An introductory address delivered at the Charing Cross Hospital Medical College, October 1, 1857 / by Edwin Canton.

  • Canton, Edwin, 1817-1885.
Date:
[1857?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introductory address delivered at the Charing Cross Hospital Medical College, October 1, 1857 / by Edwin Canton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/32 page 18
    Contrast for a moment the medical neophyte, whose knowledge of disease has been gleaned chiefly from hooks, with him who has carefully studied it from life: watch them over the sick- couch—the one as anxious as the other to relieve the sufferer, but the former is talkative, theoretical, and comparatively ignorant, whilst the latter is observant, reflective, and eminently practical. With one a life may be sacrified to hook-learning, with the other preserved through clinical know¬ ledge. It is not, however, solely from study at the bedside of the patient you are to anticipate that rich harvest of success which I hope all will reap. Remember, the soil must he prepared, the seed must he sown, and it is by diligent attendance only on lectures, previously, that these ends will he accomplished, and with the further care I have advised you, the crop will be plentiful. You are about to enter upon your various studies at what may he termed a smal] hospital—let me speak of it, also, as I have known it from my days of pupilage till now, a multum in <parvo. In out¬ ward capaciousness it may diminish before the extent of similar institutions ; hut, from the obser¬ vation of years, I will confidently say that in internal capacity for instruction it yields to none. You will find that you can never profit, at one time,
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3