College of Phyficians thepre- 
 fentation of their bill, which had taken place the 
 Thurfday preceding (29th May), and at the fame 
 time announced to them the day appointed for 
 its fecond reading (June 10th). This did not 
 take place for fome days after, fo that ample time 
 was allowed for preparing any obje&ions to the 
 alterations which the bill underwent in this ftage 
 of its progrels.—Printed copies of the altered 
 bill were circulated in the College, and on the 
 lft July certain amendments which were made, af¬ 
 ter the bill had been printed, were laid before them. 
 The time of its being fent down to the Commons 
 D 2 was 
 
23 
 
 % 
 
 was on the fame day notified.* The bill paffed 
 the Commons without oppofition, and received 
 the Royal affent on the ift of Auguft. 
 
 Had the College of Phyficians wifhed to vinde¬ 
 dicate what a majority of that body fas then con- 
 Hituted) affected to conceive a violation of their 
 rights, they might (as on former occafions) have 
 employed council for that purpofe, at the bar of 
 the Houfe of Lords or Commons. To fuppofe 
 that neither the author of the addrefs to the Stu¬ 
 dents of Phyfic, nor any of thofe gentlemen who 
 agreed with him in opinion, could engage fome 
 diftinguifhed member of either Houfe of Parlia¬ 
 ment to ftand forth as their advocate in vindicat¬ 
 ing the injured rights of the College, (provided it 
 could be proved that thefe rights were in reality 
 violated) would be to deprefs their chara&ers to 
 a level far below that which they may juftly claim 
 as their proper fiat ion. To have folicitedfuch inter¬ 
 ference might appear better calculated to ferve 
 the ends of fubftantial juftice, than, after the 
 death of that diftinguifhed perfon who befi knew 
 the nature and grounds of the arrangement, to 
 
 revive 
 
 * Thefe facts are all Hated in the minutes of the College 
 of Fhyficians of their meetings held on the days above men¬ 
 tioned, viz. April 18th, June 2d, July ill, i8co. 
 
29 
 
 revive extinft controvlrfies, and thus to prevent 
 any approach towards a cordial co-operation 
 amongft the profeffors, fo neceffary to the fuccefs 
 of the common caufe in which they are engaged. 
 The effect of any application for fuch interference 
 may be inferred from what is related by Doctor 
 Hill, p. 80 and 81 of his addrefs. The leading 
 principle of the aft, fo far as it regarded the con- 
 ftitution of the College relied upon this foiid 
 foundation in equity, 44 that perfons immediately 
 44 deriving emolument from a public fund, and 
 44 thofe alfo who might, at any time, lay claim 
 “ to fuch emolument, Ihouid be excluded 
 44 from the trull of its appropriation ;—under 
 44 this description all the Profeffors were in- 
 ft eluded.”* 
 
 But 
 
 * Doftor Hill, p. 14, exprefles a defire to know “ how the 
 u ProfefTors of the Univerfity efcabliihment were concerned 
 “ in the regulations of the College of Phyficians refpefting 
 “ the difpofition and expenditure of the unappropiated reve- 
 u nues of the eflates of Sir P. Dun, from no portion of 
 “ whieh they were to receive any falary or emoluments what- 
 “ foever, hut by the a£t (cl. 14) are to be fupported entirely 
 “ at the expence of the Univerfity.” To fatisfy this enquiry 
 I would remind him that the 14th claufe of the a di 40th of 
 the King, is literally a tranfeript oi the 9th claufe of the act 
 25 th of the King, and that he, an uni verb, ty ProfeiTor, whilfl 
 the 25th of the King was yet in force, fupported by the opi¬ 
 nion 
 
3 ° 
 
 But farther, it was eafy* to conceive, that in- 
 terefted parties, urging, on any future occafion, 
 claims the mod unwarrantable, might, indirectly 
 and through circuitous channels, derive advantage 
 from a£ts which did not oftenfibly encreafe their 
 emoluments. It appeared therefore that the eon- 
 fideration of thefe afts ought to be referred to a 
 tribunal, from whofe deliberations fuch parties 
 fhould be altogether excluded. 
 
 The propofed remedy of depriving them of the 
 power of voting on particular quedions, whilft 
 they were differed to affid at the meetings at 
 which thofe queftions were difeuffed, would have 
 proved altogether inadequate. Under fuch a pro- 
 vifion, they might dill claim a right of uttering 
 and enforcing their opinions, and, by delays, de¬ 
 bates and intrigues, revive all the evils which the 
 act was intended to remove. 
 
 It 
 
 nkm of council maintained that his claim to^ioo perannurn 
 out of the unappropriated furplus was legal. The provifion 
 for difpofing of the unappropriated furplus (whenever it fhail 
 occur, and for the probability of its occurrence, fee what is pro¬ 
 pofed hereafter, page 42), is exactly the fame in the aft of the 
 40th, as in the 25 th of the King, nor does any thing occur in the 
 latter mentioned of thefe afts more than in the firft to juftify 
 the application of any part of fuch furplus to fupport an Uni. 
 verfity Profefforlhip. 
 
3 * 
 
 It therefore became necefiary to limit their 
 functions, as a&ing members of the College, to 
 the regulation of the practice of medicine (cl. 
 41) and to exclude them from all interference in 
 the truft. I could mean no indignity to my bre¬ 
 thren in advifing a meafure which included myfelf 
 and removed me from my prefideney. 
 
 0 no! • 
 
 IhfpitaL 
 
^ n 
 6 * 
 
 Hospital. 
 
 PREVIOUSLY to the claims of the King’s 
 Profelfors, urged in 1794, the efiablilhment of 
 an hofpital on an extenfive and permanent plan? 
 was the chief object propofed by the College of 
 Phyficians, in the appropriation of the furplus of 
 Sir Patrick Dun’s funds. This plan I publilhed 
 in the year 1792, under the diredtion of the Col¬ 
 lege (as Dodtor Hill admits, p. 28)., It was fanc- 
 tioned by repeated adts of theirs, detailed hereafter 
 p.41. An adt of parliament was accordingly obtain¬ 
 ed, for enabling that body to raife money on Sir P. 
 Dun’s eftates, for the purpofe of commencing the 
 building; mean time an houfe was taken inLower 
 Exchange-flreet, for the reception of the Tick. 
 Doctor Hill’s remarks on the expence of fupport- 
 ing this temporary hofpital (which accommodated 
 but a fmall number of patients) tend, in the ftrong- 
 eft manner, to confirm the necefiitv of a perma¬ 
 nent and extenfive inftitution. The expences of 
 the hofpital in Lower Exchange-ftreet were 3 n- 
 fpedted with the utmoft ftridtnefs—every fum 
 granted for its fupport, palled through the hands 
 of the late Mr. Abraham Wilkinfon, who hu- 
 - manely 
 
33 
 
 inanely undertook, and mod: faithfully executed, 
 the office of treafurer ; he allowed no expendi¬ 
 ture except what refulted from the regulated con- 
 fumption, according to the dated form of dietary, 
 the items of which were, from day to day, brought 
 forward, in feparate columns, as vouchers for the 
 fteward’s accounts. All expences were defrayed 
 under the exprefs direction of the board of go¬ 
 vernors ; at the end of every quarter, they re¬ 
 ceived from the treafurer, returns of the ex¬ 
 pences, arranged under diftindt heads; tranfcripts 
 of thefe accounts, from the year 1792 to 1794, 
 are now in my pofTeffion. 
 
 Such unremitting attention I know was paid, 
 during fix months that I attended and ledtured 
 in the years 1792—93,* and during three, in the 
 years 1795—6 ; nor is there any reafon to fup- 
 pofe, that the treafurer or governors remitted 
 that attention, during the remaining part of the 
 period of this temporary eftablifhment. That the 
 grofs expenditure fhould be confiderable, when 
 compared to the number of patients, is not extra- 
 
 E ordinary; 
 
 * The College of Phyficians, at their meeting, held on the 
 17th July 1793, returned their thanks to Mr. Wilkinfon, 
 « for the trouble he had taken in keeping accounts, the plan 
 ‘ of which appeared fo admirably calculated for the molt 
 ‘ (Economical application of the funds to the maintenance of 
 * the hofpital,* 
 
34 
 
 ordinary; fines the amount, (including not only 
 the expence of their maintenance, properly To 
 called, but houfe rent, taxes, and officers’ falaries), 
 when the number of patients is but final!, mud, 
 divided by that number, neceffarily quote a large 
 Turn, Thefe additional expences are all included in 
 Cr. Hill’s eflimate (p. 31 of his addrefs) in which, 
 however, there appears to be an arithmetical er¬ 
 ror : for £436, the entire expence for the winter 
 half year 1792-3, divided by 30 (the number 
 of patients) gives /14 : ioj. and not /17 : xor. for 
 the half year’s expence of a patient. Thus, alfo, 
 in eflimating the expence of a patient for the 
 half year, for 1793-4,* the fum is £22, and 
 not £26. 
 
