VALEDICTORY 
TO THE 
GRADUATING CLASS 
OF THE 
PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF MEDICINE, 
DELIVERED IN THE 
MUSICAL FUND HALL, 
February 28, 1852, 
BY 
THOMAS D. MITCHELL, M. D., 
PROFESSOR OF THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE IN THE PHILADELPHIA 
COLLEGE OF MEDICINE. 
PHILADELPHIA: 
T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS. 
1852. CORRESPONDENCE. 
Medical Hall, February 17, 1852. 
Professor Mitchell:- 
Dear Sir: At a meeting of the Graduating Class, held this day, the 
undersigned were instructed to solicit a copy of the Valedictory to be given 
by you at the Commencement, to be held on the 28th inst. Your compliance 
will afford great pleasure to the entire Class. 
Yours, very respectfully, 
C. C. Moore, Pa., Chairman. Wm. G. Sanders, N. Y. 
Nathan G. Thompson, Pa., Treasurer. Theo. Le Blanc, La. 
Isaac Pritchard, La., Secretary. II. K. Alexander, Tenn. 
W. F. Bason, N. C. R. S. Bunn, Pa. 
Simon Rosenberger, Pa. R. L. Bowes, Pa. 
James Cunningham, Pa. K. A. Black, N. C. 
J. T. Hudson, Ga. Wm. Burch, Ga. 
John R. Umberger, Pa. Joseph Koerper, Pa. 
S. A. Haltawanger, S. C. R. W. Claybrook, S. C. 
Edwin F. Vallette, Pa. D. J. McKinne, Pa. 
H. G. Hendrick, Ala. A. G. Cook, Ga. 
J. G. L. Whitehead, Pa. James S. Raymond, N. Y. 
L. P. Hobbs, S. C. Wm. T. Potts, Pa. 
Jos. A. Holton, Md. John D. Keedy, Md. 
John T. Williams, Pa. Wm. B. Holton, Md. 
No. 297 Pine Street, 
Philadelphia, February 18, 1852. 
To Messrs. Moore, Thompson, Pritchard, &c. &c. 
Gentlemen: Your polite request for a copy of the Valedictory for the 
ensuing Commencement, is acceded to with pleasure. I could wish it were 
more worthy of your perusal; but, such as it is, the manuscript is at your 
disposal. Accept for yourselves, and the gentlemen you represent, my hearty 
wishes for your future welfare. 
Yours, very truly, 
THOS. D. MITCHELL. VALEDICTORY. 
Gentlemen of the Graduating Class :- 
The traveller who has made a long and toilsome journey over 
the rough and the smooth places of life's pathway, feels an inex- 
pressible satisfaction when he finds himself safely housed, even in 
a temporary resting-place. How pleasant are his reflections on 
the past, checkered though they be with incidents that he would 
fain erase from the tablet of memory! He feels that he has 
reached the terminus of a tedious pilgrimage, and his heart is glad. 
But when he thinks for a moment that the associations of the past 
are now to be broken-that the ties which have bound him to others 
are in a few brief hours to be rent-his spirits flag, and he sighs 
for that prospective era, so full of blessing to the good man, when 
the weary shall have unceasing quietude in their eternal home. 
Not only are pupils to be dissevered from teachers, but pupils, so 
long identified by a common and a growing interest, are to gaze 
on each other for the last time. May there never be a moment in 
your history, gentlemen, in which the reminiscence of this hour 
will not be fraught with joyous emotions, blended though it must 
be with the sad assurance that one and another of the happy group 
of to-day has entered the dark valley and gone to his last account I 
Henceforth, gentlemen, you are to take your stand, firm and 
erect, in the great commonwealth of medical science ; and although 
you are not to forget the task and the privileges of the student 
while you live, your future position is to be in the great body 
politic of a mighty profession. In this new sphere of duty and of 
trial, you will soon perceive that a special trust is committed to 
your care ; that with you are to be identified the honor, the integ- 
rity, the usefulness of your exalted vocation. Already has the 
cry been heard by all of you, that the republic of medicine is in 
danger; that her ermine is stained, and her glory marred, by a 6 
VALEDICTORY. 
sombre eclipse that is well nigh total. Will you not come to the 
rescue in such a crisis ? 
