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THE REAL SIMON PURE.

Two or three weeks since, we promised to give a complete exposure of thepiratical delinquency of Mr. TYRRELL, of " HOLE and CORNER" notoriety, bycomparing some paragraphs from his volume of published Lectures with para-graphs from the previously published Lectures in the pages of this work. Thiswe shall now proceed to do, and will take a passage from every tenth page ofSIMON’S book, beginning at page 136, where is contained the SNARE into whichthe unconscious SIMON PURE so unwittingly fell.

But chronic abscesses are slower intheir march ; take, for example, thep’<oas abscess to which we have al-Ittded; it is often six months beforematter makes its appearance in thatcomplaint. If a person applies to youwith a psoas abscess, and you ask howlong he has had pain in his loins, hewill tell you for four, five, or sixmonths past.&mdash;SIMON, p. 146.

Certainly the formation of matterwill be attended with a slight fever,but not of the hectic kind ; the tonguewill be clean, the pulse very little af-fected, and the person very slightlyderanged, but after an opening is madeinto the part, constitutional irritationcomes on, and life is then endangered.-SIMON, p. 156.

I had, myself, occasion, lately toperform an operation for a scirrhousbreast, to which arsenic had been ap-plied. I asked the woman which gaveher the most pain, the application ofthe arsenical preparation, or the ope-ration. She replied, that the pain ofthe operation was not greater thanthat of the application, and that thearsenic had been applied ten or eleventimes.&mdash;SIMON, p. 166.Now some of you might be induced

to exclaim, How abominably inatten-tive must the medical man have been,who had the care of this patient ; forall these consequences might havebeen prevented. If you said this,yonrcensnre would be culpable; youhave no right to say so ; for it is a casewhich might happen to any of you.Deformities of this kind generallyarise after the process of healing iscompleted ; they are the effects of thecontraction of the cicatrices.&mdash;SIMON,page 176.

But chronic abscesses are slower intheir march ; take, for example, thepsoas abscess to which we have al.hIded; it is often six months beforematter makes its appearance in thatcomplaint. If a person applies to youwith a psoas abscess, and you ask howlong he has had pain in his loins, hewill tell you for four, five, or six monthspast.&mdash;THE LANCET, vol I. p. 129.

Certainly the formation of matterwill he attended with a slight fever,but not of the hectic kind ; the tonguewill be clean, the pulse very little at.fected, and the person very sliglatlyderanged, but after an opening ismade into the part, constitutional irri.tation sometimes comes on, and lifeits then endangered.&mdash;THE LANCET,vol. I. p. 196.

I had, myself, occasion, lately toperform an operation for a scirrhousbreast, to which arsenic had been ap-plied. I asked the woman which gaveher the most pain, the application ofthe arsenical preparation, or the ope-ration. She replied, that the pain ofthe operation was not greater thanthat of the application, and that thearsenic had been applied ten or eleventimes.--THE LANCET, vol. I. p. 221.Now, said Sir ASTLEY, in looking at

a case like this, some of you might beinduced to exclaim, How abominablyinattentive must the medical man havebeen who had the care of this patient;for all these consequences might havebeen prevented. If yon said this,your censnre would be culpable ; youhave no right to say this ; for it is acase which might happen to any of

you. Deformities of this kind gene-rally arise after the process of healingis completed ; they are the effects ofthe contraction of the cicatrices.-THE LANCET, vol. I. p. 226.

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The next circumstance to which weshall advert, as giving rise to difficultyin the treatment of ulcers, is a languidstate of the sore, in which its action isdeficient. What is the character ofsuch a sore ? You may know that itis in this state by the glassy, andsemi-transparent appearance of thegranulations ; instead of the floridhue which cliatacterises granulationsin their healthy state, a considerableportion of them is bloodless.&mdash;SIMON,p.186.Before I cenclude this part of the

subject, I will mention a case whichjust occurs to me; I allude to that ofMr. LucAS, the surgeon of the otherHospital. That gentleman, in conse-quence of having pricked his finger,had a very irritable sore, which oblig-ed him to go into the country, wherehe remained for a considerable time.The remedy which he found most ef.ficacious for bringing the sore into ahealing state, was the application ofa solution of nitric acid vety much di-luted.&mdash;SIMON, p. 196.

