The medical profession and modern chemistry : an oration delivered before the medical and chirurgical faculty of Maryland, at its annual convention, June 4, 1856 / by Lewis H. Steiner.

  • Steiner, Lewis H. (Lewis Henry), 1827-1892.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The medical profession and modern chemistry : an oration delivered before the medical and chirurgical faculty of Maryland, at its annual convention, June 4, 1856 / by Lewis H. Steiner. 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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    restraint attached to them which invests them with a special char- acter. And the same holds with reference to all other chemical actions in the organism. The true value of chemistry to the medical profession might be deduced from what has been said of its misuse, and of the errors which have arisen from a false conception of the character of all the actions of vitality, but it seems proper to dwell more specially, on this subject. What it has done in the past would exhibit a value and impor- tance, that cannot be gainsayed. The benfits which have accumu- lated from its aid are so intermixed with the present knowledge of the profession—so combined with other subjects of our study, that by simply separating and eliminating them, a strildng exhibit could be made of its real value. I prefer, however, to say a few words with reference to its value to the future of the medical profession. There never has been a time in the history of the latter, when its importance and dignity was so fully established, when the storms that had lowered o'er its head were so thoroughly and completely dispersed. It has lived down all aspersions that the malice or envy of the wicked have thrown against its fair fame, and with ever in- creasing strength and beauty has become more and more worthy of the admiration of the world. Its foundations have become deeply rooted in the earth, and with a stability that must encourage all its sons, it claims one of the highest places among the callings of men. The lines of one of its gifted sons, the genial Holmes, describe in the most striking manner how : Its lioary forehead rears The towering pride of twice a thousand years ! Far, tar below the vast incumbent pile Sleeps the gray rock from art's Aegean isle ; Its massive courses, circling as they rise, Swell from the waves, to mingle with the skies ; There every quarry lends its marble spoil, And clustering ages blend their common toil; The Greek, the Roman, reared its ancient walls, The silent Arab arched its mystic halls ; In that fair niche, by countless billows laved, Trace the deep lines that Sydenham engraved ; On yon broad front that breasts the changing swell,— Mark where the ponderous sledge of Hunter fell, By that sharp buttress look where Louis stands, The stone yet warm from his uplifted hands ; And say, 0 ! science, shall thy life-blood freeze When fluttering folly flaps on walls like these.