 The increafed expence attending the fupport of 
 patients, individually, during the winter 1794— 
 95, is eafily explicable, on the principle above 
 dated, by the diminution of their number, whilft 
 the eftablifhment of officers,&c. remained the fame. 
 It was hoped that the cordial co-operation of all 
 the Profeifors, would have infiired to the hofpital 
 
 the 
 
 * During this year, in confequence of the prevalence of an 
 :nfe&ious fever, which proved fatal to the apothecary', it be¬ 
 came neceffary to difmiis a number of patients. The expcncc 
 of the year became augmented in confequence of the confump- 
 tior. of a confiderable quantity' of wine. 
 
35 
 
 the countenance and liberal fupport of the pub¬ 
 lic, and have enabled the governors to fill the 
 houfe, which they reported capable of containing 
 50 beds. Thus the original calculation of the 
 expence of maintaining a patient for a year, w ould 
 have been fully juftihed.Rut the views of aggran¬ 
 disement difciofed in the year 1794, by the King's 
 Profeflors, defeated ail fuch hopes; during the win¬ 
 ter 1794-5, the hofpital w<as attended by two of 
 thefe gentlemen, who diminished the establishment 
 of patients in the houfe to 14. This happened, net 
 accidentally, but fylfemaiicaliy, as appears by the 
 Statements of Dodtor Dickfon’s pamphlet, in 
 which it is afferted, that even a fmallei number, 
 (twelve) is fuincient for the purpofe of clinical 
 lectures. That a defire Should have existed of 
 diminishing the expcuce of the hofpital, will not 
 feern extraordinary, when it is considered, that 
 the King’s ProfeSfors expected to Share amongSt 
 themielves the unappropriated furplus of the und; 
 and accordingly a plan which accompanied their 
 claim urged upon the College of Phyficians in the 
 year 1794, reierred to more ceconomha. instituti¬ 
 ons, in which the clinical was, no doubt, included.* 
 
 The around on which Dodtor Dickfon’s alter- 
 
 O 
 
 tion is ofteafibly maintained, is the impoffibilitv 
 
 of 
 
 * See minutes of Coll, of Phyf. quoted p. 19 of this pamphlet. 
 
36 
 
 of reporting fully on the cafes of a number of 
 patients greater than twelve, in the courfe of an 
 hour, (the time allotted for vifiting them)— 
 Doitor Hill has diffufely expatiated on this argu¬ 
 ment (p. 71, 72, 73, of his addrefs). But this 
 mode of reafoning affumes the necejjity of report¬ 
 ing every day , upon the cafe cf every patient —a 
 talk altogether fuperfluous. The large majority 
 of cafes, in hofpital as well as in private practice, 
 are chronic, and on thefe it will befeldom necef- 
 fary to report oftener than once or twice a week. 
 Farther, the expence of much time, at the pa¬ 
 tient’s bedfide, is fpared by the complete hiftory 
 of the caufes, progrefs, and previous treatment of 
 every dileafe, which is drawn up, in the Phyfi- 
 cian’s abfence, by his adiftant clerk, and entered 
 in the regiftry, from whence the ftudents tran- 
 ferihe it at their leifure—alfo, by the adoption of 
 hofpital formulas, which, in a few words, com¬ 
 prize the regulation of diet, or the conduit of a 
 courfe of medicine.* By thefe means, the Cli¬ 
 nical 
 
 * Thus the words—‘ Sumat Pidve'rem Doveri more folito,’ 
 which may be pronounced in about four feconds of time, by 
 referring to general directions, entered at the beginning of the 
 (-.fe book, which the (Indents may tranferilje at leifure, will 
 include the dofe of the medicine, the intervals at which it is 
 to be given, the circumflances under which thefe intervals are 
 
 to 
 
37 
 
 nical Eftablifhment of Edinburgh, confiding as 
 Dodtor Hill admits, (p. 74) of thirty patients, 
 is daily attended within the limits of an hour, as 
 I can aflert, from the experience of three years, 
 fpent in that city, confirmed by that of three 
 clinical courfes, which Imyfelfhave delivered in 
 Dublin, during which I have often (without con- 
 fcioufnefs of any negledc) accompanied the ftu- 
 dents through wards containing thirty patients, 
 or more, in the fame time. Admitting, however, 
 as if for argument’s fake, that thirty patients may 
 be reported on, the Dodlor proceeds to make fuch 
 complaints (p. 74) on the expence of the hofpital, 
 provided for in the 40th Geo. III. as lead to the 
 inference—“ That it need not contain more 
 “ than thirty patients,”—The infirmary at Edin¬ 
 burgh (by him fo inconclufively drawn into pre¬ 
 cedent) contains near two hundred,* of which 
 two-thirds are medical; from thefe, the molt in- 
 ierefting cafes are continually Elected, whiff 
 
 other 
 
 to be abridged or protrafted, the attentions to be paid to the 
 revering of the patient, to his drink and nourifhment, to the 
 flate of the bowels, &c. &c. In private practice, the detail¬ 
 ing of all thefe particulars to inexperienced perfons mull oc¬ 
 cupy a very confidcrable time. 
 
 * The building is capable of Containing two hundred and 
 twenty-eight beds. See Encycl. Brittan. Article Edinburgh, 
 and Hiltory of Royal Infirmary, p. ic. 
 
33 
 
 other patients, whofe difcafes have fufHciently 
 been remarked upon, are remanded to the care 
 of t'ne ordinary phyfician. Such a fubfidiary efla- 
 blifhment, fhould any Clinical Profeffor vvifh to 
 depart from the Edinburgh pra&ice, and to con¬ 
 fine his attention to a very few important cafes, 
 will afford him an opportunity, whenever he fees 
 fit, of diminifhing the number of his patients with¬ 
 out being reduced to the neceffity of difmiffing 
 them from the houfe. But this is by no means 
 the principal advantage of an extenfive hofpltal 
 inftitution. During the fummcr, whiift other lec¬ 
 tures (except botany) are, in general, intermitted, 
 the ftudents have leifure to apply their attention, 
 almofl undivided, to the infirmary, which, if well 
 adapted to the purpofe of obfervation and expe¬ 
 rience, mult be confidered as forming far the moil 
 important part of medical inflruftion. 
 
 Now, that a wide field of obfervation is necef- 
 fary to fupply to the fludent a competent number 
 of inltances cf the infinite varieties of difeafe—to 
 fuggtfc to his obfervation the companion of differ¬ 
 ent eourfes, which difeafes of the fame name run in 
 different ages and temperaments—to convey an 
 adequate idea of thecharacler cf epidemics,as they 
 occur at different feafons, or from a fpeeific con¬ 
 
 tagion 
 
39 
 
 tagion—mud appear evident to every mind that 
 is capable of reducing a number of facis to 
 icientific principles, and founding upon them fam 
 practical conclufions; and accordingly the benefits 
 refulting to the ftudent from this ‘ ample field ot 
 leledlion,’ are very properly infilled on in the 
 hiftory of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, 
 (p. 16.) See Appendix. 
 
 With refpedt to the inanimate productions of 
 nature, no defcriptions can fupply the place of 
 a£tual obfervation. Hence the value of collec¬ 
 tions of natural hifiory, the importance of which 
 is every day better underftood. To apply this 
 analogy to the phenomena of difeafe—the necef- 
 fity of rendering thefe familiar to the mind, by 
 affording an opportunity of adtual infpedtion, will 
 appear not only from the fuperior importance of 
 the fubjedt, but from the nature of the phenome¬ 
 na themfelves;—all of thefe are difficult of de- 
 fcription—many elude it entirely—of the com¬ 
 plexion and expreflion of feature, the (late of re- 
 fpiration, the variations of the pulfe, the fenfible 
 qualities of the evacuations, no language can con¬ 
 vey to the underftanding, conceptions, in any de¬ 
 gree, adequate. 
 
