INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS, 
delivered before the class of the 
I 
ECLECTIC MEDIC AL INSTITUTE 
CINCINNATI, O. 
At the Commencement of the Session, November, 1847; 
BY T. V. MORROW, M: D„ 
Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine. 
PUBLISHED BY THE CLASS. 
CINCINNATI: 
"great western" print., 32, WEST fourth st. 
1847. CORRESPONDENCE. 
Cincinnati. November 12th, 1847. 
Prof. Morrow: 
Dear Sir,--At a meeting of the students of the Eclectic Medical In- 
stitute held on the 11th inst., J. William Justice, Chairman, and J. H. Jor- 
dan, Secretary. We, the undersigned, were appointed a Committee to 
solicit of you a copy of your Introductory Lecture for publication, which 
duty we now have the honor to perform. 
Respectfully yours, &c. 
L. F. Beckwith, 
B. S. Heath, 
W. H. McGranaghan, 
R. R. Hopkins, 
E. B. Holmes, 
Committee. 
REPLY: 
Cincinnati, November 13tli, 1847. 
Messrs. Beckwith, Heath, McGranahan, Hopkins, and Holmes : 
Sirs,-Your note of the 12th inst. soliciting a copy of my In- 
troductory Lecture to the class of the Institute, is now before me. 
In reply, I have only to remark that a copy is at your service, whenever 
it may suit your convenience to call for it. 
Very respectfully, yours. &c, 
T.V. MORROW. ADDRESS. 
Gentlemen:- 
In the selection of a subject to make a few in- 
troductory remarks, in conformity to a custom which has prevailed 
among medical teachers, I have, for several reasons, been induced 
to bestow a few thoughts on the Spirit of medical progress, more 
especially in reference to its developements for the last few years. 
We shall have no difficulty in perceiving thatfew subjects touch- 
ing the interests of medical science, at this interesting period of 
its progress and agitation, can properly be regarded, as possessing 
more extensive and inviting fields of investigation than the one 
under consideration, embracing as it does, many of those great 
questions which have so materially disturbed the repose of the me- 
dical mind of this country, for the last fifteen or twenty years, and 
which still promise to become much more attractive, for many 
years yet to come. 
The magnitude and complexity of the subject chosen is natural- 
ly calculated to impose upon me feelings of embarrassment and re- 
straint; the influence of which I feel, at present, to no inconsidera- 
ble extent, I would premise by remarking that the responsibilities 
which devolve upon all classes of men; for the proper and faith- 
ful discharge of their appropriate duties; for the cultivation and 
improvement of those departments of business which they have 
chosen, as the objects of their pursuit, are at all times, and under 
all circumstances, sufficently imperative, if properly considered, to 
impel them to vigorous and active exertion. 
The very confident hope of pecuniary reward is, by no means, 
among the least incentives to active and enterprising exertion, in 
the' prosecution of the varied and ever changing pursuits of men, 
indeed the activity of their efforts often bear a direct ratio to the 6 
extent of the reward promised and the degree of certainty in ob- 
taining it. 
The love of professional fame is another strong motive with ma- 
ny to successful effort; it is, in many cases, even stronger than 
the hope of pecuniary reward; not a few among the aspirants for 
distinction, in the various departments of human pursuit, are 
prompted to a vigorous prosecution of their purposes, by a strong 
and ardent desire to have the story of their deeds registered on 
some conspicuous page, in the history of the distinguished and 
meritorious benefactors of their country and age ; without any very 
special regard to the accumulation of wealth and power. Such 
desire above all things else to contribute largely to the sum total 
of human knowledge, such an amount and quality of material, as 
may justly entitle them to a high rank among the patrons of the 
arts and sciences. No sacrifice of time and means appears to be 
too much for them, when engaged in the active prosecution of 
their favorite pursuits. 
They regard the privilege of an existence valuable just in pro- 
portion as it enables them to acquire a reputation that shall live un- 
sullied in the memory of future ages. The hopeful prospect of 
realizing this ultimatum of their ambition, renders them, in many 
instances, insensible to many of the disturbing influences which give 
to the mass of society no little annoyance and inconvenience. Ma- 
ny others, while inspired with a just and laudable desire to perform 
well and faithfully the part assigned them, are much more provident 
in amassing the means of competency and wealth. Thus the di- 
versified and conflicting elements of human character are strikingly 
manifested in shaping the destinies and course of men with widely 
different results, touching their own individual interests and the pros- 
perity and happiness of mankind at large. 
