Excerpt from A Lecture, Introductory to a Course on Obstetrics and the Diseases of Women and Children: Delivered November 5, 1848 Allow me to ofi'er my salutations, and extend to you all a cor dial and earnest welcome to the halls of this University. You have assembled for the purposes of instruction and self-improvement and you have visited this school of medicine in the full hope that the prin ciples of your profession will be properly inculcated, and its great dogmas, as transmitted to us by the venerable and learned fathers of our science, faithfully expounded. These are duties which our posi tion necessarily calls upon us to discharge - duties too sacred to be re. Garded lightly, for they involve consequences momentous not only to you, but to those, also, who are hereafter to be confided to your profes. Sional care. In this school, then, you are to learn the principles which are to guide you in the treatment of disease and may they, in the hour of peril, when all around is gloom and darkness, prove beacon-lights to illumine your way to truth and science; may they, under those try ing circumstances, redeem the pledge which we make to you this night, to spare no effort, shrink from no labor necessary for the zeal ous and faithful performance of the trust imposed on us as your in structors. To the Faculty of this Institution has been delegated the high privilege of preparing you for the emergencies of professional life; soon you will be called upon to exhibit, through your acts, testi mony of the fidelity with which you have pursued your studies - testi mony, too, ofthe manner in which we, your teachers, have discharged our duty. These are considerations which I know full well no mem ber of this Faculty can contemplate without appreciating, to the full extent, the fearful responsibility of his position; and whatever may be the feelings of my colleagues on this subject - I know they are deep and abiding - allow me to say, for myself personally, that I never enter on the performance of duty in this University, without a senti. Ment of apprehension and distrust. It will, however, be my earnest care to consecrate to your service every energy of my mind; and feeling, as I do, an undisguised interest in your advancement, you may rely on my best efforts to impress upon you the principles and practice of the department assigned to me in this Institution. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.