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KNOWLEDGE THE ONLY GUIDE TO ACTION
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An Address to the Graduate of the St. Loui§ Medical Col
lege : Delivered February 28 th, 1857, by Professor J. H.
r
Watters, M.DU[Pwi/A/zetZ by- request of the
♦* ’ •
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.
MF* *
[From the St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal} of May, 1857.]
**,
Gentlemen—With no ordinary feelings of pleasure I Congratulate you on this honorable termination of your pupilage,
and auspicious commencement of professional lifel Havjng
chosen the medical’prof^ssion as your vocation, the present
occasion marks one gdS.1 reached, but it equally marks the
commencement of another stage of the race just begun.
While the present is the legitimate offspring of the past, .it is
also the germ of the future; and “the future is determined4
more by present development find intrinsic energy than by
any extrinsic conditions or outside influences. A man may
be almost what he wi}L*if he will but use the means. We
are born human beings Without our wills, and we must die in
spite of our wills ; |>ut between these two epochs much is op
tional,—much depends upon our own volition and individual
action. It is a thing more to be desired than riches or than
hereditary position,.that a man just entering'ftpon life should
personally realize how much he holds in his own hands,—how
much he is legitimate heir to, independently of all contingenVol. xv—13
�2
Valedictory Address.
cies, simply in virtue of his nature as a free and intellectual
human being. AU progress in art, in science, and in literature,
is due primarily to the individual development of those facul
ties, and the energetic exercise of those capacities, which man
inherits as a part of his being. And mtany of those foremost
in the march and in the contest of truth, have been men least
advantageously circumstanced by the accidents of fortune or
other objective influences. There is nothing to discourage an
ingenious youth from the noblest daring save inherent cow
ardice.
It is the want of a fixed purpose, self-rtffeance, and energetic
action that necessitates failure, and Tint accident, fate or
evil fortune. This is frequently learned in time only to be
get regret, rather than to inspire courage. Content as lifeless
sounding-boards, many learn not till their individuality and
spontaneity are lost in the popular noise that they might have
assisted in quieting the babbling discord, and themselves have
given utterance to sounds more in harmony with the sweet
music of nature;—
“ How many a rustic Milton has passed by,
Stifling the speechless longings of his heart,
In unremitting drudgery and care !
How many a vulgar Cato has compell’dj!
His energies, no longer tameless then,
To mould a pin, or fabricate a nail!
How maiiy a Newton, to whose plosive ken,
Those mighty spheres that gem infinity,
Were only specks of tinsel, fixed rin>heaven,
To light the midnights of his'laffiraw!’’
In the study of the sciences connected with our profession,
there is a fascination which thosg oijly who experience it can
realize. From the wonderful constitution of the human mind,
a man may have a sort of pleasure in any position or occupa
tion, if it accord with his capacity; from the negro with^his
tamborine and the emulation of a cor^g'hucking, throqah e'yery
degree up to Humboldt in the grand contemplation of the cos
mos ; from the hod-carrier, who toils day by day that he may
live to toil on, up to Fulton,, Watt and Morse, who^, by their
effective geniuses, have made the dumb agents of nature con
spire to their ends. All have their pleasures and their sorrows,
different however in degree, according to the respectiye, de
velopments of their minds. The physician, if he be enthusi-
�y-alediclcrry Address.
. 8
a'stic in his calling, will find in the duties of his profession
sources of indefinite pleasure. Who is there whose mind is
at all cultivated that doesfnot deffiye a corresponding pleasure
in studying a good painting, or nne piece of sculpture, or
nicely adjusted machinery, or any work of art-, as he receives
the conceptions, the ideas and the thoughts^of the artist ex
pressed and personified in hisWork,—human thoughts, human
ideas, and human conceptioip?taking on fo«? The antiqua
rian, eager in h^pursuitJbtndies night and day the records
of ancient time^ delighted with the anticipation to him allahsorbing, and encouraged by partial success, of bringing to
light the thoughts, works and actions of his fellow-man of
remote ages. The archeologist pi nds pleasure in studying the
inscriptions upon old and crumbling monuments, and feels a
thrill of rapture as he find/ a key te their interpretation*
But the physician is a student of Nature, the monument of' ,
God ; and shall he not feel an untold delghtas he finds a clue
to the characters there inscribed, not by man, but by the’nm- '*£.»' '
ger of the Eternal gausa -cauwn-wm,—characters which are
the expressioni^tof infinite MBwledgeVEhe embodiment of the
Di. vine Conception? The boo® of Nature, full of thought, not
a particle without its purpose and signification, is opened,
loudly calli^ for’fa terpretors. The human mind gives en
thusiastic response, and man’s physical condition is improved
by the revelations of science.
But I do not propose, gentlemen, in taking leave of you, to
dwell upon the beautieb of Nature, nor upon the pleasures af
forded the human mind in studying her unchanging laws, but
rather to direct your -attention to knowledge as the only guide
to successful action. Actioi^energetic action, is demanded
of him who has an object in lwing, and an end to accomplish ;
of him who is unwilling to be tosS&djiamong whirlpools on the
Sea of, life merely by the .current of cifence, without oar or
riidde&Shnd remember, the oar and the rudder are equally
apt to hasten to that which ^phild be avoided except their
action ‘be guided by knowledge. It is the greatyfeecret of fail#
ure/fiiat few stop to reflect wow awfully hazardous their very .
freedom to act and to mould themselves as they please, ren/
ders their position. Freedom of action is useless, and even
dangerous, unless knowledge andycaution be commensurate
�4
Valedictory Address,
with freedom.. This is true of every action in the range of
man’s voluntary power, but it is of especial force in connec
tion with the actions the physician is called upon to perform.
The freedom of your Ifettle barque to move this way or that,
indifferently, while it renders the gaining of almost any desir
able harbor possible, makes destruction probable unless intel?
ligently guided.
The mechanic, the architect, the farmer, the merchant, or.
the general, was not born? such. Who does not know fhat
each must study till he acquire a knowledge to guide the ae-«
tions pertaining to what he undertakes ? In every trade, each
man’s work corresponds with the knowledge he^possesses
pertaining to his business. The art of healing is no exception
to this universal rule^ that knowledge is the only guide of
voluntary action to useful ends. Physic has no discretionary
power; our pills, and powders, and drops, would ^bout as
leave kill a^cure. A sharp razor is good to shave with, but
it would not hesitate toi ^ut your .throat if so directed by the
hand of an assassin’. The only place for discretion and judge
ment is in the administration; the physician is voluntary, and
if he have not knowledge and caution to correspond, his very
freedom makes it a sad thing to fall into his hands. I say#
kriowledge and caution to correspond—caution to restrain
wherfe knowledge fails to guide. He who knows most, most
knows his ignorance, and he who knows his ignorance is
mosifcautious. Only those whose minds are most cultivated,
realize that they have gathered but ai few pebbles upon the
shore of knowledge, while, the great ocean of unexplored truth
is spread before them; but the school-boy who can read and
write, and perhaps cypher as far as the rule of three, imagines
himself almost a little god. (t Devils venture where angels
feafito tread.” The reckless madman might perchance cross
theniwaon floating icesafely, hy$.uinping from cake to cake-;
so the heartless1* qua'ck might produce a wonderful cure by
chance or accident; this is heralded to the world, and many
good citizens intrust their lives in the hands of him whose
recklessness^ engendered in ignorance, is the only claim to
their confidences. Though these same persons could not be
led by the madman on cakes o|#fioating ice, for they know if
they sink the penalty of violated law must be paid ; thus far
�Valedictory Address.
5
they see that theTaws of nature are inexorable. Men in the
various pursuits of life may be well acquainted with the con
ditions to be fulfilled and the indications of action in their
'respective vocations,—they may be well acquainted with his
tory and general literature, and yet take little thought of the
organization of their own bodies—the functions the different
organs have to perform in the general phenomena of life.
