494 CONCLUDING ADDRESS 



nected with the healing art, or in any of the collateral pur- 

 suits less immediately attached to it. It is only in reference 

 to such views and such objects, that the Hunterian collec- 

 tion could have been accepted, or can be of any use to our 

 College. Unless rightly employed, this valuable treasure 

 will be an incumbrance rather than an ornament : instead 

 of rendering service or conferring dignity, it will make our 

 incompetence and disgrace more conspicuous. 



The medical character is generally received as a certifi- 

 cate of education and knowledge ; and it is a passport of 

 admission into the most cultivated society. A general ac- 

 quaintance with natural knowledge is expected of us, and is 

 absolutely necessary to answer the appeals which are con- 

 stantly made to us in conversation. As general informa- 

 tion is now so much more diffused than heretofore, our 

 relative superiority can only be maintained by increased 

 exertion. 



In the present day. Gentlemen ! professional characters 

 are estimated fairly enough according to the proportion of 

 their knowledge and active talent ; the efficacy of name5 

 and titles, like the fashion of wigs and canes, is gone by, 

 without a chance of revival. The obsolete institutions of 

 past ages, and inefficient modern ones, meet alike with 

 silent disregard. 



The mighty impulse, which for the last half century has 

 so signally extended the boundaries of knowledge in all di- 

 rections, still actuates the human mind. The astonishing 

 occurrences of this eventful period raised it at times into 

 irregular agitation : that, indeed, has for the present sub- 

 sided ; but the force of the original movement is not at all 

 diminished ; — I think rather increased. It will, perhaps, 

 display itself, now that political revolutions and innovations 

 are suspended, in a more vigorous pursuit of the useful 

 sciences, and a more active cultivation of the arts of peace. 

 Surgery is largely indebted to this past and present men- 

 tal activity. So much have its principles, its doctrines, and 

 its practical proceedings, been modified, — 1 will venture to 

 say, improved, that the magnitude of the change is noticed, 

 even by the junior members of the profession. But do not 



