A Question to Society: “Whether the Art of Medicine as it Has Been Usually Practiced Has Contributed to the Advancement of Mankind” Kayla Wiles | Furman University Prior to the medical and public health revolutions of the nineteenth century, Scotland’s rudimentary health- care system consisted of little more than corrupted physicians, overcrowded hospitals, and ineffective treatments for a small percentage of the population. In his written abstract to the Aberdeen Philosophical Society, Dr. John Gregory attributes these problems to a flawed Scottish medical education. This abstract formed the basis of Gregory’s larger publications which introduced the concept of bioethics to Britain. My study analyzes how Gregory uses a rhetoric of sensibility to characterize the proponents and barriers to medical advancement. Analyzing Gregory’s abstract contributes to our understanding of how the Scottish Enlightenment provided venues for medical professionals to critique society and define rhetoric of the era. It is November 8, 1763. John Gregory rises this question to the Society on July 12, 1762, from his seat at the Red Lion1 and gazes but would not present his written response casually at a handful of colleagues, all of until almost a year and a half later (Ulman whom have put their drinks aside so as to 119, 193). give their undivided attention to the Whether anyone spoke after Gregory on speaker. Gregory then voices a question to November 8 is unclear in the Society’s min- be considered just for that meeting of utes, which only note that Gregory inserted Aberdeen’s Philosophical Society: “Whether his abstract in the “Question Book” on the art of medicine as it has been usually December 13, 1763 (Ulman, Table A-7). That practiced has contributed to the advance- abstract, though incomplete, survives as a ment of mankind.” reprinted copy in Laurence McCullough’s As a former medical student within the John Gregory’s Writings on Medical Ethics and Royal Infirmary teaching ward and then Philosophy of Medicine. Throughout this “Professor of the Practice of Physic” at King’s paper I will analyze Question 59 as pre- College in Aberdeen, Gregory had witnessed sented in McCullough’s book. the flaws of a Scottish physician’s education Even though the Question 59 abstract and how they related to Scotland’s medical remained sealed in the Society’s Question issues of the time (McCullough, Writings, 3). Book until salvaged by the Aberdeen He expressed these thoughts as to “Whether University Library in 1892,2 the content the art of medicine as it has been usually found its way almost entirely into Gregory’s practiced has contributed to the advance- A Comparative View of the State and Faculties ment of mankind,” known as “Question 59,” of Man with those of the Animal World (1764), in his written abstract to the Aberdeen Observations on the Duties and Offices of a Philosophical Society. Gregory had proposed Physician and on the Method of Prosecuting 44 | Young Scholars in Writing Enquiries in Philosophy (1770), and Lectures Scottish Enlightenment were societies in on the Duties and Qualifications of a which men and women would openly dis- Physician (1772) (McCullough, Invention, cuss issues of the time and propose solutions. 103). Lectures, based on the classes Gregory The Aberdeen Philosophical Society was taught at the University of Edinburgh fol- one such environment, leading to “the com- lowing his membership in the Society, was positions of some of the most influential translated into German, French, and Italian philosophical works published in Scotland within 20 years of its publication (Maio 182). during the latter half of the eighteenth cen- Scholars have therefore analyzed Gregory’s tury” (Ulman 12). John Gregory’s fellow writing within the context of these three members of the Aberdeen Philosophical larger publications, rather than as the Society included Thomas Reid (An Inquiry Question 59 abstract presented to the into the Human Mind, On the Principles of Aberdeen Philosophical Society. Common Sense, 1764), James Beattie (An This paper analyzes the Question 59 Essay on the Nature and Immutability of the abstract as a currently unpopular precursor Truth, 1770), Alexander Gerald (Essay on to the works which later deemed Gregory Genius, 1774), and James Dunbar (Essays on as “the father of bioethics in the English the History of Mankind in Rude and language” (McCullough, Writings, 1). Cultivated Ages, 1780), to name a few. Question 59 not only serves as a foundation According to Lewis Ulman’s The Minutes for Gregory’s more prominent publications, of the Aberdeen Philosophical Society, 1758– but also exemplifies a “rhetoric of sensibility” 1773, question proposals, discussions, and the used by scientists in eighteenth-century