Cases and observations illustrating the history and pathological relations of two kinds of hydatids, hitherto undescribed / by Dr. Gairdner and Mr. Lee ; with microscopical observations by Mr. H. Goodsir.

  • Gairdner, John, 1790-1876.
Date:
[1844]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cases and observations illustrating the history and pathological relations of two kinds of hydatids, hitherto undescribed / by Dr. Gairdner and Mr. Lee ; with microscopical observations by Mr. H. Goodsir. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    equally humble was the admission of Dr Robertson regarding the monetary value of a first publication. “ Henry,” says the historian, “ erred in not selling his first volume at a moderate price to the booksellers, that they might have pushed him on till he had got reputation. I sold my ‘ History of Scotland’ at a moderate price, as a work by which the booksellers might either gain or not. I afterwards received a much higher price for my writings. An author should sell his first work for what the booksellers will give, till it shall appear whether he is an author of merit, or, which is the same thing as to purchase- money, an author who pleases the public.”* One all-important point in this matter has been noticed by Sir Joshua Reynolds, but almost universally kept out of view by literary men, which is, that “ in estimating the character of a work, one must have two judgments—the first as to its real value, the other as to what may please the general taste at the time.”*]- This at once transfers the responsibility from the publisher to the public. He is but the mechanical indicator of “ the age and body of the time”—the angle of reflection, not of incidence. He does not profess to judge of abstract merit,—he simply regards a work as a marketable commodity ; and for the most part, when a fault is committed, the blame should rest not with him, but with the public, whose representative he is. He may, occasionally, mis- interpret the public mind, but we are persuaded he does so oftener to his loss than to his gain ; and if it be said, that this elevation of a bookseller to the office of expositor of public opinion has a capricious influence on the interest of authors, we quote, in reply, the opinion of Gibbon on this very point, who states, that “ the measure of a bookseller’s liberality is the least ambiguous test of common success.” J Literature is a profession as well as law, medicine, or divinity, but unfortunately it is too often the last resource of the mem- bers of all other professions; and the immigratory process which thins the avenues of other callings only tends to throng the crowd of aspirants in this precarious mode of life. Author- ship is frequently the last shift of a learned man, and it is as frequently the first of the uneducated genius. Where all run, all cannot win the race. And while theology has its lawn * Boswell, iii. 297. + Boswell, iii. 289. X Gibbon’s Autobiography.