The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-03 00:00:00

of kiANHATTAN and his fellows having been
al I on the other side, all in regard to the possible,
pi •obable, all but certain, seizure of Richmond, and
ti tat immediately ! As certainly, now, at this mo-
went, at this new turn in the course of events—

just as certainly as that the tidings of the defeat of
:OSENCRANZ in Tennessee must have carried dis•
may to New York and Washington, so certainly
these same tidings will hearten on the Southern
defenders of Charleston, while strengthening the
determination of the main Southern army under
-LEE upon the line of the Rapidan.

aosf
o(n)cetoolar
terheiss
pa
ega
kr aenr
sd
3fa dayr
rai in tdhoe medicsnilu r
s ..
pronfeessfiiornst,
" relay day which divide
Charing i
niC reo
thes s , dbercilearr
se
pd a that ao tt
day. Mr. HEATON, o.f,
owr
aa
81) Is eo
vi ,
iandth et vh ea nt
asoilloraliNn'eosneinuevster naefetdesr wbaerdas."melnit
day, and the studeutwouldreeeirthheardloben praiseworthyoekbacktoitwith
; pride and shame as his career
or the reverse. The general tone adopted by the
gentlemen who delivered the addresses was a high
one, and the moral they sought to inculcate an
admirable one. It is not to be expected that uni-
versal application would be accorded to these elo-
quent and stirring remarks, because in every com-
munity some cannot, and others will not, compre-
hend or care for such things. There is every reason
to believe, however, that the words then uttered in
reason to those entering on the profession sunk deep
into mauy minds, and may, hereafter, be productive
of goad service to them in their arduous vocation.
Dr. MARKHAM, at St. Mary's Paddington, made
one of the most brilliant speeches. He adverted, in
the first place, to the two obstacles that stood in the
way of their increasing their knowledge with refer-
ence to the efLet of remedies over disease. One was
the unreasonable opinion entertained of certain reme-
dies caring certain ills, and the other was the unrea-
sonable practice,once so prevalent,and still sometimes
extant, of employing drugs where they were not
required as remedial agents. Again, it had been
objected by some that this was a sceptical age, and
insisted on proving the truth of all systems before
placing credence therein. He contested that there
was ground for this determination. To investigate
causes, " since the birth of the present generation
of men revolutions had taken place in the sciences,
alike of mind and of matter. The world had gone
on with giant strides in the path of civilisation,
such as centuries of former times had not beheld.
Science, now subjected to her searching analysis
all the opinions and eredulities of mankind. It
was idle to expect, therefore, that medicine should
be an exception to the rule, and escape the ques-
tioning of a remodelling age." There was great
wisdom in thus treating the subject to the students,
for no mistake can be greater for them to make, at
the outset of their course, than to suppose that all
they then acquire is the ne plus ultra
of acquisitive knowledge. As men proceeded
in their course they acquired the knowledge
that is imparted to experience, which often fur-
nishes them with precious stores. Also others, pur-
suing the same road, are in their turn making dis-
coveries and testing experiments, so that progress is
constantly to be made by those who are willing to
do so. Dr. MARKHAM forcibly illustrated his argu-
ment by stating that it was too much their custom
to prescribe drugs whether they were wanted or
not. In this they were still living, as it were, in the
dark ages of medicine, and he traced the spread of
many quackeries to this unfortunate custom, and
especially that most remarkable delusion homcea-
pathy. There is doubtless considerable truth in
this assertion, and it would bo well alike for the
interests of society, and the fame and fortune of the
medical profession, if these strictures took effect in
many quarters. Dr. MARKHAM concluded his im-
pressive address by reminding his hearers that the
study of medicine was a stern and rugged business.
Whoever adopted it as his profession must prepare
for struggles, encounter hardships, and meet with
disappointments. They had the consolation of
knowing that men of science did not practise
quackeries. Above, all he entreated them never
to let their moral sense grow dumb.
They might have to choose hereafter between
self-interest and ill-requited honest labour, yet
let them be brave and true to their consciences,
" Their success in life might not have equalled their
hopes and their deserts, it was not in the power of
men to ensure success, they might even fail in the
struggle ; but so long as they obeyed the voice of
conscience and of duty, they might, like that knight
of old chivalry, who lost all in the battle, still
boast that nothing was lost, because his honour
was unstained." Something of the same ele-
vated model was held out by Mr. HEATON at the
Charing-cross Hospital. He observed that every
doctor should take care in building up his character
that the foundation-stones were duty towards his
GoD and his neighbour. No better wish could
be offered to a student than that during his life he
might work hard, do his duty, and, if need be,
should die bravely—

" In some just cause, not in thine own,
To perish, honoured, wept for, known,
And like a warrior overthrown."
Surely no better incentives could have been held out
to youthful aspirants than those here cited. The
medical profession ought not to be chosen by those
who are callous, indifferent men, for it is one that
pre-eminently calls for feeling and demands sym-
pathy. Those who look on men as machines, and
regard all suffering as immaterial, if only it can
conduce to their discoveries and evidene3 their
theories, will never be true disciples of their call-
ing. Mr. MAUNDER, of London Hospital, empha-
tically expressed his conviction of the honourable
nature of their profession, than which none could
be higher, but " that great profession whose
ministrations were not physical, and whose
influence did not cease with the term of our
brief mortality." At University College Dr. Rus-
SELL REYNOLDS addressed the students very im-
pressively. He entered at some length into the
various difficulties that beset the mind of the
studious devotees of the profession. He advised
them to appreciate and combine the two points on
which many differed, one seeking to establish the
uniformity of the processes of nature, and the
other to discover progress in those processes.
Let them look at the world, and watch the same-
ness and yet the change. Families, races, end
nations have their decay, but while one sunk away
another teak its place, " and the great world is ever
young, but the great world also grows"—
" And I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose
runs,

And tb e thoughts of men are widened by the process of the

suns

Ti
I)r. Fl-NoLDS thus concludes his admirable Da-
dress ;—" And, a
ynur earnest work t 6
knout the laws of
l lift,
, ia n
iyour hereafter daily
contact lift--at its beginning, in its troubles,
and at its close--
do not, in recognising the divinely
appointed order of all events, lose sight of that
great divire plan
progress which will surely
evolve the highest good
of
out of much that now seems
-
deepest evil. You will thus often see a moral pur
pose in the suffering you trY_but try vainly—to
csB"ge ; a good in the death you feebly struggle to
postpone. RegardingaB fraught with
disease
meaning and purpose other and higher than the
mere change of organ, you can see and handle an
o
record in your pathologicAi note-boo ; Ic3"illg on