ABSTRACT
One of the most intriguing practitioners in this context is the London surgeon and physician, Dr Daniel Turner. As a surgeon Turner published Apologia Chyrurgica. Roy Porter has painted a vivid portrait of the unregulated and cut-throat eighteenth-century medical marketplace. The image of Georgian medical practitioners as being beholden to their patients has been highlighted. Patrick Mitchell recorded in his lecture notes that Duverney began his surgery lectures with the three things necessary for making a good surgeon. The need for a steady hand is nicely demonstrated in Turner's description of the operations. First, be learned and of good judgement with an expert knowledge of anatomy and frequent dissections of morbid bodies; second, be confidential and don't babble about your patients's problems; third, be honest, grave and modest; fourth, be discreet and dress the part; and fifth, try to sympathize with what your patients are feeling. New knowledge was delivered by the discipline of anatomical hands.
