Sir William Macewen : an oration / by Archibald Young...delivered in the University at the commemoration of benefactors on 23rd June 1926.

  • Young, Archibald, 1873-1939.
Date:
1926
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Sir William Macewen : an oration / by Archibald Young...delivered in the University at the commemoration of benefactors on 23rd June 1926. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the level of the -Schools ? ” This question may be taken as epitomising his aspiration for the School of Surgery of which he was the responsible head. “ alev apiarreveiv ”—“ Ever to be the best/’ Macewen and his Assistants Ruskin has said (45), “ And the first duty of every man in the world is to find his true master, and, for his own good, submit to him ; and to find his true inferior, and, for that inferior’s good, conquer him. The punishment is sure, if we either refuse the reverence, or are too cowardly and indolent to enforce the compulsion.” Macewen held in high reverence his great Master. Equally he compelled the acquiescence, and the service, of those who were his students, his nurses, his house-surgeons, and his assistants. He exacted obedience, and he showed little consideration for anyone associated with him whose service was not scrupulously loyal. He habitually Seemed to move on a plane of his own, and he seldom unbent. A few of us, who were specially privileged to see him in a rare moment when he did unbend, treasure the experience in our memories. The family life of such a man—indeed of any man— ought to be sacred, and one would not lightly intrude upon it; but I cannot refrain from mentioning one memory that I have of an occasion when I was privileged to see Macewen in the midst of his own home life. During his busiest period, many of us used often to wonder whether indeed he had anything at all in the way of home life, as we understood it. He must have been little at home. Most of his days, and much of his nights, were occupied with work at the Hospital or in the Laboratory. Yet he was able to say, on the occasion of the complimentary dinner to which he was invited at the time when he
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