Medical Lying. A New Guinea Explorer.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 133, 19 December 1885, Page 6

Medical Lying.

A New Guinea Explorer.

,0n this subject the • 'Medical Times" makes the following very valuable remarks:— lt ia only, we presume, with reference to prognosis or predictions as to the issue of an illness that any question as to the justifiableness of deception by a medical man can possibly arise, and here there seems to be confusion between deception and professional reserve. A medical man, although bound to speak nothing but the truth to his patient, is net bound to speak the whole truth. To do so would often be impossible) ■ owing to the patient's ignorance, or undesirable, owing to his temperament, and when a doctor sees that his forecasts would be misunderstood or exert a prejudicial effect, he is perfectly entitled to keep them to himself. No doubt, as medical science advances our power of precise prediction is increasing vastly, but, with this our power of affording relief is also increasing, bo that the number of cases in which a practitioner is confronted with the difficulty supposed by the Bishop of Carlisle are not more numerous than they were. And when that difficulty does ariee, when a case occurs in which prognosis aeems certain, and in which a knowledge of that prognosis would in all likelihood be injurious, the medioal man has simply to ohoose between two' courses. He has either to, decline to say anything or to tell the truth. He need never deceive by word or deed. , And in a large majority of cases of this kind a candid statement of the truth is best To that candid statement the patient, if of mature years and sound mind) is almost invariably entitled if he direotly demands it, for it is ' what he is actually purchasing j of his medical advisers. And by that candid statement he is often far less injuriously affected than it was imagined he would be. Sometimes It positively does him good. Under a knowledge of the inevitable' he becomes tranquil to a degree that was impoislblejwbile ne wad harassed, by alternating hopes and fears ; instead of his days'being shortened they are actually prolonged vby, the v announcement whioh was made perhaps with ao much dread and, reluctance,,

from, his expedition; to ,New .Guinea pn Saturday, in the Alexandra/ brings: bapk wlthhjtaft not onjy. »^ver^larg^gUeglj^n 1 of native curios r birds, and.orchids, bat also soaie rather interesting information as to British Papua. „Th.e I pJbjpofe l of Jbia^idt to New Guinea was to spy the land iron ia 'pastoral .and aMpuMT&Vwfokvt--. v!sew: He chartered m^ffiw^S^tfclßkfa of 70tons, and .had.witbjiim paptain^pubblny t'onglyfthe mam antf'ten c%ured mten w * crew.' *h^';EUie >nbpe<f .effort Moresby on the sth of October,, and Mr Poti^taMea^tie^ %G. Lawes, of the mission station,'he obtain sd 11 horses. *ith which he-travelled inlaid up the Laloke River to the head of tlat stream. At one time he was in sight of the camp :bf Mr H.O.t Forbes, ;the explorer. It was some 20 miles distant, and appeared ito consist* of a- nunberof huts., The direction of Mr,Forbe3 fs camp was towards ' SoutW 'Cape, apd Within 15 miles of the coast. The country Mr Potts was .ofia f reddish soil, except on the banks of r the river, where it waa quite black ; and scr ib abounded'on the various pockets form ad by the windings of the river.- Generally speaking, the land was of a rich pastoral or agricultural'character, and it was ill very well watered. " There was -als.o a variety of excellent grasses and herbage. The journey to the top of the river occupied five days, and about 100 miles of countjry were traversed. Mr Potts had 10 Anuapqta men with him as bearers. One village visited was found deserted, being only occupied'by the body of a dead man. At another village the, natives seemed inclinjed to be hostile, and the visitors made a speedy departure from that place. Returning ito Port Moresby, Mr Potts re^embarked In, his schooner yacht, and sailed down to Cloudy pay, taking mails with him to Sir P.. Soratchley, whom he met in the Governor Blackall off Aroma Village. He continued his voyage down the coast to Baxter, B^y, and returning visited' Eerepuna, Hopd Lagoon, which he .rowed < through in; ft. whaleboat;, also the Dundee ; stayed: a night at Kalo B<iv,er—a magnificent fresh: water river,, up which he .for 20 miles,'at which distance,further progress,, was stopped by rapids under the Macgilyery Range j sailed for Round Head, and stayed, a night at Hula ; passed inside Fisberm&B'j' Island, and called at, Bolinpita - a fishing village built in the water; saw thousands, of natives at Maiba yillage, and found therp forests of cocoanuttrees and gardens worthy of admiration; anchored off Motimotyj, where the surf breaks on the shore very heavily, and where a boat in which he Was landing was capsized, and be had ,jbo p$ pulled out of the -water by the natives; went a short distance up the Williams River ; sailed through the Gulf of Papua (to Bramble Bay, where he captured four large 1 turtles; and finally steered for Thursday Island, where he arrived yesterday week, and heaid of the reported massacre of ,tjbo Geographical Society's expedition, and offered the loan of the Elsie i ir,the use of a relief party. When at Motimotu, he ascertained that natives there h.ad had a fight with the inhabitants of an inland village. They were all decorated in feathers.and plumes, carrying bows and arrows, and in a very excited state, but friendly towards white men. There were also there a la»-ge number of Anuapata men trading for sago. These ■ people had lashed fifteen canoes together, had built houses on them, and were waiting for a favourable wind to carry them home. The Williams is ,an unaxplored river, broader than the Brisbane, and its current is pure and fresh for two miles imto the ocean. When he heard of the reported massacre of the Bonito party, he received it with discredit, having had pre-, vious experience of tales concocted by the natives. When down near South Cape he wag informed that Sir Peter Scratchley and the Rev. Mr Chalmers had been killed. The statement was invented by a phief, who, in saying he had murdered His Excellency and Mr Chalmers, wanted simply by braggadocio to inflate his own importance. Stories of that kind, too, as soon as they get a start, travel (Mr Potts says) from tribe to tribe with a rapidity which nearly rivals telegraphic communication. Mr Potts has brought home with him specimens of sixty different kinds" of birds of paradise, and a large assortment of native weapons, crockery and ornaments; and prizes most of all a very extensive collection of orchid?, some of which he has reason to believe are quite new in botanical »e?earch. He left the General and'^Mr Musgrave (his deputy) in good health,' and says they are rapidly improving Port Moresby. The General's house is now finished, and the township, is being marked off in modern fashion, whilst Mr Mufgrave has shown a considerable amount of practical ingenuity by bringing a good supply of water from the ranges to the harbour by means of a bamboo aqueduct. The General had been to Aroma, and' had hoisted the British flag there. Mr Potts also maintains that he found' oysters in New Guinea ten inches in length, and of a very fine flavour. They grow on the mangrove, trees. Finally, he has in .' his possession a rich specimen of gold - bearing quartz, found in the ballast of the missionary vessel Ellangowan. It was found by Mr Kerr, the first mate, and is a piece of outCrop. The genuineness of the Bpecunpn can be vouched for; but although itjis known that the ballast is from New Guinea, the particular spot at which it was obtained has not yet been, ascertained From the "Brisbane Courier," November 30th.