A charge delivered to the graduating class of the Columbian College, D.C., at the medical commencement, March 22d, 1827 / by Thomas Sewall.

  • Sewall, Thomas, 1786 or 1787-1845.
Date:
[1827?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A charge delivered to the graduating class of the Columbian College, D.C., at the medical commencement, March 22d, 1827 / by Thomas Sewall. 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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    Study, gentlemen, so to unite in your deportment, tenderness with iirmness, condescension with dignity, sedateness of manner with cheer- fulness of spirit, as to inspire the minds of your patients with confi- dence, gratitude, and respect. 4. Maintain a due observance of the Sabbath. It is a stigma on the profession, that this sacred day, set apart for the most important purposes, has been so little regarded by medical men. Instead of a day of rest and devotion, it has too often been a day of professional study, or devoted to such duties as could be per- formed equally well on other days of the week. Indeed, some physi- cians have been in the habit of reserving all their consulting visits for the Sabbath, so far as circumstances would admit, and of appropriating this day to the performing of such surgical operations as did not require immediate attention; and for no other reason than because it is a day of leisure on which the members of the profession can more conveniently be assembled. But the practice, it is believed, is subsiding in our country, and the Sabbath is moregenerally respected than it has been in times past. The observance of the Sabbath, and an attendance on such devotional exercises as are within your reach, is a duty you are bound to perform, as far as is compatible with the urgency of the cases committed to your care; and it will seldom happen that your cases are so urgent, or your practice so extensive, as not to be disposed of during the interval of public worship. Dr. Rush used to say that he never knew a time when his profes- sional business in Philadelphia did not admit of his attendance on pub- lic worship at least half of the day, and he never failed to inculcate the importance of this duty on his pupils. Another custom, recommended and practised by this distinguished philanthropist and physician, will be equally worthy of your imitation, as soon as your circumstances will admit; that of bestowing all Sabbath fees on objects of charity. 5. Be guarded against Infidel sentiments. When we consider the peculiar character of our profession, as dis- played in the wonderful structure and organization of Man, in the va- rious functions of his body, their necessary connexion and mutual de- pendance, the whole animated by an invisible agent, enabling every part to act in harmony with the rest, and subject to the control of an in- telligent principle, all of which bearthe visible impress of a Divine hand: and when, too, we contemplate the profession as exhibited in the scenery of the death-bed, in the deep repentance of the profligate, and in the dying confessions of the Infidel, and these appalling circum- stances placed in contrast with the animating hopes of the Christian the serenity of his last moments, the unshaken confidence that nerves his spirit in its passage through the dark vale, all of which come under the view of the physician, there would seem to be no necessity for ad- monishing you on this subject. Yet, under all these circumstances, some of the members of our pro- fession have imbibed infidel principles, insomuch that it has been seri- ously questioned whether there was not something inherent in the .science itself, calculated to originate and to cherish a disbelief in a T)\j