They know that if ffipii’ watch does not keep time, there is
some physical derangement, yet they have-not so clear a conception'ithart the same is true Of the human organism; that
wvery molecular change, eve® vital phenomenon in'health or
in disease,*is determined by physical conditions in accordance
'with law as mexorable. They have only an indistinct idea,
insufficient/for all practical purposes, that disease depends
upon deranged physical conations quite as much-as do the
irregular actions of their timepiece. Actions, show how in
operative this truth is in tfe popular wind. While none
^would attempt to adjust their watch \^h?en out of order, unless
they knew something of iW naechaniBSiW apd conditions of ac
tion, lest they might d® mW® harm, than good, man^, as ig* #
■uprant of anatomy and physiology, would not hesitate to .give
iphysic to their sick child. Yet wefdo not doubt their child is
quite as nea| their hear® a||theiir wateh-'is, though it were
set with never so many precious dramoirfs. They do not
stop to reflect that the truth ^appMcablS to the wrnan or-*
ganism and to the laws ofwganie life,* thrat whatever drug
is capable of doing any thing is^Capable of doing harm, and
requires knowledge to guid^in the administration. May the
time soon arrive when anatomy and physiology will constitude part of a ♦liberal education, quite as essential as^Geography, Grammar, Latin, Greek,’of Astronomy'!- This knowledge
alone can give a clear conception of #he fixed daws of organic
action, and remove that superstition still lingering,in every
commqnity which in forftrer -times wa^ the basis of beliefLhi
witchc^ift and sorcery. WWt"y¥tem of quackery is too ab
surd to find belie vers in the popular mind 1 Ignorance and su
perstition have always been correlative- In’ihe darkness of
midnight, tombstbnfe and cobwebs become ghosts and hob
goblins ; but the light
day dispels tfie illusion. As nurses
amuse children with fairy tales, and frighten them with ghost
�Valedictory* Address.
stories, s©' quackery has its influence through the credulity ®f
ignorance. Who would not Laugh for instance, if, when a steam
boat suddenly strikes a bar and is aground, the passengers,,
who know little of the machinery, structure or management
of the boat, o>r of the character of the particular difficulty,
should volunteer their advice and suggestions ? I think I hear
one remark,—perhaps a lady I was on a boat once before when
she ran aground just as this did, they then did so and so ; now
if they would only follow my suggestions and do the same
thing, we would soon get her off. Another says : I have been
in Mexico, South* America,, and in th® mountains among the
Indians of the rudest tribes, and from these I learned the best
method of getting steam-boats off of bars. Another says I
know nothing of how it is done more tharf you, but I^have'the
magic power by certain passes and motions of relieving steam
boats from every difficulty to which they are subject. Another
says: 1 have a principle applicable to all cases | just let them
put on steam enough, and I will insure motion. And I can
imagine one even presumptuous enough to say r The old cap
tain and officers, whose actions are guided by the particular
indications derived from a knowledge of the condition of
lhingsb5present, are all wrong; the true guide is not this
knowledge, but “ similia similibus curantur —now if you can
only find out what is capable of producing a state of things
like the present, and will use that in infinitesimally small
doses, the difficulty will be removed like magic.—Farces in
definitely more ridiculous than this, though awfully serious to
those upon whom they are played, are aeted every day in our
midst as a conseqa^pce of that superstition which only a more
general knowledge of God’s organic laws for the preservation
of health and removal of disease, can dispel. If your house
is on fire, in th® name of Heaven throw on water ; God’s im
mutable laws are not to be trifled with by man. As intelli
gent beings, we may take advantage of these laws for the ac
complishment of our objects; but never can we set them at
defiance in the living organism more than in inorganic nature,.
Flee th® burning wreck, or you will be consumed in the
flames—if your knowledge of the laws of Nature direct not
your action, the fire ■will care little whether you be a human
being or a lifeless door-post; the burning body will be but
�Valedictory Address.
7
fuel for the flame, to augment the heat. Preachers, lawyers,
congressmen^ merchants, ana ladies too, are seen flocking to
the office @f a man who pretends to cuVp all manneref dis
ease by passes and charms. Now, it is so clear a proposition
as to need only the statement to be received, that if any man
can jjius change the organic actions under abnormal condi
tions to a state of health, he cad by the same power change
them from a state of health to diseases This is an awfully
solemn vie v of the subject. Do you not see here partially
slumbering in our most influential citizens, that same element
of supej^jtition which a little while ago manifested itself in the
buftnipg pitches on the commons of Boston? It is this ele*
mefiut of superstition which gives foothold to quackery in all
its various forms,—^it is this that neutralizes the force of the
truth that man can relieve suffering and cure disease only by
taking advantage of inexorable laws, and that without a
knowledge of these laws he is worse than powerless. This
source of error will remain till the young shall be instructed in
the laws of organic action, which one would think quite as
important as ancient mythology, or the languages and actions
of the Greeks and Bomans ; and quite as wise gten for a na
tion to take an interest in, as the exploration of the, regions
about the north pole or even tfie gold mines of California
But if knowledge is the only guide to Voluntary action, and
if whatever is done withou^jthis guide is harm except by acci
dent, the wisest of our profession should be diffident and mod
est because even of their limited insight into the lawrs of na
ture. But if the most learned in these laws have reason to
be diffident, what is to be said of that oftplady, who, moved
by her natural impulses and kindness of|heart, is ever going
about among the sick, and, Instead bi^doing what good she
might according to hei&capacities, becomes a self-conktituted
doctor, unless indeed the attendant happen to be her own
family physician to whom she modestly defers. I leave this
question with you; I add no epithets—I know none sufficiently
expressive. This lady is probably president of a society for
the amelioration of the conation of the South Sea islanders,
or Esquimaux Indian^lwhile her children are left without in
struction in those principles and motives which alone can se
cure their happiness in after life. And who would wonder if
�.8
Valedictory Address.
her eldest son, moved too by ms natural impulses, but ndt
kindness of heart, should undertake the cure of disease for a
business fl unwilling to devote that time to close study necessary for the legitimate business, he would likely deny .the ac
cumulated lore of our profession and build for himself a brazen
calf, that the people who love new things and seek after
strange gods, might worship. It is not an easy thing to start
an entering wedge; it will frequently rebound. The Esqui
maux Indian or the South Sea Islander is little conscious of
possibility of improvement, and he will repel the missionary;
so if you talk to the people of the ne^ssity of a knowledge of
the medical sciences, and remark upon the imposition of the
quack, many will turn and rend you; and our profession,
always open to improvement, and, as history attests, ever the
cradle in which every infant science has been rocked with the
hope better to relieve suffering, is even accused of jealousy.
You cannot remove the effect while ignorance exists; if your
acquaintance employ an empty pretender, you had as well
leave him be: “ Ephraim is joined to his idols, let him alone.”
Even the cobbler is not a cobbler by inspiration :
“ A man must serve his time to every trade,”
Save Physic—doctors, some are ready-made.
True worth is always modest and unostentatious. It is the
boy who has never yet left his father’s domicil that imagines
he occupies the flejhtre of creation, and that his particular
horizon is the boundary of the universe. As one ascends the
hill of science, his field of vision enlarges, and as peak after
peak is attained, each gives a higher point of view from which
others appear still rising in the distance yet unexplored.
Each successive peak affords a view more and more enchant
ing ; the desire to know increases with knowledge. The hu
man mind is capable of indefinite expansion, and the field of
science, though bounded on either side, is infinite. The wise
often hesitate, but ignorance is presumptuous and never at a
loss. Men there are who even offer plans for the creation of
worlds, and not a few would suggest improvements in the
present order of things. Ignorance alone prompts man to
“play such fantastic tricks before high heaven.” Man, whose
capacities have as yet scarcely e’nabled him to obtain a glimpse
of the intimacies with which things are effected in this world,
�Valedictory Address.
9
found created ready for him, to whose laws he»j a creature,
owes his being, would assume all knowledge; and, closmg
his eWs, he mistakes the dreamings and phantasms of his
sleeping faculties for reality. The human mind isylimited
upon either side by narrow confines; but these are parallel,
making the province of knowledge infinite in the legitimate
direction. As thought precedes action, and knowledge suc
cessful action, human power is likewise limited :
“ Remove yon skull from out the scatter’d heaps :
Is that a temple where a God may dwell ?
Why ev’n the worm at last disdains her shatter’d cell 1”
“Look on its broken arch, its ruin’d wall,
Its chambers desolate, and portals foul:
Yes, this was once Ambition’s Bjfiih all,
The dome of Thought, the palaes of the Soul;
Behold, through each lack-lustre, eyeless hole,
The gay recess of Wisdom and of WiL
And Passion’s host, that neveribrook^control :
Can allsaint, sage, or sophist, ever writ,
People this lonely tower^this tenement refit?”
