An address, delivered at the annual commencement of the Berkshire Medical Institution, Pittsfield, December 23, 1824 / By Rufus William Bailey.

  • Bailey, Rufus William, 1793-1863.
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address, delivered at the annual commencement of the Berkshire Medical Institution, Pittsfield, December 23, 1824 / By Rufus William Bailey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ground of substantial merit, of real knowledge, of practical apt¬ ness, and candidates for professional patronage, have learnt to prepare for a reception in society, adapted to their substantial claims. Professional eminence has, of course, become the motto of ev¬ ery young man, who aspires to respectability or success. But professional eminence may be ephemeral. An enlightened pub¬ lic will demand that that eminence be built on a solid basis, on substantial character, on something above and beyond mere pro-: fessional and technical knowledge. I cannot, then, better meet the demands of this occasion, than in an attempt to trace and define the characteristics of true great¬ ness in man ; together with the points of character important and essential to professional eminence. While we shall not undertake to deny, that nature has made a difference in the original power and constitution of mind, it is ob¬ vious that the intellectual, as well as moral character, is formed -and influenced vastly by education. To attain the highest stan¬ dard, then, of our moral and intellectual dignity, is an object cal¬ culated to awaken the most strenuous effort ; and since there is no worthy and ennobling quality but may find footing, and be cultivated in every mind, the exhibition of those principles, on which the foundation of every thing valuable in character is laid, and the means of promoting them, become an object w7orthy the attention of all. The human mind is capable of putting forth efforts of a prodigous power, and with the aid of means subject to its control, of producing astonishing results. Some men, by seizing, combining, and exerting the happier powers of mind, have seemed to rise beyond ordinary distinctions, and we have looked upon them as elevated above us, by some rich and rare- endowment of nature ;—when, if we analyze their characters, we may find their preeminence has often proceeded, not so much from any original distinction of mind, as from the careful cultivation and prominent exhibition of certain properties, which are com-* moil to all. Characters, who have commanded the most lasting admiration, have usually regarded with comparative indifference the means of external promotion, and have risen on our esteem rather by the