But my family physician, the worthy and learned Dr. Robbins,
to whom I dedicated the work, ever upheld me. He answered my questions,
gave me instructions, and showed me post-mortem dissections; and to
those who asked him if he believed in my theory, he wisely replied,
"Mrs. Willard is right as far as she goes." He knew that I made no
pretensions to understand the vast variety of medical subjects not
connected with the circulation, and that I never doubted his skill or
disputed his prescriptions. An honest man, and a skilful physician, he
deserved and had my unfailing confidence. And if, by reason of what I
knew, I had prolonged my life, he had the longer kept a good and
faithful patient. Lady-friends, to whom I had sent my work, had
sometimes referred it to their medical advisers; and thus Dr. Hiester,
an eminent physician of Reading, Pa., became a believer. And in the same
way, the eminent Dr. Cartwright, then of Natchez, and President of the
State Medical Association of Mississippi, came to a knowledge of those
principles, which, as we shall hereafter show, he so remarkably
elucidated.
In September, 1846, the _New York Journal of Medicine_, then edited by
Dr. Charles A. Lee, contained a review or critique on my work, which, if
the history of the theory shall hereafter become a matter of special
interest, may, with my reply, contained in the March number of 1847,
furnish any examiner with the full state of the question at that period.
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