Peter Mere Latham



Peter Mere Latham (July 1, 1789 – July 20, 1875) was an English physician and educator.

Collected Works

 * The practice of physic is jostled by quacks on the one side, and by science on the other.
 * Book I, p. xxv


 * There is nothing so captivating as new knowledge.
 * Book I, p. 51.


 * Truth in all its kinds is most difficult to win; and truth in medicine is the most difficult of all.
 * Book I, p. 60.


 * Beware of language, for it is often a great cheat.
 * Book I, p. 138.


 * The diagnosis of disease is often easy, often difficult, and often impossible.
 * Book I, p. 173.


 * We should always presume the disease to be curable, until its own nature prove it otherwise.
 * Book I, p. 174.


 * Fortunate, indeed, is the man who takes exactly the right measure of himself, and holds a just balance between what he can acquire and what he can use, be it great or be it small!
 * Book II, p. 11.


 * Common sense is in medicine the master workman.
 * Book II, p. 389.


 * It takes as much time and trouble to pull down a falsehood as to build up a truth.
 * Book II, p. 398.




 * Faith and knowledge lean largely upon each other in the practice of medicine.
 * Book II, p. 408.


 * It is no easy task to pick one's way from truth to truth through besetting errors.
 * Book II, p. 415.


 * It would be a great thing to understand pain in all its meanings.
 * Book II, p. 474.


 * It is the great mystery of life itself which is at the bottom of all the mysterious language we are obliged to employ concerning it.
 * Book II, p. 494.


 * People in general have no notion of the sort and amount of evidence often needed to prove the simplest matter of fact.
 * Book II, p. 525.


 * Poisons and medicine are oftentimes the same substance given with different intents.
 * Desk Reference of Clinical Pharmacology - Page 1 by Manuchair S. Ebadi - Medical - 2008.


 * Perfect health, like perfect beauty, is a rare thing; and so, it seems, is perfect disease.
 * Infertility Counseling: A Comprehensive Handbook for Clinicians - Page 179 by Linda Hammer Burns, Sharon N. Covington - Medical - 2000.