Lecture, correlative to a course, on surgery, in the University of Pennsylvania : embracing a short account of eminent Belgian surgeons, physicians, &c. &c. : delivered December 22, 1847 / by William Gibson.

  • Gibson, William, 1788-1868.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lecture, correlative to a course, on surgery, in the University of Pennsylvania : embracing a short account of eminent Belgian surgeons, physicians, &c. &c. : delivered December 22, 1847 / by William Gibson. 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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    lodgings procured for him; to be conducted through each hospital and medical school; to be told and shown where he can procure the best books and instruments and apparatus, necessary for his studies, and with the least delay, are favors, which, in the incipiency of his pil- grimage especially, cannot fail to be appreciated, as they deserve, by any grateful heart and thinking head. Such a friend, I am con- fident, young Blacheley will prove to any American student, properly introduced, not only because he seems to have a peculiar predilection for our countrymen, but is prompted, from the natural benevolence of his disposition, and unbounded love for his profession, to assist its vota- ries to the fullest extent. His pupils now in Paris, all of whom are gra- duates of this school, will respond, I am sure, to all I have said in favor of their present teacher and friend. The weather, in Paris, still continuing oppressively warm, I deter- mined to leave for Brussels; and, after a very pleasant ride over a sub- stantial railway, in cars not exceeded for comfort and convenience by any in Europe, reached that capital in twelve hours. Delightful Brussels, Paris, as it is called, in miniature, with its wide-spread, shady avenues, its extended boulevards, edged with lofty umbrageous elms, its noble parks and palaces, splendid edifices, public and private, its picturesque site, equally divided between hill and dale, overlooking, for leagues, verdant meadows and fields, the most fertile, and best cultivated in Europe, who can fail to exclaim, at first glimpse, nature and art have combined to render thee a little paradise? These were my first im- pressions—fully confirmed by closer observation. How one is struck, too, with the fine forms, and noble bearing, and often gigantic propor- tions of its inhabitants, especially of the higher orders, with their sim- ple and cultivated taste, in all that pertains- to personal comfort, dress, and domestic arrangement. I could almost fancy, too, that even the very animals—cows, horses, dogs, goats, sheep—imitated the looks and movements of their masters. Certainly there are a close affinity and fondness between them; for they appear in every situation, in every picture, and are petted, caressed, and valued beyond measure. With feelings, and tastes, and propensities, so predominant among all classes at Brussels, and even throughout Belgium, how could the fine arts, from the earliest epochs, fail to flourish, and bring forth Rubens, Vandyck, Teniers, Champagne, De Crayer, Jordeans, Snyders, Maes, Vander- meulen, Breughel, Segers, Neefs, De Roi, the Chevalier Breydil, Kce- berger. Van Coxie, and others? Look, also, to Belgian artists of modern times, and of the present day, and recount the names of Omme- ganck, Odevaere, Verboeckhoven, Galliat, and Robbe. Full of these associations and reflections, I gazed at striking objects as the coach