Among no class of men do we find a greater diversity of effects, 
consequent on the spirit that animates them, than among the mem- 
bers of the medical profession. While many seem to be content 
to travel over the past history of their science, and collect, with 
scrupulous care the ideas of the ancient patriarchs of that science, 
making themselves intimately acquainted with that which is sanc- 
tioned by the fashions of orthodoxy, and being very careful to con- 
fine themselves within the limits of that platform which has been 7 
erected for their accommodation by a State or National Medical 
Convention of their order. Others less disposed to pay the hom- 
age of their adoration to doctrines purely on account of their an- 
tiquity, and their having been generally received as true, choose 
again to submit these to the searching operation of additional in- 
vestigation, for the purpose of forming new opinions and views of 
their comparative value when brought to the proper tests by the 
side of recent discoveries and substantial improvements. Old 
truths which were once justly considered valuable, in the very im- 
perfect condition of the science which existed at the time of their 
first introduction, may be rendered wholly worthless by subsequent 
changes for the better in relation to the same points of knowledge; 
a fact which seems in a good degree to have escaped the notice, 
or at any rate appears not to have been duly appreciated by many 
of our orthodox medical friends. 
Men whose minds are thus liberally constituted are in a much 
better condition to advance than those who are led captive by the 
false allurements and blandishments of fashion. They boldly launch 
forth in the field of investigation, not being specially particular to 
follow in the footsteps af any illustrious predecessor, nor to pause 
for the purpose of enquiring whether or no the course they have in- 
dicated for themselves is within the limits of that professional free- 
dom which may have been arbitrarily assigned them by those 
who assume the high functions of their professional guardians and 
leaders ; beyond the pale of whose arbitrary edicts it is moral and 
medical death to pass. They soon learn to break loose from the 
shackles of ancient authority and stand ready to embrace valuable 
truth, let it come from whatever quarter it may. 
They pursue the even tenor of their way undismayed by the 
threats and denunciations of the blind bigots and infatuated votaries 
of fashion, as well as the silly and misdirected opposition which 
springs from the dark fountains of luxuriant ignorance and pre- 
sumptuous impudence. They openly declare that it is the duty of 
the profession to lay aside that selfish spirit of denunciation for 
differences of opinion which has too long been its shame and 
degradation, and adopt a more liberal and enlightened policy in 
their intercourse with each other, a policy wdiich is infinitely more 
in accordance with the enlightened spirit of the age in wThich it is 8 
our fortune to live. Freedom of inquiry and the respectful tolera- 
tion of all differences of opinion begin to be regarded in this free 
and glorious country as among the essential and fundamental prin- 
ciples upon which are predicated the rules which regulate the 
intercourse of individuals as well as associations in all polite and 
civilized society, and we know of no good reasons why the mem- 
bers of the medical profession, in their intercourse with each other, 
should not feel themselves under obligations to respectthese injunc- 
tions and regulate their conduct accordingly. 
They further hold that it is the high and imperative duty of 
every one engaged in the prosecution of medical inquiries, to ex- 
tend a courteous, candid aud respectful examination to all the vari- 
ous systems, plans, means and measures, which are brought for- 
ward for the purpose of advancing the interests of the science in 
any of its departments. 
It is not enough for them that anything may be really true, but 
its comparative value as truth is the great problem which they feel 
themselves called upon to solve by the impartial tests to which it 
may and should be subjected. As for example, a certain specific 
mode of medication may have been found useful or even highly 
valuable in the treatment of any given form of disease, when com- 
pared with what was then known, but it afterwards may have been 
rendered comparatively worthless by what had subsequently been 
discovered and applied for the same purpose. No one could, 
under circumstances of this kind, hesitate as to which should be 
adopted and which discarded. 
