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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    Without descending to notice the claims of all or any of the pretended schools of medicine, their place will be readily seen when we properly appreciate the position which the Old School of Medicine has ever held. The Old School of Medicine includes the educated men of every age ; men whose studies ceased only when life ended; active, energetic, persevering men ; bringing their profession up to their own time, and pushing their investi- gations into the future for the benefit of the race ; philan- thropic, self-sacrificing and devoted; enduring famine and facing unflinchingly all the hideous forms of pestilence ;— men of honor, of integrity, of worth, esteemed, revered, and loved. Such men the School of Medicine claims by thou- sands in every age. The Old School of Medicine includes all of the elements of growth and expansion. It is based on the immutable logic of facts, not of theories, and every newly discovered fact is its legitimate property. It must, therefore, expand iu every direction wherever investigation reaches, and when- ever a new law is deduced the medical profession is among the first to test its worth. The Old School of Medicine contains in its archives the scientific record of the past. It has taken ages to gather up the present practice of medicine, and the recorded observa- tions of the ablest men the world has produced are invalua- ble for all time. They cannot be set aside. The Old School pursues that happy medium which has ever been acknowledged as productive of the highest bene- fits to the human race. It does not propose to cure everything by electricity. It does not propose to do the same by the means of water. It does not propose to cure all the ills that flesh is heir to by infinitesimal doses. It does not propose to cure by taps, moves, and passes. Neither does it propose to secure the services of disem- bodied spirits. Nor does it propose to use any one method or material as its main reliance. But it does propose, by a careful and thorough knowledge