An Address on the Surgery of the Brain and Spinal Cord

Abstract

The Geneva Convention of 1864 and the International Red Cross Association, to which it gave orign, have brought unspeakable amelioration to the horrors of war.The extraordinarily exbended literature of our profession, which in every language makes known the researches of medical men throughout the world, has found expression in Hirsclh's great work on the geographical distribution of disease.The International Congresses which liave brought men togetlher from every clime to compare their experience have proved how cosmopolitan is our science, though to us the words of Scripture may be fitly applied, that we are "'ever learning, and yet never able to come to a full knowledge of the truth."The remarkable subdivision of subjects wvhich has been necessitated by the expansion of every depart- ment; the substitution of laboratory for systematic teachiilng; the use of statistics for generalising experience, are all striking features in modern m -edlical eduication.Every collateral science has been made subservient to ouir pur- poses.Even the beautifull art of photograplhy, whlich lhas been created since the Queen ascenided the thirone, hIas been employed, with remarkable advanitages, for the record of our labours.The General Council of AMedical Education hlas beeni created to go ern and direct our organisationi, and its influence is already felt and valued.But I must make an end.Gentlemen,-I have thus, in the limited time at my disposal, and to the best of my power, noted the changes and improove- ments in surgical theory and practice which htave emerged during the last half century.Thte task I set myself has proved longer and more difficult than I anticipated, as the harvest has beeni ex- traordiniarily abundant.I am conscious of lhavinig omitted much from want of time and knowledge: hut I trust I have succeeded in showing that in every branclh of the surgical art there has been a wondrous advance, and that the profession to whlichl we belong marches in the very van of the great army, recruited in all climes, whose aim it is to enlarge htumani knowledge.Such a retrospect aus I have attempted make us reverence a profession whose lhope and ambition it has ever beeni to abate suiffering without distinc- I ion of race or cree(l.We see how ani abiding and ever increasinig purpose has run througlh these long ages, and that while we now rejoice at being nlo longer bound by the authority and crude doctrines wlich shackled our forefathers, we can yet honour the traditions of the past, and appreciate the efforts of that great host of devotedl ment wlho iave, by their unselfish labours built up the famous temple of our art.