A memoir of James Jackson, Jr., M.D : with extracts from his letters to his father, and medical cases collected by him / by James Jackson.

  • Jackson, James, 1777-1867.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A memoir of James Jackson, Jr., M.D : with extracts from his letters to his father, and medical cases collected by him / by James Jackson. 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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    tion. Yet without my knowledge, until long afterwards, he established for himself certain rules of action and habits of in- dustrious study, from which he seldom deviated subsequently, and was really storing his mind with valuable knowledge. I was not aware of his industry, though I thought that I watched him closely, till he had left the college. He did not tell me of it, though he was very open and ingenuous in telling me his feelings and his errors. When he began the study of medicine under my eye, he gave himself to it with an energy and indus- try that surprised me. I thought at the moment that he was resolved to make up for past negligences, but that his zeal would probably soon abate. I did not yet understand him. Subsequently my only apprehension was from his too great de- votion to his studies, which constantly went on increasing. I presumed that the temptations to pleasure in Europe would draw him off from laborious study quite enough ; but not so; there, even more than here, he spent his strength, without reserve, in his professional pursuits; though he meant to keep himself within the limits of safety. The only temptation, which he could not at all resist, was that furnished by the in- valuable opportunities, there offered to him, for the increase of useful knowledge. When he went abroad his reading on professional subjects had been so extensive and his habits of observation so well formed, that I thought him fully prepared to avail himself of the advantages he might derive from the excellent schools of Paris, London and Edinburgh. I dared not then say so even in my own family, for I feared the evil consequences of too much praise; but I regarded his acquisitions as very extraor- dinary for a student of his standing, and therefore let him go at an earlier period than that at which I commonly advise young men to take the same step. Those who are acquainted