Page:The Hunterian oration, for the year 1819.djvu/38

34 our familiar associates, or we shall never be thoroughly acquainted with their nature and dispositions; we must risk, nay even injure, our own health in order to be able to preserve or restore that of others. Yet if we do this, our profession will be held in the highest respect; not as in ancient times, merely on account of the beneficence of its object, but because it will be further perceived, that the means are adequate to its accomplishment.

If, however, we are disposed thus to labour for the public good, some concession, co-operation, and encouragement on the part of the public, may be by us reasonably expected. Anatomical knowledge is the only foundation on which the structure of medical science can be built. Without this, we should but increase the sufferings of those afflicted with diseases, and endanger their lives. Opportunities of dissection should therefore be afforded to us. The bodies of persons dying in the hospitals abroad are given to the surgeons for dissection, and even with the acqui-