202 
coggeshall's  valedictory  address. 
gain,"  to  practice  your  art  for  emolument,  is  certainly  and  justly 
the  ultimate  object  of  your  pursuit ;  let  it  not  be,  as  it  too  often 
is,  the  first  and  only  controlling  object.  Far  higher  considerations 
of  duty  are  incumbent  upon  you  than  upon  a  mere  tradesman.  You 
are  to  assume  the  great  trust  of  preparing  medicines  for  the  sick, 
upon  which  are  placed  their  hopes  of  arresting  disease,  of  re- 
storing health,  of  saving  life  itself,  or  at  least  of  alleviating  so 
much  as  human  remedies  can,  hopeless  fatal  suffering.  If  it  be 
true  that  "  all  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life,''  so  far 
as  the  safety  of  any  one  of  your  fellow  men  may  be  entrusted  to 
your  care,  it  must  be  held  sacred,  first  of  all  considerations  for  the 
time,  in  the  discharge  of  your  professional  duties  ;  if  emolument 
ensue  it  is  well,  and  honestly  earned ;  but  first  of  all,  and  para- 
mount to  all  the  mercenary  impulses  of  trade,  should  be  your  duty, 
your  professional  honor.  Your  calling  is  an  arduous  and  compa- 
ratively ill-requited  one.  It  demands  continuous  study,  if  you 
would  keep  up  with  the  constantly  accelerating  progress  of 
science,  constant  watchfulness  against  frauds  and  adulterations  in 
drugs,  careful  examination  of  the  qualities  of  those  you  select  for 
dispensing,  and  against  their  having  suffered  depreciation  at  the 
time  you  use  them,  that  your  combinations  are  accurately  made 
with  accurate  weights  and  measures.  In  all  these  particulars  you 
must  be  vigilant  and  faithful.  The  immediate  responsibility  of 
the  medicines  required  by  the  sick  rests  upon  you  as  the  depend- 
ence of  last  resort,  upon  whose  skill  and  integrity  all  hopes  of 
restoration  may  be  placed,  and  from  whose  incapacity,  unfaithful- 
ness, or  error,  there  often  may  be  no  appeal ;  it  may  be  too  late 
for  a  "  correction  of  errors."  Far  removed  from  the  sick  chamber 
are  the  counting  house  of  the  importer  and  the  warehouse  of  the 
wholesale  dealer,  where  medicines  are  merchandize,  the  Price 
Current  outweighs  the  Dispensatory ;  and  the  anxious  fear,  the 
trembling  hope  with  which  the  ultimate  destination  of  their 
"  goods  "  may  be  watched  by  sleepless  eyes  and  aching  hearts,  are 
matters  too  remote  to  interrupt  the  current  of  trade ;  yet  these  are 
the  commercial  sources  whence  you  derive  the  crude  materials  upon 
which  your  art  is  to  be  employed  for  the  immediate  use  of  the 
sick.  The  direct  responsibility,  therefore,  rests  upon  you,  and 
neither  in  manner  nor  in  part  can  you  evade  or  transfer  it. 
Amongst  the  prominent  objects  of  interest  continually  pre- 
