A discourse addressed to the Kentucky State Medical Society at its annual meeting : held in Lebanon, April 18, 1859 / by Joshua B. Flint.

  • Flint, Joshua B. (Joshua Barker), 1801-1864.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A discourse addressed to the Kentucky State Medical Society at its annual meeting : held in Lebanon, April 18, 1859 / by Joshua B. Flint. 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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    [2] will be its successor, and under whose leadership it will appear, is not yet determined. In the shadows, however, which com- ing events are said to cast in advance, the observer will not tail to discover/even now, in dim and cloudy outline, the '-form and pressure of the new era that is opening. The Neuro- pathic phenomena of disease are evidentlyin th< dant, and destined to occupy, in the medical mind of the Immediate future, the place so long and exclusively maintained by those that are vascular and inflammatory. Cor cedal Medullce, lymph, red globules, congestion, give place to ganglia, ex- citability, reflex action. &C. A.B to the leadership and denomi- tion of the new order of things, they absolifely defy the D enterprising anticipation. Among the medical constellations on either side of the Atlantic, there does not appear a star of empire.— not a man now on the Btage of medical action, who can aspire to be such a leader as was Vori Helmont, or Sailer, or even Cullen, in his day. There are many teachers in the Neuropathic school, but never a master. Ii' a tithe of the philosophic; spirit of John Hunter had been vouchsafed to his busy countryman, the expositor of the mimoscs, the new epoch might have appeared, marshalled under a name bearing the same initial as that of its immediate predecessor. But, enough of the uncertainties of the future — the present is actual, whose interests, duties, and dangers appeal to prac- tical men, in all departments of human thought and effort, with farmore effect than these of the past or future. T return therefore, to the remark, that the present is a period of revolu- tion in the domain of medicine, and invite you to accompany me in a few reflections upon the dangers to the cause of medical improvement and progress, which most easily beset the zealous laborer in that cause, at such periods. The duties, the active, positive duties, of every enterprise, are at all times, sufficiently obvious and inviting to those cordially engaged in it; its dan- gers, often involving the very essence of the cause, are more likely to be latent, and liable to be unheeded unless specially brought to view. The danger of dangers in transition periods, lies in the ten- dency of the human mind to oscillate to extremes. Tired with familiar exercises and results, captivated % novelties, intoxi- cated by the inspirations of hope, we rush forward to positions