The next circumstance to which weshall advert, as giving rise to difficultyin the treatment of ulcers, is a languidstate of the sore, in which its action istoo slight. What is the character ofsuch a sore? You may know that asore is in this state, by the glossy, andsemi-transparent appearance of thegranulations; instead of the floridhue with characterises granulationsin their healthy state, a considerableportion of them is bloodless.&mdash;THELANCET, vol.1, p. 255.Before I conclude this part of the

subject, 1 will mention a case which

just occurs to me ; I allude to that ofMr. LUCAS, the surgeon of the otherHospital. That gentleman, in con-

sequence of having pricked his finger,had a very irritable sore, which oblig-ed him to go into the country, wherehe remained for a considerable time.The remedy which he found mostefficacious for bringing the sore into ahealing state, was the application ofa solution of nitric acid very much di-lnted.&mdash;THE LANCET, vol i. p. 259.

We think it unnecessary to continue ’these extracts any farther, sufficienthaving been already given to convincethe most obdurate that Mr. TYRRELL’SLectures have been, in the most nn-bllishingmanner, taken from the pagesof THE LANCET; indeed so faithful aplagiarist has SIMON PURE been, thathe has even copied our printer’s typo-graphical errors ; for instance, at

page 3G2 of our first volume, occursthe ridiculous expression of hotel DEDieu, and the unfortunate SIMON, asit’desirotis of displaying consummateignorance with barefaced dishonesty,has, at page 279, inserted this mostpalpable printer’s blunder!We shall now furnish our Readers

with another treat, by serving up, fortheir amusement and instruction, a

few Extracts from the original casesof this champion of " hole and corner"surgery. By these cases, the RealSimon Pure has doubtless thought toenrich his production, to show the va-riety and extent of his information,to prove his wonderful powers of il-lustration, and to manifest to theworld what a Surgeon to the EyeInfirmary and to Saint Thomas’s

Hospital can produce in print, to

the astonishment of the weak coun-try practitioners, and their still weak-er sons, who are come to his empo-rium of Surgery to benefit by hisinstructions. We are of opinion, thatif the other Hospital Surgeons cannotafford more information than our RealSimon Pure, these young gentlemenwould have done wiser to have remain-ed in the country, as Hospital educa-tion must be a complete farce, and theexpenditure of time and money a per-fect waste of both. Let our Readersbear in mind, that these original casesconstitute the only difference betweenthe Real.Simou Pure’s volume and thepages of THE LANCET, excepting theprice of the work, and the largenessof the type, both of which lie has, forreasons we have exposed, more thandoubled.We had alwa)s, in onr profound

ignorance, been led to suppose, thatcheselden, Hunter, Pitt, Abernethy,Bell, and others, had done some littlefor the profession to which they be-longed ; but we find that we haveall along been in error; for the RealSimon Pure tells us, in the very first

paragraph of his preface, that, &deg; theprinciples contained in the following

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lectures, have almost entirely oft&deg;’!-nated from Sir Astley Cooper. Werefrain from entering upon this sub-ject, not out of commiseration for thethoroughbred ignorance of the RealSimon Pure, but out of delicacy forthe feelings of Sir Astley Cooper; butwe fear that he will not be alwayseqnaUy fortunate in meeting with suchtenderness on the part of Reviewers.We hardly know whether our Readerswill be more disgusted’ at the fulsomeadulation of Sir Astley Cooper, con-tained in the above sentence, or at theentire ignorance it manifests of thereal history of the principles and prac-tice of Surgery. At any rate we arequite sure, that Sir Astiey’s interestswould have been in much better keep-ing, had they been intrusted to our

care, than by being committed, as

they have been, into the hands of aperson whose weakness has involvedSir Astley’s claim to originality in anawkward dilemma. A man has noworse enemy than an injudiciousfriend.The first note affords a specimen of

the ludicrous ; it is intended to illus.’trate Sir Astley’s beautiful lecture onirritation, by the detail of a case occu-’pying half a page ; and what will ourReaders suppose the Real Simon hasselected from a large Hospital for thispurpose, doubtless a case that both in-terests and instructs ; a case that vul-gar eyes can rarely feast upon ; a casethat even Sir Astley must feel gratefulto the Editor for having been at thepains to select, in illustration of his

principles. The bathos, alas ! is pro-found. A man had a speck of ironstuck in his cornea, which the RealSimon Pure assures us, withmuch gra-vity, he extracted ; and he furthermoreassures us, that after its extractionthe inflammation subsided. Woe tothee, thou Real Simon, when there

sliall be a medical Dunciad ; yea, thevery first place at the feast shall bereserved for thee.The next cases present points

equally novel. Two cases are most

lengthily detailed, to show that, undercertain states of disease, patientsshould be allowed the free use of suchstimulating liquids as they have beenin the habit of taking. These are

quickly followed by another, to showthat the author has been at Waterloo,

which indeed he takes the pains morethan once to tell us in the course ofthe volume.

