Self-development : an address to students / by George Ross.

  • Ross, George, 1814-1863.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Self-development : an address to students / by George Ross. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    But meritorious works are the result of time and labour, and cannot be accom- plished by intention or by a wish. The immortal thoughts that seem as if they flowed spontaneously from the soul of Shakespeare, were nevertheless moulded in a die which, doubtless, required many years of unremitting atten- tion to fashion it to his exquisite taste. His intellect, by constant study, had at length been trained to that perfect discipline which enabled it to move vsith a grace, spuit, and liberty incomprehensible to those minds that have not passed through the same severe ordeal. Every great work is the result of vast preparatory training. Facility comes by labour. Nothing seems easy, not even walking, that was not difficult at first. The orator whose eye flashes instantaneous fire, and whose lips pour out a flood of noble thoughts, starthng by their unexpectedness, and elevating by their \visdom and truth, has learned his secret by patient repetition, and after many bitter disappointments. If any yoiuig man thuiks that I have exaggerated the importance of indus- try, and depreciated the value of mere talent, I am willing to be judged by those men who have succeeded - who have asserted the greatness of their genius by the magnitude of their works. Tliat there may be mute inglorious MUtons and village Hampdens I am prepared to a certain extent to admit; but of what benefit have been their talents to the world or to themselves ? They never put tlieir sickle into the corn-fields, and they brought home no harvest; we therefore owe them no gratitude. They ai-e as imknown as if they never were; and no flower growing above their tomb breathes around the world the fragrance of their good deeds. John Hunter was a remarkable instance of perseverance. He was always in his work. At his meals, in his carriage, in the hospital, in the sick cham- ber, in the dissecting-room, m the museum, he was always collecting and registering fiicts, or following out some train of meditation. Hence the stu- pendous monument which he has raised to his imperishable glory. Patience is the motto inscribed upon its waUs. He began with a broad basis, and indus. triously piled fact upon fact, while the learned world looked on in amazement at the grandeur of his labours. This monument, seen in the Ught of his genius, projects its mighty image down the avenue of the far off future, and, like the shadow upon the dial, measures the altitude of the intellect that esta- blished its foundations. Not less characteristic was the career of the iUnstrious Newton. \Vlien asked how he managed to work out his grand principle of gi-avitation, he rephed, By always thinking about it. If there ever was a man in our profession who might be reputed to possess a genius for its practice, it is William Fergusson, the present Professor of Surgery in Kuig's College. He commenced his profession at seventeen, at twenty-three tied the subclavian, and thenceforward quickly estahlislied his character as a great surgeon. He is yet a young man. Do you tliink tliat