Page:KIdd 1841 Observations on medical reform.djvu/19

 in the proposed measure, to exercise that mutual good-will and forbearance which ought to mark the proceedings of the members of a liberal profession; in order that on the one hand may be manifested the single desire of a salutary reform, and, on the other, a similar desire to acquiesce in such changes as not only the general interests of the profession, but of the public also, may require.

It is equally as noble in communities, as in individuals, to acknowledge and amend an error; as it is ignoble to persist in it: and it must be admitted by every unprejudiced inquirer that, had all the existing institutions of the medical profession always adhered to the spirit of their original foundations, many of the present evils would have been prevented. In contemplating and feeling the effects of those evils, we may all perhaps be disposed to say, as representatives of our respective institutions,

and the best and most unobjectionable wish that can be expressed on the occasion is this: that should new life be infused into us by the projected measure of reform, we may preserve for ages to come whatever healthy vigour may be imparted to us by the regulations of that reform.

Neither wishing to lengthen these observations unnecessarily, nor desirous of entering too deeply into a question which requires a more comprehensive view than I feel myself capable of taking, I propose to offer only a few