Page:The Harveian oration 1866.djvu/43

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35

and mental derangement—I say this sight is to me the most blessed manifestation of true civilization that the world can present.

This result we owe to the courage and philanthropy of such men as Pinel and Conolly. Pinel's large acquirements and practical intellect would alone have availed nothing; his first step would never have been taken, but for the generous impulses of a feeling heart and courageous spirit. Conolly's experiment at Hanwell would have been foiled by opposition and discouragement, had he not been sustained by a spirit of earnest benevolence towards his unhappy patients.

The spirit which animated these two men is the spirit without which much of the progress of practical medicine would have been impossible. For, however diverse may be the intellectual powers that find their several fit places in the study and practice of medicine, there is but one right temper for it, the temper of benevolence and courage; the temper in which Larrey invented the ambulances volantes, that he might bring help to the wounded under fire; the temper in which physicians have devoted themselves to