Temple University School of Medicine - Skull Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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WILLIAM EGBERT ROBERTSON. M.D., F.A.C.P. (51

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 To Our Professor of Medicine Dr. William (Egbert Robertson The Class of 1927 Respectfully Dedicates This Book cl '

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Greetings From ‘Doctor Robertson There are men and classes of men that stand above the common herd: the soldier, the sailor, and the shepherd not infrequently; the artist rarely; rarelier still, the clergyman; the physician almost as a rule. He is the flower (such as it is) of our ciwliiation; and when that stage of man is done unth, and only to be marvelled at in history, he will be thought to hove shored as little as any in the defects of the period, and most notably exhibited the virtues of the race. Generosity he has, such as is possible to those who practise an art, never to those who drive a trade; discretion, tested by a hundred secrets; tact, tried in a thousand embarrassments, and what are more important. Heraclean cheerfulness and courage. So that he brings air and cheer into the sic{ room, and often enough, though not so often as he wishes, brings healing. Robert Louis Stevenson. No more beautiful tribute to the doctor has ever been written. No school could fail which would have as its ideal, the development of doctors deserving of such a sentiment. Though we may strive to interest the student in the biophysical sciences, to inculcate in him a desire for knowledge of the cognate sciences, we should never overlook the humanitarian nature of the work of the great majority of doctors. Despite the trend in some directions today, it cannot be denied that the real function of the medical school is to train men to apply their special knowledge to the prevention and alleviation of suffering. Surely, no greater privilege exists in any other calling. The fact that a man elects to study medicine does not necessarily make him a gentle-man or a scholar. To some a smug satisfaction suffices in the possession of the degree, theirs having been the path of least resistance. I am reminded of the student who was criticised for his standing at the tail end of the class, “Oh! that’s all right he said, “they teach the same things at both ends. Totally different are those whose scholarship makes it impossible for them to descend to the level of the rank and file. A certain aloofness often characterizes such men in their undergraduate period, and makes it impossible for them to become successful practising physicians at a later period. A group of medical students, like any other group of men and women, varies in its make-up. All that a medical school can do is to cultivate an ideal, be it of the ultra-scientific or more immediately practical type, and strive to teach by precept and example, so that its students may be truthful and honorable men, worthy of the trust and confidence of those whose lives and happiness will be entrusted to them. The late Theodore Roosevelt said, “What counts in a man or in a nation is not what that man or the nation can do, but what he or it actually does. Scholarship that consists in mere learning, but finds no expression in production, just as ability to shoot well at clay pigeons, may be of interest and value to him, but it ranks no higher unless it finds expression in achievement. From the standpoint of the nation, and from the broader standpoint of mankind, scholarship is of worth chiefly when it is productive, when the scholar not merely receives or acquires, but gives. If your Alma Mater has succeeded in first imparting an ideal and second, in inculcating in you a desire for learning, which shall find its highest expression of achievement in service for others, it has not failed in its mission. [6} William Egbert Robinson.