We are not of those who look at the dark side of this picture so 
persistently as to obscure oui' vision in respect of its brighter hues. 
We know well that forty years ago, when a single corporate title 
covered nearly all the public teaching in this country, there were 
just such defects as are now the chief theme of complaint by the 
cynics of the day. Diplomas were given oftener than once or 
twice, even when there was but one school of medicine, and when 
rivalry was almost unknown, to young men whose orthographical 
enterprise could not venture safely beyond the range of mono- 
syllables. Their inaugural theses were written by other hands 
than those which penned their private letters; and the latter were 
sufficiently original to be readily identified. Some of these epis- 
tolary communications have long been in my possession, and I 
defy the production of any graduate of 1852 to surpass them for 
monstrous aberrations from a pure orthography, or the simple 
grammar of the king's English. Do not think that the speaker is 
inclined to tolerate or sanction such departures from propriety. 
The allusion is made to show that the grievances now magnified 
and published on the house-top, as the legitimate fruits of the 
present lax system of collegiate instruction, are more ancient than 
some of the modern reformers, who prate as though they alone had 
charge of the key of knowledge and the casket of truth. 
It has fallen to our lot to live in the wonderful era of conven- 
tions, whose avowed aim is reformation. Almost every mechanical 
occupation has its convention ; and, if reformation be not realized, 
a vast amount of conventional effort will have been put forth in 
vain. The ladies, dear creatures, fearful of unendurable invasion 
of their rights, are holding conventions, too, for the purpose of 
illuminating the lords of creation, and asserting full equality in 
the scale of being. And is it strange that so grave a body of 
gentlemen as our profession is composed of, should catch the spirit 
of the age ? The doctors might almost as well be out of the world 
at once as out of the fashion, for this very thing rules nine-tenths 
of the profession. Nor do we deny that some good thing may 
come out of conventions even, albeit their past history has little 
in it calculated to awaken confidence or respect. My own experi- 
ence and observation have not augmented my regards for the VALEDICTORY. 
7 
popular expedient. The elementary construction, and the secret 
wire-working of the machinery, are intrinsically unsuited to induce 
lasting improvement. There may be show enough, and, in truth, 
there is far too much, to warrant the belief that permanently good 
results can follow. 
The lessons to be enforced on this occasion, are intended as 
guides, from the moment you pass the threshold of this hall, until 
you become actual practitioners of medicine, and thenceforward to 
the close of your professional career. Some of you will be solicited, 
ere long, to receive under your care one or more young men whose 
parents regard as eminently fitted for the duties of the healing art. 
This may be deemed so significant a compliment as to forestall in- 
quiry ; and a young doctor, just about to take position, may fee} 
the flattering appliance so sensitively as to forget that significant 
ingredient in human character, called self-respect. For this and 
other reasons, it is necessary to interpose the note of admonition, 
and to say that, as this entire affair has been heretofore a mere 
matter of form, I repudiate all affinity with the system, and reject 
the past dynasty as unworthy the profession-a de^th-blight on 
its high claims to respectability and usefulness. Bear with me, 
then, while I make the experiment, to show you a more excellent 
way. 
And the chief point to which I would direct your attention is 
the indispensable necessity of a just appreciation of the profession 
of your choice. The elementary principles and prominent facts of 
that profession, as a science, are now yours, and they are essential 
to the attainment of honorable success. But, it is not to these 
that reference is now directed. There is a peculiar glory about 
the noble art of healing, in that it enters deeply into the sympa- 
thies of our common humanity, identifies its interests with the 
welfare of the race, and affiliates its destiny with the mission of 
the Son of God, whose chief errand was to do good to the heirs 
of sorrow and pain. Viewed from this exalted elevation, I charge 
you, gentlemen, to venerate your profession, as the pattern and 
model of unselfishness; as an angel of mercy, ever buoyant on 
wings of love. Make this feeling the substratum of all your plans 
in the outset of your career, and there need be no apprehensions 
for the result. In your first settlement, in the location of your 
office, in the purchase of your library and medicines, in the recep- 8 
VALEDICTORY. 
tion of office pupils and their reiterated instruction, you will be 
sure to do right, if guided only by a deep sense of responsibility 
to God and men, in the exercise of your high vocation. Under 
any other tutelage, it is utterly impossible to contribute a particle 
to the elevation of the profession, as a whole, or to secure youi' 
own individual respectability. 