,
■'<’
-
Though man has not all powerjhe is not therefore impo
tent; though he has not all knowledge, he is not on that ac
count imbecile. True, he cannot make one grain of corn,
but he can plant it and water it; he cannot tell why oxygen
unites chemically with carbon with the phenomena of heat,
but he knows the fact, and can dig the coal from its bed and
have a comfortable fire of a cold day. Though he have not
ten talents, he can legitimately use and cultivate the five that
he has. Man’s sphere of action is definite, and fortunate is
he who attempts not to crops the boundary, but keeps himself
within his province:. Are the boundaries to the human mind
and to human power apparent when you consider this tenantless skull? The same boundaries extend through every thing
in nature/ The watch-maker can not create one atom of
iron, nor yet can he tell why the steel spring recoils; his
sphere of action is merely to determine such conditions by his
knowledge of the fews of Nature so far as*they pertain to
his business, that thesemnmutable laws shall work out his
designs under the physical conditions determined by him for
this special purpose. Nei^ier Fulton nor Watt could pro
duce steam by any effort of thefr minds, nor could they tell
why water is expansible by heat; but they cpuld determine
�10
Valedictory Address.
the conditions under which steam would be produced accord
ing to the eternal laws of God. Then they could adjust .cylin
ders, pistons, valves, &c., so as through such physical condi
tions to avail themselves of these laws for the action of a
powerful engine. Morse could not explain why the union of
the poles occasions chemical action in the battery with electric
phenomena, but he can so determine the conditions as to avail
himself of these laws even for the communication of thought.
To what subject soever you may turn your attention, you find
the same limits to man’s sphere of action; his power stops
with the adoption of physical conditions by which he may
take advantage of unvarying laws for the accomplishing of
his ends. Would he cure disease? Here too his sphere is defi
nite and likewise limited to modifying physical conditions.
Are knowledge and a cultivated mind necessary for the adop
tion of the conditions of a telegraph, steam-engine or watch,
and yet not necessary for the adoption of conditions for the
cure of disease? Does the very difficulty of the problems in
medicine, and the amount of time and study necessary to im
prove the mind sufficiently to solve them, obviate the neces
sity, and enable men to adopt means to cure disease without
science and cultivated minds? What absurdities are often
believed ! If you throw boiling water upon the skin, the des
quamation and subsequent inflammation are determined by
the existing conditions; the physician may modify the condi
tions, and tljus, through the organic laws, promote recovery.
This is his legitimate business—here his usefulness stops. As
the blister is occasioned by the application of boiling water,
so every disease depends upon some change in the conditions
of life. The art of healing is the art of promoting the return
of normal conditions. While the efficacy of remedies is thus
restricted, within these limits the physician may do much for
the prevention of disease and the restoration of health. The
human organism is so wonderfully devised, that it is able to
preserve normal conditions under great external vicissitudes;
and even more wonderful is its natural capacity to remove
disorders and restore the healthy equilibrium, if only supplied
with pure air, cold water, and wholesome food. Hence the
conclusion is clear, that the condition of a patient is far better
in the hands of a good nurse, who attends to the ventilation
�Valedictory Address.
11
and diet, and who keeps the tongue moistened with cold wa
ter, and soothes the troubled mind with her sympathies, than
under the charge of a thoughtless and uncautious M.D. And
the truth is the same if the good nurse should have a nominal
appendage in the shape of an infinitesimal doctor, if he would
only stick to his third triturations in the administration of his
pills and powders. But good maybe effected not only by the
regulation of the air, water and diet, but by the use of means
more directly to change the internal conditions and to modify
the actions of organs. The physician cannot produce a single
organic action, but, as in inorganic nature, he may modify
conditions and thus promote recovery. The physician, there
fore, is prepared for the duties of his profession upon precisely
the same principles as men are prepared for any business
whatever. There is no royal road to knowledge, and the
mysteries of organic phenomena do not furnish the physician
a short cut to wisdom or judicious action. But there are
many short cuts to wealth ; a man may even steal it, or mur
der for it, or, which is the same thing, he may tamper with
human life under the pretext of relieving suffering, for it. Men
there are who have even assumed the cloak of religion for
gain, and shall we deny that there are men even in high
places in our profession who resort to little things for per
sonal favor, which would be a disgrace to a professed quack ?
“The laborer is worthy of his hire,” but for hire an honorable
man will never resort to any species of deception. If he be
starving, he may take what will satisfy hunger, but he will
do it openly, manly, and above-board.
The laws of life, including health and disease, are as con
stant and invariable as the laws of inorganic matter. There
is no such thing as chance or accident in all the operations of
nature. And nowhere throughout the domain of natural his
tory do we with more wonder and admiration , witness the
supremacy of law, than in the phenomena of organized beings.
As health is preserved, and disease cured, only by taking ad
vantage of these laws, it is more important, that the physician
should be a scientific interpreter of phenomena, a deep thinker,
a philosopher, than any other professional character whose
duties are connected with our temporal relations. First, on
account of the multiplicity of difficulties which present them
�12
"Valedictory Address,
selves, the number of circumstances and phenomena to be taken
into consideration in the solution of every problem ; Second,
because of the value of that which is at stake—nothing less
than the lives of our fellow-men; Third, on account of the
fact that any mistake is irretrievable. The mathematician
may discover his mistake and correct his error—the planets
move on their regular course in spite of it; the wayfaring
man may mistake his road, but he can retrace his steps, but
the physician’s mistake is irremediable;—
" If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore,
Should I repent me :—but once put out thine,
Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean heat,
That can thy light relume. When I pluck thy rose,
I cannot give it vital growth again;
It needs must wither.”
.■'
The land surveyor may be qualified for his business by a
mere mechanical knowledge of some of the principal rules
which he has committed to memory and made familiar by
practicing a few examples, though entirely ignorant of the
great principles from which the formulas have been deduced
through which he arrives at the contents of land. But the
art of healing is not to be hemmed in by any such rules or
dogmas; the scientific physician cannot have his mind thus
shackled by the iron fetters of mere routine. He must be ac
quainted with the foundation principles, from which he may
for himself deduce rules and formulas applicable to every par
ticular case. Every case which may be presented to you in
your practice will be an independent problem, needing a spe
cial formula for its solution. As one face differs from another
in form and expression, so diseases differ though called by the
same name; hence the necessity of scientific knowledge and
a well trained mind to determine appropriate remedies. It is
a peculiarity of all the various schisms that they substitute
some system as their guide, for this scientific knowledge and
cultivation of mind. Men propose to cure disease by Turn
bull’s system, by Thompson’s system, or by Hahnemann’s sys
tem. The Yankees can put a block of wood into a machine
and it will come out nutmegs; then we have sewing machines;
�Valedictory Address.
13
and machine poetry too ; but who would knowingly entrust his
life in the hands of a machine doctor? The nutmegs look
well superficially ; but when you attempt to use them, your
pudding is covered with sawdust. True, the land surveyor
need not go further back than his formulas and tables of lati
tude and departure; but the good physician must be as the
mathematician who devises formulas and makes tables.
Blackstone says, wisely, and with his usual conciseness, that
the greatness of a man does not consist in the number of his
ideas, but in the relation of those he has. In these few words
we have the essence of the distinction between erudition and
knowledge—between mere information and the cultivation of
mind which alone can render that information available for
practical purposes. There is perhaps no word in our language
more misunderstood than the term Practical. Look around
you among your acquaintance in the ordinary pursuits of life,
and who is the practical man ? who is he that adopts the best
and most judicious means to accomplish his objects, and whose
judgment is desired in matters of opinion ? It is not the man
of erudition necessarily, but necessarily the man of strong
common sense; it is the man whose knowlege becomes fore
knowledge through the relation of the ideas that he has.
Hence this faculty of the mind needs especial cultivation for
the judicious application of remedies for the cure of disease.