They anxiously and ardently desire to see the practice of the 
healing art so conducted as that its success will be much greater 
in the cure of disease, and that it shall be entirely freed from any 
tendency whatever to produce injurious effects on the human con- 
stitution, and they confidently look forward to the arrival of that 
period when such a thing as the disease-creating tendencies of 
medical practice shall be entirely unknown, and when it should 
occur, it should come under the heavy penalties of professional, pri- 
vate and public censure. Those who pursue their profession in 
this spirit, are the true Eclectics of medical science, upon whom 
the community may safely depend for a deliverance of the healing 
art from that deeply degrading spirit of intolerance, proscription 9 
and illiberally, which have but too long marked the conduct of 
those who have controlled its destinies, and who have, by a course 
of impolitic measures, shorn it of much of its usefulness, and have 
paralyzed the efforts of those who would otherwise,'no doubt, have 
contributed largely to its beneficent objects aud purposes. 
A desire to monopolize its profits and its honors on the part of 
its leaders, has induced them to institute a course of measures infi- 
nitely disastrous to its best interests and the highest and the best 
hopes of suffering humanity. Against this downward tendency of 
the prospects of our profession, and the causes which have unfor- 
tunately led to it, we of the Eclectic School have declared a war 
of extermination, and have pledged our lives, our sacred honors 
and our fortunes, never to cease our efforts until we shall have ac- 
complished the desired reformation, not only in the practice but in 
the pervading spirit of the fraternity. We have come up to this 
work with the deliberate purpose and unyielding determination to 
bear aloft the proud and gloriousbanner of Eclectic Medical Reform, 
to roll back that desolating deluge of prejudice, aristocracy and 
tyranny of opinion, which, for ages past, have excercised an un- 
warrantable control over the fortunes and prospects of medical 
science, drying up the sources of its prosperity and progression 
until it has been, by common consent, placed far in the rear of 
most other enterprises of the day. Against this state of things we 
shall continue to exert our utmost efforts until the true spirit of 
medical progress shall once more reign triumphantly, and order 
shall again be restored, then medical men will meet like a band of 
brothers, notwithstanding the existence of differences of opinion 
among them, touching the doctrines and practice of their profession; 
then, unlike now, they will be prepared to extend to each other the 
common courtesies of refined and civilized life, even though there 
may be irreconcilable differences in their medical views and opin- 
ions. 
Such a state of things we anxiously and ardently desire to see; 
and for the purpose of effecting these salutary reforms, our best ex- 
ertions have been put forth and will be continued, to an extent com- 
mensurate with the importance of the objects sought to be accom- 
plished. 
It affords us a high degree of pleasure to know that they have 10 
not been unavailing. The labors of Eclectic Reformers have 
indeed been crowned with a signal degree of success. They were 
the first io move, in an effectual manner, in this great work and 
as a matter of course, are entitled to that credit. It is mainly to 
their labors that we are now indebted for the present flourishing 
condition of the cause ; for that immunity which is now so happily 
experienced by a large proportion of the human family from the 
dreadful consequences of a deleterious and destructive practice ; 
which has too long reigned triumphant in this great Western Val- 
ley, as well as in many other portions of the world. But a better 
state of things has already dawned upon us. We are met on all 
sides with the unmistakable evidences of this interesting fact. 
Every where has the public mind become more enlightened on 
the subject of the evils to which they have been exposed from the 
medical practice to which people had been subjected,as well as those 
evils which result from the prevalence of an illiberal and intolerant 
spirit. 
The public have seen with unmingled pleasure and astonish- 
ment multitudes of diseases which were commonly regarded as 
incurable, under the ministrations of the fashionable modes of med- 
ication of the day, yield with a surprising promptitude to mild and 
efficient though more congenial remedies of the Reformed School. 
Doctrines and principles which had been looked on as indisputable 
truth have been clearly shown to be full of error; and in many 
instances comparatively worthless. Dogmas which were regarded 
as occupying an impregnable position in the world of mind have 
been supplanted byathe revolutionary spirit of successful innovation 
and thus have they been completely stript of their fictitious impor- 
tance giving place for more substantial and valuable truths. 
These important results have been accomplished, by the labors 
of a comparatively few daring spirits who have in carrying forward 
their improvements successfully braved the floods of persecution, 
abuse and ridicule, 'which they were compelled to encounter; in 
the prosecution of their researches for the developement of undis- 
covered and valuable truths. The immense consequences of this 
great reformatory movement to human happiness is being fast de- 
veloped in the subversion of that intolerant spirit which has by vir- 
tue of its extensive prevalence come well nigh annihilating its pros- 11 
pects of future usefulness inspired those who had embarked in the 
enterprise with an unconquerable determination to surmount every 
impediment which might be raised to hinder their progress and en- 
abled them to achieve results which looked at first nearly or quite 
impossible. 
