On the importance of personal character in the profession of medicine : an address delivered at the opening of the winter session of the Medical Department of the Yorkshire College, Leeds, October 3, 1898 / by Charles J. Cullingworth.

  • Cullingworth, Charles J. (Charles James), 1841-1908.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the importance of personal character in the profession of medicine : an address delivered at the opening of the winter session of the Medical Department of the Yorkshire College, Leeds, October 3, 1898 / by Charles J. Cullingworth. 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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    after tliis lapse of years, to l)ring it l)efore you to-day. “Of course, says Sir James Paget, “in watching and reflecting on the careers of my pupils, I have come to some strong beliefs on subjects of medical education, but this is not the place for publishing them. Only one I will set down, which may be of use to future pupils, and is justified by some hundreds of personal recollections. In remembering those with whom I was year after year associated, and whom it was my duty to study, nothing appears more certain than that the personal character, the very nature, the wiU of each student, had far greater force in determining his career than any helps or hindrances whatever. All my recollections,” he continues, “ would lead me to say that every student may draw from his daily life a very likely forecast of his life in practice, for it will depend on himself a hundredfold more than on circumstances. The time and the place, the work to be done and its responsibilities, will change; Imt the man will be the same except in so far as he may change himself.” It may be said that this was all very well thirty years ago, but that times have changed, and that whereas it may have been, and no doubt was then, possible for a man with character and perseverance by sheer force of good behaviour and steady plodding to come eventually to the front, no man could do so to- day unless he also possessed a more than average share of intelligence. For the general standard of know- ledge in our profession has I)eeii raised, and the range of knowledge greatly widened, so that much more is required to-day both in quantity and quality even of