It has been asserted of Dr. Storer that, when engaged in professional controversy, he is pitiless and unsparing. These statements seem traceable to opponents who have been worsted, and speak from bitter experience. There may, however, be some reason to believe, that, like his teacher, Dr. Simpson, he has profited by the advice of Polonius:—
“Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear it that the opposer may beware of thee.”
The character of the weapons that have been used against our author may be judged by an extract from a personal attack contained—without a word of palliation or excuse from the editors—in one of the latest numbers of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.
In attempting to save a poor invalid—sure otherwise soon to perish—Dr. Storer had performed one of the most tedious and difficult operations in surgery, hitherto successful in a most notable instance at his hands, namely, the removal of the womb by incision through the abdomen: an operation with which his name will be forever identified. In commenting upon it, the would-be critic used the following language: “Allow me publicly to protest, most solemnly, against such practice, and earnestly to beg of my professional brethren, everywhere, to use their utmost influence to prevent their patients and friends from employing or consulting such practitioners.”
Abuse like this is sure, of course, to react upon those who employ it, and to gain for its object the sympathy and active interest of all lovers of fair play and justice. By a happy coincidence, the article referred to chanced to be followed, on the same page, by another, which we also quote:—
“At a meeting of the Physicians and Surgeons in attendance upon Prof. H. R. Storer’s course of Lectures on the Surgical Diseases of Women, just delivered at Hotel Pelham, in Boston, the following preamble and resolutions were adopted:—
“Whereas, We, the attendants upon Prof. Storer’s first private course of Lectures on the Surgical Diseases of Women, being regular practising physicians and surgeons, have long experienced the disadvantages arising from the very imperfect manner in which these subjects have been treated in our text books, and by the professors in our colleges; many of the most important diseases and operations being entirely ignored by men who think deeply and reason candidly in all other matters pertaining to medicine and surgery; and, whereas, we cannot but feel that this class of diseases is the most important, believing it to be the cause of more suffering than any other, therefore—
“Resolved, That we tender to Dr. Storer our sincere gratitude for taking the advance step which he has, thereby giving us, as we hope he will hereafter give others, the opportunity of hearing these subjects discussed thoroughly and impartially.