An Introductory Lecture Delivered at the Massachusetts Medical College, November 6th, 1849 (Classic Reprint) pdf

Henry Jacob Bigelow: An Introductory Lecture Delivered at the Massachusetts Medical College, November 6th, 1849 (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from An Introductory Lecture Delivered at the Massachusetts Medical College, November 6th, 1849 We are assembled in obedience to a healthy custom. It is well that those who are interested in this institution, should meet together once in the year, to testify their good will to it, and to indicate by their presence that they feel an interest in its prosperity. We recognize here the guardians of the University; the flourishing condition of which is ample evidence of the fidelity and wisdom of their administration. Here are those who, at no remote period, were actively engaged in teaching the lessons of our art; indelibly associated with a pleasant period of our lives, and bound to many of us by claims to more than our regard. Some who look back as if it were yesterday to the time when like yourselves they stood at the threshold of our profession; when they imbibed at this fountain the early teachings of our science; come here to be reminded by each recurring year, of the lengthening interval which separates them from a period which never can return, and to awaken its memories. Winter has assembled you from various distances and with various motives; animated by curiosity or impelled by duty; determined to accomplish an end, or yielding to a customary routine; but all imbued with a good and friendly spirit, and ready to unite with the well-wishers of our institution, to promote its best interests. Occupying a relation to you. gentlemen, new to myself, and of the honor of which I am deeply sensible, there may be a propriety in devoting an hour, usually allotted to considerations of a general character, to an exposition of some of the principal topics suggested by this relation; and it is my intention, with your permission, briefly to review our subject in its connections with science, and with the community. The Institutes of Surgery are its settled principles; and if we consider the character of the phenomena which are presented to us in the study of this science, and reflect how unappreciable are the agencies which constitute disease, we have good reason to be satisfied that there is any thing in a successive generalization so remote as to be called a principle, or so unequivocal in its character as to be considered settled, in our science. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.