himself, as by what he can do for others and the confidence he can establish in himself. Every professional man who fails to measure up to the highest professional ideals not only falls short of his own best good but positively harms every other man who would attain the best. No man can be a leader in any field who does not have the confidence of those who should follow him; no group of men can lead effectively if some of them are unable or unwilling to stand the test of professional efficiency.

The obligations of youth. Standing as do the young people of America at the opening of their careers, facing opportunities which no one before ever enjoyed, equipped for service as few of their predecessors have been, they owe a duty to their profession and to society which demands the highest endeavor. They are what they are by virtue of parental devotion, social beneficence and professional training; the least they can do to honor those whose name they bear is to be true to themselves; the least they can do for their State is to repay its investment in them by upholding its standards of citizenship; the least they can do for their profession is to defend its honor and to serve it with loyalty and devotion.

The Hippocratic oath. On every Commencement Day in my own university I hear the Hippocratic oath administered to the graduating class of our College of Physicians and Surgeons. It never fails to rouse in me the deepest emotions. When I realize that for centuries those entering the oldest of our learned professions have

sworn directly or indirectly to discharge those professional obligations which were as patent to the Greeks of two thousand years ago as to us of the twentieth century, I think I understand why it is that the good physician is jealous of his honor and how it comes that high and low, rich and poor, may appeal to the good physician in certain faith that to the best of his ability he will serve them all alike. Listen to that oath!1

"Candidates for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine: "In our profession it is a custom, established more than two thousand years ago, that no man may be admitted to its honors who has not first expressly taken upon himself its obligations. Now, therefore, in behalf of your elders, I call upon you to take, as we have taken before you, the oath which bears the name of Hippocrates. The language in which our predecessors first pronounced it is no longer spoken; the very gods whom they called to witness have been discarded; but still we can find no nobler words than the most ancient in which to hand down the traditions of our calling.

"You do solemnly swear, each man by whatever he holds most sacred:

"That you will be loyal to the Profession of Medicine and just and generous to its members;

"That you will lead your lives and practice your art. in uprightness and honor;

"That into whatsoever house you shall enter, it shall be for the good of the sick to the utmost of your power,

1 Introduction, by J. G. Curtis, M. D., to the "Hippocratic Oath," spoken annually at the Commencement of Columbia University.

you holding yourselves far aloof from wrong, from corruption, from the tempting of others to vice;

"That you will exercise your art solely for the cure of your patients, and will give no drug, perform no operation, for a criminal purpose, even if solicited; far less suggest it;

"That whatsoever you shall see or hear of the lives of men which is not fitting to be spoken, you will keep inviolably secret.

"These things do you swear? Let each man bow the head in sign of acquiescence.

"And now, if you shall be true to this your oath, may prosperity and good repute be ever yours; the opposite, if you shall prove yourselves forsworn."

Other professions call for no such formal asseveration of intentions. But I charge the youth of America, in the name of those who have gone before, in the name of all those who have contributed to that wealth of knowledge, that store of custom and tradition, that accumulation of spiritual gifts, which are so freely theirs, in the name of all those who have made their opportunity greater than that which they themselves enjoyed, I charge them to be men, good men, strong men, men ready to aid the suffering, to succor the weak, and to uplift the faint-hearted, men devoted to your profession, jealous of its integrity, faithful to its trusts and anxious for its advancement, men capable of leadership in this new century, and worthy of American citizenship, the finest flower of advancing civilization.

CHAPTER V

THE CALL TO PROFESSIONAL SERVICE'

HE choice of a profession marks a crisis in a young

TH

man's life. It is the end of a period of irrespon

sible living, of acquisition without purpose, and of expenditure without reward. It is the beginning of a period of self-direction and self-control, of struggle for mastery, of devotion to duty and service to others.

The selection of a calling. No wonder that the young man when I say "young man" I mean also the young woman with professional aspirations — approaches this crisis with strangely conflicting emotions. He is uncertain of himself. He has no means of knowing whether he is physically fit and temperamentally adapted to meet the strains of professional life. Nothing in his personal experience enables him to judge of his ability to excel in a particular professional career; and he has only the most superficial views of the duties and obligations of any kind of professional service. But the necessity of making a living drives him on. He is attracted by the prizes that reward the successful practitioner and he longs to do something that will count in the estimation of his fellows. His youthful optimism buoys him up and he dreams of the good he may do. The choice is made despite the doubts which arise and which occasionally continue to harass until he finds himself, years afterward, in and through his professional work.

1 A revised reprint from the COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY, December, 1908.

Since many of my readers have either chosen a professional career or are in the way to do so, I shall discuss some aspects of professional service. I purposely limit the scope of this survey, because some things are obvious to all who have eyes to see what is going on about them, and because some things may safely be neglected in addressing an American audience. Therefore, I shall say nothing of the relative importance of the professions. It is obvious that any profession has its advantages and disadvantages for some who contemplate its exactions; and that all are in need of the uplift that comes through strong and capable men. We may safely neglect, too, the pecuniary rewards of professional service, for who is not aware that the laborer is worthy of his hire and that in every profession the assiduous devotee is assured of a decent living? There is opportunity, abundant opportunity, in every field, and no one need turn aside from any preferred course for fear that it will not yield the necessaries of life or give free scope to honest effort.

Professional service. I use the term profession in a liberal sense, as any vocation in which specialized knowledge is rationally, ethically, and skillfully applied in practical affairs. In this sense we recognize professions of engineering, teaching, agriculture, architecture, banking, military affairs, and the like, as well as the traditional professions of theology, law, and medicine. With increasing knowledge, higher ethical standards, and more rational practice we shall some day have professions of merchandising, journalism, housekeeping, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry - possibly even a profession of politics. Some occupations are debarred from