Lecture, introductory to a course on the principles and practice of surgery in the Jefferson Medical College : delivered November 1st, 1847 / by Thomas D. Mütter.

  • Mütter, Thomas D. (Thomas Dent), 1811-1859.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lecture, introductory to a course on the principles and practice of surgery in the Jefferson Medical College : delivered November 1st, 1847 / by Thomas D. Mütter. 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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    clumsy one both safe and sure, and as to being ambi- dextrous, few can boast of this; and often, many who can, as Riverol well observes, have in fact only two left hands. If then in the commencement of your career, and the physical requisites of Celsus are not in your possession, there is no ground for despair: for at best, they are useful, rather than essential. His declaration, that a surgeon should be with- out pity is most fallacious; for surely there is no profession, in the performance of the duties of which such frequent and urgent appeals are made to our sympathy, and he must be more than man, or worse than brute, who can contemplate un- moved, the agony and torture to which his patients are so often subjected. No, gentlemen, I would say to you, cultivate your sympathy, but learn to control it. Never exhibit ner- vousness, nor allow yourselves to be betrayed before your patient into expressions of horror at the approaching operation. Such conduct is no indication of sympathy or pity, and is often highly detrimental. A calm, determined, yet gentle de- meanor, is that which you should endeavour to acquire, and be- neath it, the deepest and purest sympathy,—a sympathy that forces you to spare nothing, from which good to your patient may be deduced, is readily concealed. 3d. But these physical attributes are relatively much less im- portant to the student of surgery than the possession of a sound and liberal preliminary education. I fear much, that some among us are becoming less and less mindful of this requisite in those who are to figure as the representatives of our science.— The polite learning, the intellectual refinement and erudition which of old was commended as that which emolliet mores, ne sinit esse feros, and was considered essen- tial to qualify one for the manly, graceful, and satisfactory dis- charge of medical duties, is now, I repeat, but too seldom thought of, and some even go so far as to assert that the more ignorant a physician is, the better is he qualified for success in some parts of our land! This subject of preliminary education, is a most interesting and important one, but the limit of an hour admonishes us to be brief in what we have to say on this head. Now what is meant by a good preliminary educa- tion ? This question may, and has been answered in a