ts Various, that the mind of desultory man, studious of change and pleased with novelty, may be indulged-Cowp. Vol. VI. Philadelphia, Saturday, August 13, 1808. No. 7. sion. ORIGINAL PAPERS. EDUCATION. For The Port Folio. A CHARGE, &c. their progress, terminate in obscurity, and suddenly precipitate the unwary traveller through the vortex of disappointment into the gulf of poverty. The life of a Merchant is a life of uninterrupted anxiety and apprehension. The dangers of the sea, the fluctuation of markets, the uncertainty of sales, the solvency of purchasers, and the fidelity of correspondents, all combine to agitate his mind with the constant al (Continued from p. 92.). SUCH are the prominent advantages attached to this profesIn common, however, with all other professions, it has a reverse, which should be well contemplated by every one disposed to embrace it. Though it sometimes opens an extensive and unimpe-ternations of hope and fear. This ded avenue to the temples of wealth, of honour, and of fame, in which its votaries may solaçe the residue of life by reposing in the aromatick bowers of luxury, cheered by "cates ambrosial and the nectar'd bowl," and fanned by the invigorating breath of popular applause, yet are they frequently enticed thither by the fascinating, but treacherous promises of Hope, through devious paths, which, however brilliant and alluring at their entrance and flattering in painful solicitude is admirably portrayed by Shakspeare, in his Merchant of Venice, where Salanio naturally accounts for the sadness of Antonio, the merchant, by supposing that "his mind was tossing on the ocean." Were I merchant, says he, 1 Would blow me to an ague, when I What harm a wind too great might do at sea. I should not see the sandy hour-glass run, N The profession of the Law introduces its students into a very extensive field of usefulness, and rewards their diligent exertions with the grateful, the exhilarating able to the individual by whom A wide range of literature is required in the exercise of this profession; an acquaintance not only with the general and abstract principles of jurisprudence, but with the civil history of mankind, with the laws, the manners, and With all this uncertainty of is-customs of different nations. For sue, all this unavoidable anxiety the acquisition of all this necessaand care, the profession should ne- ry knowledge, much previous stuver be entered upon without much dy and toilsome research are neprevious deliberation, and a con- cessary, and when the advantaviction of the possession of such ges resulting from them are obtalents, and so ardent a predilec- tained, and the professional infortion for it, as would enable you to mation of the student universally meet its vicissitudes with compo- acknowledged, still, in the most. sure, to encounter its exigencies prosperous exercise of the prowith fortitude, and to extricate fession, he must constantly wade yourselves, if possible, from its through the dry formalities of preembarrassments with promptitude cept, the fatiguing recitation of and activity. precedent, and the dull, and frequently intricate labyrinth of auhis cause; in ascertaining the methorities, to elucidate and support rits of which, he must often sacrifice his time in listening to the uninteresting and tedious details of ignorant and loquacious clients, and, perhaps be subjected to their unjust and unreasonable remon-strances and murmurs, against unavoidable delays in the progress, and, in many cases, the unsuccessful termination of their suits. Add to this, that with all the theoretical knowledge of a Blackstone, at Mansfield, and a Burke, unless a man, with other essential qualifications, be an acute and profound logician, and an eloquent and graceful speaker, though he may, in time, amass a fortune, by unremitting attention and a slavish performance of his professional never be an ornaduties, he will ment to the bar, or command the meed of affluence and fame. With the possession of those native endowments, and the acquisition of those extensive qualifications which are necessary to give celebrity to the character, a man may, in this department of society, render himself both the ornament and the protector of his country. To defend the rights of the oppressed, to vindicate the claims of injured innocence, to detect the artifices of fraud, and check the progress of vice, to apply the principles of equity, and enforce the operations of justice, are exertions worthy of the powers and dignity of a rational being, and in the highest degree honour admiration and applause of the relief, not only an inestimable benefit to the afflicted object of his care, but to the whole circle of his anxious relatives and sympathizing friends; by recalling the apparently devoted victim to the proper exercise of his faculties, the enjoyment of social intercourse, and to the embraces of fond affection; a benefit which would always be gladly purchased by the sufferer with the sacrifice of any portion of his property or possessions: health being universally and justly considered as the first, or most valuable, of all earthly enjoyments. "O! blessed Health," exclaims a celebrated modern authour who had The Barrister should, at all times, be prepared promptly to encounter casuistry, criticism, ridicule, contradiction, jest, sophis-long languished under the loss of try, and sarcasm; and should therefore be armed with all the weapons of defence with which nature and art can furnish him: otherwise his arguments will be subverted, his remonstrances defeated, his persuasions rendered nugatory, and consequently his pleading ineffectual. The Physician, though less exposed to publick observation and criticism, exercises a profession in no degree inferiour in importance, or usefulness. His preservation of the lives, and restoration of the health of individuals, constitute him a character in the highest degree valuable to the