An inaugural address delivered before the Medical Society of the State of New York : at the Capitol in the city of Albany, on the 8th day of February, 1826 / by James R. Manley.

  • Manley, James R., 1781-1851.
Date:
1826
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inaugural address delivered before the Medical Society of the State of New York : at the Capitol in the city of Albany, on the 8th day of February, 1826 / by James R. Manley. 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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    ignorance and prejudice ; and where, as in the medical pro- fession, the pecuniary interests of a large majority of its members are best consulted by perpetuating them. No man can know precisely the measure of his own ability ; his esti- mate may be, and no doubt sometimes is, correct; but when it is so, it is purely accidental: hence it is, that, for the most part, men of education are divided into two great classes ; those who are distrustful of their own powers, and those whom vanity prompts to overrate them. Literary and scientific as- sociations, by bringing various degrees of talent into collision, enable the possessors to correct that false estimate which their timidity or their confidence had formed, by showing them in relation ; and the emulation of the young aspirant after dis- tinction is so disciplined by the comparisons thus frequently instituted between himself and others, that assurance on the one hand, and an overweening modesty on the other, are made to give place to a well-tempered confidence, which is neither inefficient through fear nor offensive by its arrogance ; and if the benefits which this Society has conferred were restrict- ed to those arising out of this single circumstance, it could not fail to recommend itself to general patronage, seeing that the evidence is before the public. But it has higher, and I may almost say holier, objects ;—objects in which all classes of the community, whether they realize it or not, have a deep and permanent interest : to it the law gives a controlling in- fluence over the various medical associations throughout this State, and from it the people have a right to require the ex- ercise of the most jealous vigilance in all matters relating to the education of their physicians ; for to them, under Provi- dence, are committed their dearest interests ; and as in the whole catalogue of social duties there is none which involves more weighty obligations, so mere indifference to this object magnifies itself into an offence against society, which admits no apology, because the evils which it entails admit no re- paration. I hope therefore to be excused, if, instead of read- ing a paper on a particular disease or individual remedy, I occupy your time by some remarks on medical education and