 The 
 
40 
 
 The art of engraving has, in vain, attempted 
 to reprefent the varieties of eruptive difeafe and 
 cutaneous affedtion. Let the fludent but once ex¬ 
 amine a limb occupied by eryfipelas, and he will 
 acquire more fubftantial information than by turn¬ 
 ing over many pages of defcription, or infpecting 
 plates the molt expreffive. 
 
 In affording fit opportunities for experience to 
 thofe deftined for the medical profeffion, the pub¬ 
 lic fafety is materially interefted. In the infirmary 
 at Edinburgh, or in St. Thomas’s, Guy’s, or St. 
 George’s hofpital in London, a fludent may, in 
 the courfe of two or three years, fee repeated in- 
 flances of the ordinary difeafes of this kingdom. 
 But deprived of fuch advantages, his fuperficial 
 and unreal knowledge, nay the very accomplith- 
 ments he may have acquired, in the ornamental 
 parts of medical education, ferve only to render 
 a conjeftural and fyflematic practice more dan¬ 
 gerous to the lives and healths of his fellow 
 citizens. 
 
 Thefe confiderations will fufficiently evince the 
 necefiity of an hofpital (fuch as the Chancellor’s 
 act dire&s to be conllrudted) in order to infure 
 fuccefs to the fchool of Phyfic in Ireland. 
 
 The 
 
4 i 
 
 The only building fufficiently exfenfive for the 
 ufes propofed is Stevens’s hofpital; but its re¬ 
 mote diftance from the College would render it 
 impoffible for the profeffors or ftudents to attend 
 there with any degree of convenience. 
 
 The foundation of fuch an hofpital was de¬ 
 manded by repeated ads of the College of Phy- 
 ficians. On the 14th of Augufl 1790, a plan 
 of a permanent hofpital was adopted, and bn Octo¬ 
 ber 12th, Dodor Perceval was direded to tranfmit 
 this plan to the Provoft of Trinity College. Oil 
 the 24th January 1 792, he was defired to pub- 
 lilh the plan, and on February 21ft, 1792, he 
 was authorized to make an offer of one hundred 
 pounds a year out of the funds of Sir P. Dun, 
 to the Board of Trinity College, as rent for 
 ground near Townfhend-ftreet (then intended for 
 its fite). Thefe ads all appear in the minutes of 
 the Coll, of Phys.norare they in any refped altered 
 or difavowed until the month of November, 1794, 
 when the King’s Profeffors’ claims were openly 
 advanced and a more economical fyflem of me¬ 
 dical inftrudion propofed. From that time for¬ 
 ward no pains have been fpared to depreciate the 
 plan of regulation adopted, in 1792, in the tem¬ 
 porary hofpital then fitted up—to eflablifh that 
 F ftrange 
 
ftrange paradox, that in order to complete medi¬ 
 cal education, the infpeftion of an infignificant 
 number of the Tick is amply fufficient, and to 
 ihew the impracticability of erecting an hofpital 
 on an extenfive fcale. This laft mentioned alfer* 
 tion may deferve confideration. 
 
 Without fpending time in evincing that the words 
 4 refidue of the faid lurplus,’ (cl. 4 of the aft 
 40th of the King) dearly refers to what precedes 
 and not to what follows, nor in pointing out other 
 parts of Doftor Hill’s ftatement which might be 
 excepted again!!, I (hall join ifiue with him on 
 his own aflertion that the fund applicable to the 
 foundation and fupport of an hofpital, amounts, 
 at prefent, to no more than about £642 annually. 
 The Doftor forgets altogether that Sir P. Dun’s 
 lands are demifed under terminable leafes moft of 
 which will expire within ten years, one, of 1 77 
 acre§, within four ; that they are let confiderably 
 under value at the prefent rent 0^1384, as they 
 contain upwards of 2181 acres, in forne of the 
 belt parts of the county of Waterford.—He 
 omits entirely the fupport which the inftitution 
 will receive (according to the provifions of the 
 aft) from the attendance of Students—Three 
 guineas annually from each graduate in arts, and 
 twenty guineas from every other pupil.—Laftly, 
 
 he 
 
43 
 
 he difclairas all profpeCt of public contribution to 
 fo important a national eftabliOiment, or private 
 fubfcription to a charity, the neceffity of which 
 has been demonftrated from the prefent inade¬ 
 quate provifion for the fick poor of Dublin.* 
 Far different were the expectations of the mana¬ 
 gers of the infirmary at Edinburgh, who, whiltt 
 their means were altogether infufficient, adopted 
 an ornamented plan, the completion of which 
 colt y12294: 14^. : Ad. equivalent, I fuppofe, to 
 f 9.0000 in this country, and ip thefe times—fee 
 Hiftory of the Royal Infirmary, p. 22. 
 
 A charter w r as granted to them in Auguft, 
 17 36, which recited their fund to be about F30O0, 
 this they were obliged to apply to the maintenatir 
 F 2 of 
 
 * It was fnewn, when the plan for an hofpital firft was pub- 
 lifhed, that the means of relief afforded to the fick poor in 
 Dublin were altogether d^proportionate to its population, af- 
 fuming as a flandard the hofpital eftabiifhments of London.— 
 The number of beds deficient then amounted to no lei's than 
 240. This conclulion was deduced from two different fup- 
 pofitions the one altogether independent of the other. The 
 details of the calculation will be found in the report of the fub- 
 committee of the fociety for promoting the comforts of the 
 poor, publifhed in the year i 800. The fever hofpital and in- 
 firmary of the Houfe of Induftrv, founded fince that time, 
 have, in fome degree, but by no means completely, 4 fupplied 
 the defeat. 9 
 
44 
 
 of the fick, fo that the whole cofi: of the building 
 appears to have been defrayed by private fubfcrip- 
 tion, of which a fmall proportion only was pro* 
 bably colle&ed when they undertook the ere&ion 
 of the infirmary—fee Appendix. 
 
 The building, which is at prefent ere&ing un¬ 
 der the dire&ion of the commiffioners appointed by 
 the Chancellor’s a£t, is fituated on a ftony bank at 
 the fouth fide of the Artichoke road. The entrance 
 is elevated upwards of 20 feet above the level of 
 the low* ground which lies to the north between 
 the road and the river. Its foundations are fur- 
 rounded with fewers which have a rapid fall to a 
 fpacious main fewer that runs parallel to the road. 
 The vicinity of the docks and canal (which however 
 are, by no means, fo near as to occafion any 
 foaktrge through the ground on which the hof- 
 pital Hands) will fecure to the building a fpacious 
 open to eaft and north-eaft. The wards, fituated 
 at the fouth fide, will be refrefhed by the fun and 
 mountain breese. It lies within a quarter of an 
 
 hour’s 
 
 # Any-inconvenience which might be apprehended to arife 
 from the low fituation of this ground (which is not a marfh 
 but a fandy level, formerly covered by the tide) will be obvi* 
 a ted fo foon as it is covered with buildings which the hofpita! 
 will overlook. 
 
/ 
 
 4 $ 
 
 hour’s pleafant walk from the College. Thefe 
 advantages determined the commiflioners in favor 
 of this fituation, after a confiderable time fpent 
 in negociations for ground in other places, which 
 were fruftrated, in fome inftances, by the demand 
 of an enormous rent; in others, by the tenure 
 (Bifhop’s leafes) on which much of the land 
 to the fouth of the city is held. Confiderable 
 difficulties likewife arofe from the prejudice 
 which excited apprehenfions from the vicinity of 
 an hofpital—a prejudice which may be eafily fup- 
 pofed to influence the uninformed, but which 
 the accurate and extenfive obfervations of Rufl'ell 
 and Howard, and teftimonies flill more recent 
 (which evince that no contagion extends to houfes 
 immediately contiguous to thofe deflined for the 
 reception of fever patients) might be fuppofed to 
 have removed from the minds of the learned and 
 liberal. 
 
 Do£tor Currie, in fpeaking of an excellent in- 
 ftitution for the reception of fever patients in 
 Manchefter, fays, “ that the fears entertained, 
 “ that the houfe of recovery might fpread the 
 “ contagion through the ftreets in its vicinity, are 
 “ found to be entirely groundlefs,” (fee Medical 
 Reports, p. 2*6). 
 