The enterpiizing band of reformers who determined on these 
bold resolutions looked abroad on their profession and beheld, 
with pain, the frightful picture of its melancholy results; its glaring 
and lamentable defects every where palpable, in its practical con- 
sequences, determined to rescue it from a condition which render- 
ed it every where liable to be regarded as of very questionable util- 
ity to mankind. They confidently believed that it was succepti- 
ble of such improvements as would render it universally worthy of 
public confidence. 
They had no trouble whatever in appreciating the correctness 
of the following remarks of a gentleman of high distinction and 
acknowledged talents who once stated in a discourse on medical 
Eclecticism delivered to the class of the Ohio Medical College, a 
few years since ; that "Your profession is in the hands of the Phil- 
istines: they have crushed its energies, they have blasted its pros- 
pects ; they have covered it with disgrace, and it is now overspread 
with the dark and dreary night of desolation. Pause not till you 
have rescued it from their unhallowed keeping; rest not till 
you have accomplished its regeneration, sleep not till you 
have redeemed it from under the yoke of ignominious bond- 
age."' 
These are indeed noble sentiments well expressed affording a 
faithful sketch of the condition of the much to be regretted state of 
medical science and indicating in pretty strong language the re- 
sponsibilities and duties of those who assume the functions of me- 
dical students practitioners and teachers. 
To the same purport and in a similar spirit do we find conces- 
sions from nearly every prominent member of the profession who is 
in any considerable degree distinguished for his liberality of senti- 
ment and freedom from the embarrassments and restraints thrown 
around him by the strength of his early prejudices preconceived 
views and opinions. 
It is somewhat amusing however to perceive howr pertinaciously 12 
many cling to their old erroneous notions and views of matters per- 
taining to medical science. Views which in many respects have 
no merit whatever ; except their antiquity being totally out of place 
as component parts of the present advanced state of the science 
notwithstanding this the orthodox brethren hold on to them with a 
death-like grasp as if the very existence of medical science depen- 
ded on their being among its recognized truths and unalterable 
doctrines. 
A brief retrospect of the history of medicine would show very 
conclusively what description of agency, this propensity of the hu- 
man mind has had in retarding the onward progress of the science. 
The exceedingly slow progress which has been made is in a great 
measure attributable to the influence of this and similar causes; to 
the maimer in which it has been cultivated, to the spirit which has 
actuated its leaders upon the introduction of new doctrines dis- 
coveries and improvements, conflicting to any material extent with 
the fashionable opinions of the day. 
The impartial examiner will perceive that in many instances 
that the virulence of opposition bore a direct ratio, to the value of 
the proposed improvement, and its tendency to unsettle received 
opinion. Instead of hailing it as a blessing, it was not unfrequent- 
ly opposed as one of the worst of evils and its advocates abused as 
enemies of the profession denounced as great and incorrigable hum- 
bugs unworthy of professional and public confidence and every 
species of improper and disorganizing motives attributed to 
them. 
In this spirit, have the labors of fearless and independent minds 
been met. They have been credited with anything but fair, honor- 
able and benevolent motives : their private and personal character, 
has been unjustly assailed and every impediment has been thrown 
in their way to prevent the successful issue of their labors. No 
pains are spared to render them infamous in a social, moral and 
medical point of view and to permanently impair if not entirely de- 
stroy the utility of their discoveries and improvements. 
In nearly every department of learning and knowledge innovations 
on the existing order of things have been stoutly and sturdily 
resisted, hence in a great measure are we enabled to account for 13 
the very slow progress of improvements and their advancement to 
an attainable degree of perfection. 
The history of our science affords us innumerabe instances 
clearly demonstrative of the truth of what has been asserted and 
it would seem to be wholly unnecessary to fortify this particular 
position by the adduction of special testimony on the subject. 
Nearly every page of medical history teems with evidences of this 
truly humiliating fact, and no one who has watched the current of 
human events for the last few years, can be ignorant of the fact 
that the same spirit still continues to animate the opponents to pro- 
gression and improvement as that which has heretofore been so in- 
variably conspicuous, in their conduct. 
