Introductory address, delivered at the opening of the session of the Medical College of Georgia : on the second Monday of November, 1838 / by Joseph A. Eve.

  • Eve, Joseph A. (Joseph Adams), 1805-1886.
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Introductory address, delivered at the opening of the session of the Medical College of Georgia : on the second Monday of November, 1838 / by Joseph A. Eve. 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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    [*] present century, or its extreme distance still from ultimate per- fection : But happily, whether we contemplate its highly im- proved state, or its susceptibility of improvement; equal gratifi- cation is afforded : Had medicine already attained its highest state of perfection, it would have been left to us only to admire and imitate those who had gone before us—had it remained sta- tionary for many years, we should have been discouraged from labouring for its advancement, and regarded it as a barren field, in which no laurels were to be won : but whilst the achievements of our predecessors stand as imperishable monuments to their well earned fame, and must ever excite admiration, they should not fail to awaken within us a noble spirit of emulation ! Yes, the youthful aspirant after fame may be encouraged by the reflection, that although much has been achieved, much more remains to be accomplished : that although many laurels have been won, more still remain to adorn his brow and reward his toil! Generation will follow generation—age after age will pass away, before medicine shall attain the summit of perfection, be- fore its cultivators shall behold their work complete. Like those mathematical lines that may approach each other forever without meeting, medicine will continue for ages to approximate without reaching perfection—the art of healing- will become more and more improved ; but it never can, in the nature of things, attain that state of perfection and certainty, predicted by our venerated, but enthusiastic Rusn, when old age and accidents, will be the only outlets to human life. Before medicine could become so perfected, that the prac- titioner should be invariably triumphant in his conflicts with disease—before he could with unerring certainty rcpelthe shafts of death, man must become perfect, not only in his physical organization, but in the exercise of his reasoning faculties :