Page:Advice to Medical Students (1857) William Henry Fuller.djvu/27

27 on. The very ground you tread is hallowed by the memory of men who have earned a glorious, undying reputation. It was here, at St. George's Hospital, that Jenner studied; it was here that Cheselden operated for stone; here, too, the indefatigable Baillie worked, and Hunter won his way to fame. Nor are these the only men whose names deserve to be chronicled for your encouragement—Heberden, Young, and Wollaston; Pemberton, Hope, Chambers, and Mansfield Clarke — these and a host of others who now are numbered with the illustrious dead, passed their early days within these walls, and many of them were medical officers of the hospital. Even now there remains amongst us one who has earned a deservedly world-wide reputation, a man to whom we are largely indebted, and to whom we would all do honour. Yes, gentlemen, with Brodie for a living exemplar, and with the memory of those great and good men who have preceded him to stimulate you in the pursuit of knowledge, you have no excuse for apathy or indolence. Go forward, then, manfully, in the path which they have trodden; follow their footsteps honestly, earnestly, hopefully; strive to the utmost to become skilful practitioners and to do justice to your patients, whether rich or poor; but, above all, be true to yourselves, and let it be your chief endeavour to deserve the good opinion of mankind, as men of feeling, integrity, and honour. So towards the close of your earthly career, you will be able to look back with honest pride upon the course you have been permitted to run, and will feel gratified by the reflection that, as far as in you lay, you have been useful in your generation and have done your duty to God and man.