Observations on the office of a faithful teacher, and on the duty of an attentive student of medicine : delivered as an introductory lecture to the institutions of medicine in the University of Edinburgh, on the 29th of October 1823 / by Andrew Duncan.

  • Duncan, Andrew, 1744-1828.
Date:
1823
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the office of a faithful teacher, and on the duty of an attentive student of medicine : delivered as an introductory lecture to the institutions of medicine in the University of Edinburgh, on the 29th of October 1823 / by Andrew Duncan. 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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    ticularly in expeiiinents respecting the most inte- resting part of the medical art, accurate observa- tions of the real effects of remedies employed in the cure of diseases. By these, we may not only experimentally ascertain the effects of different articles of the Materia Medica on the human sys- tem, but also obtain illustration of the human eco- nomy, both in health and disease. And it may with justice be asserted, that experiments which would lead to useful conclusions, have been more frequently neglected, from want of industry, than from want of leisure. It is particularly the duty of those who either undertake the office of being Teachers of Medicine, or who aim at the honour of being improvers of that art, to cultivate this mode of inquiry themselves, and thus, by exam- ple, as well as by precept, to recommend the in- vestigation of truth, by experiment, to the atten- tion of others. I have thus pointed out three sources from whence a knowledge of useful medical facts is to be obtained. These are, diligent examination of the writings of Medical Authors; careful obser- vation of occurrences in actual Practice; and judi- cious and attentive Experiment. From these