MEDICAL PROFESSION A CONGENIAL OCCUPATION

"If a man wants a congenial occupation, an occupation in which one may use all his faculties, one in which he may be useful to his fellow-men and at the same time earn his living, he should become a physician." "This profession," said Dr. F. C. Shattuck '68, in his lecture on medicine as a profession, "is one of the most fruitful occupations to which one can devote his life. Although the betterment of the processes of medicine has been great in the last thirty years, the full development of the science has only started."

Dr. W. B. Cannon '96, who spoke second, showed the strides lately taken by the medical profession. "Experiments and tests are the direct factors of medical progress," said Dr. Cannon. He then explained how medical experiment brought about the results previously explained by Dr. Shattuck. "There are yet many obscurities in medical knowledge," said Dr. Cannon; "for instance, scarlet fever, measles, infantile paralysis, and cancer afford wide fields of investigation. The average physician may not make worldwide discoveries, yet, like a picture puzzle, every addition is needed. There is a certain thrill that comes to a man when he makes a great discovery; he realizes that he has found a truth, a truth which will help mankind."

Dr. E. H. Nichols '86, who spoke last, showed the chances of a student's "making good" if he should enter surgery. "Surgery is hard work," he said. "The surgeon is the carpenter and mechanic of the physician. He comes into the closest relations to his fellow-men."

"The man likely to succeed in this vocation should have a gambling spirit, be willing to take chances, and above all must have moral courage. A man devoting his life to surgery reaps great rewards. Besides merely gaining a meagre income, he gains two invaluable rewards; namely, the love and gratitude of those with whom he deals, and the satisfaction of having contributed to the health and prosperity of the coming race."