INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
OF 
ORLANDO B. DOUGLAS, 
PRESIDENT 
OF THE 
Medical Society of the County of New York. 
November 24TH, 1890. INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
OF 
ORLANDO B. DOUGLAS, M.D., 
PRESIDENT 
OF THE 
Medical Society of the Coonty of New York. 
November 24TH, 1890. 
NEW YORK: 
Press of STETTINER, LAMBERT & CO., 
22, 24 & 26 Reade Street. 
1890. INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
Members of the Society, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
A custom, honored with age, calls for an address from him 
whom you elect to serve as President, on the occasion of his 
beginning his service. It is always wise to consider carefully 
the work we are about to undertake, count the cost, and reckon 
the probable profits and losses. We may study the original 
designs, take measurements, inspect the work, and possibly 
draw anew some detail of the plans so ably prepared by the 
founders of this Society. 
Our lives, like our books, are punctuated. We pause at 
minor points, and here, at our anniversary meeting, come to a 
full stop before commencing a new period, perhaps to turn a new 
leaf. The able administration of my predecessor renders the 
latter difficult. But I am persuaded that the highest compli- 
ment we can pay him and those who preceded him is to build 
on the foundations which they have laid. 
To believe that the greatest possible attainment has been 
reached is to clip the wings of aspiration; to be hopeless of 
advancing is to chain the wheels of progress ; to do no better 
work than has been done is to entail on posterity the doom of 
death, for when we cease to grow we begin to decay. 
To know whence and why our Society was called into being, 
let us go back to its founding. Eighty-four years ago on the 
first day of last July, one hundred and two physicians and 
surgeons of this city met in the front court room of the City 
Hall and organized the Medical Society of the County of 
New York. This was in compliance with An Act to Incorporate 
Medical Societies for the purpose of regulating the practice of 
Physic and Surgery, in the State. 4 
This Society was conceived in 1788, its period of gestation 
being eighteen years, during which it was known as “The 
New York Medical Society.” It owed its existence largely to 
army surgeons, who settled here after the Revolutionary war, 
this being the capital and metropolis of the country, and these 
men were identified with our Society. 
New York City then covered one-twentieth of its present 
area, and contained a population of about 80,000. The entire 
State comprised less than half the number of people that now 
inhabit this city, according to the last federal census. There 
were 321—more or less regular—practitioners of medicine in 
the city, besides, as now, an army of quacks. Political ani- 
mosities, social strife, personal jealousies prevailed, artifice 
and intrigue succeeded in advancing private interests and pro- 
fessional emoluments. Almost from the time of the first settle- 
ment of this city, in 1609—or, if we confine our research to the 
records, from the time of “ the first doctor in whom the peo- 
ple had any confidence,” Johannes La Montagne, a graduate 
and practitioner from Leyden, who settled here in 1636—there 
were ever present doctors of a baser sort. As early as 1652 a 
law was passed by the Dutch council to protect chirurgeons 
of New Amsterdam in their asserted exclusive right to shave, 
and, while it is acknowledged that “ shaving doth not appertain 
exclusively to chirurgery,” it is declared to be “ an appendix 
thereunto.” By the same power ship-barbers were forbidden 
to dress wounds or give potions on shore without the knowl- 
edge and consent of the petitioners for this law, or of Dr. La 
Montagne. At various times subsequently—namely, in 1684, 
1731, 1760, 1767, 1801, and 1803—laws were enacted attempting 
to regulate practitioners and the practice of medicine. 
Notwithstanding these laws and labor to suppress quackery, 
it would not be suppressed. Writers of that time tell us that 
“vile quacks and pretenders were imported from the old 
country.” “ Scandalous interlopers abounded like locusts in 
Egypt.” “ The profession was under no kind of regulation, 
any man at his pleasure setting up for a physician.” “ The 
greater part were mere pretenders to a profession of which 
they were entirely ignorant.” 