All great men are necessarily self-made men, because this
faculty upon which their greatness depends can be strength
ened only by exercise in individual thought and in the habit
of associating ideas so that the data in hand will spontane
ously suggest ideas to direct. But the man of great erudi
tion is necessarily a fool, if, in the acquisition of his informa
tion, he suffer this faculty to run to waste and die out for want
of exercise. The boy who is forced to provide the ways and
means is bound to think ; but the school boy is bound to com
mit to memory the thoughts and systems and formulas of
others; and for this he is rewarded, and for this praised as
smart. This one may become perfectly saturated with erudi
tion, so that if he only open his mouth learning will flow in a
constant stream, but in action and in judgment he will be out
stripped by others of far less lore, but who have not neglected
iklv
:«
�14
Valedictory Address.
to improve that faculty by which knowledge is made available.
No man can by any effort of his will call up ideas and thoughts,
but to render information available the mind must be so trained,
that the data in hand will spontaneously suggest thoughts
and ideas through the laws of association, that our knowledge
may be luminously spread out before the mind to guide ac
tion. Whatever therefore will train the mind to close thought,
and cultivate the habit of associating the ideas we have so
as to bear upon a given subject, is eminently practical. This
alone renders knowledge available; and a young man whose
mind is thus trained will gain more practical experience from
one patient closely observed, than would another, of mere eru
dition, from a thousand.
There have been two great schools of philosophy—the
Idealists and the Sensationalists; the one referring all our
knowledge to the senses, the other to the mind through innate
ideas. In science there have been two great epochs, the spi
rits of which partially represent these two schools. Prior to the
time of Bacon, science was mainly pursued subjectively. The
laws of nature were sought through workings of the human
mind, and science necessarily consisted in conceptions of what
might be rather than what is ; of what is plausible rather than
what is truth ; of what is conceivable rather than what is
actual. This is but an attempt on the part of finite man to
substitute his inventive genius for the wisdom of the great
Author of nature. It is apparent that we have not faculties
to arrive at the knowledge of the laws of nature by such
speculations. The order of things as presented in nature as
a whole, is only one of many conceivable ; hence any attempt
to arrive at a knowledge of what is, from purely a priori con
siderations, must prove abortive. It is a comparatively easy
thing to comprehend, for instance, the principles and mechan
ism of a steam engine now, if we study the machine itself; but
with all our skill and ingenuity this was not invented till the
middle of the eighteenth century. If such a machine as this
remained uninvented till so recent a period, how utterly futile
must any attempt to arrive at the principles and laws of the
machinery of nature prove, other than that based upon the
facts and phenomena as presented in her works 1 Since the
�Valedictory Address.
15
time of Bacon, however, the votaries to science have been
becoming more and more exclusively practical sensationalists.
Thus, men, like tides, pass from one extreme to another. The
results of the old method proving its futility, the spirit of the
last epoch has been to substitute the results of mere experi
ment for science—to place empiricism above philosophy; as
if science consisted in the mere collection and classification
of the results of observation and experiment! Hence the pre
sent is little less speculative and visionary than the former
period. The collection and classification of facts are the neces
sary means, but not the ultimatum of science. Facts are the
raw material of which the temple of science is to be con
structed; they are the rough marble just from the quarry,
needing the chisel of the sculptor before it can have expres
sive form; they are as the letters of the alphabet—but signs
of ideas. The microscope and crucible have their uses, but
can never substitute thought; the acorn is a condition, but
it is not the noble oak of the forest. Before, they had thought
without facts; now, relatively, we have facts without thought.
But the arch of knowledge and science can be supported only
by both conjointly. He alone is a practical man who thus
joins the two. The strength of the arch depends upon the
pillars that sustain it; but no arch whatever can be sustained
by one pillar, how strong soever it may be. Give the facts of
the present day to a Plato or Aristotle, and we can form no
idea of what science would then become. The fall of an ap
ple, the steam gushing from a tea-kettle, the jerking of a
frog’s leg, are insignificant phenomena to the common mind;
but to the cultivated nothing is trivial,—the commonest phe
nomena suggest great principles which they but illustrate.
How defective therefore is that education where the Memory
is cultivated at the expense of the more important faculties of
the Mind; where systems, rules, and formulas, are crammed
in, rather than the mind led out and expanded in independent
thought, reason and power. Is it not the great tendency of
this age of young America, called practical, to anticipate the
acquisition of useful knowledge by a short process; to lay
aside individuality as a useless incumbrance and to substitute
rules for thought? Young men thus educated are necessarily
�16
Valedictory Jlddress.
most conceited and ridiculously presumptuous, because they
measure all things by the systems they have committed to
memory, and have mistaken for knowledge, because taught by
their oracles: but the man of thought feels how little is known,
and while he thinks, he is equally -willing to let think, know
ing that the pill that he gives will act according to the unva
rying laws of nature without much regard to the systems of
men.
Gentlemen, iataking leave of you, I would remark, be not
overawed by great names; preserve sacred your individuality,
and let truth and the laws of God be honored rather than the
dogmas of men; leave arrogance to the weak and narrow
minded, and suppose not that dogmas and rules preclude the
necessity of individual thought. Only those who mistake dogmasjor knowledge are arrogant. During the early period of
your professional life devote your leisure time to study and
thought, and thus lay up treasures from which you may after
wards draw without exhausting, instead of giving yourselves
up to those frivolous pursuits to which too many do, as if they
sprang from the schools ready equipped as Pallas from the
brain o^ Jupiter. Such a course will enable you to rise toi a
position you could never otherwise attain whatever may be
your natural geniuses. You will prize it more—it will ren
der you more real happiness in after-life than the money you
would make in the same time were you immediately to get
into a large practice. Think not to arrive at great and use
ful ends except by the route the laws of mind direct; there is
no short process—and he who attempts one must fail;—
“ What shaped thou here at the world ? Tis shapen long ago ;
Tby Maker shaped it, and thought it were best even so.
Thy lot is appointed, go £ llow its host;
Thy journey’s begun, thou must move and not rest;
For sorrow and care can not alter thy case,
And running, not raging, will win thee the race."
�
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Knowledge the only guide to action: an address to the graduates of the St. Louis Medical College: delivered February 28th 1857
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METHOD OF EDUCATION:
A. 1ST ADDRESS
INTRODUCTORY TO THE SESSION 1859-60
♦
OF THE
ST. LOUIS MEDICAL COLLEGE,
BY
J. H. WATTERS, M.D.,
Professor of Physiology and Medical Jurisprudence.
ST. LOUIS:
GEORGE KNAPP & CO., PRINTERS.
1 8 59.
��METHOD OF EDUCATION:
An Address Introductory to the Session 1859-60 of the St. Louis Medical
College. By J. H. WATTERS, M.D., Professor of Physiology and Med
ical Jurisprudence.
Gentlemen,—Under favorable auspices we meet to-night to
celebrate the opening of our eighteenth session, and in behalf of
the faculty I welcome you as students to these halls dedicated to
medical education.
The ardent aspirations of the young of a country to fit them
selves for useful and honorable activities, brings happiness not
only to the individual, but secures life, intelligence and refine
ment to society—stability, power and influence to the state. It is
this which engenders and fosters the very vitality, spirit and soul
of a community. General society — yes, our whole country—is
interested in this assemblage of young men gathered hither from
the various parts of our extensive and prosperous valley, all in
spired with a common desire to be enabled to render a reasonable
answer to the problem of life. Some answer, whether it be rea
sonable or not, must be given by every man. It is not optional,
but the necessity is implied in the very existence of a rational be
ing : it is not a request, but an imperative demand. Should one
think to avoid it by silence or refusal to act, he deceives himself;
for his very silence and supineness become contempt, and contain
already his answer.
Man is by nature most munificently gifted; but his character and
activities are the apswer he renders to the question, “ what will he
do with it”—with his life, his mind, his reason, his image of God?
The various grades of characters, from the lowest besotted dregs
of society to the highest and noblest men, present merely the dif
ferent uses made of nature’s high gifts. Consider now
“ The wisest of the sages of the earth
That ever from the stores of reason drew
Science, and truth, and virtue’s dreadless tone
�6
and now reflect upon this solemn fact, that
“ Him, every slave now dragging through the filth
Of some corrupted city his sad life,
Pining with famine, swoln with luxury,
Blunting the keenness of his spiritual sense
With narrow schemings and unworthy cares,
Or, madly rushing through all violent crime,
To move the deep stagnation of his soul,—
Might imitate and equal.”