Need I say that the selection of a spot for the exercise of your 
profession should be made with caution and care ? You have good 
sense enough to know that the moral qualities of a people are at 
least as essential to solid growth and ability to compensate your 
services, as are the physical advantages of the place for all that 
appertains to the well-being of society. Let these contingencies 
ever be in your mind, in the choice of a professional home. Let 
your associations, plans, and purposes be under such genial in- 
fluences as to make it certain that the addition of your humble 
self to the population will not impair, but enhance the sense of 
moral obligation, so necessary to the real happiness of every com- 
munity. I have been tempted, in making these suggestions, to 
refer pointedly to a most interesting item, aside from which, home 
scarcely merits the name. I allude to that indispensable fireside 
charm, called a wife. And yet a moment's reflection sufficed to 
assure me that, in respect of nearly the whole class, the hint would 
be in the nature of an ex post facto admonition. Should any one 
of you, however, yet be derelict in this obvious duty of a practi- 
tioner of medicine, let me urge its importance, as a contingency 
whose present and prospective bearings are happily epitomized in 
that ancient axiom, "It is not good for man to be alone." 
In respect to the location of your office, whether in the village 
or the rural district, it is hardly possible to give you safer advice 
than to plant it very much nearer to the church than to the tavern. 
Every young man will be more likely to acquire the character of a 
good citizen, whose affinities for the former are habitual and so 
cognizant of all; while marked attraction for the latter is an in- 
fallible presage of the utter wreck of fortune and reputation. 
The young doctor, least of all men, needs the stimulus of the still 
to rouse his mental or his physical energies for persistent and suc- 
cessful effort. He knows that this fiend of humanity is his direst 
enemy, the demon that most of all, and worse than all, curses the 
race. Emphatically may he exclaim, in view of its blasting ra- VALEDICTORY. 
9 
vages, "Delenda est Carthago;" shouting victory, universal victory, 
to any law that meditates its utter annihilation. 
In the purchase of a library, allow me to say that a few books, 
well selected, are of more real value to a young physician, than 
an office full of volumes gathered, chiefly, because they cost little. 
The standard works, well digested, are the most important profes- 
sional aliment for a candidate for business. In addition, he should 
be in the regular receipt of at least one of the best medical journals, 
since, apart from this help, he cannot be advised of the constant 
improvements or suggestions in the several departments of the 
science, the knowledge of which is just as vital to professional 
growth, as is the atmosphere to the function of respiration. Make 
the resolution, and forget it not, that, when professional calls fail, 
because of general healthfulness, your standard works and your 
medical journal shall be the fast companions of your leisure hours. 
With such a purpose to grow in knowledge, you will always find 
these fountains of intelligence so full and so fresh, that your relish 
for the repast may realize perpetual satisfaction. Apart from this 
fixed resolve, you may indeed retain the torpid vitality of the 
toad's hibernation, but cannot realize the vigorous and healthful 
growth of intelligent and efficient maturity. 
Onward, upward be your aspirations, 
Search the book of Nature eagerly, 
Looking through Nature up to nature's God. 
But the most important item at which I have hinted, as related 
to the true dignity of the profession, is the reception and instruc- 
tion of office pupils. Every village and rural district has its young 
men who aspire to Esculapian honors, and hence the certainty of 
applications to you, in this behalf. Let me express my deep, 
abiding conviction, that you can do more to elevate the profession, 
just at this point, than by all other expedients combined. It 
should be a law, binding on every one of you with the iron per- 
petuity of the statutes of the Medes and Persians, to reject every 
applicant for the post of office pupil, whose palpable ignorance of 
his mother tongue, or incurable mental deficiencies, or addictedness 
to intemperance or other vice, or fondness for the transcendental 
fooleries of the day, manifestly constitutes an insurmountable ob- 
jection. In all doubtful cases, in respect of which your information 
may not be quite satisfactory, institute a term of probation, extend- 10 
VALEDICTORY. 
