The annual address delivered to the graduates of the Atlanta Medical College at the commencement : September 2, 1858 / by Custis B. Nottingham.

  • Nottingham, Custis B. (Custis Bell), -1875.
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The annual address delivered to the graduates of the Atlanta Medical College at the commencement : September 2, 1858 / by Custis B. Nottingham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    me to warn him of its fallacy, and urge him to persevere in the habits of the student; else, when too late to repair the injury of irremediable negligence, Memory will oft de- nounce the bitter curse of days misspent—talents misap- plied, and fair occasions gone forever by. It was the me- morable remark of the illustrious Rush, in retorting on a young physician, when full of the honors of a highly suc- cessful life, and his head whitened with the frosts of nearly seventy winters— Sir, I am yet a student. Indeed, the domain of Medical Science is so broad and extensive—com- prehending, as it does, a luminous philosophy in its several departments proper, besides levying tribute on nearly all the Natural Sciences, as auxiliaries in its literature—that even if complete and perfect as it now exists, it would afford an ample field for protracted study and elaborate inquiry; but when we note the faet, that it is not stationary, but steadily progressive—that its boundaries are being con- stantly enlarged; facts are contiually accumulating; errors are being corrected; and new and important truths are perpetually coming to light, it is the more apparent that to attain and preserve eminence, it is necessary that the phy- sician should be a constant, a laborious student. Let not, then, the blighting mildew of indolence, the syren voice of pleasure, an interest in other business avocations, the labors and cares of even a large practice, nor the witching smiles or music of the bower, turn you from your purpose—your duty of study. But procuring in the outset of life a small and well selected library of standard authors; replenish it from time to time with valuable monographs, as they drop from the press; and subscribe for a few good periodical Journals; and for years to come, ever arranging your hours of business and pleasure with an eye to the improvement of your minds, and the acquisition of knowledge; master and treasure up from the best authors the rich and varied stores of existing information, evoke by your own thought from the great laboratory of nature some of her yet hidden mys- teries ; and peruse the monthly and quarterly publications with sufficient regularity to enable you to keep pace with the progress of the science. In your reading, let not the