Introductory lecture to the medical course of the Homoeopathic Medical College of the city of New York : October 15th, 1961 / by D.D. Smith.

  • Smith, D. D.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Introductory lecture to the medical course of the Homoeopathic Medical College of the city of New York : October 15th, 1961 / by D.D. Smith. 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.)

    7/32
    part. He must be prepared for every form of labor and prac- tical skill, which the tragical times demand of him, and the suffering require at his hands. Not only on the field of battle, amid the cannon's roar, must he employ the surgeon's knife, and give constitutional treatment, and utter words of hope and consolation, and receive the last message of the dying soldier, and this too while the whistling bullet, and hissing death-missile rattle by or plow the earth at his very feet; but, in the circle of his home practice, he must prescribe for the maimed and exhausted soldier, who has crept from scenes of strife, to breathe his last among friends and loved ones. He must be ever ready to give the nourishing draught, the heal- ing balm, and the word of christian comfort. In the absence of God's ambassador, he must minister to a mind diseased, and do his utmost to pluck from the memory a rooted sor- row ; calling to his aid the stores of his art, he must put forth his best efforts to raze out the written troubles of the brain, and, provided with, some sweet oblivious antidote, essay to cleanse the stuffed bosom of the.perilous stuff that preys upon the heart. Nor must the physician allow the palsying conclusion to possess his mind, that such benign labor is the work of the Divine rather than the physician. His well stored mind, rich in every variety of knowledge that can tend to relieve human misery and pity and soothe where it lacks the power to heal, will lead him, as he stands beside the dying soldier, who, in his last dreams of deadly strife, mutters of hostile armies and clashing charges, to substitute the song of angels for the war-cry; the white garments of the purified immortals for the blood stained armor; the sound of harpers, harping with their harps, for the notes of the war-trumpet; and the waters of life for the bitter waters of Meribah. The physician must not seek to cast this worthy toil on the minister of religion alone; he must gird up his loins—buckle on the armor of light—and give battle to every foe that makes war upon the health and happiness of man. But the acknowledgment should not be withheld from you, It should be made, as it is, with profound satisfaction, that we