 The 
 
46 
 
 The following is extra&ed from the report of 
 the Board of Health, dated Manchefter, May 
 26th, 1797.—Fears had been entertained that 
 the fever might fpread from the Houfe of Reco¬ 
 very into the neighbouring buildings, and fo 
 through the town, and this had given rife to a con- 
 iiderable oppofition. The ftreets in the Immedi¬ 
 ate vicinity of the Houfe of Recovery, areSilver- 
 ftreet, Portland-ftreet, &c. In the firft eight 
 months after the eftablifhment of the Houfe of Re¬ 
 covery, the number of cafes of fever admitted 
 on the books of the infirmary from thefe ftreets 
 was 25. In eight months of the preceding year, 
 viz. from the 20th September, 1795, to the 20th 
 May, 1796, the fame ftreets fur'niftied 267 cafes 
 of fever. From the 20th September, 1794, to 
 the 20th May, 1795, they furnilhed 389 cafes; 
 and from the 20th September, 1793, to the 20th 
 May, 1794, 400 cafes. Fafts fuch as thefe re¬ 
 quire no comment.” 
 
 The building now ere&ing by the commiftion. 
 ers is fo planned that it may form the wing of a 
 defign more extenfive. The hofpital will be com¬ 
 pletely infulated, and the area in which it is to 
 ftand, is already (except to the front, where a 
 balluftrade is intended) furrounded by a high wall. 
 
 The 
 
47 
 
 The walls of the bafement (lory and the fewers are 
 now (May i, 1804) completed, and there is reafom 
 to expedt that the building will be covered in be¬ 
 fore the end of the feafon. In its conftrudtion, ftrid 
 regard has been paid to ceconomy, fo far as is con¬ 
 fident with the permanent and comfortable ac¬ 
 commodation of the fick. The extra charge of a 
 plain cut done front will fcarcely be confidered as 
 a deviation from this principle. In feme inftances 
 indeed the expence has been encreafed by a refer¬ 
 ence to the completion of the plan in its full ex¬ 
 tent. But even thefe parts of the building are 
 capable of being rendered fubfervient to immediate 
 ufe. 
 
 SUM S, 
 
- 
 
 
Appendix, No. I. 
 
 np 
 
 JL HE Hiftory of the Royal Infirmary at Edin¬ 
 burgh (printed in that city 1778) having become 
 fcarce, it has been thought proper to extract from 
 it the following account of of the rife and progrefs 
 of that inllitution. 
 
 te *The fund neceffary to rear a fabric of fuffi- 
 cient extent feemed, at firft, an infuperable diffi¬ 
 culty.” 
 
 In the year 1725, the Royal College of Phyfi- 
 cians, who had long given gratuitous advice and 
 medicines to the Tick poor at their hall, being thus 
 well acquainted with their miferable Hate, under¬ 
 took to obtain fubfcriptions for fuch a fund ; and, 
 as a good example to others, were the firft fub- 
 fcribers, and engaged to attend the infirmary re¬ 
 gularly in their turns, without fee or reward. 
 
 The phyficians were affifted by the members of 
 the incorporation of furgeon apothecaries, and 
 
 G by 
 
 * P. 7. 
 
% 
 
 by other charitable people. Affignations to 
 fcares of the flock of the fifhery company, then 
 tliffolved, and fubfcriptions for fums fpecified in 
 obligatory papers were procured, amounting to 
 upwards of ^2000 fterling ; which was judged to 
 be the fmallefl: fund on which fuch an hofpital 
 could be begun. 
 
 The fubfcription of /2000 was no fooner com¬ 
 pleted, than the College of Phyficians called the 
 contributors together, who named twelve of 
 their number, as a committee, for colle&ing the 
 money fubfcribed, for obtaining more fubfcrip- 
 rions, and for preparing a plan of management of 
 the infirmary. 
 
 This committee having received as much mo- «. 
 ney as, by its annual rent, might maintain a few 
 patients, and, having prepared a report concern¬ 
 ing the management of the hofpital, called a meet¬ 
 ing of the contributors, where twenty managers 
 were elefted, and fuch regulations as were then 
 deemed necefiarv, were digefled, and ordered to 
 be printed; and on the 6th of Auguft, 1729, a 
 fmall hired houfe was opened for receiving fick 
 poor. 
 
 After 
 
After fome years trial of the good eife&s of 
 this infirmary, the managers reprefented the ad¬ 
 vantages of fuch an hofpital, in an humble peti¬ 
 tion to his Majefty, who was gracioufly pleafed 
 to grant a charter, dated the 25th Augult, 1736. 
 u whereby he does ereflt, create, and incorporate 
 “ the contributors to this charitable defign, into 
 (s one body, corporate and politic, by the name 
 <c of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, with 
 “ rules for a perpetual fuccefiion and manage- 
 44 ment, with power to ufe a feal, to fue and be 
 “ fued, to purchafe lands, to make bye-laws, and 
 “ with all other powers necefiary for fuch a cor- 
 “ poration.’* 
 
 Before the contributors to the infirmary were 
 erefted into a corporation, the fund increafed 
 flowly; but, after the charter was granted, the 
 public was convinced of the benefit which might 
 be reaped from an infirmary of greater extent- 
 So great was the fpirit for encouraging and 1 'up- 
 porting this defign, that it was thought reafonable 
 to begin the building of fuoh an houfe'as could 
 conveniently lodge all the fick poor who might 
 i;.e fuppofed to apply for admittance. 
 
4 
 
 Fof this purpofe, various plans were prefented 
 to the managers, and laid by them before the 
 principal contributors, and others, who had 
 mod (kill in architecture, and likewife before 
 general meetings of the corporation, by whom 
 the managers were, at laft, ordered to caufe the 
 houfe, now finilhed, to be built. In obedience 
 to which orders the foundation of the eaflern half 
 body of the houfe was laid 2d Auguft, 1738 ; 
 fmce which, the building was gradually carried 
 on, till the whole plan - has been at length fully 
 executed. The building confifts of a body and 
 two wings, each of three full dories, and an at¬ 
 tic, with garrets above. The body of the houfe 
 is 210 feet in length; from each end of which* 
 and at right angles, a wing is extended 70 feet, 
 having vaulted cellars below. The middle of the 
 body is 36 feet wide, but the reft of the houfe is 
 only 24 feet wide.* 
 
 The corporation being prohibited by the royal 
 charter to apply their capital, or its annual in- 
 lered, to any other r| ofe than the fupport of fick 
 poor ; and large fums being necefiary for erect¬ 
 ing and finifhing a houfe of fo great extent, the 
 managers, as foon as they received the order to 
 Undertake this building, found it necefiary to 
 
 apply 
 
 * P. 7, 8 > and 9 
 
5 
 
 for charitable affiffance, wherever it could be 
 found. Supplies were fpeedy and liberal beyond 
 their expectations. The venerable affembly of 
 the church of Scotland ordered collections for 
 this purpofe at every church door. Several of the 
 Reverend Miniflers, by their own contributions, 
 gave good examples to the people of their ref- 
 pective parilhes; and became folicitors with 
 others of their acquaintance, to promote the fame 
 end. The Reverend Tpifcopal Clergy, moved 
 with no lefs zeal for this laudable work, were 
 molt liberal contributors : For what was collected 
 on the Sundays appointed for this charity, was 
 freely given up by them, though the only fund of 
 their exiflence. 
 
 Befides thefe charitable fupplies, the managers 
 of the affembly gave benefit nights, without de¬ 
 ducting the charges of mufic, lights, tea, &c. 
 Societies of different denominations in and about 
 Edinburgh, as well as in other parts of Scotland, 
 fent money. Gentlemen and merchants made 
 prefents of timber, ftone, lime, Hate, and other 
 materials. Farmers and carters fupplied carriages. 
 So great was the fpirit for carrying on this work, 
 that labourers and mechanics, who were but little 
 able to contribute money, gave gratuitous labour 
 
 of 
 
6 
 
 of one, two, or more days, as if in emulation 
 with one another. 
 
 The managers themfelves, befides the fupplies 
 which they received from people of all ranks, were 
 fo fcrupulous and attentive to apply the funds to 
 the purpofes intended, that they paid, out of their 
 own pockets, public entertainments, vales, and 
 the like neceffary charges, (p. 13 and 14.) 
 
 The field from which the profefior who hath 
 the charge of this department (the clinical) fe- 
 le&s his patients, being ample, a variety of cu¬ 
 rious and interefiing cafes may be fuppofed to pre- 
 fent themfelves in the courfe of fix months, (p. 16.) 
 
 In the years 1743 and 1744, the fick foldiers of 
 the regiments quartered in or near Edinburgh, 
 were taken into that part of the infirmary, which 
 remained unpoffefied by other patients, as a more 
 convenient hofpital than any other that could be 
 found, (p. 18.) 
 
