Address to the graduates in medicine at the University of Buffalo, April 27, 1853 / by Frank H. Hamilton.

  • Frank Hastings Hamilton
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address to the graduates in medicine at the University of Buffalo, April 27, 1853 / by Frank H. Hamilton. 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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    the title which this your alma mater has now conferred upon you. Adopt any new title or name which may suit your fancy or interest, but let a decent respect for the mother who has nourished you, and whom you cannot certainly wish to wrong, preserve her from the mortification of being com- pelled to recognize and acknowledge her recreant and disgusting offspring. Then we have done with each other, and no obligations remain. You wished to get rich, and I have told you how it may be done, so make the most of it; away — there's a purse full; take it—and may the Lord have mercy on your souls! But, my beloved pupils, it is not thus we separate; I know you too well, and I repudiate the thought that any of you will ever thus prostitute his talents and his honors. Loftier motives inspire you in this happy evening of a long and laborious day: and if you are impatient for the morning, it is that with its first gray dawnings you may hasten to your homes, and prepare with humble confidence to enter upon the benevolent work which is before you. You wait now only for our parting counsels, and we must not detain you. That you will be virtuous, honest and upright citizens, I venture to assume. That you will be industrious in your habits, attentive and faithful to your patients, I hope I may assume also; that you will be kind, humane, gentle- manly and courteous in all your dealings and associations, I think my acquaintance with each of you personally will warrant me in believing. These are attributes and qualifications which to every physician must be regarded as indispensable. One thing remains of which I have not spoken, but which I regard as equally indispensable. You must continue to study. I have some fears, however, that you will hereafter overlook the import- ance of this precept, and, perhaps, neglect it altogether. I must detain you, therefore, while I seek to enforce, by a brief argument, its necessity. It would not be strange if you felt hurt and almost offended at my seem- ing want of confidence in your present intentions, and in your future strength of purpose. The advice is quite superfluous, and might have been Spared, you think. Books have been to you, for years, almost your scle companions. They have stood by you, and talked to you; they have instructed you pa- tiently and intelligently from the simplest elements of anatomy, physiology, and chemistry, on through all the most subtle questions of pathology and practice; and you feel toward them very much as a child feels toward a kind parent, or as a pupil fee]s toward a watchful and intelligent teacher. You love and respect them, and you are certain that hereafter you shall always