Observations on the office of a faithful teacher, and on the duty of an attentive student of medicine : delivered as an introductory lecture to the institutions of medicine in the University of Edinburgh, on the 29th of October 1823 / by Andrew Duncan.

  • Duncan, Andrew, 1744-1828.
Date:
1823
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the office of a faithful teacher, and on the duty of an attentive student of medicine : delivered as an introductory lecture to the institutions of medicine in the University of Edinburgh, on the 29th of October 1823 / by Andrew Duncan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    tliose by which it is to be improved. And among my present hearers, I trust there are not a few who may hereafter be justly entitled to the appel- lation of Improvers of Medicine. For in this Art, notwithstanding the labours of ages, much yet remains to be discovered: and Genius, aided 'by Industry, can hardly fail to be productive of some good effect in the advancement of Medical Science. In every branch of Medicine, two great objects may be pointed out as claiming particular atten- tion : these are, a Knowledge of Facts, and a Knowledge of Principles. Certain established data must, in all Sciences, be the foundation of reasoning: and, in Medicine, a comprehensive knowledge of facts is, in a particular manner, ne- cessary. For that knowledge, besides being the basis of general conclusions, often immediately leads to successful practice. Hence w^e may ac- count for the ample store of medical facts with which the earliest Medical Libraries, as they may be styled, the Temples of Apollo, are said to have abounded. It is not, however, every assertion, founded on (authority seemingly unexceptionable, that can be