Address to the Sub-section of physiology, British Association, Birmingham, 1865 / delivered by the president, Henry W. Acland.

  • Acland, Henry W. (Henry Wentworth), 1815-1900.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address to the Sub-section of physiology, British Association, Birmingham, 1865 / delivered by the president, Henry W. Acland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    ADDRESS TO THE SUB-SECTION OE PHYSIOLOGY OP THE -f ’ ,'JTP • BRITISH ASSOCIATION. <• BIRMINGHAM, 1865. DELIVERED BY THE PRESIDENT, HENRY W. ACLAND, M.D., LL.D. A* J v F.R.S; ' Ladles and Gentlemen,—In addressing you from the Chair this day, I desire first of all to express my sense of the unmerited honour thus conferred upon me. When informed that it was intended to propose me As your Chairman, my first impulse was without hesitation to decline so great a distinction, in order that the post might he held by one of the many eminent persons who usually contribute to the success of the Section, or to the renown of the Department. Further con- sideration seemed to show me that the greater homage would be to place unre- servedly at your service such humble powers as I have, and to offer you that which I possess, viz. the force of profound interest in the progress of one of the most im- portant departments of human knowledge, and of sympathy all but lifelong with its promoters. , I rely, therefore, on the support which you will generously^give to my endea- vours to secure all full and fair discussion that is consistent wnh *a due regard to the limited time at our disposal. It has become a custom that the Presidents of Sections should make some opening address, though it is held to be inexpedient that it should be elaborate or long. While debating on the subjects on which I might usefully touch, I chanced to encounter the remark of a philosophic writer, that the time was come when it was a prime necessity for Biology that it should be separated from Medicine. The grounds alleged were, the imperfect education of physicians, their want of leisure, and the magnitude of biological science. There seemed to me such a mixture of truth and error in the remark itself, and in the general tenor of the data on which it was founded, that it appeared to me well worthy of your attention. As to the imperfect education of pliysicians; the remark is too general to be correct, and is not a topic proper to be considered here, further than to say, 1st, that it is to great medical minds, from Hippocrates and Galen down to Haller and Hunter, that we owe the promotion, and, indeed, the very creation, m a large part of existing biological knowledge, so that these men cannot have been ill furnished for their work; and 2ndly, that it is certain that no persons who are not well prepared will in future make any additions of importance to is or any other department of science. The observation, therefore, on the w ole, amounts to this, that in these days biological science has become too nsi\e to be committed to the care of any but those who can give to it