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that is not in a greater or less degree incidental to the service of medicine, and the records of which have not been enriched by the exertions of medical men.
These are among the intellectual occupations of the medical mind. Observe how readily our occupations blend into the wider circles both of philosophy and science, for there is no definite boundary to the scope of medical study. Plutarch says, "Of all the liberal sciences, physic is one which, as it gives place to no other in attractiveness, and in the pleasure it affords, so it makes a great return to those that love it, even as much as their life and health come to; and, therefore, philosophers who discourse and dispute of matters concerning the management of health, are not to be charged with passing beyond the legitimate bounds of their studies. We ought rather to blame them for avoiding subjects of that description, and for not removing those limit-marks of science, so as to labour in the common field between themselves and physicians, in the study of things good and becoming."
Nor are his moral requisites less indispensable to his utility and success in life. The practitioner of medicine in every rural district, is a member of each social circle into which the service of his profession calls him. Into his charge, the father resigns the health of his wife and children. Into the privacy of his dwelling, into the recesses of his very chambers, he is admitted at all hours, and at all seasons, where he may exercise even a more than parental authority. Nor are his functions limited to his direct professional duties. He becomes a familiar, an adviser, and a friend. His ear is the depository of private histories and family secrets; he has extensive rights and peculiar privileges. Add to these the