ing to three or six months, during which period a careful super- 
vision would enable you to decide with unerring accuracy; and if 
the result of such a trial should prove unfavorable to the applicant, 
advise him kindly to try the plough, or the workshop, or at all 
events to bid adieu forever to the profession of medicine. Nor 
is this all. Having taken pupils under your care, with the pre- 
cautions just stated, it will be obligatory on you, if you aim at the 
discharge of duty honestly and faithfully, to direct their studies, 
personally, every week, and to be assured, by oft-repeated exami- 
nations, that they are diligent in the task assigned. Do this as 
you ought, and your pupils will honor you at home, and not less 
at the medical schools to which they may resort, for the completion 
of their studies. Do this, and our graduating classes will, with 
scarce an exception, contribute most effectively to elevate the rank 
and dignity of the profession. The clamors put forth, touching 
decrepitude and decay, and lost dignity, and the whole Pandora's 
box of groans and sighs, will cease by necessity. Die out they 
must and will, for very lack of the breath of life; for all the via- 
bility they have ever appeared to possess has owed its being to a 
dereliction of duty in the matters already named, so universal, 
that the redeeming tendency of the rare exceptions is wholly 
nullified. 
And here, gentlemen, as within the circumference of a nutshell, 
you have an epitome of the more excellent way, to which your 
attention was invited. Analyze its brief, yet comprehensive de- 
tails, and, if I do not sadly mistake, you will be deeply impressed 
with the certainty of its remedial power, to secure infallibly and 
for all time, the most perfect health, and vigorous growth, and 
transparent purity of the profession with which you have volunta- 
rily identified yourselves for life. The remedy is simple. Will 
you give it a faithful application ? 
See to it, graduates of the Philadelphia College of Medicine, 
that you discharge your whole duty to the profession, and to 
society. Impressed with all the solemnity of the last hour we 
may ever spend in company on earth, I charge you, never allow 
your professional ermine to be tinged by the perpetration of a 
professional atrocity, the secrecy of which might shield you from 
the finger of scorn. Let your whole course be so spotless, that 
the broad sunlight of heaven may not be searching enough to 
reveal a solitary blemish. PAGES 11-12 MISSING VALEDICTORY. 
13 
winter session, invests it substantially with the duration of a full 
term. 
You are all aware, gentlemen, that in relation to the spring, as 
W'ell as to the winter course, we require satisfactory evidence that 
our candidates have been students of medicine for the term of three 
years, under the care of regular practitioners. You know that 
all our candidates are expected to avail themselves of the advan- 
tages of hospital practice, for at least one session; and that it is 
our custom to recapitulate, from day to day, throughout the course 
of lectures, by question and answer, so as to fix the instruction 
permanently in the minds of our hearers. Your own observation, 
in respect of the spring session, has abundantly satisfied you that 
it is quite as available as the winter course, here or anywhere, for 
all the ends of public medical tuition; and the imitation of our 
practice by the noble High School of Philadelphia is unanswera- 
ble evidence that it will be sustained by the voice of public senti- 
ment. 
The graduating class, now about to bid adieu to the halls en- 
deared by so many reminiscences, presents the following aspect. 
Of the entire number, there had attended lectures in other medi- 
cal schools, prior to pupilage in the Philadelphia College, as fol- 
lows:- 
In the University of Pennsylvania, . . . 1 
" Jefferson Medical College, . . . 1 
" University of New York, 1 
" Charleston, South Carolina, ... 5 
" Lexington, Kentucky, . . . . 1 
" Albany, New York, . . . . 1 
" Castleton, Vermont, . . . . 1 
" Bowdoin College, Maine, . . . . 1 
" Baltimore, Maryland, . . . . 1 
" Belfast, Ireland, ..... 1 
Other facts merit notice, here, with something like specialty. 
