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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![[23] the profession, at such an auspicious period, when medicine has- been elevated far above its former position—when medical edu- cation has been rendered more complete—when higher honors and rewards are promised those who will seek them with ade- quate zeal and industry; I should not fail to remind you that much more will be required of physicians henceforth than here- tofore—that moderate attainments and Jimited qualifications will no longer suffice:—Correspondingly greater labours and sacrifices will be demanded :—Medical science must be cultiva- ted with more ardour and assiduity ; there must be more time devoted to study; more untiring perseverance and industry in the charnel house, the museum, the laboratory and the infirm- ary. The field before you is wide and fruitful; but without proper culture it will yield no harvest; self-indulgent ease and indo- lence will reap no reward but contempt and shame ! If you would rise to eminence and distinction in your profession, you must pay the price— Laborious watching, toil and care. You must turn away from the blandishments of pleasure, the delight- ful converse of friends, the fascinations of the social circle, to trim your lonely midnight lamp: you must leave the gay and festive scene to familiarize yourselves with the sick, the dyino- and the dead. It will not be yours to contemplate human nature, in its strength and majesty—its beauty and loveliness ; your study will be humanity in its weakness—in its most distress- ing and appalling forms—in decay and ruins. But are not the inducements sufficient—the recompense most ample, to compen- sate you for all the sacrifices you shall make, for all the priva- tions you shall suffer, for all the labours you shall undergo? The profession of your adoption will afford you field for the employment of the noblest faculties and exercise for the most](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21118358_0023.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