 Application having been made for the invalid- 
 money to be given to the Royal Infirmary, the 
 Lords of the Treafury did, accordingly, in the be¬ 
 ginning of the year 1755, agree to give this mo¬ 
 ney, amounting to £ 8060, to the town of Edin¬ 
 burgh, 
 
7 
 
 burgh, on condition that the town fhould pay to 
 the Royal Infirmary the intereft of that fum, at 
 three and a half per cent. In confequence of this, 
 the managers were obliged to keep fixty beds con- 
 ftantly in readinefs, for the reception of fick fol- 
 diers; each of whom, to pay to the infirmary, 
 four pence per day, during his refidence in the 
 houfe, this money being flopped out of his pay. 
 (p. 21 and 22.) 
 
 The regulation of the external- oeconomy of 
 the hofpital is committed to a court of contribu¬ 
 tors, a court of managers, who aft in rotation as 
 vifitors, a treafurer, an accomptant, and a clerk 
 of the corporation.—The internal oeconomy is 
 regulated by a matron, who fills the office of Rew¬ 
 ard, under whofe direction are placed the nurfes, 
 cook, porter, and other fervants.—The medical 
 eflablifhment confifls of phyficians and furgeons 
 in ordinary, two phyficians’ clerks and furgeon’s 
 clerk.—The profeffors of medicine, who give cli¬ 
 nical leftures and who appoint ftudents of medi¬ 
 cine to aft as their clerks, the apothecary, affiftant 
 and drefferSjwho are ftudents appointed by the ma¬ 
 nagers to affift the furgeons.-The ftatutes of 
 
 the infirmary contain an exaft demarcation of 
 the duties of the feveral perfons above mentioned. 
 
 Ext rad 
 
s 
 
 Extract of Regulations concerning Patients. 
 
 Every perfon applying for admittance mud de¬ 
 liver an obligation from a refponfible perfon, to 
 remove, or, in cafe of death, to bury that patient 
 when required. 
 
 In defeat of the obligation juft mentioned, the 
 patients fhall depofit in the hands of the matron 
 ten (hillings fterling, to indemnify the infirmary 
 from any charge that may arife from burying or 
 removing them ; which money is to be returned 
 upon their difrnifiion. 
 
 Notwithstanding the preceding reftri&ions, a 
 power is lodged to admit patients in cafe of fud- 
 den accidents, &c. &c. difcretionally. 
 
 Whoever has given, or fhall give fterling, 
 or pays £5 fterling annually to the infirmary, may, 
 upon their recommendation, and during their 
 lives, have one patient, or more in fucceflion, con- 
 ftantly entertained and taken care of as patients 
 in the infirmary; and greater fums fhall entitle to 
 a proportionally greater number of patients. 
 
 Supernumerary patients, that is, thofe exceeding 
 the eftablifhment of ordinary patients, (hall pay 
 fix-pence per day till vacancies offer. 
 
Appendix, No. XL 
 
 N. B. Pages without addition , refer to thofe of 
 this pamphlet ; pages with the addition (Addr.) 
 to thofe of Doff or Hill’s add refs. 
 
 i 
 
 By the eleventh bye-law of the College of 
 Phylicians, 
 
 It is ordered “ That nothing of perpetual confe- 
 quence lhall be put to the vote at the firft meet¬ 
 ing in which it is propounded to the College, 
 but it lhall either be recommended to a commit¬ 
 tee appointed to confider the fame, and make a 
 report thereof, or to the confideration of the 
 whole College, who lhall give their opinion 
 thereon at the next meeting, and fuch opinions 
 as are carried by a majority of voices, lhall not 
 be pahed into public affs, orders, or bye-laws, 
 nor ingrofled in the books of the College, until 
 they fliall have been voted by a majority of voices 
 at three feveral meetings of the College.” 
 
 H 
 
 P. 12 , 
 
IO 
 
 P. 12. The proceeding of the College of Phy¬ 
 ficians 25th March, 1789, limply “ empowered 
 thePrefident to declare to the Provoft of Tri¬ 
 nity College, that the College of Phyficians 
 “ have confidered the propofals made, through 
 “ him, by the Univerfity, of appropriating the 
 “ annual fum of £70 for the perpetual fupport 
 “ of a botanical garden ; and are of opinion that 
 “ the offer of the Univerfity is liberal j and that 
 “ the College of Phyficians will be ready to co- 
 “ operate with them in eftablilhing a botanical 
 “ garden, whenever the neceffary eftimate can 
 4C be laid before them.” 
 
 That this co-operation was to confifl: in 
 the advance of money is a fair inference.— 
 The minute of the College meeting, however, 
 makes no mention of any fum to be advanced, 
 and, what is of more confequence, makes no allu- 
 fion to the fund from whence this fuppofed ad¬ 
 vance of money was to be derived ; whether from 
 the fund of Sir P. Dun, or from the private fund 
 of the College, which furely might have been ap¬ 
 plied to this, with more propriety than to other 
 ufes to which it was afterwards made fubfervi- 
 ent. # 
 
 A fpecific 
 
 * See note page 24. 
 
II 
 
 A fpecific propofition having been brought for¬ 
 ward, it was thought neceflary to fubjeft it to the 
 regulations of the eleventh bye-law of the Col¬ 
 lege.! Accordingly the propofal for allocating 
 jT i oo a year out oj Sir P. Dial's funds , for the 
 fupport of a botanic garden was read twice and 
 pafifed, but, having been rejected at the third 
 reading, it never became a public aft of the Col¬ 
 lege of Phyficians ; of courfe, they were not, in 
 any degree, pledged fo this meafure either by the 
 conllitution of their own, or by the analogous 
 ufage of other deliberative bodies. . 
 
 ho further obligation could then be fuppofed 
 to remain incumbent upon the College of Phyfi¬ 
 cians than that which refulted from the difpofilion 
 which they had teflified, in general terms, to co¬ 
 operate in the eftablifhment of a botanical garden, 
 at a period, fince which nearly nine years had 
 elapfed. Yet without any renunciation of the 
 general principle on the part of the College, 
 Dodtor Hill, on the very day after his propofal 
 had been rejected, in an official communication 
 with the Provoft and Senior Fellows of Trinity 
 College, accufes the College of Phyficians of 
 11 2 prevarication,* 
 
 f There was good reafon for this formality, fee page 13, 
 with note tubjoiaed. 
 
13 
 
 prevarication,* and afterwards, in his pub¬ 
 lic addrefs,f of perfidy. To juftify this afperity 
 of language, it is incumbent on Doftor Hill 
 to prove that the fenfe of a fingle meeting of 
 a fluftuating body (whofe very conftitutien ex¬ 
 po fes their deliberations to difficulties and uncer¬ 
 tainties unknown to other bodiesj) declared 
 upon the general principle of a propofed plan, 
 ought to bind that body to any meafure that might 
 emanate from that principle, at all times, however 
 difiant, and under all poffible circumfiances. If 
 indeed it could be proved that that delay refulted 
 from the necefi'ary forms of bufvnefs in the 
 College the obligation might be fuppofed to fub- 
 fiit undiminilhed. How far this fuppofition is 
 founded in truth will appear from the following 
 fiatetnent. 
 
 The tardy forms cf that corporate body opposed 
 no farther impediment to the concluding of the 
 negociation than what is dated in the bye-law late¬ 
 ly quoted. From the 25th March, 1789, to 15th 
 January, J798, I count not lefs than between 90 
 and ico meetings of the College. At any three 
 
 of 
 
 * See page 49, Addr.-f See page 50, Addr. 
 
 ' J See pages 21 and 22. 
 

 of thefe the affair might have been brought to a 
 conclufion. No Prefident could, confidently 
 with his duty, refufe to forward a bufinefs already 
 before the College, in which one of its members 
 was perfonally concerned, if urged upon him by 
 that member; and no fuch refufal, to the bed of 
 my knowledge or information, ever took place. 
 But, to cut Ihort the difficulty, Dodor Hill was 
 himfelf Prefident of the College from Odober 
 nth, 1789, to October x8th, 1790, and again 
 from October 18th, 1795, to October 18, 1796. 
 During thefe periods, no doubt can be entertained 
 of his power to elicit, definitively, the fentiments 
 of the College on the fubjed. If he had confi¬ 
 dence in the fuccefs of his caufe, why did he not 
 infure fuccefs by procuring a public ad of the 
 College of Phyficians, on which he might have 
 regularly proceeded in his tranfadions with the 
 board of Trinity College ? If doubtful, why did 
 he, in thofe tranfadions, anticipate that ad as 
 certain ? 
 
