A biographical notice of Daniel Drake, M.D., of Cincinnati : prepared by appointment of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia / by Charles D. Meigs.

  • Meigs, Charles D. (Charles Delucena), 1792-1869.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A biographical notice of Daniel Drake, M.D., of Cincinnati : prepared by appointment of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia / by Charles D. Meigs. 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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    training of an eloquence which learned, afterwards, to utter Bome of the most beautiful language, and to use the most gorgeous rhetoric to be found anywhere in the English tongue! Such was the loose training of a fiery intelligence that went forth beyond the flammantia mcenia mund\ and, controlled by an active vigor- ous will, moved men to the performance of great and useful enterprises. He early acquired the use of language, to that degree as to make it serve as the visible lucid representative of his ideas. For, when he spoke, men understood what it was he would say to them. To misapprehend the use of language, is ever to be betrayed by it: Drake knew, and used it well. Only ten years after his landing on the northern shore of the Ohio, he was in a condition to publish his first printed essay. This was his Notices concerning Cincinnati, a pamphlet of sixty pages, with an Appendix. In this production there is abundant evidence to prove that lie already was master of considerable power of observation, that he possessed much accurate knowledge, and was filled with the genuine love of truth in science. That essay might do credit to a writer of far superior education to his own. It appears that his preceptor soon learned to confide in the good sense and honest intentions of his sylvan pupil; and long before the close of his studentship in the Doctor's shop, was wont even to consult with him and take his opinion on the cases which together they attended. This confidence ripened at length into a sort of copartnership in the business. As a proof of the good opinion he entertained of the young man, he gave him, in A. D. 1805, what Drake calls an autograph diploma. This was a certificate setting forth his merits and qualifications as a student and practi- tioner, and signed by William Goforth, Surgeon-General, First Division, Ohio Militia. Dr. Drake ever after cherished the remembrance of this occasion, and preserved the record as a memorial of the olden time, and still more, as the tribute of a heart so generous as to set aside all the dictates of judgment as to the qualifications of a stripling to whom it was spontaneously given.—{Disc, ut ante.) Drake practised physic upon this sole authorization for the space of eleven years, when the authority was re-enacted by the venerable University of Pennsylvania, at the annual commencement in 1817.