An introductory lecture delivered before the medical class in Harvard University : on the 16th of October 1833 / by John Ware.

  • Ware, John, 1795-1864.
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introductory lecture delivered before the medical class in Harvard University : on the 16th of October 1833 / by John Ware. 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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    had been a lawyer or a statesman, and had applied to his pursuits the profound sagacity and unequal- led industry which he bestowed on anatomy and physiology ; he would have acquired a reputation equal to that of any individual of the age in which he lived. We should have heard of him in the same breath with Mansfield, Burke, and Johnson. But what does the world know of him now, or what did his contemporaries know of him then 1 Little more than that he was a very respectable surgeon, which, in comparison with the actual character and desert of the individual, is much as if one were to say of Lord Mansfield, that he was a respectable barrister. Not that the world is disposed to deny the praise of greatness to men eminent in our profession. The truth is, that their claims are not, and cannot be, fairly brought before it. It does not understand the meas- ure by which their qualifications are to be estimated. Few, except physicians themselves, are capable of appreciating the merits of a medical man ; and, more than this, his talents are exerted in a field so remote from common observation, that the materials for a judgment are not readily afforded even to those capable of judging. This is no ground of complaint. It is no injustice. We perceive no disposition to