 I unite in heartilycondemning the condud either 
 of public bodies or individuals who ffielter them- 
 felves under legal formalities, in order to violate 
 the feelings or facrifice the interefls of thofe with 
 v nom they may be connected, and fome warmth 
 
 of 
 
J 4 
 
 of language in complaining of a refufal, would 
 eafily have been excufable, had DoCtor Hill 
 urged the propofal through the forms necefiary to 
 give it validity as a public a£t of the College of 
 Phyficians, with that activity which a defire of 
 acquitting himfelf of the duties of his Profeffor- 
 fhip might have prompted, and a confidence in its 
 fuccefs might have infpired. He himfelf admits 
 the inftitution of botanical garden to have been 
 indifpenfably necejfary , in order to render his lec¬ 
 tures effective, and fuch an inftitution muff have 
 been forwarded and facilitated by bringing the 
 negociation to a fpeeay conclufion. 
 
 Let us grant, for argument's fake, that every in- 
 dividual of the College of Phyficians had com- 
 pletely formed his opinion in favour of the over¬ 
 ture when it was firft made, on the grounds then 
 laid before him.—Yet, during the long interval of 
 almofl nine years, it is not reafonable to fuppofe 
 that many events might have occurred to place 
 the negociation on a footing altogether different 
 from that on which it then flood ? Such events actu¬ 
 ally did take place and are detailed in the forego¬ 
 ing part of this pamphlet. The experienced nc- 
 ceflity of a permanent and extenfive hofpital.—Its 
 eftablifhment directed by repeated refolutions of 
 
 the 
 
1 J 
 
 the College of Pbyficians, and by an aft of par¬ 
 liament paffed in 1791, 31 George III.—laftly, a 
 liberal provifion for a mod extenfive botanic in- 
 ftitution, which was opened to the public in the 
 year i8co. During the fame period, the funds 
 had been impoverifhed, to a very confiderable ex¬ 
 tent, by the expences of an aft of Parliament, and 
 of various legal proceedings. 
 
 Before I difmifs the fubjeft, an infinuation of 
 Doftcr Hill’s note, p. 8 of his addrefs, renders it 
 neceflary for me to declare that, at no time did I 
 aflert or infmuate that he never leftured in botany 
 in the School of Phyfic. 
 

 ' 
 
 »• . 
 
 \ 
 

 KU^rasr; 
 
 Appendix, No. III. 
 
 The account contained in p. 13 and 14 will re¬ 
 quire Tome farther obfervations, to which I (hall 
 prefix the following extra&s of the minutes of the 
 College of Fhyficians; 
 
 19 th June, 1797. 
 
 4 Refolved, That a committee, confuting of 
 4 Doctors Perceval, Harvey, and Hill, be appoint- 
 4 ed to confer with the board of Trinity College, 
 4 with regard to the fupport of a botany garden by 
 4 the two corporations; and to take the opinion of 
 4 council on the right veiled in theColIege of Phy- 
 4 ficians, of appropriating a fum to that purpofe ; 
 
 4 and that the third reading of the motion, refpedt- 
 4 ing the appropriation of any fum, be poftponed 
 4 until the committee lhall have reported.’ 
 
 On the 8th ofAuguft, 1797, this committee 
 met one deputed from the board of Trinity Col¬ 
 lege; The proceedings of the joint committee are 
 detailed in the minutes of the College of Phyfi- 
 cians, September 27th, ly 97, as follows; 
 
 I 4 September 
 
i8 
 
 c September 2jth, 1797. 
 
 c The committee appointed on the 19th of 
 * June, to confer with the board of Trinity Col- 
 4 lege, refpedfing a botany garden, report as fol- 
 ‘ lows ;’ 
 
 “ At a meeting of the committee of the board 
 44 of Trinity College, and of the King’s and 
 44 Queen’s College of Phyficians; prefent, Doctors 
 
 Elrington, Young, Hill, and Perceval. 
 
 iff. 44 Refolved, That it appears to this com- 
 44 mittee, that the average of the yearly income, 
 / 44 received from the board, by Do&or Hill, for 
 44 his falary, and for the fupport of the botany 
 “ garden, amounts to £ 160. 
 
 odly. 44 That of thefaid £160, £ 100 annually 
 44 are appropriated with the confent of thePro- 
 “ fefibr of Botany, to the fupport of the botany 
 44 garden, for the expenditure of which he is ac- 
 44 countable to the Burl'ar of Trinity College. 
 
 3dly. 44 Thar he has received, on account, for 
 44 the fupport of the botany garden, the fum of 
 “ £59 : I 4 J * 
 
 4thly. 
 
19 
 
 4thly. “ That this committee will take into con- 
 “ fideration fome arrangement between the two 
 <c Colleges, for the fupport of the botany garden, 
 “ fo foon as the committee of the College of 
 <c Phyficians (hall have had, conformably to the 
 {C refolution of the faid College of Phyficians, 
 “ the opinion of council confirming the right of 
 “ faid College of Phyficians, to apply, out of the 
 “ funds of Sir P. Dun, a fum for that purpofe. 
 
 “ TKOS. ELRINGTON 
 “ M. YOUNG 
 “ EDW. HILL 
 “ ROB. PERCEVAL.” 
 
 Here ends the report of the joint committee, 
 which Do&or Hill gave in as the report of the 
 committee appointed on the 19th of June, 1797. 
 The College minutes proceed as follows; 
 
 * And opinions of council having been laid 
 ‘ before the College, one figned by Mr. Ridge- 
 ‘ way, who had read the three acts of parliament 
 ‘ refpecting the fchool of phyfic, and two others 
 ‘ by Councilor Saurin and Dodor Browne, who 
 ‘ had read the 25th of George III. only. 
 
 1 2 
 
 Ordered, 
 
Ordered, ‘ That the faid committee do fit again, 
 c and that Do&or Perceval do iffue fummonfes 
 4 for that purpofe.’ 
 
 Doctor Hill procured the opinions of lawyers 
 on his own flatement,* without the concurrence 
 of Doctor Harvey or of me. The report he 
 brought forward apparently for the purpofe of in¬ 
 troducing thefe opinions. It is not authenticated 
 as the report of the committee appointed 19th of 
 June, either by the fignature of Doctor Harveyf 
 or of me ; My name occurs only as fubfcribed to 
 that of the joint committee of the two Colleges. 
 The opinions are not entered in the books, as has 
 been the general ufage when any a£t of the Col¬ 
 lege wa's to originate from fuch opinions. The 
 impreffion made upon the College by thefe opin¬ 
 ions is not recorded. Had it been favourable to 
 his claim, DoCtor Hill would have taken care to 
 have had It entered. That it was not, may fairly 
 be inferred from the notice which is taken of the 
 imperfect materials on which the majority of the 
 lawyers formed their opinions ; I am clear in my 
 recollection that thefe opinions were regarded as 
 unfatisfactory. The 
 
 * See Add refs, p. 26, 6 opinions procured by mc. y 
 
 | He was not prefent either at the meeting of the joint 
 committee, or of the College on this day. 
 
The minutes of the meeting are obfcure.—~ 
 The words “ faid committee” might appear 
 to refer to the joint committee, but, the 
 whole of the report marked with double in¬ 
 verted commas being parenthetical, they may, 
 with at lead equal propriety, be referred to the 
 committee of the 19th of June, 1797, who could 
 have been convened for no other fpurpofe than 
 that of obtaining more fatisfadfory legal opinions 
 upon a fuller ftatement. To convene them would 
 naturally devolve on me, who ought, in the firft 
 inftance, to have been confuited in procuring 
 opinions. 
 
 In writing the former part of this pamphlet, 
 not having then attentively examined the minutes 
 of the College, nor arranged in my memory the 
 particulars of the tranfadtion, and having recent¬ 
 ly read Bodtor Hill’s work, I admitted (p. 13) 
 that it was the joint committee which the College 
 diredied me to convene. This idea was confirm¬ 
 ed by confidering that Dodtor Iliit’s propefal was 
 read a third time, without the bringing forward of 
 any frelh legal opinions. But this admiflion will not 
 give confiftency to the proceedings of the College, 
 who decided on his propefal, on his report, not 
 on that of their committee, unlefs it be fuppofed 
 
 (what 
 
22 
 
 (what probably is the truth) that they conftrued 
 my negled in procuring frefh opinions into an ac¬ 
 quiescence of the committee in his report. On 
 this fuppofition, Doflor Hill hasfurely no reafon 
 to complain. 
 
