Page:Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, volume 1.djvu/31

 published. In the prospectus of that Journal, the Editors observe, “ In reflecting on the state of medical science, and on the aid which it has derived from the opportunities of observation afforded by congregating the sick in hospitals, it has often struck us with surprise, that so little should be known of the many interesting cases that must have occurred in provincial hospitals. If, from the establishment of these institutions, faithful records of the valuable cases that have occurred in them had been handed down to us, our present limited knowledge of morbid anatomy, the only correct elucidator of disease, would have been greatly extended. We know well that great difficulties must present themselves in effecting an object so desirable as making public these instructive cases. The daily anxieties and fatigues to which those in general are subject, who have the professional care of these institutions, are such as to leave little time for literary pursuits, and appear to present an almost insurmountable barrier to such an undertaking. It is not, however, to be denied that, by zeal and industry, much may be effected”

Such were the anticipations with which the Editors commenced the publication of the Midland Medical and Surgical Reporter, and many were the responding forebodings with which the undertaking was greeted by some of their friends. But four years experience in conducting that work, has convinced those who were engaged in it, that provincial