The statute enacted April 4th, 1806, by the Legislature of 
this State, to incorporate medical societies, “ may be consid- 5 
ered,” says Dr. Romayne, “as among the first real efforts 
made in this country to reduce medicine to a regular science 
and give to the medical profession an honorable station in the 
community.” And this Society was one of the first medical 
institutions which was created by the laws of this State.* 
That it was needed is quite apparent; that it was carefully con- 
sidered, well founded, and has been ably managed, its continu- 
ance and flourishing condition to-night fully attest. 
To know the spirit of men who founded this institution we 
should read their words, glowing yet with the fire of their 
zeal, wise and true to-day as when uttered. Courageous and 
resolute, they conquered prejudice, crushed pretension, and 
brought out of chaos order and honor to our profession. “ If 
you seek their monuments, look about you.” Their names are 
upon our record ; all honor to them ! 
Earnest men built the superstructure, and some of their 
names are prominent in the annals of their country. Compute, 
if you can, the good these men have done, the lives they pro- 
longed, the suffering they saved, the evil they prevented. 
They raised the standing, fixed the status, in their profession ; 
they winnowed out the chaff from the wheat; they pointed to 
a higher plane and led the way ; they were an inspiration and 
encouragement to men of lofty purpose, but they were a ter- 
ror to evil-doers. Their virtues are for our emulation ; the 
work they commenced is for us to carry forward. 
The first President of this Society was afterward first Presi- 
dent of our State Medical Society. In his inaugural address 
to the State Society in February, 1809, Dr. Nicholas Romayne 
says : “ The history of all learned professions proves that none 
of them become extensively useful or successful except under 
the immediate restraint of its own members ”; and “ where ig- 
norance and prejudice abound, there empiricism is maintained ; 
where the genial influence of science and human improvement 
prevails, quackery and every kind of imposition diminish.” 
He states “ that the science of medicine embraces the study 
and knowledge of nature and of those arts which are conducive 
to the subsistence, comfort, and convenience of man.” He takes 
the broadest view, and urges medical men to investigate the 
*About twenty other counties organized medical societies on the same day, July 
ist, 1806 6 
topography, geology, and mineralogy of their own section, as 
well as botany, chemistry, medical and natural history, and 
agriculture. “ The commonwealth of science is of no party,” 
he says ; “ it cherishes a spirit of universal benevolence and im- 
provement, and favors a liberal intercourse among men.” He 
urges us to “add to the stock of human knowledge.” 
Much might be quoted from their sayings to prove the excel- 
lent spirit, the wisdom and foresight of men who wove into the 
fabric of the County Medical Society the colors of their char- 
acters, the textures of their lives. But this Society, the pro- 
genitor of two colleges, The Physicians and Surgeons and 
The University Medical College, the father of The New 
York Academy of Medicine* and of numerous other lesser 
bodies in the medical world, hale and hearty at eighty-five years 
of age, need not labor to prove what we readily grant. My 
successor a thousand years hence will find good evidence, 1 
trust, of a healthy childhood, a vigorous manhood, and a pros- 
perous old age. 
Following is a list of all Presidents of our Society, with date 
of election and terms of service: 
i. Nicholas Romayne 
Elected. 
Served. 
i year. 
2. Samuel L. Mitchell.... 
O 
00 
w 
and 
in 
again ) 
1821 i 
2 
yrs. 
3. James Tillary 
4. Wm. Moore 
5 
1 
ii 
U 
5. John R. B. Rogers 
6. Gilbert Smith 
7 
2 
ii 
ii 
7. David Hossack 
1 
8. John Onderdonk 
9. Thomas Cock 
3 
1 
ii 
ii 
10. Samuel W. Moore .. 
... 1829 
1 
ii 
n. D. L. M. Peixotto 
3 
ii 
12. John B. Beck 
13. David Rogers 
• •• 1833 
... 1835. 
2 
1 
ii 
ii 
14. Francis U. Johnson. .. 
and again ) 
in 1838 1 
3 
ii 
15- James R. Manley 
CO 
00 
1 
ii 
* The claim that the County Society was instrumental in establishing these colleges 
rests in the fact that the men who organized those institutions were active men in this 
Society, and the plans were laid here that eventuated in such grand results. 7 
Elected. 
