Valedictory to the graduates of Rush Medical College, February 5th, 1862 / by J.W. Freer, M.D.

  • Freer, J. W. (Joseph Warren), 1816-1877.
Date:
[1862?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Valedictory to the graduates of Rush Medical College, February 5th, 1862 / by J.W. Freer, M.D. 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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    VALEDICTORY TO THE GRADUATES OF RUSH MEDICAL COLLEGE, FEBRUARY 5th, 1862. By- J. W. FREER, M.. T>., Professor of Physiology and Surgical Anatomy. Gentlemen Graduates : In entering npon the duties of the profession to which you have this day been admitted, it is worth while to ponder thern well. These duties are of a fourfold character—to yourselves as members of a liberal profession, to your patients, to your col- leagues, and to the public. It is trite but necessary to say, that your education has really but just begun. Tou have been instructed how to observe, what to observe, and how to learn. Your full education is to be the fruit of a lifetime of industry. The graduate of medicine who goes forth imbued with a spirit of self-sufficiency, deprives himself of that which to the scientific man is the very means of growth and advancement. He fancies himself already fully armed and equipped for any emergency; therefore, what need hath he to rack his brain for the purpose of developing new scientific truths ? A man of this description, like an automaton, is confined in his per- formances within the narrow limits prescribed by the artificer. We sincerely hope that there are none such in our present class of graduates, for, Gentlemen, whatever may be your dili-