Page:Advice to Medical Students (1857) William Henry Fuller.djvu/5

5 sympathies, and tends to clear it of prejudice and error; which brings us in direct and intimate relation with our suffering fellow-creatures, and by giving us an insight into human nature under every form and every aspect, enables us to learn wisdom from the dearly bought experience of others,—I say, if such a profession be worthy of your choice, you may be truly thankful for the selection you have made. A life of honorable usefulness lies before you, such as does not fall to the lot of every one. The profession of medicine, if worthily pursued, is a noble and beneficent vocation, softening and humanising those who follow it, leading them to regard with leniency the weaknesses of their fellow-creatures, and prompting them to spare no effort to relieve their mental anguish or assuage their bodily suffering. And, gentlemen, I trust it is with these ends in view that you are entering on your present course. The position you are hereafter to occupy in the world, and the influence you will exercise, for good or for evil, over those with whom you come in contact, will depend in great measure on the view you are now induced to take of your duties and responsibilities. If, fortunately, you are led to follow the dictates of your better nature, and, taking a high view of your profession, determine to follow it steadily and consistently, in the hope that whilst it may one day yield you an honorable subsistence, it may also enable you to cultivate those qualities which serve to distinguish a Christian gentleman, depend upon it you will find your reward in the esteem of your professional brethren, the kind regard of your neighbours and acquaintances, and the affectionate gratitude of those poor sufferers to whose relief you are enabled to minister. Whereas, if, in a narrow, selfish spirit, unmindful of the privilege committed to your charge, you regard it simply as a means of earning your daily bread or accumulating wealth, you will fail to derive from it those elevating influences which sanctify the inner man and stamp the outward character, and, lacking those qualities which