Address to the graduates of the Medical Institution of Geneva College : delivered January 25th, 1842 / by C.B. Coventry.

  • Coventry, C. B. (Charles Brodhead), 1801-1875.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address to the graduates of the Medical Institution of Geneva College : delivered January 25th, 1842 / by C.B. Coventry. 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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    io restrain men within the boimds ol right, and another principle is added, viz : that of self-respect. We may lor the moment be pleased and flattered by the admiration of others, but if it is attended with the conviction that it is undeserved or unworthily bestowed, it soon ceases to afford any gratification and every mark, of respect adds an addition- al sting to our own sense of unworthincss. If then we would secure and enjoy the respect and esteem of our fellow men we must so live that an approving conscience will tell us it is worthily bestowed. Is there then any thing in your profession in- compatible with the highest degree of happiness granted to man whilst on earth ? It is believed not! Your happiness or misery must then depend in a great measure on the use you make of the means .placed within your reach ; remember that where much is given much is re- quired, and if you have received ten talents a proportionate return will be demanded at your hands. You arc, young gentlemen, about to enter upon a new and to you untried stage of duty; one which you will find beset with many thorns, and temptations : you are henceforth to take your stand in society not only as citizens, but as members of an arduous and responsible profes- sion. Much as it regards your luture happiness, your prosperity and use- fulness will depend upon the resolutions you may now form, and the views with which you enter upon the discharge of your new duties. If, disregarding the promptings of benevolence and the whisperings of conscientiousness, you propose to yourselves no higher motives than to minister to your own necessities and the accumulation of money, you can scarcely hope for, as you certainly can never deserve success : but should your most sanguine anticipations be realized, you will find or feel the profession to be what it has sarcastically been represented, a melancholy attendance on misery, a mean submission to peevish, ness and a continued interruption to pleasure. If on the contrary you consider your profession an instrument in the hands of Providence for diffusing blessings to others at the same time that you minister to your own wants—if you consider nothing degrading that has for its object the relief of the suffering of your fellow men,—if you feel that to confer happiness on others is the purest and noblest of all pleasure,