Valedictory address to the graduating class in Rush Medical College, for session 1852-53 / by N.S. Davis.

  • Davis, N. S. (Nathan Smith), 1817-1904.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Valedictory address to the graduating class in Rush Medical College, for session 1852-53 / by N.S. Davis. 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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    the whole vast range of human sciences, to the most desirable and useful of all purposes, namely, the maintenance of health and the cure of disease, cannot excite any other feelings than those of in- tense interest. To the philanthropist, the genuine lover of God and man, the access which our profession gives to the hearthstones and the hearts of the poor, the unfortunate and the erring of our race, and the ample and varied means it furnishes for soothing alike the pains of the body and the agonies of the mind, makes it, at least, equal in importance to any other earthly pursuit. While to the true statesman and legislator, whose aim is to promote the civilization, advancement, and happiness of man, more than the gratification of a personal and selfish ambition, the study of our profession can alone furnish that knowledge of the causes of dis- ease, which will enable him to adopt such measures as will judici- ously regulate the sanitary condition of towns and cities, promote the public health, and preserve the lives of citizens. Having thus surveyed, rapidly and hastily, it is true, the ample field upon which you have entered—pointed out its nature, rela- tions, difficulties, and objects—it only remains for me to ask you individually and collectively, whether you are prepared to prose- cute its cultivation with that persevering industry and high resolve, that will result in an abundant harvest of honor to yourselves, honor to your Alma Mater, and justice to the communities in which you may live ? If any of you have chosen the profession of medicine merely as an honorable mode of gaining a livelihood, or for the pecuniary emoluments which its practice will afford. I ad- vise you candidly to lose no time in retracing your steps, and choosing some other pursuit. Not, however, from any sentimen- tal idea that the practice of medicine is exclusively a benevolent pursuit, or that its devotees should be regardless of all pecuniary considerations. No. The maxim, that the laborer is worthy of his hire, is as applicable to the physician as to any other member of society. It is true, that he, perhaps more than any others, should be kind to the poor, and lenient to the unfortunate; but of those who are able, he should be as- rigid in requiring his pay as other men, and for this if for no.other reason, that he may be the better able to be kind to such as have none of this world's goods. I advise you thus, however, because even under the most favorable