Principles of medicine : comprising general pathology & therapeutics, and a brief general view of etiology, nosology, semeiology, diagnosis and prognosis / by Charles J.B. Williams.

Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Principles of medicine : comprising general pathology & therapeutics, and a brief general view of etiology, nosology, semeiology, diagnosis and prognosis / by Charles J.B. Williams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    But let us not vaunt ourselves. Listen to one who speaks of our art—and that one the eloquent ambassador from the United States, the Honourable Edward Everett. I quote from the Times of the day before yesterday:—“ For what was that which constituted the chief pride and- glory of the British nation? They had heard of the intercepted letter from one Chinese chieftain to another; and what was the characteristic which had excited the admiration of the mandarin of a great and important empire, reeling at the time under the blows of the British government? Was it the military prowess of their countrymen? Was it the steam-vessels of war reaching coasts in defiance of the desolating simoom? Was it their arms— their artillery—their skill of engineering, which civilized nations now brought to the strategy of war? Was it this, or any of these, which had struck with wonder, and awe, and admiration, the barbarians of China? No ! It was the humanity of British physicians and surgeons—their management of hospitals, and the generous kindness which was extended to the sick and wounded, even of a hostile nation—which moved them with astonishment, and excited their sympathy and regard. These were some of the arts of peace which extorted the admiration of an enemy, and which other states would do well to imitate.” But if you would see the moral influence of medicine depicted in its liveliest hues, I would ask you to contemplate a domestic scene—a family whose hearts are wrung with a dreadful anxiety for one vibrating between life and death. What a ministering angel does the physician seem ! How they watch his every look! With what breathless earnestness do they hang on his words! and those words, how they wing themselves to the souls of the hearers for sorrow or for joy! Yet such scenes are passing daily and hourly in every class of society—in the mansion and in the cottage: they open the hearts of all; for the moral influence of medicine is bound up with the treasures of life and health, and with all those endearing ties that make these treasures doubly precious. Nay, how often, with the hopes, or fears, of a blessed or an awful eternity! Do not think me too enthusiastic, nor that I overrate the profes- sion you have chosen. Morally and intellectually I cannot over- rate it: and now, at the commencement of a new epoch of your studies, when toil and exertion are required, I would cheer and encourage you, by reminding and convincing you of the intrinsic gratification which these studies may afford, and of the nobleness of the objects for which they prepare you. It is the fashion to decry our profession—to call it a poor pro- fession, a degraded profession. If it be poor and degraded, is that the fault of the calling, or of those who practise it; or