An address to the graduates of the Medical Department of the St. Louis University : delivered, February 28th, 1851 / by A. Litton.

  • Litton, A.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address to the graduates of the Medical Department of the St. Louis University : delivered, February 28th, 1851 / by A. Litton. 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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    quently, but a bitter curse to him who has not learned how to use it. As an opiate, it lulls into the slumber of indifference, the affections of the heart and the energies of the mind. Rank and position are not to be sought as ends, but as means. He who would covet them for the fawning sycophancy that they may pro- cure, for the craven-hearted adulation that they may draw forth, has but an imperfect idea of life. Life has higher and nobler aims than the duties of the mart, or the occupations of the exchange, or sseking the loud hosannas of popular admiration. Its true aim is moral and intel- lectual culture, and the elevation and refinement which these bring with them. Its goal is the attainment of the highest excellence permitted by the laws of our individual constitution. He who adopts the medical profession in the right spirit, and pursues it with a single-hearted devotion, with undivided energies, with the de- termination to fail and to falter not in being useful, is blessed—blessed by being the humble instrument of much good to his fellow-man, but thrice blessed by the reflex influence which the profession, thus cultivated and thus pursued, will ever exercise in the formation of his own chai-acter. To those who enter it, it offers the most favorable conditions for the for- mation of the highest style of character, and presents, perhaps more than any other profession or pursuit, the amplest opportunity for the culture of the intellect, and for strengthening and developing the moral feelings. For her devotee she offers a literature rich in the noblest trophies of genius, and gathered from every field of knowledge. The temple of medical literature is reverend with age, for its foundations were laid when the heart first vibrated in sympathy to human suffering; and thought first found a permanent record in written language. It is filled Avith the votive offerings of the God-insjiired of every chme and every nation. Its treasury is rich in the contributions of the patient and un- wearied research of every land. Its records are written in the burning words of devotion to truth and love to humanity. To gather, then, these pearls, which the waves of past centuries have washed upon the sea-shore of knowledge, brings with it intellectual cul- ture. To pore over the inspiration of genius, and follow it as it reveals the mysterious phenomena of life, must warm and expand the faculties of the mind. To follow reason as she traces, through the chaotic dark- ness and confusion of symptoms, the seat of disease, must strengthen its powers. While its literature is rich, and furnishes abundant and nutritious food on which mind may feed and grow in power, in strength and in vigor, it is in the constant application of those truths and discovered principles, that the amplest opportunities are furnished for the culture of the mentaj faculties and the full development of their powers. The physician's du- ties require him daily and almost hourly to cultivate each of these. Ob- servation plies her constant task in registering phenomena, in correctly noting the progress of disease, and in tracing the changes effected by