The incentives, means, and rewards of study : an introductory address, delivered at the opening of the thirty-third annual course of lectures in the Medical College of Ohio, November 1, 1852 / by L.M. Lawson.

  • Lawson, L. M. (Leonidas Merion), 1812-1864.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The incentives, means, and rewards of study : an introductory address, delivered at the opening of the thirty-third annual course of lectures in the Medical College of Ohio, November 1, 1852 / by L.M. Lawson. 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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    cious stones, looks only to his daily pittance as the reward. His soul is fettered by base sensualities, and he stands idle among the most brilliant scientific achievements, unmoved as a lifeless statue amid the lightning of the skies. The true philosopher reaps a golden harvest from scientific labors, while the sensualist shrinks from the investigation and repines at the toil. The philosopher finds in every fibre, and every action of life, a source of unbounded delight, which rises far above the hopes and wishes of the sordid and selfish, and ele- vates the soul to that vast sphere of intellectual enjoyment, where all is brightness and purity. Another and higher reward of study, is the acquired ability to remove pain and prolong life. Disease and death are the portion of all; but it is not ordained that the fatal end shall come violently or prematurely. And it is given to science, as its highest reward, power to protect the frail system of man from the numerous dangers which surround it, and to prolong life when threatened by premature decay. This great control of science over human life, is but the power of omnipotence partially revealed in the laws of science; and the benevolent heart never throbs with purer impulses, nor glows with more fervent delight, than where the hand of death has been stayed, or torturing pain subdued. The con- sciousness of having thus affbrded relief, is a reward far above that which money can purchase, or empty praise be- stow. The smile of a relieved and grateful sufferer, like a stream of light on a dark sky, flows back upon the benevo- lent heart, and dispels the shadows of gloom which too often hang about our pathway. Such rewards are infinitely above the gross materials of earth : they are— Shrines, Such as times keen tooth may never touch ; Cenatophs, Which have no dread of the fierce flames, That wreck the solid world* The rewards of study are rendered conspicuous in the per- fection of the science, and the positive power thereby ac-