Historical study of medicine : concluding portion of an address to The Glasgow University Medico-Chirurgical Society, March 15, 1878 / by Professor Ferguson.

  • Ferguson, John, 1838-1916.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Historical study of medicine : concluding portion of an address to The Glasgow University Medico-Chirurgical Society, March 15, 1878 / by Professor Ferguson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a very important influence on your general opinions as liberally-educated physicians and surgeons. We are all in our ordinary work labouring to improve the skill we already have, or to acquire that which will hereafter be of use in our professional avocations ; but we must also try to remember that while we sacrifice much of our individual self-improvement, or—to use the vulgar slang of the day—our self-culture, in order to become better instruments to effect purposes out of ourselves, we are not bound to sacrifice our whole time and tastes even to the profession by which we are to live ; but while we conscientiously do the best for it we can, we must neither degrade ourselves to mere traders, nor our professions to trades. There is little chance of that taking place during the University curriculum, but there is a chance that the studies of the course may be attended to with too imme¬ diate an eye to their practical bearings, and even to their proximate use in passing examinations. In this and simi¬ lar societies, however, you have the opportunity of getting out of the ruts you have generally to move in, of arranging your thought upon the subjects which interest you, and of hearing what others think of your views. One cannot always be treading the same gin-horse round. It is pro¬ fitable, both physically and mentally, to try to view our subjects from a distance, or in the light of other studies, to learn what other people think of them, and to see what place they occupy in the great system of human know¬ ledge. Now, among the possible ways of untrammelling our-