An address, delivered to the students of Guy's on the commencement of the winter session, 1847-48 / by John C.W. Lever.

  • Lever, John C. W., 1811-1858.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address, delivered to the students of Guy's on the commencement of the winter session, 1847-48 / by John C.W. Lever. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    library, by a ruthless Saracen fanatic, and could shew you how a wise and over-ruling Providence so ordered this dire ca¬ lamity, as to make it the means of disseminating knowledge over many parts of the known world, by scattering the learned men rendered homeless by the destruction of their magnificent city. I could shew how medicine was improved by the disco¬ very of printing, and bring you down to the establishment of the London College of Physicians, a body which has at all times numbered amongst its sons the most learned, the most enlightened, yea, and I believe, the most liberal-hearted and Christian members of the medical profession ; but, Gentlemen, interesting as it would be thus to trace the history of our pro¬ fession, it is a subject with which each of you can make him¬ self acquainted in his study, and therefore from enlarging upon it I forbear. I might expatiate upon the character of the age, and the dis¬ coveries of modern times, and could prove to you that medicine is not stationary; that her sons are imbued with the “ onward” spirit of the day. Look at the other professions! Churches are erected: Chapels are opened : and Schools established for the moral and spiritual instruction of the people. The mem¬ bers of the legal profession are vying with each other in their endeavours to suit the laws to the improved habits and increas¬ ing education of the community. Men of science, by hundreds, are exerting themselves, each to improve that particular pro¬ fession or art with which he is connected. Human ingenuity has almost annihilated space. Mankind, by railways and other means of rapid communication, are brought into more close and frequent intercourse with each other. In these times the prophecy “ that many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased,” is on the eve of fulfilment. Electricity has been made an astounding and wonderful agent in the hands of man ; by its instrumentality the murderer is arrested, the phy¬ sician despatched, the patient prescribed for, the message is sent, and not only sent, but printed. And you have only to look into our hebdomadal and quarterly Journals ; to attend the meetings of our various Societies and read their transactions; to peruse the writings of medical men of the present day; to study the researches of the Physiological Anatomist, who, by careful observation and mechanical analysis of the phenomena of life