A lecture introductory to the course on the practice of medicine : delivered at St. Thomas's Hospital, at the commencement of the session 1842-3 / by Dr. Hodgkin.

  • Hodgkin, Thomas, 1798-1866.
Date:
1842]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture introductory to the course on the practice of medicine : delivered at St. Thomas's Hospital, at the commencement of the session 1842-3 / by Dr. Hodgkin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    we have nevertheless the same diseases to contend with, for which our forefathers prescribed; and though we may desire to be more successful than they, we must still employ analo- gous means, but direct them with greater accuracy. I have made these remarks to warn you against the possible error of paying too little regard to the writings which time has sanc- tioned ; and against being too much engrossed by productions of the present day, in which it must often happen, that what is new is not true. I am aware that it is usual, at the opening Lecture of a Medical Session, to make allusion to the duties and respon- sibilities which await the Student on his entering the Medi- cal Profession—including both those which more peculiarly belong to him during the period devoted to the acquisition of Professional knowledge, and to those which are of longer duration, and commence on his entering into actual practice— when the well-being and even existence of a larger or smaller portion of the community will at times, under the most critical circumstances, become dependent on the mode in which he discharges the duty which he has offered him- self to the public as undertaking to perform. I cannot sup- pose that these considerations have not already been urged upon you, and received at least as much attention as any recommendation of mine could induce you to give them: and though I might place before you the attractive exam- ples of those whom the diligent and conscientious discharge of their various duties, as Students, has rewarded with dis- tinction for their attainments—with success in the lucrative exercise of their art—with the esteem of their brethren, and the confidence and grateful attachment of the public — to which we cannot doubt that the still more grateful reward of a fair share of self-satisfaction, very different from pride, must have been added—I regard such a course as altogether unnecessary on the present occasion. Permit me, however, to observe, that very important results are contingent on the mode in which the Student's part of the Professional career is past. With but few exceptions, the character of the future Practitioner is determined by it. All the advantages of connection and patronage, with which some may enter upon practice, may be lost;—or the difficulties and trials