society in which he resides, and widely and powerfully extend his influence on the publick weal; for, by restoring to activity those powers of body and mind which accident has suspended, or sickness impaired, he performs an essential service to the community at large, in thus preserving one of its members. He, who by his skill in this profession, arrests the of progress disease, and thereby averts the uplifted arm of death, unquestion ably renders also, by his salutary it," O! blessed Health, thou art above all gold and treasure, 'tis thou who enlargest the soul, and openest all its powers to receive instruction and to relish virtue. He, who has thee has little more to wish for; and he who is so wretched as to want thee, wants everything with thee!" To a benevolent mind, therefore, the exercise of this profession must ever afford a most refined and rational delight: but the same principle of delicate sensibility, which administers such solid satisfaction and comfort, is previously the source of a correspondent degree of pain; for the contemplation of human misery and wo must ever agonize the sympathetick heart: and the path of the physician through the variegated scenery of this "working day world," as Shakspeare has justly denominated it, is darkened by " a broader, browner shade" of human misery, than that of any other professional walk. For, to adopt the energe * Sterne. tick language of the eloquent and illustrious Burke, when speaking of the philanthropick Howard, the Physician is called upon, " to dive into the depth of dungeons, to plunge into the infection of hospitals, to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain, to take the gauge and dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt, to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the forsaken, and to compare and collate the distress of all men of all countries."* He is called upon to relieve the various and incommunicable pains and diseases of infantile innocence and imbecility; to arrest the progress, and avert the operation of the many maladies which assail maturer age; to soften the asperities of declining life, and mitigate the infirmities of exhausted nature: nay, to sooth the sorrows of expiring existence, to invigorate the frame enfeebled by the wasting power of sickness, pain, and time; to control study of his profession, and endeavouring to investigate and ascertain the causes and cure of diseases; or relaxing the severity of anxious reflection on the various subjects committed to his care, by enjoying the pleasures of social intercourse, and participating in those rational and refined amusements, which solace the mind, and gladden the heart of "the wayworn traveller." By the physician, no hour can be called his own: he is perpetually and suddenly summoned from his bed, his studious retirement, his domestick comforts, and the exhilarating delights of the festive board, to listen to the groans of anguish, the sighs of sorrow, and the murmurings of misery. And for many of these painful sacrifices of time and of sensibility, he receives not the smallest compensation; for his duty frequently calls him to visit the poor and the needy, and when the solicitations of disease are enforced by the clamours of poverty, he must have a heart of adamant indeed, who could wring from the hands of such afflicted fellow-creatures, the pittance laand even to assuage the convulsive boriously earned for the purchase pangs of dissolution. -the doubtful strife Of Nature struggling in the grasp of death.† of their daily bread. The practical and theoretical departments of this profession form a very striking contrast: the former, as we have seen, is attended with many inconveniences, and the most painful exercise of our sympathetick sensations; the latter is an inexhaustible source of the most interesting and important inquiry. To examine into the wonderful construction of the human body, to observe the influence of air, food, and other external principles upon it, to note the causes, progress, and cure, of the innumerable diseases to which it is subjected, to penetrate the mysteries of nature, by ascertaining the qualities and operations of plants and fossils, and their various chymical combinations,-these pursuits must ever afford to an inquisitive and comprehensive mind, the most rational and sublime delight. But, to be enabled fully and judiciously to prosecute this science, a wide and diversified range of classical and philosophical literature, is indispensably necessary. Many of the most valuable medical communications have been given to the world in Greek and Latin, some of which have never yet been translated into English. The Physician must also possess a correct acquaintance with the principles of natural and experimental philosophy, of the mathematicks, and also of the philosophy of the human mind: for, of the influence of mental affections on diseases, both as preventives and remedies, no doubt, I believe, is now entertained; some of the passions exciting the powers of the vital system, and rousing the faculties into action, and others as powerfully tending to depress and debilitate them. The science of medicine, in its most comprehensive sense, is exercised by three descriptions of practitioners, viz. Physicians, Surgeons, and Apothecaries, who though apparently independent of each other, are, in this country, connected in so near a relationship as to be rendered almost constituent parts of the general character. Should any of you incline to this profession in any one of these three characters, a regard for the common interests of society, and the irresistible impulse of humanity, compel me to implore you not to indulge a thought of entering upon it without having first provided the only safe and sufficient foundation for its exer- The last delineation of professional character, which remains yet to be exhibited is that of the * V. Knox's Essays, No. 38 |