The great Blockley Hospital, located on the western margin of the 
Schuylkill, well known as one of the largest infirmaries in our 
country, has within its walls six resident physicians, who are 
chosen by a board of managers, with especial reference to capa- 
city. The competition for this post of honor and promotion is 14 
VALEDICTORY. 
usually an exciting affair; and yet our graduate list has furnished 
at least four of the actual incumbents. In Saint Joseph's Hos- 
pital, located in the western portion of the city, another of our 
alumni holds the responsible position of resident medical attend- 
ant. Of the vaccine physicians, selected by the commissioners of 
the adjoining districts, at least three are proud to call themselves 
graduates of the Philadelphia College. In the magnificent State 
Lunatic Asylum, located on one of the hills that border the Sus- 
quehannah, are two physicians appointed by authority of the Com- 
monwealth of Pennsylvania, one of them having procured his 
diploma from the school which you and I have the honor of re- 
presenting here to-day. 
But, gentlemen, cast your eye over the great waters, and sur- 
vey the vast hospitals and splendid medical schools of Paris; and 
you may discover in the crowd some aspirants for fame, who but 
lately made their exodus from this spot, crowned with the same 
honors that now rest on you. They have realized a position as 
honorable and as profitable as falls to the lot of graduates from 
any school in the world; and you will meet as cordial a welcome 
there, should it be the good fortune of any of your number to 
make the experiment. 
If such has been the result of our enterprise thus far, what will 
the coming five years develop? Echo loudly answers, what? 
Is this the twilight lustre? 
What the effulgence of the mid-day sun, 
When the young giant, in its strength mature, 
The magic wand shall wave, exclaiming, 
" ;Tis enough ?" 
Need I tell you that my colleagues intend to act their part in 
the drama in such a manner as to invest the future with a ra- 
diance and glory far excelling the reality of past success ? You 
know all this, gentlemen; ay, and you feel it, too, so deeply, that 
you cannot fail to urge the glad tidings on the wings of the wind, 
to the remotest corner of the land. But I will detain you no 
longer. In the name and behalf of my colleagues, I bid you an 
affectionate farewell. GRADUATES 
OF THE 
PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF MEDICINE. 
At a public Commencement held on the twenty-eighth day of February, 1852, the 
degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred on the following gentlemen, by the 
Hon. Jesse R. Burden, M. D., President of the Institution, after which the Valedic- 
tory was delivered by Professor Mitchell. 
NAMES. 
TITLE OF THESIS. 
STATE. 
Alexander. H. K. 
Uterine Hemorrhage, 
Tennessee. 
Bason, Wm. F. 
The Teeth, 
North Carolina. 
Beasley, John F. 
Remitting Fever, 
Louisiana. 
Black, K. A. 
Prolapsus Uteri, 
North Carolina. 
Bowes, Robert L. 
Scarlatina, 
Pennsylvania. 
Bunn, Robert S. 
Scarlatina, 
Pennsylvania. 
Burch, William 
Rubeola, 
Georgia. 
Carter, George N. 
Intermitting Fever, 
Virginia. 
Claybrook, Robert W. 
Worms, 
South Carolina. 
Cochrane, Andrew 
Typhus Fever, 
Ireland. 
Cook, Augustus G. 
Digestion, 
Georgia. 
Cunningham, James 
Medical Profession, 
Pennsylvania. 
Gegan, Michael F. 
Peritonitis, 
Philadelphia. 
Gihon, John H. 
Tumors, 
California. 
Haltawanger, S. A. 
Typhoid Fever, 
South Carolina. 
Hendrick, H. G. 
Typhoid Fever, 
Alabama. 
Hobbs, L. D. 
Fecundation, 
South Carolina. 
Holton, Joseph A. 
Science of Medicine, 
Maryland. 
Holton, William B. 
Typhoid Fever, 
Maryland. 
Hudson, James T. 
Signs of Pregnancy, 
Georgia. 
Keedy, John D. 
Intermitting Fever, 
Maryland. 
Kcerper, Joseph 
Pericarditis, 
Pennsylvania. 
Le Blanc, Theodore 
Management of Children, 
Louisiana. 
McKinne, Daniel J. 
Onanism, 
Pennsylvania. 
McPherson, C. F. 
Typhus Fever, 
Pennsylvania. 
Moore, C. C. 
The Teeth, 
Philadelphia. 
Niles, Andrew 
Prolapsus Uteri, 
Vermont. 