Served. 
i6. Wm. W. Miner .... 
1840 
i year. 
17. Nicholas H. Dering 
1841 
1 “ 
18. John C. Cheesman 
1842 
1 “ 
19. Richard K. Hoffman 
• • 1843 
1 “ 
20. Edward Delafield 
•• 1844 
2 “ 
21. Isaac Wood 
1846 
1 “ 
22. J. Kearny Rogers 
• • 1847 
1 “ 
23. Benjamin Drake 
1848 
2 “ 
24. Wm. Rockwell 
. . 1850 
3 “ 
25. Galen Carter 
•• 1853 
2 “ 
26. Benjamin Ogden 
•• 1855 
1 “ 
27. John R. Van Kleek 
• • 1856 
2 “ 
28. Edward L. Beadle 
.. 1858 
1 “ 
29. Oliver White 
• • 1859 
1 “ 
30 Alfred Underhill 
.. i86ojandaSainl 
( in 1862 ) 
3 “ 
31 Henry D. Bulkley 
1861 j, ,. 0 
1 “ 
32. Isaac E. Taylor 
1864 
1 “ 
33. Thos. C. Finnell 
.. 1865 
1 “ 
34. Srmuel T. Hubbard* 
.. 1866 
1 “ 
35. Edmund R. Peaslee 
.. 1867 
. 1 “ 
36. Geo. T. Elliot 
.. 1868 
2 “ 
1870 , c. 
2 “ 
38. Ellsworth Eliot* „ 
1872 
, 2 “ 
39. Henry B. Sands 
• • 1874. 
. 2 “ 
TnVin P Peters* 
.. 1876 
. 2 “ 
41. Freeman J. Bumstead 
... 1878 
. 1 “ 
42. A. E. M. Purdy* 
• • 
. 2 “ 
43. Fred. R. Sturgis* 
.. 1881 
. 1 “ 
44. David Webster* „.. 
1882 
. 1 “ 
45. S. Oakley Vander Poel... 
.. 1883 
. 1 “ 
46. Daniel Lewis* 
1884 
2 yrs. 
47. Laurence Johnson* 
1886 
2 “ 
48. Alexander S. Hunter* 
.. 1888 
2 “ 
49. Orlando B. Douglas* 
1890 
I am honored with the forty-ninth place on the list. Only 
eleven of this number are living, the senior ex-President being 
Samuel T. Hubbard, a graduate from the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons in 1835. I invited him to be with us this even- 
* Still living. 8 
ing, and we are honored by the presence of one who has ac- 
complished much for our profession and our Society. Through 
such as he we reach back and clasp hands with the founders of 
this institution; back to the patriots who fought and won tor 
us independence and a glorious country. Looking at Dr. Hub- 
bard, f am inclined to say of him—borrowing a thought from 
Dr. Holmes—that “to be seventy years young may be better 
than forty years old.” 
One hundred and seven years ago to-night Sir Guy Carlton 
completed his arrangements for the evacuation of New York, 
and on the morrow General Washington, Governor Clinton, 
General Knox, and many others entered the city and took for- 
mal possession. It is fitting that we remember that stirring 
and important event. 
Through struggles and conflicts, sometimes fierce and bitter, 
we have come into this present peace. Rest is sweet after 
labor ; we may enjoy it, but must gather strength for new vic- 
tories. Our ranks are filled, our forces armed ; we are more 
than a thousand strong, and what power lies latent in a thousand 
earnest men ! “ No amount of error, no bitterness of prejudice, 
no vested interest in falsehood, can resist the determined con- 
viction of a single soul,” says James Freeman Clark. “ There 
is but one failure,” Canon Farrar believes, “ and that is, not to 
be true to the best we know.” And Carlyle tells us that “ our 
desires are the presentiments of our capabilities.” 
What have we to do? Our By-Laws define “the objects of 
the Society to be to aid in regulating the practice of physic 
and surgery in this State, and to contribute to the diffusion of 
true science, particularly to the knowledge of the healing art.” 