We hear in our youth too much cant about “ poor weak human
nature, the flesh, and the deviland those who would throw
upon the shoulders of these imaginary personalities the necessary
and legitimate results of individual slothfulness, inactivity, and re
fusal to use what has been given, would obliterate what little of
the image of God is yet visible in humanity, and would put a stop
to progress—not by bold and open opposition, which would be ac
companied with corresponding reaction, but by smothering and
destroying the already enfeebled energy and spirit.
That each individual may use his talents and powers in the best
and most reasonable way possible, is the object of all education,
whether literary, professional, scientific, or religious. In other
words, the object of education is to enable man, in his activities,
to harmonize with the Infinite, the Universal, the Absolute. It is
only as his activities do harmonize and thus cooperate with the
Infinite, that man is emancipated and exalted; while in so far as
they are discordant, man militates against God, and in the con
flict is always vanquished, degraded and enslaved. This proposi
tion is universal, and extends in its application through the whole
range of human activities. And, gentlemen, as you propose to as
sume the responsible vocation of physicians, the object of your
professional studies is that you may be enabled so to act upon
physical nature as to cure disease and relieve suffering. This,
too, can be done only by cooperating with the universal and abso
lute in perfect obedience to the physical laws; which laws are to
us the outward expression or representation, in space and time, of
universal reason. If our acts are not in obedience to these laws,
our medications, like the prayers of the wicked, are an abomina
tion. It is a common saying that nature cures disease, and that
the physician’s province is to assist nature. While this expression
admits of very liberal interpretations, yet literally it is most false.
Man under no circumstances assists nature; this is neither his
province nor prerogative : it is his highest privilege to use nature.
But how are we to use nature ? By what method are we enabled
�7
to take advantage of her laws ? In other words, what relation has
education to success, science to art? This is the question I pro
pose discussing to-night; and while I address you, gentlemen,
especially, as medical students, the method by which you will be
enabled to attain the objects of your calling, is the method of
every human activity whatever—of your social and political rela
tions no less than professional.
As the object of all education is to enable man to harmonize his
activities with the Infinite, the Universal, the Absolute, this object
can be attained only so far as we know the Infinite, the Universal,
the Absolute. I am aware that there are those high in authority
who contend that the capacity for this knowledge is not vouch
safed to man. If this be so, then indeed are we most miserably
circumstanced. What! here—possessing hopes, desires, aspira
tions, longings for something better—condemned to disappoint
ment and ignoble defeat upon every side, except in so far as our
activities are in harmony with the Infinite, and yet having no ca
pacity to know that Infinite by whom we are judged and to whom
we are subject! This can not be so: else man could not adapt
means to ends; the result of his spontaneity would be altogether
accidental; his fortune would not be in his own hands. It is not so:
the development of science condemns it; our railroads, telegraphs,
and manufactures, and all the arts, condemn it; our social, politi
cal and religious relations condemn it; all culture and progress
condemn it. As the result of every human activity is determined
by its relation to the Infinite, the relation which any people bear
to the Infinite is expressed not only in their moral, social, political
and religious condition, but also as well in their machinery, their'
manufactures, their agriculture, their navigation, their architecture,
their painting, their sculpture, their poetry, their ornaments, their
dress, in all their activities and in every expression of their sponta
neity. All advancement and progress of the individual, of society,
of humanity, is proof that we have the faculty to know the Abso
lute to which we are subject, as all success is but an expression of
this knowledge, and a resulting harmony between our activities
and the Infinite.
But man is guided in his activities by his intelligence, and mind
is in its very nature active, spontaneous, self-determinate. Know
ledge, therefore, must be the determination of the mind itself, else
the spontaneity and self-determination of mind would be super
seded and abrogated by knowledge, which is absurd. Consequent
ly, the mind must possess the faculty of determining itself harmo
niously with the Universal and Absolutewhether you agree to
�8
designate this power of the mind thus to determine itself, as know
ledge of the Universal and Absolute, or not, matters nothing, so far
as the question under discussion is concerned—By what method
is man enabled to harmonize his activities with the Infinite, the
Universal, the Absolute ? This faculty is reason. Reason being
one and absolute to man, to nature, and to God, it is most appa
rent, that, so far as our activities harmonize with reason, they must
in that very fact harmonize with the Universe and with God.
Therefore, the method by which the object of all education is to
be attained, is the method by which we are enabled to harmonize
our activities with .Reason. This proposition, gentlemen, embod
ies the central idea which I hope to present to you to-night in an
intelligible manner. You yill observe the important point, that
in this proposition we have substituted Jieason for the Infi
nite, the Universal, the Absolute. I know full well, that, in
making this substitution here in a public lecture, I am in no little
danger of being understood as making man equal with God. But
if there were no danger here, there would be little or no occasion
for this lecture ; and if, on account of this danger, I had chosen
another theme, or had treated this in a manner to conform to the
more general and popular notions, I would in that have been hug
ging my own shackles; whereas my theme this night is, How are
we freed, emancipated, exalted? A just man has not his freedom
curtailed by just laws in so far as he cognizes justice, because the
law unto himself frees him from the external laws; that is, the ex
ternal laws cease to bind and restrain him just in so far as from his
own self-determination he would fulfil them. Just so, and for the
same reason, a reasonable man has not his freedom annulled by
the laws of reason in so far as he knows reason. As one in his own
spontaneity determines himself according to reason, he ceases to
be restrained by the external laws of reason. If all moral and
physical laws be laws of reason, then indeed can man be delivered
from the dominion of necessity only so far as reason in him be
comes self-conscious. We believe in Divine Omnipotence; that
in the Infinite “we live, and move, and have our beingthat with
out Him we can not think a good thought or do a good act; and
yet we believe that man is free and justly accountable. The truth
and consistency of these two positions is all I contend for in the
substitution I have made of Reason for the Infinite, the Absolute,
the Universal. He who believes in human freedom can not but
believe that man possesses the faculty of determining liimsflf in
harmony with the Universal; for in so far as man is determined
by anywhat not himself, he is necessitated and not free. He who
�9
believes in human freedom and also in Divine Omnipotence and
Omniscience, must believe these twq positions consistent; unless,
indeed, he be himself a slave, clinging in blind fanaticism to the
very chains which bind him. And what does he mean by consist
ency except their mutual harmony with reason? And when he
acknowledges that two truths must be consistent, in this necessity
he recognizes reason as the universal umpire, authoritative to man,
to nature, and to God.
If, therefore, the object of all education is to enable us to har
monize our activities with reason, then the method we seek is the
method of reason becoming self-conscious, or, in other words, it is
the method of reason coming to a knowledge of itself. This is
perfectly clear, that in order that we may harmonize our activities
with reason we must know reason. But the reason alone can
know reason; consequently we can know reason only as the reason
becomes self-conscious. Did you ever see a little child held before
a looking-glass ? Through its senses it cognizes the phenomenon
and through its understanding it is convinced of duality,—it peeps
behind the glass fully expecting to find another child. But as it
comes to know itself, with apparent rapture it recognizes itself
in the image. Not the senses, nor yet the understanding, but only
reason can know and comprehend reason. The spontaneity of man
may be under the dominion of the senses, or of the understanding,
or of the passions; but as these are all finite and related to the in
finite only in and through reason, when they guide, the blind lead
the blind and both fall into the ditch together. But when oui*
spontaneity is guided by reason, the outward expressions of this
spontaneity—our activities, our works—must harmonize with rea
son, with nature, and with God. The great problem of humanity,
therefore, is to identify our spontaneity in each, every and all of
its various possibilities with self-conscious reason. Our question,
therefore, as to the method by which the object of education is to
be attained is now reduced to this form: What is the method of
the reason in becoming self-conscious ?
As we are students of nature, and as in this department especial
ly we hope to assist in the great struggle of humanity, and to leave
the world the better of our having lived, (if this be not our ambi
tion we are unworthy of humanity,) I shall seek this method only
as expressed in the more developed sciences. And we may hope
to get some insight thus, because Science is the formal recognition
of reason. Do not allow yourselves to anticipate me here, and to
object in your thoughts to this position, that the physical sciences
treat of nature and her laws, and, consequently, that a knowledge
�10
of these laws can be obtained only through observation and ex
periment. Be patient one moment and we will consider this matter
together. It is admitted that observation and experiment are ne
cessary conditions to a knowledge of nature and her laws, but you
must admit also that you neither see, feel, taste, nor smell the physi
cal sciences. It is true you put ores and compounds into the
crucible, but you neither put therein nor take hence the science of
chemistry; it is true certain angles and distances must be obtained
by observation, but the transit instrument and the telescope are not
wonderfully devised machines for the manufacture of the science
of astronomy; you may examine and peep, but the science is not
there—you can not get it thus. What, then, is the relation between
observation and science ? This question is sub judice, and until
decided it might be well to suspend our anticipated objection.
