An address delivered at the annual commencement of the Medical School of Harvard University : Wednesday, March 6, 1861 / by George C. Shattuck.

  • Shattuck, George C. (George Cheyne), 1813-1894.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address delivered at the annual commencement of the Medical School of Harvard University : Wednesday, March 6, 1861 / by George C. Shattuck. 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.)

    15/16
    tried to make you see the truth in the views of both these parties, the danger of obeying exclusively the precepts of either. And in these dealings with ourselves, we may not deny that there are instincts and impulses towards the good which are to be cherished, and yet also to be trained and brought into subjection. The experience of St. Paul, the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not that I do, has been that of all sincere laborers in this field of self-improvement from his time to our own. The great prizes of life—wealth, fame, influence, friends—are strong incentives to dili- gence, but they certainly will not fall to the lot of all of you, they may not be attained by any of you. The medical man often toils on in poverty and obscurity, known only to his immediate neighbors. But wherever your path may lie, however narrow your field of labor, however great your infirmities, the plaudit and reward of the faith- ful servant may be yours. Sir Walter Raleigh, in his history of the world, surveying the baneful effect of the inordinate desires and passions of our race, apostrophizes Death as eloquent, just and mighty, who can persuade those whom none could advise, as alone able to make a man know himself, proving the sick man a naked beggar, with interest in nothing but the gravel that fills his mouth, holding the glass before the eyes of the most beautiful that they see and acknowledge their own deformity and rottenness. From watching so often the approach, from looking so often at the work of this grim monarch, are we not in danger of neglecting such teachings ? And now, gentlemen, in taking leave of you, and wishing you God speed as you enter on a new field of labor, can I set before you any higher incentive to diligence and fidelity than is contained in the old motto of our University — Christo et Ecclesice. Here is a watchword which has animated many a good scholar of the cross in a life-long struggle with sin and infirmity, who now rests from his labors while his works do follow him. These works of conquest over ourselves, of charity to our neighbors, of piety towards God, we, each one of us, may be doing from day to day. Of each one of us, as in our turn we yield to that stern monitor who takes us from this our scene of probation, naked as we came into it, it may be said, Lord of himself though not of lands, And having nothing, yet hath all.