Until the 48th page, he appears tocontent himself with detailing the

cases, confining himself to the qniettask of a transcriber ; he now triesmore dangerons ground, and ventl1resto reason upon a point of pathology,.which, as being the only instance inthe whole volume in which the RealSimon Pure has reasoned, we shall laybefore our Readers as a curiosity: He had frequently observed, thatabstraction of blood from the temporalartery in ophthalmia, was productiveof no relief. This he mentioned to se.veral medical friends, (exercisiug avery prudent diffidence in his own

powers of observation,) who had re-marked the same circumstance. Heproceeds to account for it. The branchof the temporal artery generally open-ed is the frontal branch, which anas.tomoses with the superorbitary (wehere recommend our friend wheneverhe has occasion to use a hard word,to feel the same proper diffidence,and to apply to a Dictionary for in-formation; snpra orbital, or, eaplio-ni&aelig; gratia, supra orbitar, latin&eacute; supraorbitalis,) and the usual method ofstopping the flow of blood is to dividethe branch which has been punctured,thus the anastomosis is cut off; andthe blood, which before passed offby the divided vessel, is thus deter-mined to the affected organ." Ouranatomical and physiological studieshad till now assured us (indeed weare not even now convinced that weare wrong), that the current of bloodin the frontal branch of the temporalartery was from the trunk of the ves-sel to the extremity of the branch in

question, where it inosculates with theramifications of the supra orbital; andwe also imagined, that the course ofthe blood in the latter artery was fromthe ophthalmic trunk through the su-pra orbital branch, till it met the in-osculating branches of the temporal;how, of two opposing currents, thedivision of one should throw more

blood upon the other we are at a lossto conceive, even with the aid of theReal Simon Pure’s reasoning*. Beforehowever giving him up in despair, wewill oblige him with one word of in.formation; namdy, why opening the

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temporal artery so often fails in pro-ducing relief? the reason is this, that,arteriotomy is rarely had recourse to,except in cases of the most severe opit-thalmia, as the purulent form, andother rapidly disorganizing inflamma-tions, in which, often, little or nothingcan be done, and in which the want ofsuccess is to be attributed not to theinefficiency of this remedy, but to theesseittially destructive nature of thedisease.We beg pardon for saying the above

was the only instance of reasoning tobe found in the volume, for a littlefarther on we meet with the following:" If the iris can be affected by the

application of belladonna to the eye-brow, or if preparations of lead arebeneficial in inflammation, when thesurface is not broken, why may notanodynes allay irritation ?" A speci-men of close reasoning this.

Again,&mdash;" In many persons, whenleeches are applied, they produce akind of erysipelatous inflammation,rarely of a dangerous mature, but pro-ducing considerable disfigurementandinconvenience. In such cases theyafford little or no relief." We thankthee, Simon, for the intelligence, thatwhen leeches produce erysipelas, they donot afford relief to the patient.

In the two next pages, he informsns, that the application of lyttae some-times produces strangury, and thatthe moxa used on the continent ismade by a roll of cotton dipped in asolution of nitrate of potass. For thefirst piece of information the professionwill doubtless feel indebted to him ;on the second head we beg to set himright. Moxa, as used on the conti-nent, is " un cylindre de coton auqnelon met le feu, et qui sert a cauteriserla peau." Nitre is never used, andought never to be required, if themoxa be properly prepared. Thosewho try Simon Pure’s moxa will notuse it a second time.The four succeeding notes contain

an instance in which a tight bandageproduced gangrene ; a case of tempo-rary amaurosis from the applicationof belladonna; a strong recotmmenda-tion to cut abscesses where there arecores; and a long case of erysipelas Ibenefited by the use of the coiieel-

trated preparation of bark&mdash;quinine.All these points, being equally new as

they are instructive, we think it rightto advert to, though not to particu-larize.We had indulged the hope that we

had nearly completed the anatomy ofthe Real Simon Pure, when we hadarrived at that part of the volumewhich treats of injuries of the head,as we found only three cases detailed,in which we naturally enongh expect-ed to find nothing worthy of particularnotice. We concluded that his mani-fest want of talent might be compen-sated for by his fidelity as a reporter ;we expected to find one redeemingquality; but even in this expectationwe have been deceived. We only begthe attention of the reader to the fol-lowing case, as described by the RealSimon Pure :&mdash;" Thomas Denman, &aelig;t.22, was admitted into St. Thomas’sHospital, Aug. 3lst, 1824. He hadbeen struck by a hammer, by accident,on the superior part of the frontal bone,to the left of the median line. The

