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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    APPENDIX. Since the foregoing was in type, an admirable article has appeared in the Spec- tator newspaper, on the subject of certain pecuniary grants made by her Majesty to destitute literary persons, recommended by the Literary Fund Society; and we quote it (slightly abridged), first, in order to show that the class of indivi- duals whom the author of the * Reasons ’ sneers at as “ job-writers ” (p. 4), are of higher intellectuality than he supposes ; and, second, because it confirms, with much force, what we have advanced regarding the hopelessness of sup- porting some descriptions of authors otherwise than by Government aid. This is a class of which little notice has been taken amid all the noise that has lately been made about the rights of literature. The writers and speakers and would-be legislators about copyright, have had exclusively in view our great popu- lar authors—in particular, the poets and novelists, and the secondary imaginative writers, who pass for belonging to this class—as mongrels and trundle-tails are designated by the general’appellative dog. Whether a perpetual or indefinitely prolonged lease of copyright in their own works, would benefit this class and their families, may be doubted ; but that it would be of no use to this class is certain. It is one in which a very high order of talent is sometimes found, but rarely talent of an originating or commanding character. They are your workers to order for booksellers and others. They are sometimes possessed of extensive learning, sound discrimination, a vein of felicitous occasional remark, a talent for lucid arrangement and elegant finish. They compile books which obtain currency because they bring into a focus information scattered through many different works, and convey it in a pleasing style ; or, perhaps, because they facilitate reference. They are your manufacturers of Universal Histories and Popular Compendiums of Science, your contributors to Cyclopaedias and Lib- raries of Useful Knowledge, your makers of Indexes, Digests, and Dictionaries. They take what, in theatrical phraseology, is termed “ the heavy line ” in ma- gazines, reviews, and other periodicals. They are an industrious, if not always a provident and regular race. They are gregarious for the most part. In old times, in this country, they were to be found in the garrets of the great pub- lishers for whom they worked : Fielding has immortalized Curll’s garret. Now-a-days, they frequent public libraries. The Reading-room of the British Museum is their great resort in London ; on the Continent, every public library swarms with them. Sometimes a solitary specimen occurs. Johnson’s adven- tures during his early London career, while in waiting upon Cave, illustrate the life of suchyi one : Johnson, with his amanuensis in his own house, compiling his Dictionary, is a specimen of the gregarious. They are not without their use. A poem is the work of an individual mind, but a science is the work of society. The author of a scientific treatise must take many observations and experiences on trust from others ; many of his in-