'Shall I study medicine?' : aspects and probabilities : first, wherein I come short, secondly, I shall pursue the right line of way, thirdly, I shall then have striven to some purpose : in some parts a réchauffé from Smiles and other authors / adapted by P.D. Handyside.

  • Handyside, P. D. (Peter David), 1808-1881.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: 'Shall I study medicine?' : aspects and probabilities : first, wherein I come short, secondly, I shall pursue the right line of way, thirdly, I shall then have striven to some purpose : in some parts a réchauffé from Smiles and other authors / adapted by P.D. Handyside. 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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    cation and power, and for general nsefnlness. Wliat yon do for the mechanic’s body, in so limiting his exertion, you do for his mind too—his mind is un- disciplined to reading and thinking. It was otherwise with the sage Samuel Johnson, whose previous educa- tion of mind furnished him with the capacity for submitting himself, and his great faculties, to the categorical imperative in the way of sitting doggedly down—as he said he did—and doing of work required of him, in order to provide that vulgar commodity yclept bread for his wife and children. The faculty of doing will not thrive unless it is used. You fail to retain those powers or faculties that you leave unused. The condition on which we are enabled to maintain the power of using even our limbs, is that we use them. None of you can long preserve, in an efficient working condition, powers you do not exercise. It takes doubtless some time to throw the mind into the attitude of thought, though the power of doing this, and in general, thinking, is amazingly increased by habit; and a little hard thinking will supply the place of a great deal of reading. Sidney Smith says he never could find any man who could think for two minutes together; it was a perpetual deviation from a particular path, and a perpetual return to it; yet, imperfect as the operation is, it is the only method in which we can operate with our minds to carry on any process of thought. Abercrombie said the habit of calm and serious thinking makes the real difference between one man and another. The tone of a man’s thinking gives the colour and complexion to his whole