Introductory lecture delivered in the Castleton Medical College, March 8, 1842 / by James McClintock.

  • McClintock, James, 1809-1881
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Introductory lecture delivered in the Castleton Medical College, March 8, 1842 / by James McClintock. 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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    we must wipe it out by giving to our Art the only certainty of which it is susceptible, founded upon close and accurate investi- gation. Divest yourselves, then, in the beginning of all prepos- session: swear in the words of no master; adopt the dogmas of no sect; attach yourselves to no exclusive system. Devote yourselves to the study, not of opinions, but of facts, not of schools, but of nature. It were bad enough to lose time by mis- directing your efforts ; but worse, inconceivably, would it be, to lay the corner stone of your education in prejudice. Whatever you may have heard of the fame of distinguished men, and how far soever you may bo inclined to reverence their names, and to honor their achievmenls, beware of being led by any name to the adoption of a mere theory. I would notdetract ('mm the reputation of the great masters of science, rather is it our duty to cherish their memory with religious care, and regar- ding them as benefactors of mankind, to embalm their memo- ries in perpetual praise, but yet we arc bound to follow them so far as they followed nature, and no further. If Hoffman en- larged the boundaries of science by the discovery of new facts, wc avail ourselves of his labors with thankfulness, but we do not thereby incur the obligation to adopt his hypotheses. If Cul- len imparted accuracy to our views of certain forms of disease, we must use the light thus afforded us, without following him in the twilight gloom of his speculations. If Brown infused into medical investigations a scientific spirit, we shall try to labor in that spirit, but not to make proselytes to his theories. If Brous- sias brought the vigor of a commanding intellect to bear upon some of the most difficult questions in medicine, we can employ the results of his scientific labors without imitating his dogma- tism or being called by his name. In a word, gentlemen, wc should be men of no sect, but men of science. The assemblage of truths constituting the science of Medicine is classed in the curriculum of studies in this College, under the following heads, viz : Anatomy, General, Special and Surgical 5 Physiology and Pathology : Chemistry and Pharmacy ; Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Obstetrics; Principles and Practice of Surgery; Theory and Practice of Medicine; Opthalmology and Medical Jurisprudence. A formidable list truly. And when I tell you, in addition to all this, as I may without vagueness or exaggeration, that the well disciplined Physician ought to make the whole range of the Natural Sciences contribute to his skill, and should also be thoroughly versed in the knowledge of Psy- chology, which attempts to explain the workings of man's spirit- ual nature; or, at least, to classify the phenomena of mind, you will believe that the Profession which you have chosen is to be no playground, and that the training which shall fit you for it must be laborious and long continued. But I must confine my-
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