TO
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
George Prince of Wales.

May it please your Royal Highness,

A Young and celebrated Prince, before his first Military Expedition, interrogated one of his experienced Relations and Instructors, How he should conduct himself to be respected and obeyed by his Army?—“To know more of the Profession than any of your Soldiers,” was the sage Reply; and to the renowned Cyrus, the Conqueror of the Babylonians. This Maxim is, in some Degree, applicable and pertinent throughout all the Gradations and Scale of Society. A Prince, born to the Throne of a mighty Empire, pre-eminent in its Political Constitution, and in the universal Range of the Arts and Sciences, is urged by his Personal Dignity and Public Duty, to aspire to the intrinsick Qualifications of Human Supremacy.

In the present small Tribute of Duty and Respect, I am not submitting to your Royal Highness a dry, technical Analysis of Diseases. An enlarged Survey of Medicine is intimately interwoven with most of the sublime Objects, not only of Philosophy, but, in our original Chart and Model, of Politicks also and Legislation, both in Peace and War. It transcends the British Poet’s Limitation of Human Studies, the Knowledge of Man: it embraces a Scope of Natural Knowledge far beyond any other of the learned Professions; encompassing in its spacious Orbit most of the grand Divisions of Science. A total Ignorance in this, would leave a dreary Chasm in Literature; and, like the ancient Geography, the Map and Globe of intellectual Discoveries would be half unexplored.

In early Ages, when Medicine had not reached beyond the Merit of a few Empirical Cures, the Consultation in consecrated Temples of Medical Oracles was ingrafted with Divinity and Objects of Worship. The Rays of Majesty were not then obstructed from cherishing this tender Shoot. From the encouragement of Alexander, Aristotle’s Natural History had its Origin. From the Patronage of his Successors to the Egyptian Throne, the Ptolemys, first arose Human Anatomy, together with the magnificent Alexandrian Library. Many of the first Miracles of Christianity are a Display of Medical Omnipotence. By several of the Asiatic and Roman Emperors, their Physicians were admitted to a Familiarity, and to their Tables: their Archiaters, or Royal Physicians, held the Second Rank in the Empire; and even, so late as Constantine, were created Counts. The Arabians, Mahomet’s Successors, were unbounded in their Rewards and Encouragement of Medicine. With the Destruction of the Roman Empire, Science lay many Centuries buried in its Ashes. But on the Recovery from Feudal Anarchy, and the Revival of Literature after the Crusades, those raised to the Degree of Doctor in any of the learned Professions, contended Precedence with the most respectable then in any European State, with Military Knighthood.

In Britain, and most other Kingdoms of Europe, Italy excepted, Literature of any Sort, of Native Growth, is but a modern Plant. Medicine in this Island is an Exotic, until within the last Three Centuries; and since that Period, seems to have scrambled into Consequence and Emolument, from its own intrinsic Merit, and the public Encouragement. For Truth compels me to observe, that the Favours and Honours of Majesty have been measured out, even to the Benefactors of Science and of Mankind, in this Profession, with a parsimonious and partial Hand. I do not presume to arraign the Wisdom or Justice of your Royal Ancestors, but of their Counsellors and Ministers; in whom there seems a Sort of epidemical or entailed Infatuation and Bigotry to lavish the first Honours of the State upon the Memory of dry Laws, and the specious Accomplishments of Logick and Rhetorick.

Your Royal Highness is at present, through the bountiful Beneficence of Nature, and the variegated Acquisitions of Education, endowed with most of the preliminary Embellishments requisite in your exalted Station, and to a Summit of Celebrity and Admiration. The Rudiments, Difficulties, and Acclivities are surmounted, and leave you an uninterrupted Range through Parnassus, in the Fruition of the luxurious Feasts furnished by Apollo and the Muses. In a political View, and in their public Administration throughout all the Professions, and Medicine notoriously, there are numerous Defects and Abuses originating from the Ignorance and Inexperience of former Ages, the Corruptions and Innovations of Time, and from various other Causes. With thousands of these remediable Diseases, the most enlightened Nations are yet over-run and contaminated; and a Monarch who would emulate a Trajan or an Aurelius, will find glorious Employment as a Political Physician. He will have the divine Consolation and Reflection of circulating his Knowledge through innumerable Channels, to the Benefit, Happiness, Nurture, and Preservation of Millions of Mankind.

I have the Honour to remain,
with profound Respect and Esteem,
Your Highness’s
most humble and obedient Servant,
WILLIAM BLACK.