Page:A Discourse upon the Institution of Medical Schools in America - John Morgan.djvu/91

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meet with a more certain success; consider well, Gentlemen, how much depends upon your own diligence.—Think how necessary it is to employ all your attention in order to accomplish so valuable an end.—To this end place before your eyes the illustrious examples of great men, who, by pushing their researches into the bosom of nature, have extended the bounds of useful science. Tread in their steps become indefatigable in the cultivation of medical literature, and be earnest to bring it to perfection. The rewards of the rich, the countenance of the great, and the justly merited esteem of the good and the virtuous, which outlasts the fleeting years of humane date, will not be wanting for your encouragement. You will be in a condition to practise the healing arts with skill and reputation, and to transmit your knowledge, and the benefits thereof, to a succession of others. What is a most pleasing reflection, those who have been distressed by irksome diseases, and relieved by your skill, will own themselves indebted to you for the life you have prolonged;—You will be ever remembered as the ornament and boast of your profession, and be justly stiled guardians of the health of mankind.

These considerations ought to animate you in the noble pursuit, and determine you to persevere therein with unshaken firmness and constancy. Be