Læknablaðið - 15.11.1983, Blaðsíða 4

276
LÆKNABLADID
HEIÐURSFÉLAGI í ROYAL COLLEGE OF
OBSTETRICIANS AND GYNAECOLOGISTS
Sigurður S. Magnússon prófessor var á síðasta
ári gerður heiðursfélagi í hinu konunglega
félagi sérgræðinga í kvensjúkdómum og fæð-
ingarhjálp í Bretlandi. Er hann fjórði Norð-
urlandabúinn er hlýtur þessa viðurkenningu
og er hún veitt fyrir starf hans í págu
sérgreinar sinnar.
Við athöfnina hélt Sigurður S. Magnússon
stutta tölu og er hún birt hér á eftir:
Mr. President, Members of the Council,
ladies and gentlemen
This is an intensely special and important
moment for me, as I am sure you all realize. It
goes without saying, that I am enormously
proud to stand here before you in your great
Hall, and tremendously grateful to my friend
and colleaque, Callum Macnaughton, for the
kind things he has just said.
Mr. President, I would like you to know that
I have always cherished two secret aspirations
in my personal and professional life. The one
was to be able to experience the unique and
wonderful event of actually giving birth to a
baby myself, instead of merely assisting in the
process; the other was to become a Fellow of
the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gyna-
ecologists.
The former aspiration, I have of course
always known, is unattainable — at least in
this life. And yet, how marvellous it would
have been. How marvellous for us, mere
males, to have been able to call ourselves,
properly, mid-vives, instead of having to
invent important-sounding Greek and Latin-
ate titles like gynaecologists — »one who
studies women«, or obstetrician — »one who
is present at childbirth«. Midwife is such a
noble term: how marvellous it would be for us
males to be able to experience that miraculous
act of creation, which we can only understand
through study and practice. I have often
thought that there should be a proverb on the
lines of »obstetrician, deliver thyself«. What a
headstart the women in our specialty have on
people like me, and I would like to take this
opportunity on encouraging them to take a
larger part in the development of a sphere
that is so uniquely theirs.
As for the second of my aspirations, Mr.
President, to me almost as unattainable —
today, it has come to pass. Had I studied and
practised our specialty in Great Britain, I
would of course have sought after the Mem-
bership and later Fellowship of your great
College. I am keenly aware that the great
honour you have conferred upon me today, is
not so much for my person as for my country
and the work that is being done there, in this,
perhaps the most crucial, of the medical arts. I
can assure you, Sir, that today’s ceremony will
inspire us all in Iceland to even greater efforts,
to be worthy of your recognition and that the
valuable ties in our specialty which have been
created between our countries over thé past
years will be greatly strengthened.
Mr. President, my sincere and heartfelt
thanks for admitting me to the Fellowship ad
eundem of the Royal College of Obstetricians
and Gynaecologists.