Physical science is rendered possible only in and through the
identity of the laws of nature and the laws of thought. This is
a self-evident proposition; for if nature could in her mode of
action be whimsical or unreasonable, where, I ask, would be the
criterion whereby we could know nature or determine her mode
of action ? There would be none, and we would necessarily be ut
terly in the dark. If there be physical science at all, therefore, the
laws of nature must be identical with the laws of thought, and
Science must be the recognized identity. The senses do not and
can not give us science; observation and experiment can only give
phenomena. Physical science exists only so far as reason has come
to a recognition of itself in the phenomenal. That is, so far as we
have science reason must have become the criterion whereby na
ture is recognized as laws of thought. But reason can become
the criterion only in so far as it becomes self-conscious, or as it
knows itself. Consequently, we may hope by an examination and
careful analysis of the sciences, to learn something of the method
whereby the object of all education is to be attained; in other
words, of the method of reason in becoming self-conscious or in
recognizing itself. Though we may thus only obtain a partial in
sight, yet even this is not to be altogether despised.
As mathematics is more developed and more generally under
stood than any other science, we will direct our attention to it
especially. And let it be understood that our object here is not
to reduce all science to what has been termed the mathematical
method, but rather to seek in the mathematics the method of the
reason in becoming self-conscious, as all science (mathematics, of
course, included) has been shown to be the reason coming to know
and recognize itself. As my object, as a teacher, is always more to
�11
excite thought than to amuse,—to draw out the mind rather than
to instil dogmas, I hope you will excuse me for selecting for your
consideration a subject requiring so much study. My excuse is
that the principles involved in this subject, though they may seem
abstract, are most practical, forming as they do the very foundation
of all knowledge and all success.
Mathematics as a science starts with certain primary proposi
tions, which are divided usually into two classes—Definitions and
Axioms. But what mean these propositions ? whence came they,
and where is the authority for the use made of them in mathemat
ics ? If we can obtain correct answers to these questions, we will
have approached very near what we seek: but do not be uneasy, I do
not intend to lead you over the paths already well worn by the Sen
sationalists and Idealists. First let me call your attention to this most
important consideration— That there can be no existence, law, mode
of action, or phenomenon, without limitations; for all these im
ply determinations, and there can be no determinations without lim
itations. This is self-evident and absolute; think of it one moment.
There can be no this and that without a difference, and there can be
no difference without limitations. To vision, pure light would be
equivalent to pure darkness; there can be no seeing without a
mingling of the two—without shades or colors. Power is equiva
lent to no power without resistance; you can not lift yourself by
the hair; as Archimedes could not find a pou std, or place to fix
his machine, he could not move the earth. The equation sign
stands forever between absolute motion and no motion; the an
cients did not recognize the parallel lines, and they attached the
predicate no motion to the earth. And our physical sciences (so
called) now are mostly legerdemain to induce the student, by com
plicating the process, to believe he has succeeded in lifting him
self ; in lieu of the earth, physical science is placed on the back of
a tortoise. As there could be nothing to know, therefore, without
limitations, so there could be no knowing. As all things and phe
nomena depend upon the union of opposites, as of motion and rest,
of power and resistance, of light and darkness; so science is based
upon the union of opposites necessarily. As what is to be known
has its existence in this union, evidently the knowing must be bas
ed upon it. Now pure space, like pure light, is without limits, and
consequently is without determination. There is no this, as deter
mined from that; there is no here and no there; no outside and
no inside; no circumference, and no centre. As, for vision pure
light must be united with its opposite—darkness, so the science
of geometry must be based upon the union of the pure idea space
�12
and its opposite. Now, what stands opposed to space as darkness
is opposed to light? You at once recognize it as the point. The
point is not space, but it is related to space as its opposite, as its
negation, as its limitation. We are now prepared to understand
the meaning of the Definitions upon which geometry is based.
These definitions are the limitations of space by its opposite—the
point;—the motion of a point may be said to generate a line; the
motion of a line, to generate a surface; the motion of a surface, to
generate a solid. So, while pure space is without limitations or
determinations, yet united with its opposite we have definitions as
the bases of science. We now have a here and a there, a this and
a that. By this union we have a straight line, a curved line, a tri
angle, a square, a polygon, a circle, an ellipse, a parabola, an hy
perbola, a polyedron, a prism, a parallelopipedon, a sphere, an ellip
soid, &c. &c.
But before investigating further the meaning of the definitions
of mathematics, we must investigate whence they came; a know
ledge of their origin will contribute to the understanding of their
nature. You are aware that many contend that all our knowledge,
including of course mathematical definitions and axioms, is deri
ved from sensation; and that others contend, no less confidently,
for the existence of innate ideas, and for this origin of all know
ledge. It is not pertinent to our present object to meddle with
either of these systems. We have seen that all determination is
through limitation; that is, if all limitation were removed from
any thing, all determination would be removed; and what would
be left would be equivalent to nought—is nothing—the thing
would no longer have existence. But do you say something would
still be left ? Think one moment; your something left being with
out determinations, wherein, I ask, is its difference from nothing ?
You call it something, I call it nothing, and you can not apply a
predicate to your something which I can not also apply to my
nothing; if you can, then your “something left” has limitations
which is contrary to the hypothesis. It is perfectly apparent,
therefore, if we know not the limitations, we know not the thing;
and that, in so far as we know the limitations, we know the thing
in itself—the thing having an existence only in these limitations.
Therefore, if things in themselves were not related to us, we could
never know them; if there were no bond of union between nature
and ourselves, all things in nature by which we are surrounded
would be to us as though they were not,—we would be uncon
scious of their existence. Consequently, if we know nature at all,
(and no one will be likely to deny this,) there must be some means
�13
of our knowing or becoming conscious of the limitations of things
in themselves. But how can the mind know or become conscious
of that which is outside of itself? This is the difficult but most
important question. If we admit the duality of nature and mind,
must we admit that the mind can get outside of itself to know na
ture ? This would be a manifest absurdity, for nothing can get
outside of itself. Then, to admit a knowledge of nature, are we
compelled to do away with the duality, and to become out and out
materialists on the one hand, or idealists on the other ? I think
not. Then, if the mind can not get out of itself, how can the mind
know nature if duality be admitted ? I think I see one, and only
one possible solution of this problem; for, in admitting that the
mind can not get out of itself, we admit that our knowledge of na
ture comes from the mind knowing itself. This is the problem:
Admitting the duality of nature and mind, and that the mind can
not get out of itself, how can the mind know nature ?
It is admitted that we have some knowledge of nature, and, con
sequently, that there must be some relation between mind and
the external world. Now if we admit duality, the only possible
relation is that of mutual limitation; that is, in so far as nature and
mind are distinct and dual, they must reciprocally exclude and ne
gate each other. And in so far as they are distinct, the only pos
sible relation they can have on the side of their duality must be
xthe mutual limitation through this reciprocal exclusion and nega
tion. This is the only possible relation upon the admission of dual
ity, because neither could get outside of itself, which would of
course be necessary for any other relation. Consequently, this re
lation, so far from requiring the denial, is in virtue of the duality;
and, as this is the only possible relation consistent with duality, this
must be the avenue to a knowledge of nature; or else, we must de
ny either the duality, or, the possibility of such knowledge. These
three are the only possible alternatives:—You must either do away
with the duality and become materialists on the one side, or ideal
ists on the other; or else, admitting the duality, you must deny
the possibility of a knowledge of nature; or else, admitting both
the duality and a possibility of a knowledge of nature, you must
find in the mutual exclusion and limitation the condition of this
knowledge. Endorsing this last alternative, we must endeavor to see
how nature and mind mutually excluding and limiting each other, is
the avenue to a knowledge of nature. We are not now concerned
with the inquiry how nature and mind limit each other, but our
present inquiry starts with the fact that they must limit each other,
upon the admission of duality. This is the solution: Nature and
�14
mind mutually excluding and limiting each other, in so far as the
mind cognizes its own limitation, in that act, being limited by na
ture, it recognizes the limitation of nature. To illustrate: suppose
A and B own adjacent farms; A, in knowing the limitations of his,
knows, in that very fact, the limitations of B’s so far as they mutu
ally limit each other; just so, the mind, in knowing its own limita
tions, knows the limitations of nature so far as they exclude and
limit each other. Thus the mind knows nature in knowing itself.
