Address delivered at the semi-centennial celebration of the Oneida County Medical Society : held at Utica, Thesday, July 8, 1856 / by D.G. Thomas.

  • Thomas, D. G. (Daniel Golden), 1806-1880.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address delivered at the semi-centennial celebration of the Oneida County Medical Society : held at Utica, Thesday, July 8, 1856 / by D.G. Thomas. 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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    panies them to their last resting place : no national paeans sweep over these martyrs of professional duty. But it is not because theirs have been individual conquests, won in the midst of destitution and want, or in the dwellings of opulence and ease: not because they have been gained, un- guarded and alone, amid the fearful gloom of a plague stricken city; in the Lazar house, where erring man pays the price of unhallowed pleasures ; or in the gleanings of the field of battle. It is because we ourselves have not made their burial an occa- sion for befitting ceremonials, and thus shown that we could render honors to the brave and good in death. In a few in- stances, those who have been rather prominent in our profes- sion, have been justly remembered in the grave: but how few are they of all that noble band; and he who falls to-morrow, what arrangements have been made by this or any medical association to bear him, as a kindred spirit, to his final home. It would be easy, if suitable arrangements were made ; it would be appropriate, for we draw from the same sources our knowledge ; are engaged in the same pursuit; are bound to the same destiny. To-day we have come together to make some amends for our past neglect: but how inadequate is all this, for their numbers are great; they are scattered along the track of time for fifty years. They have been valiant soldiers. If a similar course is pursued for the future, how long, alas, how long, before a memorial will be offered for us, as one by one, we shall be called to give an account of our stewardship. Gentlemen, have we fully realised the lofty character of our mission ? Have we compared it with the other pursuits of life ? Have we carefully examined the object of its care, the sources of his danger, and relief. Vegetables grow in certain conditions of climate, temperature, and soil, and are conse- quently bound to certain geographical limits. Most of the animals below man are localised, by having an organization fitted to certain terrestrial conditions, beyond which they can- not live. But man, the object ol our care, takes the range of the whole earth. In the north, wrapped in furs and sheltered