An introductory lecture, delivered at the opening of the thirty-eighth course of lectures, in the Medical College of Ohio / by L.M. Lawson.

  • Lawson, L. M. (Leonidas Merion), 1812-1864.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introductory lecture, delivered at the opening of the thirty-eighth course of lectures, in the Medical College of Ohio / by L.M. Lawson. 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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    common schools for the education of the masses, and military institutions are sustained at public expense to prepare young men for the army, navy, or civil engineering. But as for the medicine, its only recognition in law is the granting patents to quacks, the institution of suits for mal-practice, or sending ardent students to the penitentiary for availing themselves of the only means of obtaining anatomical knowledge. In the absence of a recognition of our science on the part of government, it is evident that we must, as best we can, protect ourselves. And for this purpose we must look exclu- sively to ample and complete qualifications. The half educated physician is liable at any moment to bring ruin upon himself and disgrace on the science he assumes to represent. The mere quack rests his success on the blind faith and credulity of his dupes ; but the scientific physician is held to a high standard of accountability. The bold and impudent charlatan seizes upon the weakest elements of the human mind; the enlightened physician appeals to the highest qualities of intellectual discrimination and judgement. Under these circumstances it becomes our duty to make the line of separation between ourselves and the empirics as broad and distinct as possible, so that there may be no more resemblance than exists between day and night or good and evil. And the only method by which this distinction can be clearly and fully established is by the thorough and complete education of all who aspire to the dignified and responsible position of a medical practitioners. To accomplish this, we must descend to the most accurate minutise. The great fault of our profession is an evident desire to pass by the finer elements of study, as unimportant and insignificant, and attempt to grasp the whole without following the details. In pathology, physiology, therapeutics, chemistry, anatomy— the most vague and unreliable generalities take the place of close and minute investigation so essential to the truly scientific physician. It is not enough that we learn the