The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-11

call of duty. In accepting that diploma under the seal of your school and under the signature of your masters, you there by obligate yourselves to maintain, like men, the splendid record and traditions of your vocation, to know it's science and to practice with fidelity it's art and it's ethics. In assuming the duties of your profession, the public has a right to ex- pect you to be at least professional. In entering upon the vocation of the gen tleman in all ages, you must demean yourselves like gentlemen. You must be courteous and kind. In ministering to the sick, the suffering, the dying you must be attentive, gentle, sympathetic In studying and treating the body of man, you must be manly, humane. In observ- ing the confidences of your profession, you must stamp upon them the seal of inviolabilty. which the law itself requires and demands; the confessional of your cult must be as sacred as the inmost secrets of your own soul.
 Tt has been estimated that if Pasteur had taken patents upon his discoveries he would have left millions to his poster ity; but he would have scorned the sug- gestion. His mission was above money his duty was above dollars; his profess sion was one of universal philanthropy. Yours Is the same. Your first obligation is to the sick, the suffering, the dying yours is holy crusade against disease and death. In this warfare there is no furlough, no honorable discharge.
 Young gentlemen, l have here an oath which 1 shall not require you to sign; but 1 shall request you to take it home with you as a memento of this oecasion as companion piece to your diploma. You are doubtless more or less familiar with it's history. It is a noble, priceless relic of your profession, coming down to you from remote past of 240O years. It is the oath drafted by the School of Hip operates, under his direction, which every Greek physician was required to take and subscribe before entering upon the prac- tice of medicine. It is most remarkable document, perhaps the most remarkable in the ancient archives of your profess sion. I commend to you most earnestly it's lofty sentiments, it's solemn obiga- tions. Make it the motto of your lives. It is:
 "The Hippocratic Oath"
 Tt says, I swear by Apollo, the physi- elan; by Aesculapius, by Hygeia, by Panacea, and by all the gods and god desses, that I will fulfill relgiously ac- cording to the best of my power and judg- ment, the solemn VOW which l now make l will honor as my father the master who
 
 dren l will consider as my brothers, and teach them my profession without fee or reward. 1 will admit to my lectures and discourses my own sons, my masters sons, and those pupils who have taken the medical oath, but no one else. l will prescribe such medicines may be best suited to the cases of my patients, accord Ing to the best of my judgment; and no temptation shall ever induce me to ad- minister nOignp | will TeliqiOttslU t1a i'm tain the purity of my character and the honor Of my art l will not perform the operation of lthotomy, but leave it to those to whose calling it belongs.
 Into whatever house l enter, I will enter it with the sole view of relieving the sick, and conduct myself with pro- priety towards the women of the family If, during my attendance, I happen to hear anything that should not be revealed, will keep it a profound secret. If I observe this oath, may l have success in this life, and may 1 obtain general es- teem after it; if l break it, may the con- trary be my lot.
 There is some wisdom, but too much extravaganza of language in the remark of President Hadley of Yale that, to be well educated, one should know something of everything and everything of some- thing 1t seems to me rather safer and saner to caution you against trying to know everything of anything, unless of your own profession. Know thoroughly the fundamentals, if you would grow and expand professionally. You should not give too much time to the morning paper, the latest novel or to local politics Don't spread yourselves out too thin The best educated men do not know everything. Remember that it takes work to get an education; work to use it and work to keep it. In the sweat of thy brow is mans patent of nobility; the law of his life; the condition of his success. Medicine is more of an exact science and less ex- perimental that it has ever been in the his tory of the world. You. doctors, have less excuse for trying dangerous experi- nents on the sensitive body of man than ever before; with all your vol luminous encyclopedias of medical knowledge, your countless reported cases in every field of investigation and practice, with so many marvellous facil- tiles for discovering, treating and re- moving the causes of disease. The ob- ligation to work has never been more imperative the duty to know was rever more vital. It is true that the ul- tima thule of your art has not been reached there are diseases yet un- known to your science; there are fields Of pathology yet uneXplored, undiscov- cred In the secrets of nature there Stlll lle uIulSluTDeu pandceAS unknOW0 to your therapeutics. A thousand for mulae will yet be added to your phar- macoepia. Surgery has not vet attaine l it's limits, even in this day of trans planted kidneys. The future of your profession looms up before your vision as rich in field and in fruits as did the Land of Promise to the eyes of the wandering Israelites of old. But, though the canon of your professional scrip- lures is not closed, yet there is In them already the garnered wisdom of an old and a new dispensation. The veil of mystery has in large measure been str,pred from the human body; the disclosed; the healing elixirs of the vegetable world have been extracted for the comfort and cure of the suffering animal life has been freely offered on the altar of your profession, and the buried treasures of the mineral king dom have been poured as a golden stream into the laboratories of your art for the relief and salvation of human life.
 Meshes of Skepticism
 AS my last word. I warn you to avold the meshes of scepticisms. Avoid them for your own sake. If you have no care for yourself, at least respect the faith of your patients. A strong belief in God and heaven constitutes the only wealth of many homes What right has a physician to take into a