On what terms and conditions, and for what merits and good services Justinian in our age and in this country elevates his disciples to eminence and office through the most sweet voices of the people, it is no business of yours or mine to inquire. Of the Medical hierarch with whom we are concerned, it is evident, that if he was ever in the extremely unwise habit of imparting his golden favours to all without exception who call themselves his followers, he has long since reformed his custom and adopted a more discriminating policy. His rule at present is to give nothing for nothing. He bestows rewards on those only who labour for them. In no wise does he favour the sluggish and idle. Those who expect to succeed without effort and merely by virtue of their professional title, he dooms to inevitable failure. For among the few certainties of our uncertain mortal state, you may set it down as one of the most certain that without industry no man will succeed as a physician,—that without industry no man will obtain and retain such a measure of professional business as will secure him that outward prosperity which is commonly regarded by the wise men of our time as the only true success and the only real happiness.

If you desire to succeed as physicians, industry is indispensable. Various other qualities may aid and

expedite your success; qualities some of them good, generous and noble, and others of a widely different nature. Among those who have attained in our profession what is called success, have been persons of perfectly opposite characters,—the very best and wisest, and also the most unwise, the most abandoned and the basest of mankind. But however dissimilar in all other respects, they have all, whether good or bad, wise or foolish, resembled each other, as you will find on inquiry, in one remarkable trait of character, -they have all been industrious. And you will find also, that their success has been in pretty direct proportion to their degree of industry; and that it was far more the result of their industry than of any other quality they may have possessed.

in

There are, as is well known, innumerable examples

every walk of life which prove that as the means of achieving success even genius is vain and futile in comparison with that strength of will which manifests itself in the form of patient and untiring industry. When Robespierre was commencing that tragic career which was destined to form so hideous a portion of his country's history, he appeared to labour under almost every disadvantage by which the prospects of a political aspirant could be darkened and obstructed. His aspect, his manner, his voice, his deficiency of

knowledge, his evident narrowness of intellect, were all, as it seemed, combined to confine him for life to a position of obscure and vulgar mediocrity. But it was soon observed that the Deputy of Arras was willing to labour, eager to labour, indefatigable in labouring. Derided as a public speaker, he continued day after day to ascend the tribune and renew his efforts. Heard only with contempt, coughed down, disowned by his own party and by all parties, lost among the distinguished orators and statesmen of the Assembly, constantly repulsed and defeated, he was yet never disheartened. He possessed, in short, the faculty of unconquerable industry; and it was this trait in his character which led the clear-sighted Mirabeau to predict the eminence which he would reach. "This young man," he said, " will go very far, for he is perfectly in earnest." And it is true and certain, not in the political arena alone but in every department of life, that those who are perfectly in earnest will always go very far.

Miracle-working industry! the faculty which lies within the reach of the humblest intellect; the talent by which the humblest intellect is oftentimes enabled to accomplish tasks which appeared to defy all efforts but those of transcendent genius! But is it true that this faculty, this talent, can be made available in your

business? Powerful in the hands of others, can it be used with equal or similar efficacy by the student of Medicine?

Peculiar Talents. To this inquiry you must often have heard a negative reply. You have often, no doubt, heard it said, that those who are born with no natural aptitude for Medicine, can never become physicians; that no labour or industry can make them such. Few are the students of Medicine against whose aspirations and prospects predictions sad and sombre have not been uttered on the strength of this dogma. Few also, perhaps, who have not themselves in moments of despondency been oppressed by apprehension that they are deficient in proper talents for the profession they have chosen, and are labouring, invita Minerva, in a business for which they are not fitted, and to which no diligence or industry can ever adapt them.

But is it indeed true that any peculiar natural talent is necessary for the successful study or successful practice of our profession? This is a question which well deserves consideration, and to which it is not difficult to find a satisfactory answer.

What are the natural talents necessary for the physician, and without which he cannot be in his profession what a wise man, what a humane and benevo

lent man, what a proud man, or what even a vain man would desire to be?

They are few and simple, and by no means peculiar. They are merely good senses and good sense.

To be capable of becoming a physician, it is necessary that the student should possess those senses in an ordinary degree of integrity by which we take cognizance of the outward world. And he must also possess the higher endowment of good sense or judgment, the faculty by which we derive just conclusions from the ideas received into the mind from without.

Without a tolerably healthy condition of the physical senses, it is difficult or impossible for one to attain excellence in the medical profession, or in any other profession in which knowledge must be gained by observation. The blind man can never by any degree of application become a proficient in medical physiognomy, or learn to read in the lineaments of his patients' faces the nature and character of their diseases. He is ill-prepared to detect the Rose Spots of Typhoid Fever, or the Petechiae of Typhus Fever, or the blue line by which lead-poison declares its presence, or the numerous other signs and symptoms which address themselves only to the sense of vision. The deaf man can never, whatever his zeal and industry, train his dull ear to that marvellous cunning