Prospectus.
to them is necessary, not only to those who desire to consult the onginal sources of information, but to every one who wishes to keep pace with the progress of knowledge, since a long period necessarily elapses after their publication before these discoveries become incorporated in the systematic works.
This is no less true in medicine than-in the other sciences. In this country, physicians select the Journals as the medium of communicating their observations and opinions to the public, but in Europe, this is not usually the case; the transactions of societies hold there a much higher rank than the Journals, and are preferred for that purpose.
So high, indeed, is the character of many of these societies, that the insertion of a memoir in their transactions is considered as an honour of which the most distinguished men are ambitious, and as the reputation of these societies is dependent upon the merits of the papers which appear under their sanction, they are careful to insert in their transactions such only as are of real utility.
Valuable, however, as are these works, 'and important as it is that access should be readily had to them, they are published in so expensive a manner, (many of them in quarto, and with costly plates, ) as to place them beyond the reach of the profession in this country; indeed they are to be found only in a few of our public libraries. Many of these memoirs are, moreover, in foreign languages, and not a few of them communicated to societies which embrace within their scope all the sciences, and hence to possess a single memoir, it would often be necessary to purchase a large volume, nine-tenths of the contents of which would be of no interest to the purchaser.
The profession are consequently dependent for all their knowledge of these publications, to the occasional notices and analyses in the Medical Journals, and although this may suffice, as respects some memoirs, others are of such a nature as not to admit of condensation within the limits that can be allotted for the purpose, and the latter are not unfrequently the most valuable.
These considerations have led to the belief that physicians would be pleased to possess a collection of such memoirs, and it is accordingly proposed to publish a volume occasionally as materials may offer.
It is intended that the "Select Medico-Chirurgical Transactions," shall comprise the best memoirs read before the Medical and Chirurgical Societies of London and Edinburgh; the Association of Fellows and Licentiates of the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland; the Royal Academy of Medicine of Paris; the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh; the Royal Academy of Turin; the Medical and Anatomical Societies of Paris; the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta, &c. &c. and also the most interesting pepe from the Dublin Hospital Reports, &c. &c.
These memoirs will be published entire, with occasional notes by the editor; and in their selection, reference will be particularly had to their permanent value, and practical importance.
The editor is in possession of a larger collection of the transactions of foreign societies, than perhaps any other individual in this country, and he has access to nearly all those published in Europe.
☞ A volume of the 'Select Medico-Chirurgical Transactions" is now in the press and will be published immediately. It can be had of all "Booksellers" in the United States.
