Presidential Address, Philadelphia County Medical Society, 1888.

  • Cohen, J. Solis (Jacob Solis), 1838-1927.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Presidential Address, Philadelphia County Medical Society, 1888. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    Hence, in meetings of medical societies, when theories are advanced which, despite their prevalence and their authorities, are clearly at variance with recently discovered facts, the young man who knows better is tempted to rise and explain; and if his remarks are deliv- ered with becoming deference, and the information tendered bears the stamp of certitude, his advent into medical debate is received by his seniors with a quiet appreciation which not only encourages him to present some subject himself ere long, in the light of modern revela- tions, but insures him an intelligent and sympathetic audience. Better prepared than were their predecessors, recent graduates are not so long in becoming known as prominent physicians ; and practice is acquired by them far more rapidly than used to be the fashion. Our young men, too, are being called upon more and more frequently by their seniors to help clear up some obscure features in cases which may require familiarity in the use of modern appliances of precision, or of control, and thus they steadily gain a legitimate professional good repute which has a very beneficial influence on their career; and that, without any undue effort on their part to force themselves upon the attention of the profession, or upon that of the public. This is largely the class of men whose utterances have become more and more familiar in our society during the period referred to, and to whose ranks addi- tions are accruing from time to time, to replace the thinning files of older men—those who keep abreast with modern research, and those to whom much study has become a burden—as they withdraw from active participation in our meetings, or become too tired to attend when not brought out by some subject in which they feel exceptional interest. Advances in treatment closely follow advances in diagnosis, in the natural philosophy of disease, and in prognosis. These advances and changes are duly recorded in the papers brought before us, and in the discussions they elicit. Here, too, theory has largely fallen back before fact, until by the course of natural selection, mere speculation is now well nigh banished from our deliberations. Hence the practical char- acter of our scientific work, which is gradually and steadily increasing in importance, as may be seen by reference to our published transac-