The good physician : being an introductory to the course of lectures on materia medica and therapeutics in the Medical Department of Transylvania University, for the session of 1842-3 / by Thos. D. Mitchell.
- Thomas Duché Mitchell
- Date:
- 1842
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The good physician : being an introductory to the course of lectures on materia medica and therapeutics in the Medical Department of Transylvania University, for the session of 1842-3 / by Thos. D. Mitchell. 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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![went, an aptness io compare, and a promptness to infer correctly. Nor will these qualities suffice, however strongly developed, unless modified and invigorated by the kind care of well directed education. 1 am a- ware that the mere mention of education, in this connexion, may ex- cite in some, a train of reflections by no means pleasurable in their nature. And, perchance, I may be referred to the cases of not a few who have made a notable figure in the profession, and whose fame may be heralded as ample testimony in favor of mere native talent, to hush the claims of education, or at least, to abate their pretensions. But I dare stand on high ground to day, and from the loftiest pinnacle of truth itself, to declare, that no amount of education can be too great for him to possess, who would perfectly understand the mechanism of that noble structure, which the voice of inspiration proclaims to have been fearfully and wonderfully made. For the full comprehension of all the functions of the human economy, the most erudite physiolo- gist that has ever lived, had not learning enough. This delicate harp of ten thousand strings, whose exquisite adjustments forbid a single touch of rudeness, under the penalty of discord or total demolition, has never to this hour been fully analyzed in the vast profundity of its a- mazing constitution. And yet, there are many in the profession, and more who are preparing to enter its ranks, who dream of ultimate suc- cess, in this momentous enterprise, who have never enjoyed the advan- tages of a collegiate, academical or common school education. And here, permit me to express my gratification at the stand which some of our District societies have taken on this interesting subject. They have made it a condition for the reception of a young man, as a medi- cal pupil, that he give good evidence of possessing, at least, a due ac- quaintance with the English language, the plainer mathematics and the elements of natural history. Yet is this standard too low, in ref- erence to the great objects of medical studies. And while I am pleas- ed to behold au honest desire to elevate the profession in regard to the preliminary studies of its pupils, I am compelled to declare, that we cannot compete with our brethren of the East, in all that is great and ennobling in medical science, until we rise to a level with the ablest of their gifted sons, in all the preparatives that make up a solid founda- tion for the permanent superstructure of professional greatness. But can he be a well furnished and a well balanced physician, who starts in his career, with a destitution, almost total, of the force and import of the English language, and alike ignorant of the elements of academi- cal studies] Never, never. Some there are, and I most heartily applaud their motives, who would exclude from the study of medicine, all who are not good schol- lars in the amplest sense. It cannot be denied, that for the right un- derstanding of many of our technicalities, a knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages is essential. Yet I am unwilling to urge an ac- quaintance willi these as indispensable to the student of medicine, until we have gained the vantage ground of a thorough conviction on the part of medical preceptors., that an English education should invariably](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21141757_0009.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