O'Neill, J. S. 
Dental Pulp, 
Philadelphia. 
Potts, William T. 
Oil of Turpentine, 
Pennsylvania. 
Pritchard, Isaac 
Fractures, 
Louisiana. 
Raymond, James S. 
Death, 
New York. 
Richardson, Francis X. 
Dysentery, 
Maryland. 16 
LIST OF GRADUATES. 
NAMES. 
TITLE OF THESIS. 
STATE. 
Rosenberger, Simon 
Onanism, 
Pennsylvania. 
Saunders, William G. 
Apoplexy, 
New York. 
Snowden, Isaac Wayne 
Signs of Pregnancy, 
Pennsylvania. 
Thompson, N. G. 
Dysentery, 
Pennsylvania. 
Umberger, John R. 
Phrenitis, 
Pennsylvania. 
Vallette, Edward F. 
Gonorrhoea, 
Philadelphia. 
Whitehead, John G. L. 
Scorbutus, 
Philadelphia. 
Williams, John T. 
Alcohol, 
Philadelphia. 
The Honorary Degree of M. D. was conferred, at the same time, on Dr. Samuel 
Thome, of Pennsylvania; and the ad eundem on Eliab Wabd, M. D., of Philadel- 
phia, a graduate of 1847 in Harvard University. 
Dr. Joseph Alonzo Cbespo. of Cuba, was admitted to the Honorary Degree in 
1851, but the announcement was not made before. 
RECAPITULATION. 
From Pennsylvania - - - 12 
Philadelphia - - - 6 
Maryland - - - - 4 
Louisiana 3 
Georgia - - - 3 
South Carolina - - - 3 
North Carolina - - - 2 
New York 2 
From California - - - - 1 
Alabama - - - - 1 
Virginia 1 
Ireland 1 
Vermont - - - - 1 
Tennessee - - - - 1 
Cuba ----- 1 
Total - - 42 
james McClintock, m.d., 
' Dean of Faculty, 
No. 1 North Eleventh St. 
TO MEDICAL STUDENTS. 
The following are the Text-books for the Lectures on the 
Theory and Practice of Medicine: 
Mitchell's Therapeutics. 
Watson's or Elliotson's Practice. 
Freckleton's or Williams's Pathology. 
And, so soon as published, 
Mitchell on the Fevers of the United States, 
now nearly ready for the press. PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF MEDICINE, 
Fifth Street, a few doors South of Walnut. 
The Winter Course of Lectures, 1852-53, will be commenced on 
Monday, 11th of October, 1852, at 5 o'clock, P. M. The General Intro- 
ductory will be given by Professor James Bryan, M.D. Degrees will be 
conferred about the 1st of March, 1852. 
PRESIDENT. 
HON. JESSE R. BURDEN, M. D. 
JAMES McCLINTOCK, M.D., Principles and Practice of Surgery. 
RUSH VAN DYKE, M. D., Materia Medica and General Therapeutics. 
THOMAS D. MITCHELL, M. D., Theory and Practice of Medicine. 
JAMES BRYAN, M. D., Institutes of Medicine and Medical Jurispru- 
dence. 
EZRA S. CARR, M. D., Medical Chemistry. 
JAMES McCLINTOCK, M. D., General, Special, and Surgical Anatomy. 
FREDERICK A. FICKARDT, M. D., Obstetrics and Diseases of Wo- 
men and Children. 
GEORGE HEWSTON, M. D., Demonstrator of Anatomy. 
FACULTY. 
Fee for a full Course, ...... $84 00 
Matriculation Fee, only once paid, .... 5 00 
Graduation, ........ 30 00 
Fee for those who have attended two full Courses in other 
Colleges, ........ 45 00 
Dissecting Ticket, . . . . . . . 10 00 
Perpetual Ticket, . . . . . . . 150 00 
The fee will be received by the Dean, who will issue a certificate enti- 
tling the Student to the various tickets. Full Course candidates for 
graduation will be furnished with the ticket for the Pennsylvania Hospital 
without charge. 
For further information, inquire of 
james McClintock, m.d., dean, 
No. 1 North Eleventh Street. 
Philadelphia, FeUy. 20, 1852.