An address before the Medical Society of North Carolina : at its second annual meeting, in Raleigh, May 1851 / by Charles E. Johnson.

  • Johnson, Charles E. (Charles Earl), 1812-1876.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address before the Medical Society of North Carolina : at its second annual meeting, in Raleigh, May 1851 / by Charles E. Johnson. 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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    fession itself. Then, there would be more hope of a moral regene- ration of the profession than croakers will allow is possible, because the sordid and selfish even will begin to discover that a thorough devotion to professional science and duty is the surest, if not the shortest, way to wealth and importance ; and wisdom once acquir- ed, no matter what the motives were which prompted the acquisi- tion, will be faithfully cherished afterwards, not only for the advan- tages it can confer, but for its loveliness and virtue. The wise man, in describing the advantages of the love of wisdom and virtue, says: Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand, riches and honor. But in my humble judgment, the members of the profession, who undertake the study and practice of medicine with a full knowledge of its relations with the various wants, pur- suits and purposes of life, and with a determination to be prepared to meet these exigencies, are more deserving of praise for merit of every kind than the world is in the habit of according to them. A Physician skilled, our wounds to heal, Is more than armies to the public weal,'' is the testimony of him, who, nearly a thousand yeaTs before the beginning of our era, sang of Troy and her fall; and shall it be said in this so justly called age of progress, when invention is every day discovering new and unappropriated objects of interest, and opening, by experiment and the inductive method of reasoning, new fields of enquiry in which every man may take an even start, that the humble, but earnest and truthful disciple of ^Esculapius is a less useful, important, and respectable member of society than he was in those ruder times? No; it cannot be. I will not be- lieve it. The love of useful knowledge not only still exists, but even burns with a more ardent glow than at any former period of the world's history. Many circumstances conspire to produce this condition of things. It is not owing to any change in man's na- ture, peculiar to this age, for human nature, without doubt, has been the same in every enlightened age and nation, but results in part from the higher incentives to cultivation and the greater rewards offered to industry. Wherever these are liberally provided, there every faculty of mind and body will be exerted to the utmost, and man will furnish the most numerous and shining examples of hu- man perfection. Besides, along with these inducements for the ar- dent pursuit of usetul knowledge, we are the fortunate heirs of time, who have acquired by inheritance all the advantages of the expe-