 But to follow out the admiflion that the order of 
 the College referred to the joint committee. Had 
 I convened them, they would not have proceeded 
 until legal opinions fhould have been obtained 
 according to the tenor of their refolution, which 
 it is plain, had not been complied with. The 
 medical part of the committee, appointed June 
 19th, 1797, mull therefore have procured a new 
 fet of legal opinions, and thus the affair is brought 
 to the iffue fir ft fuppofecl. To the College rather 
 than to Doctor Hill am I then refponfible for my 
 delay in convening the committee; and however 
 the expe&ation that the entire bufinefs would be 
 opened to parliamentary difcuflionmay have in¬ 
 fluenced me in regarding fuch a meafure as lefs 
 necefl'ary, had any defire to that purpofe been in¬ 
 timated by Do&or Hill, or any other member, I 
 certainly would immediately have convened them. 
 
 In a negociation protra&ed for near nine years, 
 the additional delay of little more than three 
 
 mouths 
 
23 
 
 months, could be attended with no material incon¬ 
 venience. Could Dr. Hill’s caufe be fuppo'ed to have 
 been injured in any other way whatfoever, why 
 was not this noticed or complained of by him, 
 during the interval between the 27th September, 
 1797, and the 15th January, 1798, (when his 
 propofal was read a third time) or at the meeting 
 held on that day, or in the refcript which he ad- 
 drefied to the board of Trinity College on the day 
 following? He will, perhaps, take a different 
 view of the tranfa&ion, when I aflert, as I do 
 confidently (and appeal for it’s truth to all the 
 members of the College, whole fentiments on 
 this fubje£t correfponded with mine) that, at Ho 
 one of the many times when Dr. Hill’s propofal 
 was brought forward, did I ever form or join in 
 any cabal or party againfi: it, but left it to (land 
 or fall on its own merits—I did not know when 
 its third reading was to take place. 
 
 The a£t, 25th George III. could be preffed into 
 Do&or Hill’s fervice on no ground whatever but 
 that of legal poflihility—the opinions which he 
 has quoted (p. 22) went to that point only, and 
 no farther. I wiih he had quoted the whole of 
 thofe which he obtained for himfelf, particularly 
 that of Mr. Ridgeway. If 
 
If the legal ingenuity of him, or nny of his 
 friends, can find out a fingle paflage in the eifc 
 George II. or in 31ft George III. to give any kind 
 of colour or pretention to his claim, l (hail give 
 up the controverfy. The aft, 21ft George II. is 
 particularly to be regarded as reciting the inten¬ 
 tions of the teftator. From this part of the aft 
 the following principle is clearly deriveable— 
 “ That the eftablifhments to be fupported by his 
 “ funds ought to be fupplementary to thofe of the 
 “ univerfity, and ought not be fubfidiary to any al- 
 “ ready there exilting.” This principle was follow¬ 
 ed up by the legislature (fee p. 7 and 8). It is di- 
 reftly oppofed to Dr. Hill’s claim ; the paffages 
 are here quoted at length from the aft. 
 
 i And whereas fome of the branches of phyfic, 
 ‘ appointed by thefaid SirP. Dun, in his aforefaid 
 £ recited deed or inflrument, for fubjects of the 
 « faid Profeffor’s leftures, are now treated of in 
 « leftures inftituted in Trinity College, Dublin,* 
 
 * fince the death of the faid Sir P. Dun; fo that the 
 
 * good and charitable intentions of the faid Sir P. 
 « Dun, in providing for theinftruftionof Students 
 
 * of Phyfic, Chirurgery, and Pharmacy, will be 
 
 ‘ more 
 
 * Botany leftures in particular (fee p. 6 of the aft.) 
 
2 S 
 
 ‘ more effedually anfwered, and the public good 
 ‘ more promoted,by dividing,on the next vacancy, 
 ‘ by the death or furrender of the faid Dr. James 
 ‘ Grattan, the faid King’sProfeffor ofPhyfic in the 
 ‘ city of Dublin, into three Profefforfhips, viz. a 
 
 * Profefforlhip of the Theory and Pradice of 
 ‘ Phyfic, a Profefforlhip of Chirurgery and Mid- 
 
 * wifery, and a Profefforlhip of antient and mo- 
 ‘ dern Pharmacy and the Materia Medica, &c.’ 
 P. 21. of the ad. 
 
 “ If any perfon enjoying a Profefforlhip under 
 “ this ad, lhall be made Ledurer or Profeffor of 
 <s Anatomy, or Ledurer or Profeffor of Chymiff 
 “ try, or Ledurer or Profeffor of Botany, in Tri- 
 “ nity College, near Dublin, then, upon his ac- 
 “ ceptance of fuch Ledurelhip, the Profefforlhip 
 “ by him firft enjoyed under this prefent ad, lhall 
 “ be ipfo fatto vacant. And likevvife if the Lec- 
 c{ turer or Profeffor of Anatomy, the Ledurer or 
 “ Profeffor of Chymiltry, or the Ledurer or Pro- 
 “ felfor of Botany, in the faid Trinity College, 
 
 “ lhall, at any time be eleded into any of the 
 “ Profefforfliips created by this ad, in manner 
 “ aforefaid, fuch eledion lliall be of none effed, 
 
 “ but lhall be abfolutely void, unlefs the perfon 
 
 K “ fo 
 
36 
 
 <{ fo eleQred, fliall, within one calendar month 
 “ after fuch eleftion, furrender or give up his 
 “ faid place or office of Lecturer or Profef- 
 <c for of Anatomy, Chemiftry, or Botany, in the 
 “ faid College of'Dublin. It being the intent of 
 
 this aft, that two of the faid offices lhall not be 
 “ filled by the fame perfon, at the fame time.” 
 P. 39 of the act. 
 
 By this aft the whole of Sir P. Dun’s fund is 
 appropriated to the endowment of the three 
 Profefforlhips which it eftablilhes—of courfe not 
 a {Billing remained which could be applied to any 
 other ufe. The aft, 31ft of the King, refers to 
 the foundation of an hofpital, and enables the 
 truftees of Sir P. Dun’s eftates to apply £1000 to 
 this purpofe ; it does not, in the moil diftant 
 manner, allude to ar.y arrangement by which the 
 fund might be diverted to the fupport of a botany- 
 garden. 
 
Appendix, No. IV. 
 
 The communications between the board of 
 Trinity College, and the Chancellor with refpeft 
 to a botanical garden, I am adored, extended no 
 farther than to their lending to him a copy of the 
 propcfal which they had before tranfmitted to the 
 College of Phyficians, by which it was left in the 
 difcretion of the truftees of the funds of Sir P. 
 Dun, to allocate or not, at pleafure, the fura of 
 i oo a year for that botanical inftitution. 
 
 This communication arofe from the provifion 
 made in the draft aft of the College of Phyficians, 
 for applying that fum without reftridtion to the 
 above mentioned purpofe. The arrangement was 
 introduced into the draft aft laid before Parlia¬ 
 ment in confequence of the propofal of a com- 
 mittde appointed to digeft materials for that aft, 
 con-fifting of five, of whom Dr. Hill and the two 
 King s i rofeffors, then in Ireland, formed the 
 majority. Doctor Lucklon had quitted the king- 
 C 2 dom 
 
dom long fince. It is neceffary to obferve, that 
 the bufinefs took'place after the members alluded 
 to (p. 15) had withdrawn from the College. 
 
 P. 15, line 10, might purfue—It may be necef¬ 
 fary to add, that by objed , I mean the eftablilh- 
 ment of an hofpital fuited to the purpofes of me¬ 
 dical inftru&ion, on the advantages of which I 
 acknowledge to have expatiated in converfation 
 with the Chancellor. 
 
Appendix, No. Y. 
 
