Fifteenth annual commencement of the Medical Department of Georgetown College : valedictory address / by Silas L. Loomis ... ; March 2, 1865.

  • Silas Laurence Loomis
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fifteenth annual commencement of the Medical Department of Georgetown College : valedictory address / by Silas L. Loomis ... ; March 2, 1865. 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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    ADDRESS. Gentlemen of the Class of 1865: Allow me to congratulate you that the studies introductory to professional life are now closed. The day so long anti- cipated, when you are to enter the Medical Profession, is now enjoyed. Days, weeks, months, and long years of weary labor are now yielding their fruit. The required cur- riculum of studies has beeu passed ; the courses of lectures attended ; your Theses written, and the final ballot has an- nounced your success. The honors of Georgetown College—honors not lightly won—are now conferred upon you. The parchment attest- ing these facts, bearing the broad seal of the College by authority of the United States, and constituting you mem- bers of the Medical Profession, is this day placed in your hands. With this diploma is committed also to your care the reputation of the professors under whom you have studied, the honor of the college which now authorizes your graduation, and the confidence of those who are inter- ested in your success. Let your professional ability and integrity command the attention, the respect, and the esteem of your associates; your studious habits aud scholarly attainments add lustre to the reputation of your Alma Mater, and the purity of your private life be worthy of imi- tation. The responsibilities of the position which you now assume should be well studied. The most endearing and tenderest relations of social and domestic life may be sundered by your ignorance or carelessness, mantling a whole commu- nity with sorrow and grief; or by your skill and judgment a life held by the feeblest tenure may be prolonged for years, blessing the family, the friends, the community, and the nation. To you is entrusted the duty of assisting the strug- gling efforts of nature, as the unfolding germ fully assumes o'lw»