blow had produced a compound frac-

tnre, with depression to the extent ofhalf-a-crown. He was perfectly sen-sible, and said he only felt a sorenessat the injured part. I removed thewhole of the fractured bone which wascomminuted ; one small portion hadpenetrated the dura mater. He hasbeen treated just as the former pa-tient was, and has not had a bad symp-tom since." We will not contrast the-drawing up of this case by Simon Purewith the Report in No. 10, Vol. IV.,but will proceed to show the real ter-mination of it, as detailed in the faith-ful pages of The LANCET, No. 14, Vol.IV. ;-" On dissection of this case, alarge abscess was found in the forepart of the left hemisphere of thebrain, containing about two ounces ofa greenish-coloured pns. The abscessextended to the level of the carpuscallosum on the inner side, and wasvejy superficial towards the externalsurface of the hemisphere on the leftside."We consider this as the climax. We

have toiled through a jumble of com-mon-place remarks, stale truisms, andlong-spun cases, much to our own edi-fication, as well as, no doubt, that ofour Readers. These, it is true, wemight have overlooked in benevolentcompassion for the imbecility of thehead that could think of adding to the

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value of Sir Astley Cooper’s Lecturesby such paltry trash ; but we cannot,consistently with our professed clia-racter as guardians of the moral recti -tude as well as interests of the medi-cal public, allow this last attempt atimposition to pass without exposing itin its true colours. He might havebeen content with palming upon thepublic our pages for his own pro-duction ; he might reasonably enoughhave satisfied himself with the enor-mous profit which such unpaid forplagiarism could produce, withouthaving the unblushing effrontery to

publish false facts, which a little re-flection ( if the Real Simon Pure everdoes reflect) must have told him couldnot long remain without exposure.The world will hardly credit that ahospital surgeon could publish, as asuccessful case, one that we had al-ready given tliepost-niortem examina-tion of ; such, however, is the fact, asmay be proved by a reference to ourown pages.We feel it but justice to make one

or two observations respecting our.selves : the first is to request that ourreaders will compare the originalmatter (which we pledge ourselves tohave fairly given from Mr. Tyrrell’svolume) with the original matter, ex-tracts from foreign works, and hospitalreports contained in those numbers ofThe Lancet, which give Sir AstleyCooper’s Lectures, and then to form anunbiassed judgment of the compara-tive merits of the two. We also feelit our duty to repeat, that, were it notfor the existence of a public censor-ship, such as that exercised by TheLancet, the public would be grosslyimposed upon in the most importantpart of the medical profession, namely,the Reports of Hospital Cases. In thisinstance The Lancet has, fortnnatelyfor the cause of truth, been able tounveil the Real Simon Pnre, of whomfor the present we take our farewelland leave to his own reflections.

ToTo the Editor of THE LANCET,

SIR,Ai.r.ow me, through the medinm of

your valuahle publication, to call theattention of those persons, whose duty

it is to interfere in such cases, to theshameful practice which has for a longtime existed at St. Thomas’s Hospital,of allowing men reg-ularly to enter andhawk yorter through all the wards onthe men’s side of the house. To saynothing of the danger inevitably con-sequent on the toleration of such acustom, it is utterly inconsistent with.that strict discipline that should bemaintained’in a public Institution, tothe officers of which a great moral re-sponsibility is necessarily attached.

I have witnessed many cases inwhich patients upon " low diet " haveindulged in plentiful potations of thisbeverage, unknown, of course, to thesurgeon, and supposed to be unknownto the sisters and nurses.Many thanks are due to your efforts

for the correction of many publicabuses, and the design of this letter isto bring this practice under the noticeof individuals who possess the powerof preventing it. Convinced of theutility of your publication, I remain,one of its numerous supporters,

A DRESSER OF ST. THOMAS’S.

i Nov. 15, 1824.A DRESSER OF ST. THOMAS’S.

ToTo the Editor of THE LANCET.SIR -I shall feel obliged by your

giving the enclosed a place in the co-laums of THE LANCET.

I am, Sir,Your obedient Servant,

G. D. DERMOT.

Royal College of Surgeons, in London,12th November, 1824.

SIR,&mdash;The document signed by the

Surgeons to the Westminster Hospital,recognizing yon as a Teacher of Ana.tomy, has been laid before the Conrtof Examiners of this College, and I amdirected to inform you that, in con-

sequence of such recognition, the cer-tificates of attendance upon vourWinter Courses of Lectures on Ana-tomy, and also your certificates uponyour Winter Courses of Dissections,will be received by the Court.

I am, Sir, .

Your most obedient servant,EDM. BELFOUR, SEC.

Mr. G. D. Dermot,Hollen-Street, Soho.

G. D. DERMOT.

EDM. BELFOUR, SEC.