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surgery ; they are leadiu;^ to one as great in the practice of 

 medicine ; they concern the highest interests of agriculture, and 

 tlieir power is not yet exhausted. 



And as i>ractical men were, in this instance, incompetent 

 judges of the value of si;ientific facts, so were men of science at 

 fault when they missed the discovery of anesthetics. Year after 

 year the influences of laughing-gas and of ether were shown : 

 the one fell to the level of the wonders displayed by itinerant 

 lecturers, students made fun with the other ; they were the 

 merest practical men, men looking for nothing but what. might 

 he straightway useful, who made the great discovery which has 

 borne fruit not only in the mitigation of suffering, but io a wide 

 range of physiological science. 



The history of science has many similar facts, and they may 

 teach that any man will be both wise and dutiful if he will 

 patiently and thoughtfully do the best he can in the field of work 

 in which, whether by choice or chance, his lot is cast. There 

 let him, at least, search for truth, reflect on it, and record it 

 accurately ; let him imitate that accuracy and completeness of 

 which I think we may boast that we have, in the de-criptions of 

 the human body, the highest instance yet attained in any branch 

 of knowledge. Truth so recorded cannot remain barren. 



In thus speaking of the value of careful observation and 

 records of facts, I seem to be in agreement with the officers of 

 all the sections ; for, without any intended consent, they have all 

 propo-ed such subjects for discussion as can be decided only by 

 well-directed facts and fair direct inductions from them. There 

 are no questions on theories or mere doctrines. This, I am 

 sure, may be ascribed, not to any disregard of the value of good 

 reasoning or of reasonaljle hypotheses, but partly to the just 

 belief that such things are ill-suited for discussion in large 

 meetings, and partly to the fact that we have no great opponent 

 schools, no great parties named after leaders or leading doctrines 

 about which we are in the habit of disputing. In every section 

 the di cushions are to he on definite questions, which, even if 

 they be associated with theory or general doctrines, may yet be 

 soon brought to the test of fact ; there is to be no use of doctrinal 

 touchstones. 



I am speaking of no science but our own. I do not doubt 

 that in others there is advantage in dogma, or in the guidance of 

 a central organising power, or in divisions and conflicting parties. 

 But in the medical sciences I believe that the existence of parties 

 founded on dominant theories has always been injurious ; a sign 

 of sacisfaction with plausible errors, or with knowledge which 

 was even for the time imperfect. Such parties used to exist, and 

 the personal histories of their leaders are some of the most 

 attractive parts of the history of medicine : but, although in 

 some instances an enthusiasm for the [master-mind may have 

 stirred a few men to unusual industry, yet very soon the disciples 

 seem to have been fascinated by the distinctive doctrine, content 

 to bear its name, and to cease from active scientific work. The 

 dominance of doctrine has promoted the habit of inference, and 

 repressed that of careful observation and induction. It has 

 encouraged that fallacy to which we are all too prone, that we 

 have at length reached an elevated sure position on which we 

 may rest, and only think and guide. In this way specialism in 

 doctrine or in method of study has hindered the progress of 

 science more than the specialism which has attached itself to the 

 study of one organ or of one method of practice. This kind of 

 specialism may enslave inferior minds : the specialism of doctrine 

 can enchant into mere dreaming those that should be strong and 

 alert in the work of free research. 



I speak the more earnestly of this because it may be said, if 

 our Congress be representative, as it surely is, may we not legis- 

 late ? May we not declare some general doctrines which may 

 be used as tests and as guides for future study ? We had better 

 not. 



The best work of our International Congress is in the clearing 

 and strengthening of the knowledge of realities ; in bringing, 

 year after year, all its force of numbers and varieties of minds to 

 press forward the demonstration and diffusion of truth as nearly 

 to completion as may from year to year be possible. Thus, 

 chiefly, our Congress may maintain and invigorate the life of 

 our science. And the progress of science must be as that of 

 life. It sounds well to speak of the temple of science, and of 

 building and ci owning the edifice. But the body of science is 

 not as any dea I x\\\i\i of human work, however beautiful ; it is 

 as somethini; livin', capable of development and a better growth 

 in every |.iart. For, .as in all life the attainment of the highest 

 condition is only possible throngh the timely passing-by of the 



le s good, that it may be replaced by the better, so is il in 

 science. As time passes, that which seemed true and was very 

 good becomes relatively imperfect truth, and the truth more 

 nearly perfect takes its place. 