This is the only possible solution; but we need no other as this is in
every respect most satisfactory, containing within itself evidence
of its truth, and is therefore worthy of all acceptation, even though
we were not forced to adopt it, or else either materialism or ideal
ism, or the doctrine that all knowledge of nature is impossible.
But, at first glance, all this may seem to have little to do with the
Definitions of mathematics. Upon reflection, however, I suspect it
will be found to have somewhat to do not only with mathematics
but with our political, social and even religious condition, with the
steam engine and weaver’s shuttle and doctor’s pill, and even with
our bread and butter.
But to continue;—all knowledge, therefore, including mathema
tics and the natural sciences, is the mind knowing itself. If this
be so, you may ask, how do we know that nature is actual and
real? You may say, “upon the admission of the duality of nature
and mind, and, that they mutually limit each other, it is clear
enough that the mind, in knowing itself, knows nature in so far as
they thus limit each other; but, if the mind only knows itself, how
do you get the duality ? How does the mind know that an actual
nature stands over against it limiting it; and that these limitations
of itself, which only it knows, have an external condition at all ?”
This knowledge comes through sensation, which gives us a con
sciousness of objectivity. This will be clear, I think, if you will
call to mind a point already discussed at some length. As we have
seen that all existence and phenomena depend upon the union of
opposites, as of motion and rest, of power and resistance, of light
and darkness, so all consciousness implies duality. Consequently,
consciousness in the line of our spontaneity—that is, a limitation
where we know there is no internal limitation—gives us objectiv
ity authoritatively. The primary condition of our knowledge of
the existence of nature, as opposed to and as limiting mind, is mo
tion. But I must not dwell upon this part of my subject.
On the other hand again, one disposed to sensationalism will ob
ject,—“this is all nonsense to talk about the mind knowing nature
by knowing itself,—I see and feel objects themselves, but I do not
�15
know the mind,—I can not see it!” I grant you your position fully—
that you see and feel objects, and that you know mind very little;
probably if you could only get it under a microscope, or into a cruci
ble, you would know it better. But I thank you for your objection
just here in close juxtaposition with the one of the idealist already
considered; as we have to steer here between Scylla and Charybdis,
we must keep in mind their localities. In reply to idealism just now,
it was maintained that objectivity is given authoritatively in sensa
tion, in that all consciousness implies duality,—the union of op
posites. This seems to the senses to approach dangerously close
to you, O voracious Charybdis! who would draw all knowledge
into th£ abyss of sensationalism. You say you do not know mind,
but that you know nature, objects, matter, which are given in
sensation. Hence you peep at nature; you make observations and
experiments; you turn her round to make her present herself to
your senses on as many sides as possible; probably you may use
a microscope to assist the senses; you note down very carefully
the results—what you see; you classify this and call it Physical
Science ! And to be so lucky as to see something fir§t, say a new
fossil, and to describe it and classify it, entitles one to endless fame
in the history of Science ! Can it be that now, in the latter half of
the nineteenth century, such a gross and bungling counterfeit is
palmed upon humanity so currently! You say you know little or
nothing of mind because you can not see it,—this I have granted
without the slightest mental reservation; but you say you know
nature and objects around you because you see them and feel
them! Hold! you feel the fire and say it is hot; you see the rose
and say it is red; you taste sugar and say it is sweet. But the
sugar is not sweet, the rose is not red, the fire is not hot; these are
but sensations which you objectify and put into things which you
say you know in sensation. Now you must acknowledge that you
know not the things you imagine you see, and you say that you
know not mind as you can not see it;—what, then, do you know ?
Your physical science is no science, containing as it does the two
factors—the things seen and the individual seeing—most hetero
geneously mixed up, neither known, both undetermined, and one
of them (the individual seeing) extremely variable. Call this
Science! It is mockery, it is trifling with common sense to palm
such stuff off as science.
We have seen that the mind can know nature only in knowing
itself, and, consequently, that the mind can know nature only in so
far as they mutually limit each other. Now the grossest sensa
tionalist acts upon this position; for when he says the rose is red,
�16
that sugar is sweet, that fii’e is hot, he actually makes his own
limitations in sensation the limitations of things; and the more re
fined of the class who say, “we can know nothing of nature except
the phenomena,” in this fully endorse the same position. The real
difference between these and me is not here therefore, but rather
in this, that they would restrict mind to sensation, or at most to
the understanding. They, no less than I, acknowledge their own
limitations as all they know of nature or indeed can know. But
it may be asked,—“ if the limitations of mind are the means of our
knowing things, or all of nature that we can know, are we not right
in objectifying our sensations?” Certainly we are right; if we
wished to, we could not help seeing the rose as red, feeling* the fire
as hot, and tasting sugar as sweet. But I do most solemnly pro
test against the currency of this, or of any classification or gen
eralization of what is given in sensation, as science either of na
ture or mind. It is not science, because the mind does not Tcnow
and recognize itself in what is given in sensation. It cognizes
only the sensation, the feeling, the redness, the heat, the sweet
ness, &c., which are cognized as well by beasts; for no doubt
they see the grass as green and feel the fire as hot as well as we.
In the language of Scripture,—“The ox knoweth his owner, and
the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth
not consider.” The mere cognition of phenomena is not know
ledge either of the thing or of mind; and although phenomena are
an essential condition of physical science, it is a gross blunder to
suppose we can get knowledge or science by an accumulation,
classification, and generalization of no-knowledge, no-science. You
can not hang your coat on the shadow of a nail; it will not sustain
it, try it as often as you please. From all we have said, it follows
most manifestly that, as the thing exists only in its limitations as
we have seen, and as the limitations of nature are the limitations of
reason, physical science can only exist in this,—the reason becoming
self-conscious and recognizing itself in what is given in sensation.
This is a most difficult process, but it alone is worthy of humanity
and of our highest ambition; the reason in becoming self-conscious
pulls down the “wall of partition,” and admits us into the very
presence of the Infinite, the Universal, the Absolute. It alone can
make us free indeed, not by doing away with the external law, but
by enabling us in our own spontaneity to fulfil the law; which is the
object of all education, and should be of all human aspiration.
But, as we have seen, the mind can not get out of itself, and yet,
what has been given in sensation you have thrown from you and
already put in the thing, or rather, have made it the thing. IIow
�17
are you to get it back into mind again, to enable the reason to re
cognize itself in it? It is absolutely necessary, as you see, to get in
terms of the reasoning the limitations given first in sensation. The
only possibility left now for science, is for the reason to go out and
limit itself by the limitations of sense made object. To illustrate:
suppose you wish to get a cast containing the limitations or form
of a given object; you first take an impression in plaster; you now
make it the object of 'which you take an impression in a given
metal; you now have in metal the limitations of the original ob
ject. So you first take an impression of nature in the terms of ex
ternal sense, you now make this the object and take an impression
of it in terms of the reason. You now have, not science, but the
first condition of science; you have the object in terms of the rea
son,—but the science is the reason coming to know and recognize
itself in this its own object. As the thing in itself exists in those
same limitations which you now have in terms of the reason, the
reason in knowing itself in its own object, knows the thing in itself.
The object of reason thus obtained is always an idea limited by its
opposite,—as we have already seen the “definitions” upon which
geometry is based consist of the idea Space limited by its opposite.
Now we see whence the definitions come, and understand clearly
what they are. We now have some insight, I think, back to where
science must begin, if it begin at all. The definitions upon which
geometry is based, are, in distinction from the objects of sense, ob
jects of reason : they are ideal, not sensual. The words, point, line,
triangle, &c., are but signs to represent to the understanding the lim
itations of the idea; consequently, when I say a triangle is a figure
bounded by three straight lines, I give only a verbal definition of the
word triangle; but the word defined is only a sigu of the Conception.