To aid in regulating the practice of medicine and surgery is 
not to dictate what medicines shall be given, or in what doses; 
whether bolus or pellet shall be prescribed or proscribed. 
Nor does it indicate which of the various methods shall be em- 
ployed in doing a surgical operation, whether we shall or shall 
not go when sent for, with whom we shall consult or whose 
advice we shall seek. These things can safely be left to the 
good judgment of educated physicians. It is not to persecute 
the unfortunate man whose diploma may be accidentally defec- 
tive. But it is to say what shall be the qualifications of men 
entrusted with the lives of our wives and children, our neigh- 9 
bors and friends, and the stranger who may require skilled 
medical or surgical service. It is that all who practise these 
arts shall comply with wholesome laws made to prevent wrong- 
doing and to encourage right-doing. It is to suppress bad prac- 
tice of whatever kind and by whomsoever maintained. We 
insist that the Physician shall hold no false dogma nor practise 
in a narrower sphere than the whole, true science of medicine. 
To regulate the practice of physic and surgery is our char- 
tered right and duty. For ten years we have employed counsel 
and invoked the authority of courts to suppress the illegal 
practice of medicine. How much has been accomplished we 
may never know, for we learn but a paltry part of the good 
done when we simply count the hundreds of bolder law- 
breakers who have been compelled to stop. The wholesome 
fear of penalties makes men careful, and law, unless enforced> 
is of little use. We must carry forward this work with our full 
energy. 
To contribute to the diffusion of true science, particularly to 
the knowledge of the healing art, is our traditional and habitual 
work. Opportunity is offered to our younger members for 
presenting their carefully prepared thoughts by a brief article 
read before the Society, and to discuss topics presented by 
others. Dr. Jacobi, on retiring from the presidency of this 
Society eighteen years ago, said : “ The scientific domain of 
medical societies like ours is to foster and encourage scientific 
tendencies and ambition in the individual members. Keep 
them informed, give them opportunity to express their 
thoughts on scientific subjects, and by expressing them improve 
their power to think.” 
The diffusion of true science—this platform is broad and 
comprehensive. And are the triumphs of science less glorious 
than the triumphs of politics or war? Would you aspire to 
the glorious work of Bismarck or of Koch, of Wellington or of 
Harvey? Is not he who saves a hundred thousand lives greater 
than he who destroys them ? 
The world never appreciated true science more than now. 
And if there lie hidden in every inch of the human body mys- 
teries that will require a lifetime to solve, we need not despair 
of the want of opportunity. Discoveries have not all been 
made. 10 
Not science only, but the healing art is for our study. Men 
of science are not always the best physicians. To be scientific 
and not sympathetic is to use the cold scalpel without skill. 
Sympathy is to science what wisdom is to knowledge, or 
power is to fuel—the assimilated, practical outgrowth, the use- 
ful, working resultant, of latent and active energies, the essence 
or refined extract of crude material. It is the social, the pro- 
fessional, the chemical bond; it is that which binds together 
God’s universe, “ without which every man would be a distinct 
species to himself.” 
The character of this Society is the aggregation of individual 
character. Its accomplishments are but the accomplishments 
of its members. Our corporate capacity is only the capacity 
of our component parts. We are as strong merely as our 
weakest constituent. With us rests the honor, the usefulness, 
the perpetuity of this Society. I appeal to you individually 
to be present at its meetings, to participate in our delibera- 
tions, to honor by your every-day life this grand old Society, 
the largest of its kind in the country, powerful for good, 
capable, like all power, of evil. What the future has in store 
for us we shall know, for we shall have much to do with 
making it. Vigorous manhood requires vigorous exercise and 
wholesome food. This must be furnished. 
For myself I ask your firm support, your wise suggestions, 
your kindly criticism—but this I expect; you pledged it with 
your ballots. Human weakness and human limitations con- 
stantly call to exercise the divine within us—charity. This, 
too, I ask. “ I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men,” and, 
appreciating the high honor you confer upon me, I thank 
you for this expression of your confidence. I shall endeavor 
to perform the arduous duty imposed upon me fearlessly, 
honestly, justly. 
123 East 36th Street.