The introductory address delivered at St. Bartholomew's Hospital on the opening of the medical session, October 1st, 1856 / by Andrew Melville McWhinnie.

  • McWhinnie, Andrew Melville, 1807 or 1808-1866.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The introductory address delivered at St. Bartholomew's Hospital on the opening of the medical session, October 1st, 1856 / by Andrew Melville McWhinnie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ness of his life. I do not hesitate to affirm that the effect wonld he eminently and durably cheering; that the completeness and consistency of his mental training would at once place him above the common class of his patients, and enable him to deliver his opinions ex cathedra; and even in times of occa¬ sional failure (for such will happen to the best among us), there would be the approving conscious¬ ness that he had not acted solely on the observation of symptoms, but on the examination of what the symptoms prove. The habit also of thinking in a connected manner would colour all he said with the due amount of caution always to be observed when we are speaking of the probable events that may happen in the course of a disease: he would take care not to commit himself to an opinion from which he could not retreat with safety to his reputation, when driven from his position by unforeseen circum¬ stances. At the same time, this very care bestowed upon the method of delivering his judgment in obscure cases, or on those of more than ordinary difficulty, would be conducive to the building up of a manly firmness. For there is nothing that helps to establish decision of character more than being convinced of the security of one’s ground of ar¬ gument ; being assured that whatever happens, whether good or evil,—whether the result follow or not which we, under certain limitations, have pre¬ dicted,—still, that our conclusions are fortified by the strongest protective instrument of our thinking faculty, as the surest way of inspiring the proper self-confidence that gives resolution to our designs, and enlarges our ability to act. Now, all this
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