So when I draw a triangle on the blackboard, the diagram is only a
sensual representation. The real, which the verbal definition and
diagram represent, is the ideal object—the object of reason. There
are many who think they study mathematics, who never grasp the
real definitions, but only the shadow as given in sensations. All these
ever reach are forms and rules. When they get a little older and
dabble in philosophy, they tell us mathematics is based upon hy
potheses and even absurdities; for, say they, “nothing can have
position which has neithei- length, breadth, nor thickness, as the
the mathematician predicates of & point.” This only shows that
the objector himself does not see the point, and it is to be feared
he never will see it, because not given in sensation.
The science of mathematics, in all its various branches, from the
determining the product of two and two, to the highest achieve
�18
ments of Newton or LaPlace, is constituted of the expressions of
the reason in the act of coming to know itself in the various limit
ations of the idea Quantity. This definition follows from what has
already been sufficiently insisted upon, but I will try to make it
even more clear. The data of every mathematical problem must
limit the problem, or it can not be solved. This involves, if clearly
understood, the most that I have said to-night. Every standard
measure of real things must be given both in sensation and in rea
son ; that is, it must be both cognized in sensation and recognized
by the reason. For instance, when I say a foot is one straight line
twelve inches long, here the straight line and numbers one and
twelve are recognized limitations of reason, whereas foot and inch
are cognized limitations of objects. All the standard measures are
such as as are both cognized and recognized together, and hence
used with the least possible effort. But all which is necessary is
that the data should limit both the thing and the idea. Hence, on
the side of sensation I may use inch, foot, yard, pole, or any stand
ard, provided I cognize it; so on the side of reason I am not
restricted to straight line, but may use triangle, square, circle, &c.,
&c., provided they can be both cognized and recognized. Hence
you see the application of the whole of mathematics to physical
science in regard to its quantitative determinations. Though I
can not measure the height of a steeple with a straight line, a foot
stick, I can measure it with a triangle. Here the cognition and
recognition are not together, and apparently in the same act of
mind, as when a foot rule is used, since we can not recognize the
triangle in all its properties by a simple act of the reason. Hence,
when we get the base line, or one side of the triangle, in units of
feet, and the angles in units of degrees—all of which are both cog
nized and recognized—we neglect for a time the side of sensation,
that the reason may recognize itself in the triangle; and when we
thus recognize the other leg of the triangle in units—terms Of the
reason—we then put back these units into feet from which we took
them, and now both cognize and recognize the height of the stee
ple at once; that is, we know it. This is an illustration of every
application of mathematics to physical science.
But the different sciences may involve different ideas; quantity
is not the only idea involved in the physical sciences. The ancient
Greeks did not, for obvious reasons, succeed in developing a science
of other ideas as they did of the idea quantity, and with us other
ideas have but little to do with assumed knowledge, with sci
ence. We do not recognize the Platonic “Idea” as the very
life of all science, of all knowledge and all success; and it is
�19
fashionable in these days to declare, both implicitly and expli
citly, that the Organon of Bacon has superseded the Organon of
Aristotle. As both sensation and reason are essential to physical
science—the one to give the condition, the other the essence and
life—it is difficult to comprehend how the one can supersede the
other, except upon the assumption that reason is nonessential to
science. But if, as we have seen, science consists in the reason
knowing and recognizing itself, then this judgment can be but a
sign of ourselves, that sense has superseded reason in us;—
“ Doth the harmony
In the sweet lute-strings belong
To the purchaser, who, dull of ear, doth keep
The instrument ? True, she hath bought tjhz right
To strike it into fragments,—yet no art /
To wake its silvery tones, and melt with/bliss
Of thrilling song! Truth to the wise exists,
And beauty for the feeling heart.”
I now find that many points are left untouched which I intend
ed to discuss, and which would be necessary to give unity to the
subject; but I find time will not permit, and I must hasten to a
conclusion. Let me remark, however, that Axioms are but expres
sions in terms of the understanding of the living-force of the rea
son of each individual. How erroneous, therefore, is the definition
that an axiom is that which all men receive as absolutely true. An
axiom is an absolute and universal truth, but it may not be recog
nized by all men. If I had sufficient energy of thought or living
force of self-conscious reason, the proposition that the square of the
hypothenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two
sides of a right-angled triangle, would become an axiom; but as I
have not this, and as the mind can not transcend itself, I have to
use the lever of method. But as all this is but the carrying out of
what has already been said, I need not dwell upon it. This living
energy of reason was so great in Plato, Shakspeare, and Goethe,
that they could lift greater weights directly than most men could
with all the appliances of levers and pullies.
We have seen that, as the mind can not get out of itself, (and
this position is implicitly admitted by all, though it may be expli
citly denied,) it can know only through a knowledge of itself. We
have seen that we can know physical nature even, only because
nature exists in its limitations, and these limitations are identical
with the limitations of mind or the laws of thought. And God being
Infinite Mind, in whose image we are created, the mind knows God
only in so far as it becomes self-conscious or knows itself. “ God
�20
is a Spirit, and they who worship Him must worship Him in spi
rit and in truth.” But we have seen, also, that the mind can know
itself only in self-conscious reason, and that reason hence is the
only criterion of truth. It is sad to reflect how little self-conscious
reason there is in the world, in humanity. Though reason is the
only criterion of truth, and it alone can exalt us and free us, by en
abling us to unite and cooperate with the Universal and Absolute,
yet, do we not see this our only hope condemned and upbraided
even in the pulpit, driven from the state, and trampled down and
spit upon by politics, and treated little better by science, so-called ?
When this is gone, what have we left? Nothing but individual
tape-strings! Oh, yes! they all talk loudly about the “ Higher
Law,” and say “ do right! do right I” And you ask them, what is
the Higher Law? what is right?—and they immediately and with
the most impudent assurance present their individual tape-strings,
and commence straightway measuring! measuring! But by what
authority are these stamped? By the senses, the feelings, the pas
sions. But each individual has a different standard stamped by
the same authority, except where what is called education induces
many to use the same string. And what power is umpire in these
irrepressible conflicts thus inevitably induced ? God is out of the
question, as reason has been dethroned, apd nothing is left but
physical force. Hence family, political and religious discord and
strife—one tape-string in conflict with another; no self-conscious
reason, no knowledge of the Absolute. If you direct your mind
through the whole range of human activities, you find labels ac
cording to these tape-strings stuck on every thing—the most sa
cred no less than secular. And this is called Knowledge! Truth!
Higher Law! And Education, in all its various departments, is,
in the main, the drilling into the young these lifeless forms, these
shams, these midnight apparitions, these labels arranged in order
to suit the easy method of the sensational understanding. Oh! it
is sad to behold how grossly humanity is engulfed into the senses.
We boast that we are the lords of creation; which means, that we
can bridle the horse, and that we will ultimately exterminate the
lion: for, the spirit of humanity is indicated, not in the question,
how shall we use those gifts to us which have not been vouchsafed
to beasts ? but rather, how shall we make up our deficit in beastly
gifts ?—“ What shall we eat ? what shall we drink ? and where
withal shall we be clothed?”
�St. Louis Medical College,
November 1st, 1859.
’
Prof. J. H. Watters.
Dear Sir,
At a meeting held by the Class, J. T. Marsh in the
chair, it was unanimously resolved, that a committee be appointed for the pur- •
pose of requesting from you permission to publish your Introductory Address,
delivered before the Class, in College Hall, on the evening of October 31st.
Hoping that the above resolve may receive your approbation, a favorable reply
will meet with the thanks of the Class, and of yours,
Respectfully,
J. L. WILCOX,
GRATZ A. MOSES,
CHAS. KNOWER,
JOHN THOMPSON,
J. C. HICKERSON.
St. Louis, Nov. 2, 1859.
Dear Sirs,
The manuscript of my lecture is at your service ; please present
to the Class my acknowledgment of the compliment,
And believe me, as ever,
Your attached friend,
J. H. WATTERS.
To Messrs. Wilcox, Moses, Knower, Thompson, Hickerson.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Method of education: an address introductory to the session 1859-60 of the St. Louis Medical College
Creator
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Watters, J. H.
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Place of publication: St. Louis
Collation: 20 p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
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George Knapp & Co.
Date
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1869
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G5184
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Education
Medicine
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Text
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English
Conway Tracts
Education
Medicine