The reciprocal obligations of professors and pupils : an introductory lecture / delivered by Thos. D. Mitchell ... November 3d, 1845.

  • Thomas Duché Mitchell
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The reciprocal obligations of professors and pupils : an introductory lecture / delivered by Thos. D. Mitchell ... November 3d, 1845. 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.)

    5/16
    regard was not manifested; or to expect a compliance with rules viola- ted by daily example, in direct contrariety, .Nor can the medical pupil be required to demean himself with propriety, by the professor who disregards or violates the obligations which rest upon him, in virtue of his official oath, to say nothing of the demands of moral rectitude. In the further consideration of this subject, 1 shalljtake a cursory view of the following propositions. First: It is an imperious duty of professors, to be prepared to communicate the requisite instruction in the department which it is their province to fill. This may appear, and certainly is, a mere truism; and it may be deemed a trespass on your time to introduce it. But. gentlemen, there have been instances in all countries where medical schools have been established, of the appoint- ment of unqualified teachers ; and what is yet more to be lamented, the incumbent has often been defective in those habits of study and appli- cation, the prompt and persevering exercise of which, might countervail very much, that inherent, native deficiency, which is the calamity and not the crime of its victim. It would seem, that a strictly conscientious man would not accept an appointment, for which he has neither natural, nor artificial qualifi- cations: unless, as it may happen, his vision of himself bq so obscured by overweening vanity, as to induce in him a totally false estimate of his powers. And, even though a man possess some kind of qualifica- tions, it will not follow that he is therefore suited to the post. An individual may be eloquent, he may possess a pretty ample fund of genera] information, he may even talk fluently1,'and still it may not fol- low that he is. after all, just the right kind of man to fill a professorial chair. It is not enough that he was once a student; that he has ac- tually read a good many books, and can talk with volubility about others he nev ;r read. In our prof id i specially in the busin- ess of teaching, an old capital will not suffice. That, to be sure, is valuable; and vet, it is only available,r.s it is burnished and augmented and fortified by d ;;ly additions to (he stock. The true, legitimate character of study, a is lik that of the peren- nial pjmt, which, although more be iithan atanolhcr, survives alike liie withering heat of summer, and braves the rigor of the wintry blast. In the ! ; ' a celebrated father in medicine, the physician, and m teacher, should ba a long as ho lives. On him devolves the duty, most emphat- ically', of laying all nature uhdei i p hirh in his mo- mentous undertaking. His eye, hi: I d. every power of hig