insertions of abstracts in response to those Britain. A rhetoric of sensibility, based in a questions followed a very specific format. culture of bodily communication and grow- The Society member who proposed the ques- ing discoveries in human physiology, can be tion for discussion would speak first, “then applied to bioethics and patient-physician each member in his turn, with no one relationships. This study contributes to allowed to speak to that question more analyses of how the Scottish Enlightenment than twice without permission from the provided venues for medical professionals president” (Ulman 47). The Aberdeen to critique society and help define the rhet- Philosophical Society met on the second and oric of the era. I specifically discuss how fourth Wednesdays of each month for Gregory uses a rhetoric of sensibility to approximately five hours in the evening, compare and personify medicinal practice with some of that time devoted to in the eighteenth century and how his cri- “entertainment” (Ulman 45). Despite its tique of the profession applies to other seemingly rigid structure, the Society only Western nations. had two officers (a secretary and a president) and conducted meetings fairly informally. Historical Context Members were encouraged to be inquisitive The Aberdeen Philosophical Society and collaborative—analyzing the world cre- As Gregory posed Question 59, Aberdeen atively and presenting discourse in a way that was in the midst of the Scottish Enlighten- would encourage discussion (Ulman 44–45). ment and would continue to be for another This environment might have been deter- 27 years (Daiches 1). At the heart of the mined by Gregory, who along with Thomas Wiles | 45 Reid is considered the founder of the A Culture of Sensibility Aberdeen Philosophical Society (Ulman 44). One characteristic of eighteenth-century British culture is an emphasis on the human Medical and Public Health Issues of the body—how it both communicates with Eighteenth Century others and functions as a network of sys- Gregory is credited as the founder of bio- tems. This “bodily rhetoric,” or a rhetoric of ethics in the English language. The need for sensibility, arose out of three main contrib- bioethics arose out of the nonexistent utors to British society during the healthcare system of Gregory’s time and the eighteenth century: the growing bourgeoi- consequently corrupted physicians who sie class, the Romantic movement, and would pursue self-interest at the patient’s scientists’ improving understanding of expense and often abuse patient confidenti- human physiology (Goring ix; Menely 120; ality (Bastron et al. 20). Physicians were Gaukroger 390). also guilty of leaving dying, “incurable” Following the Glorious Revolution of patients to the clergy, who would then help 1688, power in Britain shifted from the the patient to achieve eternal salvation courts and landed aristocrats to the urban (McCullough, Writings, 22). bourgeoisie (Goring 22). Members of the Those who mistrusted physicians would bourgeoisie often congregated in salons, often resort to “self-physicking”—a method clubs, or coffee houses to discuss current that failed in more severe cases and demon- events and issues. Out of these meeting strated the need for a more permanent places grew an expectation for the British establishment, which arrived in 1726: the gentleman to demonstrate good oratory Royal Infirmary (Buchan 277; Lobban 10). (Goring 10). This “language of politeness” While the Infirmary improved physi- emerged as a “social currency” which cian-patient relationships, the facilities only involved cohesiveness between words and treated the narrow “working poor” demo- bodily expression (Goring 21). Soon a gen- graphic (McCullough, Writings, 23). The tleman’s “social body”—one that is defined mortality rate also increased within 30 years by status and mannerisms—modified his of the Infirmary’s construction, and physi- “physical body” into a particular view that is cal examinations consisted of little more compatible, or “sensible,” with society’s than taking a patient’s pulse and tempera- expectations (Goring 19–20). ture (Buchan 284).3 These flaws were a The Romantic movement’s emphasis on disappointing and ironic testament to emotion and individualism heightened Scottish medicine, known for its superior Britain’s fascination with the human “close clinical observation, hands-on diagno- body. Romanticism encouraged dramatic sis, and thinking of…the human body as a expression through words, music, painting, system” (Herman 309). Gregory’s Question and gestures to establish identity (Menely 59 abstract identifies some faults in the 120–121). A stronger sense of identity fur- Scottish medical education system which ther engrained the British gentleman’s might