Medical and surgical memoirs / by Nathan Smith ... ; edited with addenda, by Nathan R. Smith.

  • Smith, Nathan, 1762-1829.
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical and surgical memoirs / by Nathan Smith ... ; edited with addenda, by Nathan R. Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    30/396 (page 24)
    not marks of strong native talent, fostered by industry, I know not where indications of such talent can be found. | To form a correct opinion of the character of Dr. Smith, it will be proper to view him in the various re- lations which he sustained. : As a physician and surgeon, he early attained a high rank: a rank which he held through life. The present is neither the place, nor the occasion to inquire into his opinions upon medical and surgical subjects, nor upon his mode of practice. It may however be proper, as illustrative of his character, to investigate those qua- lities of his mind and habits of life, which raised him to this elevated station. | The first faculty of his mind which I mention, was a keen discriminating inquisitiveness into every thing sub- mitted to his inspection. Nothing passed before him “unseen or unheeded. This quality, which in a weak mind is mere inquisitiveness, exercised to gratify an idle curiosity, is in a strong mind, a principle of rational en- quiry, seeking in every direction, for information to be applied to some valuable purpose. By the continual exercise of this quality, ripened into a habit of steady, fixed observation, he collected in his mind, not only the outlines of the diseases with which man is afflicted, but all the minute circumstances, relative to their causes, rise, progress and termination; and the effect of reme- dies upon them in their various stages. Another faculty of his mind was a memory highly re- tentive. This is so nearly allied to the habit of obser- vation just mentioned, and so certain is it that what- ever we observe minutely, is long remembered, that we