Hospitals : their funds and management, their abuses and remedies : with special reference to the proposed foundation of a children's hospital : a letter to Arthur Ryland, Esquire, Mayor of Birmingham / from a hospital surgeon.

  • Hospital surgeon.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hospitals : their funds and management, their abuses and remedies : with special reference to the proposed foundation of a children's hospital : a letter to Arthur Ryland, Esquire, Mayor of Birmingham / from a hospital surgeon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    In point of fact we have been witnesses of but one more illus- tration of the different effects produced in minds, naturally equally powerful and well disposed, by such various, though in their sphere equally honourable and useful, pursuits, as that of science and of commerce. Theoretically the Doctor’s view is defensible, and even expc~ rience lends it some support, in opposition to the seeming paradox involved in the proposition that, with given powers, increased demands admit of being supplied with greater facility than lesser ones. The paradox would be a reality if the argu- ment affected physical conditions and foi’ces. It is otherwise with the organic the moral and the intellectual attributes. Exercise increases them, and that not only by directly increa- sing results, but by actually augmenting the productive foi*ce. It is in accordance with this law that cultivation affects the land, that education affects the mind and the heart. The more a man thinks deeply and generously, within certain very wide limits, the greater does his power of meditation and affection become. So does the mind develop; so does faith grow, and the spirit of charity become larger, stronger and purer. This is true of peoples as of persons ; the pursuit of good and noble objects ennobles them and fits them for yet better and higher purposes. This is the foundation of the speculative defence possible in Dr. Heslop’s position. But experience proves that in individuals as in communities the exercise of the moral attributes of our nature is subject to practical considerations. Every student has to curb his growing thirst for learning, and his desire to buy books and to travel, according to the measure of his means. So every parent in the education of a family; so every good clergyman in spreading the Gospel in a populous parish; so every legislator in enacting laws for public instruction and charity. The great philanthropist, the man ambitious to promote the diffusion of learning and of the comforts of life amongst all classes, ever and anon, finds his path intercepted