Excerpt from On the True Value of Experience in Medicine: An Introductory Lecture Delivered at the Session of the Louisville Medical Institute, for 1838-'39 There is no subject, perhaps, concerning which popular opinion is more obstinately and apparently irremediably at fault, than the true value of experience in Medicine. \ve may descant as largely as we please on the claims of Medicine to the rank and dignity ofa science; we may labor diligently, for years, to imbue those who enlist under its standards with its principles, and yet when they go forth, in full garniture, to apply these principles to practice, a severe probation inev itably awaits them. Too often, it will not be asked if they have been devoted to the study of their profession, with the industry and zeal, and for the period, and with the opportuni ties essential to success; but a single interrogatory as to age, or merely a glance at the countenance, ifit bear the impress ofjuvenility, will decide their fitness or unfitness for the ad ministrations of the sick chamber. The persuasion is deep rooted, that knowledge and skill in Medicine are commensu rate with the years that have been spent in its service; that gray hairs especially betoken a luxuriant crop of wisdom, whose dictums are oracular, and in whose counsels there is safety. 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.