 The flatement (p. 4j) of the proceedings of 
 the College of Phyficians, relative to the founda¬ 
 tion of an hofpital, was drawn up from fome 
 notes which I had taken feveral years ago, in 
 which the minutes of the meeting of that body 
 
 were referred to without being tranfcribed._ 
 
 Since the foregoing pages were printed, I have 
 carefully examined the minute book of the Col¬ 
 lege, and have extracted thofe proceedings at 
 length. This extradl will evince an uninterrupt¬ 
 ed defign, both in the College at large and in the 
 Profelfors of the School of Phyfic, to forward 
 fuch an inflitution during the period mentioned 
 in that flatement. It is neceffary to obferve, that 
 the College defignates by the term Faculty of Phyfic ,, 
 
 the aggregate of King’s and Univerfity Profef- 
 fors. 
 
 Augujl 
 
“ Auguji 14 th, 1 79 3 ’ 
 
 « Ordered, That a committee be appointed to 
 confider of a plan for the permanent eftablifhment 
 of a clinical hofpital, to make a report on or be¬ 
 fore the 14th September next, and that faid com¬ 
 mittee do confift of Doaors Harvey, Hopkins, 
 Plunket, Perceval, and Dickfon, any three of 
 whom to be a quorum.” 
 
 “ Oftober 1 2th, 1790. 
 
 « The report of the committee, appointed to 
 confider of a plan for the permanent eftabli fhment 
 of a clinical hofpital, was received and approved 
 by the College, and Doaor Perceval was requefted 
 to tranfmit it as their aft to the Provo,ft.” 
 
 “ January 24-th, 1791- 
 
 « Ordered, That Dr. Perceval be requefted to 
 make public the plan propofed by a committee, at 
 a public meeting on the 12th Odlober, 1790, for 
 the eftablifhment of a clinical hofpital, and fanc- 
 tioned by the College.” 
 
 “ January goth, 1 79 2 * 
 
 « Refolved, that the Faculty of Phyfic be cm- 
 powered to take fuch meafures for eftabhfh- 
 
ing a clinical hofpital as they think advife* 
 able.” 
 
 “ February I/92. 
 
 “ Doctor Perceval reported from the Faculty of 
 Phylic that they had fixed on a fituation for a 
 clinical hofpital to the eafl of the Tennis Court, 
 (which is to the fouth of Lazor’s-hill) which the 
 College approved of, and authorized the Faculty 
 of Phyfic to treat with the board of Trinity Col¬ 
 lege for the ground.” 
 
 In the minute book of the meetings of the Fa¬ 
 culty of Phyfic, now in the pofleffion of Doctor 
 Stokes, regifter of the Faculty, the following entry 
 is made; 
 
 “ At a meeting of the Faculty of Phyfic, held at 
 Do£tor Dickfon’s, on Thurfday, February 2d, 
 1792 ; 
 
 “ Doctor Perceval having informed the Faculty 
 that he had underftood from the board of Trinity 
 College, that they would be willing to treat with 
 the Faculty of Phyfic for ground on which a cli¬ 
 nical hofpital might be built, lying nearly conti¬ 
 guous to, and to the eaflward of the prefent fite 
 
 of 
 
32 
 
 of the Tennis Court (which is fouth of Luzor’s- 
 hill), fhould the Faculty of Phyfic approve of faid 
 fituation.—The Faculty fignified their approba¬ 
 tion to Doctor Perceval, and authorized him to 
 commence a treaty with the board for the faid 
 ground. 
 
 Signed, Stephen dickson,” 
 
 In confequence of this power, delegated from 
 the Faculty of Phyfic, who were au.horized by 
 the Colleg'e for this purpofe, I offered to the Pro¬ 
 volt and fenior Fellows of Trinity College _£ioo 
 per annum, as ground rent for the above men¬ 
 tioned lot. This fum, though not mentioned in 
 the minutes at the time, was then fixed on by the 
 College as a reafonable ground rent, and in this 
 opinion they remained to the middle of the year 
 1794, as appears by the following refolution of the 
 College, made long after the treaty with the board 
 of Trinity College, had been relinquilhed ; 
 
 “ July 1 Stl>, 1794. 
 
 “ Refolved, That application be made to the 
 guardians of Sir P. Dun’s will, for their confent 
 to allocate a fum not exceeding £1 00 annually, 
 for rent of a lot of ground on which an hofpitsl 
 may be built. “ Refolved, 
 
33 
 
 “ Refolved, That fuch confent having been ob¬ 
 tained, Doctor Hill, Doctor Perceval, and Doc¬ 
 tor Boyton be appointed a committee, to fix a 
 fituation for the hofpital, and to treat with the 
 proprietors of ground where it may be built.” 
 
 “ Sc-ptember \Jl , 1794. 
 
 “ The committee for taking ground for the fite 
 of the intended hofpital was directed to meet next 
 Wednefday at two o’clock.” 
 
 That no proceedings of this committee Ihould 
 (land recorded, and that the btifinefs Ihould, at 
 this jun&ure, have been abruptly terminated, will 
 not appear extraordinary, when it is confider- 
 ed that, on the 3d of November following, 
 the King’s Profeflbrs laid claim to the fund 
 which was to defray the expence of building 
 the hofpital, and that the majority of the Col¬ 
 lege, of which thofe gentlemen formed a part, 
 fo far acquiefced in this claim as to fupply the 
 means of carrying it into effeft. This difpofition 
 was evinced fo early as on the very day on which, 
 to the great furprize of many members of the 
 College (myfelf included) the claim was firft 
 \ L urged, 
 
 M ■ 
 
 J ■ 
 
34 
 
 urged, as will appear from the following extracl 
 of the minutes of the 3d of November, 1794 ; 
 
 <c Propofed by the motion of Dodtor Dickfon, 
 and feconded by Doftor Hill, and accordingly 
 Ordered, That, in order to afcertain how far an 
 amicablefuit inftituted,by theProfefibrs againftthe 
 College may prevent the oppofitioji of ill advifed 
 or ill difpofed performs again!!: the difpofition of 
 Sir P. Dun’s fund, according to the advice of 
 council, a fee of fix guineas be prefented, with 
 a cafe, to Beresford Burfton, Efq. requefting his 
 advice on faid head, and by what fteps, fuch luit 
 fhoulb be conduced, and that the Prefident pre- 
 fentfaid cafe, and drain upon the Treafurcr, out 
 of the private funds of the College , for faid fum 
 
 From this time forward until the pafiing of the 
 Chancellor’s act, the fcheme for building the hof- 
 pital was laid afide, in favour of others more (eco¬ 
 nomical, but whether adapted to the indifpenfable 
 ufes of medical infirudtion will be judged from 
 what is advanced (p. 37 and 40). That Doclcr 
 Hill, who inveighs againd fuch an undertaking, 
 was not always of the fame opinion, may fairly 
 be inferred, fromjms being placed on a committee 
 
3S 
 
 for carrying it into execution ; and that Dodor 
 Dickfon, whofe fentiments Dodor Hili fo largely 
 adopts, did not always entertain the fame fenti¬ 
 ments, may as fairly be inferred, from his autho¬ 
 rizing me, in the year 1791, to publilh his name 
 as of one who would receive fubferiptions for that 
 very purpofe. 
 
 If I (land convided of having been inftrumental 
 in the application of Sir P. Dun’s funds to the 
 eredion of an hofpital, I reft my defence, not 
 upon a pretended plea of humanity, which, 
 handing in the place of fubftantial juftice, I 
 reprobate and deteft, but upon a folid con- 
 vidion that I have done no more than follow¬ 
 up the genuine and uninfluenced fentiments 
 of the College of Phyficians, repeatedly ex- 
 prefled, in conformity with the intention of the 
 , legiflature which completed the defign of the 
 teftator by the founding of an inftitution, more 
 effential than all others, to medical inftrudion. 
 Should I likewife be convided on the fecond 
 count of Dodor Hill’s indidment, of having fug- 
 gefted the arrangements by which the conftitution 
 of the College of Phyficians has been changed, I 
 lhail urge my defence with equal confidence, con- 
 
 feious 
 
36 
 
 fcious as I am, that thefe arrangements have ope¬ 
 rated in preferving the honour of the College in¬ 
 violate. and its tranquillity undifturbed, and that, 
 by confining their deliberations to the appropriate 
 obje&s of their inftitution, their real interefts, 
 fo intimately conne&ed with the public welfare, 
 have been bell fecured. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
* 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page T,line 16 , dele of \ beginning the line* 
 
 . I,.20, add, after printed, by G. Grierfon* 
 
 .25,... . 16,for 5th, — read 4th* 
 
 .27,. 7,..,.alterations,.feveralalterations 
 
 .......27,.T 2,.... -ft, — ......5th. 
 
 . 4 1 ;.12?— i? 92 > 179 1 *