Introductory address, delivered at the opening of the session of the Medical College of Georgia : on the second Monday of November, 1838 / by Joseph A. Eve.
- Eve, Joseph A. (Joseph Adams), 1805-1886
- Date:
- 1838
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Introductory address, delivered at the opening of the session of the Medical College of Georgia : on the second Monday of November, 1838 / by Joseph A. Eve. 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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![[21] to urge upon you, with all possible emphasis, the indispensable importance of employing all your time, with the greatest assi- duity and industry to acquire and retain knowledge. Every minute lost now is lost forever! Were you to live a thousand years, you could not redeem one moment of misspent time. Every hour has its own occupation, and you can not crowd into it the concerns of another. Your respectability and success in the profession will depend, in a great measure, upon the im- provement you make of your present opportunities—if they are not improved, the loss is irreparable,—no future industry, no subsequent efforts can make atonement for it; but if properly improved, the benefit will be experienced through your whole life, and the full amount of good resulting, not to be estimated, until you shall have terminated your professional labours. Far more valuable than gold, knowledge is not lost in using, but im- proves, grows brighter, the more it is employed. Knowledge has, by the author of the inductive philosophy, been very appro- priately styled Power : knowledge in medicine is indeed power of the highest and most noble order—power approaching nearest to Divine—it is truly God-like in its nature—it is power to heal the diseases and relieve the sufferings of our fellow creatures: in no busines or occupation in life, does man exercise an office more Heavenly, in none is he enabled to follow more closely the foot- steps of his Divine Master, who went about doing good, healing the sick, relieving the distressed and comforting the poor. How glorious a vocation !—how supremely calculated to ennoble and exalt human nature !—how eminently productive of the highest happiness and most refined pleasure to him who practises it, with proper motives and under the influence of correct principles and feelings !—how important then, that, in qualifying yourselves for such a profession, no time be lost in trifling amusements and](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21118358_0021.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
