An oration delivered before the Philadelphia Medical Society, pursuant to appointment : Feb. 15, 1823 / by Hugh L. Hodge.

  • Hodge, Hugh L. (Hugh Lenox), 1796-1873.
Date:
1823
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An oration delivered before the Philadelphia Medical Society, pursuant to appointment : Feb. 15, 1823 / by Hugh L. Hodge. 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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    But the dignity of medicine is also evinced by the knowledge which its cultivation demands. Here we enter truly upon a boundless theme. The accom- plished physician renders all nature and all art, tri- butary to his science ; he wanders through animate and inanimate being; he examines the productions of the earth; he explores its deepest recesses; he consults the heavenly bodies, and from all, collects important assistance, and is furnished with new ideas which redound to the improvement of his art. We must, however, descend to particulars ; and in doing this, I would wish it to be distinctly under- stood, that nothing will be mentioned, a knowledge of which, in some degree at least, is not requisite for a physician. This statement is made on the au- thority of some of the best writers, and is sanction- ed by the character and attainments of those great men, who in every age have ornamented our pro- fession and vindicated its reputation from the ob- loquy of an envious world. An enlightened medical practitioner should then be furnished with all that diversified information, which is comprehended under the title of a liberal education. This supposes a knowledge of the lan- guages, in which the works of literature and science have been written, especially the Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, all of which are too little cultivated by the modern student. It in- cludes an acquaintance with history, ancient and modern, with politics, with poetry, and all the