Essays on surgical subjects / by Sir Berkeley Moynihan.

  • Berkeley Moynihan
Date:
1921
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays on surgical subjects / by Sir Berkeley Moynihan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    people’s attention once caught was apt to be held by the man’s transparent earnestness.” How exactly was this the case with Murphy also! No one who heard Murphy speak ever doubted his sincerity. One might not agree; one might indeed profoundly and confidently disagree with some statement he made, perhaps as though to provoke a challenge, for there was much in Murphy which justified his patronymic, and which discovered his an¬ cestry; but there was never a thought that Murphy himself was speaking other than his deep and tried con¬ viction. He never looked at truth askance or strangely. One who heard Lincoln speak at Peoria wrote: “Beyond and above all skill was the overwhelming conviction imposed upon the audience that the speaker himself was charged with an irresistible and inspiring duty to his fellow men.” Such an impression was often felt by audiences while Murphy was addressing them. One thing Murphy lacked; in one respect he grievously failed. If we consider the qualities which go to the mak¬ ing of the greatest surgeons, a foremost place must always be conceded to the capacity to train great disciples. The teaching, the diligence, the general outlook upon surgery and a finished technical skill can all be drilled into the minds, and imposed upon the methods of an earnest student. But it is the inspiration, the lofty sense of a sacred mission worthy of all the best that is in you, the dedication with humblest and fullest devotion to the cause of scientific truth, and of loyal service to mankind, that are awakened with a thrill in great men by great teachers. It is here that Murphy fell short. He trained no one worthy to be his successor; no evangelist who could carry into other clinics or to other countries some of his glow, his fervour, his complete devotion, or the full meaning of