Medicine a science and an art : a lecture introductory to the course in the Medical Institution of Geneva College / by C. B. Coventry ; delivered March 7th, 1850 ; published by the class.

  • Coventry, C. B. (Charles Brodhead), 1801-1875.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medicine a science and an art : a lecture introductory to the course in the Medical Institution of Geneva College / by C. B. Coventry ; delivered March 7th, 1850 ; published by the class. 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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    necessary, but if given, the indication should be clear, and the effect expected to be produced well understood. The Professor ol Materia Medica and General Pathol- ogy will show you the consequences of disease, the chan- ges in structure, and how death is produced. He, too, will exhibit the armory for combatting disease. You will see that every department of nature has been ransacked. The earth and sea, the animal, the vegetable, and mineral kingdoms have all been made to contribute their quota; and science has been exhausted in her efforts to detect and separate the active principle from the inert mass. You sometimes hear persons talk of Botanic physicians as if he who drew his resources from a single kingdom of na- ture was wiser or better than one who selected what was valuable from all. The Professor of Surgery will instruct you in the art of managing those physical ills which affect the exterior of the body, and the various operations which may become necessary to save life or remove disease. The Professor of Obstetrics will instruct in the cure and attention due to woman in the most important and critical periods of their lives, when not only the health, but the life of both mother and child is intrusted to your care. He will demonstrate to you that there is no department of your profession demanding more skill, more intelligence and self-possession. He shows you that in the more criti- cal cases the life of the patient is actually dependent on the skill of her attendant; that there is no time to send for council, none for reference to books, none for reflection. Does he hesitate ? his patient is dead. A moment has decided her fate. One moment sooner and his skill might