An inaugural address delivered before the Medical Society of the State of New York : at the Capitol in the city of Albany, on the 8th day of February, 1826 / by James R. Manley.

  • Manley, James R., 1781-1851.
Date:
1826
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inaugural address delivered before the Medical Society of the State of New York : at the Capitol in the city of Albany, on the 8th day of February, 1826 / by James R. Manley. 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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    11 correct the impression which it is calculated to create; for the inferences from it are so obvious, that no argument can illus- trate or soph i try obscure them. It is believed, that at least one half of the youth educated in our colleges apply them- selves, after graduation, to mercantile and miscellaneous pur- suits, and that the remainder is destined to fill the ranks of the three professions. If we allow that each receives an equal proportion, which perhaps is not very wide of the truth, it will follow, that no more than one sixth part of the whole number of graduated physicians have the advantage of a liberal edu- cation : and when we take into account the number of per- sons licensed to practise physic under the laws of the several States, which is presumed to be equal to those who receive the medical diploma, we have the mortifying result, that only one person in twelve of the authorized practitioners is fur- nished in like manner. A full education, at best, but en- ables the possessor to add to his stock of information without incurring obligations to teachers, and to this end it is always directed, when professional pursuits are the subjects of study; without it, the pupil must expect, at every step of his proba- tion, to contend with difficulties which will retard his progress, and which, though they may diminish as he advances, will nevertheless always continue to be sources of embarrassment, tending to circumscribe both his usefulness and his repu- tation. I know that there are those who, without this education, are fully competent to exercise any professional employment with credit to themselves and advantage to the public : there are those whose capacities for improvement, and whose thirst for information, are such as scorn the trammels of scholastic discipline ; who can qualify themselves for any business, with- out creeping, at a snail's pace as they think, through all the forms of grammar-schools and colleges : these are gifted with powers which with difficulty acknowledge the restraints of instructors ; they are nature's true nobility, whose patent heaven has registered upon their foreheads ; upon whom ge- nius has impressed her tower-stamp; and they would wear her livery and honour her service, be their avocations what