Address delivered at the annual meeting of the South Midland Branch of the British Medical Association, June 29th 1869 / by William Newman.

  • Newman, William, active 1861.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address delivered at the annual meeting of the South Midland Branch of the British Medical Association, June 29th 1869 / by William Newman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    strong phrase, to say that in almost directly inverse ratio to the benefits which the medical profession confers on the public, stands the appreciation which is meted out to us, and the status given to us in public estimation. Compare the social recognition freely afforded to the sister profes¬ sions with that given to our own, and the grade on which we are placed is as a whole very decidedly less advanced. Let me guard myself against possible mis-apprehension. I speak of the general acknowledgment which the profession obtains, and I purposely leave untouched and unconsidered that much more private and personal position, which each man in his own sphere of action earns for himself. To few, if indeed to any, is so much of this latter heartfelt tribute awarded as to members of our profession, but it is granted to and for themselves alone. In other callings courage, devotion to duty, clear¬ headed decision and breadth of acquirement have their re¬ wards ;—The successful Soldier; the painstaking plodding Lawyer—the acute Engineer, and the deeply read Scholar claim and win their meed from a critical public. Yet the very same qualities necessary to the most humble practi¬ tioner of our art, in his daily routine of work, in his decisions momentous enough to individuals, and indirectly therefore of interest to the whole community, evoke no response, and obtain for him no guerdon other than that of an internal consciousness of duty done. This failure of due recognition social and general, must have efficient causes, and into these even a cursory en¬ quiry may not be without its value. The special demands of a professional life have material influence. The medical man, actively employed in his own sphere, is strangely isolated, and cut off from much of that intercourse with his fellow-men, which early education and habits would lead him to prize. Daily in contact with others, yet his inmost life has much of solitary character, and he is debarred from the fruition of social comfort by