We may read the history of the progress of truth in science as 

 a paleontology. Many things which, as •\\e look far back, 

 appear, like errors, monstrous and uncouth creatures, were, in 

 their time, good and useful, as good as possible. They were the 

 lower and less perfect forms of truth which, amid the floods and 

 stifling atmospheres of error, still survived ; and just as each 

 successive condition of the organic world was necessiry to the 

 evolution of the next following higher state, so from these were 

 slowly evolved the better forms of truth which we now hold. 



This thought of the likeness between the progress of scientific 

 truth and the history of organic life may give us all the better 

 courage in a work which we cannot ho]5e to complete, and in 

 which we see continual, and sometimes dishearteninjj, change. 

 It 1.S, at least, full of comfort to those of us who are growing 

 old. We that can read in memory the history of half a century 

 might look back with shame and deep regret at the imperfections 

 of our early knowledge if a\ e might not be sure that W'e held, 

 and sometimes helped onward, the best things that were, in their 

 time, possible, and that they were necessary steps to the better 

 j^resent, even as the present is to the still better future. Ves — 

 to the far better future ; for there is no course of , nature more 

 certain than is the upward progress of science. We may seem 

 to move in circles, but they are the circles of a constantly 

 ascending spiral ; we may seem to sway from side to side, but it 

 is only as on a steep ascent which must be climbed in zig-zag. 



What may be the knowledge of the future none can guess. 

 If we could conceive a limit to the total sum of mental piower 

 which will be possessed by future multitudes of well -instructed 

 men, yet could we not conceive a limit to the discovery of the 

 properties of materials which they will bend to their service. 

 We may find the limit of the power of our unaided limbs and 

 senses ; but we cannot guess at a limit to the means by which 

 they may be as-isted, or to the invention of instruments which 

 will become only a little more separate from our mental selves 

 than are the outer sense-org.ins with which we are constructed. 



In the certainty of this progress the great question for us is 

 what shall we contribute to it ? It will not be easy to match the 

 recent past. The advance of medical knowledge within one's 

 memory is amazing, whether reckoned in the wonders of the 

 science not yet applied, or in practical results in the general 

 lengthening of life, or, which is still better, in the prevention 

 and decrease of pain and misery, and in the increase of working 

 power. I cannot count or recount all that in this time has been 

 done ; and I suppose there are very few, if any, who can justly 

 tell whether the progress of medicine has been equal to that of 

 any other great branch of knowledge during the same time. I 

 believe it has been ; I know that the same rate of progress 

 cannot be maintained without the constant and wise work of 

 thousands of good intellects ; and the mere maintenance of the 

 same rate is not enough, for the rate of the progress of science 

 should constantly increase. That in the last fifty years was at 

 least tw ice as great as that in the previous fifty. What will it 

 be in the next, or, for a more useful question, what shall we 

 contribute to it ? 



I have no right to prescribe for more than this week. In this 

 let us do heartily the proper work of the Congress, teaching, 

 learniuL', discussing, looking for new lines for research, planning 

 for mutual help, forming new friend>hips. It will be hard work 

 if we w ill do it well ; but we have not met for mere amusement 

 or for recreation, though for that I hope you will find fair pro- 

 vision, and enjoy it the better for the work preceding it. 



And when we part lei us bear away with us, not only much 

 more knowledge than we came with, but some of the lessons for 

 our conduct in the future which we may learn in reflecting the 

 work of our Congress. 



In the number and intensity of the questions brought before 

 us, we may see something of our responsibility. If we could 

 gather into thought the amounts of misery or happiness, of 

 helplessness or of power for work, which may depend on 

 the answers to all the questions that will come before us, 

 this mi^ht be a measure of our responsibility. But we cannot 

 count Tt ; let us imagine it ; we cannot even in imagination 

 exaggerate it. Let us bear it always in our mind, and remind 

 ourselves that our responsibility will constantly increase. For, 

 as men become in the best sense better educated, and the influ- 

 ence of scientific knowledge on their moral and social state 



