Fifteenth annual commencement of the Medical Department of Georgetown College : valedictory address / by Silas L. Loomis ... ; March 2, 1865.

  • Loomis, Silas L. (Silas Lawrence), 1822-1896.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fifteenth annual commencement of the Medical Department of Georgetown College : valedictory address / by Silas L. Loomis ... ; March 2, 1865. 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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    back through the darkness toward the beginning. He puts all but the living spirit on the canvas, or creates it from the marble. He possesses the requisites for receiving and de- veloping powers that carry him over every part of the globe on which he lives, and makes every particle of its matter and every living being that abides upon it, subservient to his will. Man, presented in this view, is truly fearfully and won- derfully made. But how expressive these terms become when we look at him in the infinite variety of pathological conditions which may be presented ! And especially to you will he become an object of intense interest when, compelled by disease, he turns, in pain and anguish, but with confidence in your ability to relieve, and implores your services. You will then fully appreciate the responsibility resting upon you which, before this public au- dience, you have expressed your readiness to assume. You have placed within your reach all that science, in its most exalted conditions, has attained to.. You have, in the medical works and journals of the present day, all the accu- mulated surgical, medical, and therapeutical knowledge that the ablest men have been enabled to gather up. And more: you now take your place in the medical profession, and it demands at your hands some increment of progress. Language fails to express the opprobrium and contempt which should follow every man who presumes to take in charge the health and lives of his fellow-men when he is indifferently prepared for his position. In conclusion, gentlemen, there are one or two points not strictly within the limits of professional life, that neverthe- less exercise so important an influence upou the success and reputation of the young candidate for public favor as to merit a few closing words. In a country established upon the suffrages of the people, every intelligent citizen must charge himself with a knowl- edge of the public weal. He is inexcusable in leaving it to others. But there is a broad line of distinction between the patriot and the politician, which a servant of the public must never forget, and over which the eminent in science seldom step. The physician that locates himself in the midst of a