The disposition to resist improvement and progression, owes its 
existence to several distinct principles deeply rooted in the human 
breast, the influence of which has been deeply felt in every great 
movement in the world of enterprise. Among these not the least 
may be regarded, for the universality of its prevalence, the love 
of inaction. Men are usually inordinately fond of indolence. They 
do.not like any very great exertion of either body or mind, hence 
we can easily account for the very general disinclination evinced 
by the mass of those to whom of right belongs the duty to the 
investigation of anything new. They seek to evade if possible that 
necessity; they fondly hope to prevent any disturbing element to 
the existing order of things to be set in successful motion least it 
may cost them some additional labor or exertion to master the new 
light which may be sooner or later elicited by the agitation which 
is sure to follow every effort for improvement whether successful 
or not. 
A retrospective examination of the past constrains us to acknowl- 
edge that among all the various enterprises which engage the atten- 
tion of civilized nations none have progressed so slowly as the art 
of Medicine-especially is this true when we take into considera- 
tion the amount of talent, learning, and enterprize possessed by 
those engaged in its cultivation. Perhaps no pursuit in life embod- 
ies a larger amount of these commodities, than is to be found 
among the members of this profession in proportion to their mem- 
bers. 
I am free to acknowledge that as a general rule the mem- 14 
bers of the medical profession are gentlemen of taste, talents and 
benevolent intentions calculated in most instances to adorn any of 
the ordinary walks of life, and it would afford me on this occasion, 
an inexpressible degree of pleasure consistent with the lights 
around me, to add that they are also liberal; but an impartial survey 
of the records of its past history and a brief glance at its present 
state painfully admonishes me not to bear false witness in reference 
to a matter so interesting to human happiness to the present as well 
as the future welfare of our race. 
I am well aware that this is a charge of grave and serious im- 
port and should by no means be lightly made against a body so 
learned, talented and respectable as our friends of the orthodox 
School are acknowledged, in justice to themselves, to be. It is 
Eaore particularly however to their principal leaders that this accu- 
sation would have special application. 
If the inquiry should be propounded, Upon what evidence do you 
predicate this charge? I would ask such an enquirer to go with 
me and explore the pages of its past history, to mark the spirit with 
which its most valuable improvements, upon their introduction 
to the notice of medical men have been met. I would direct his 
attention to the events that are daily and hourly transpiring around 
us among the members of this body, as affording the most convin- 
cing testimony of its truth. I would respectively direct his atten- 
tion to the memorable proceedings of that distinguished convoca- 
tion of medical patriots and sages of the orthodox School who 
repaired from every part of our common country as the representa- 
tives of their order to the city of Philadelphia in May last, and after 
the most deliberate consideration among other things, resolved in 
accordance with the recommendation of their Committee on medical 
education, in reference to the reception of students into Medical 
Colleges and Schools,. "That the certificate of no preceptor shall 
be received who is avowedly and notoriously an irregular practi- 
tioner ; whether he shall possess the degree of M.iD. or not. 
In view of this singular, truly strange and unparalleled Jproce- 
dure, I would ask in all candor whether or no the history of man- 
kind even at the darkest period of their moral and intellectual degra- 
dation has ever afforded a more striking instance of open, daring 
and deliberate insult to the common sense of the great body of an 15 
intelligent race of freemen than is contained in this proceeding o1 
the American Medical Association when it is subjected to the or de 
al of a critical analyzed examination. 
Who could for one moment have supposed that any body of 
medical men, in the midst of all that light and liberty by which 
the inhabitants of the 19th century are so liberally furnished, should 
for one moment have thought of a rule or regulation' so much at 
variance with every principle of common sense and common jus- 
tice. 
For the purpose of making a brief exposition of the tyrannical 
and superlatively absurd character of this proceeding I will take 
the liberty to subject it to a brief examination in order that its ob- 
jects and tendencies maybe the more readily and clearly seen and 
understood. 
In order to proceed understandingly to the discussion of this cel- 
ebrated resolution, the first point that requires to be settled in the 
mind of the examiner is What did the American Medical Associa- 
tion mean by the term irregular, as applied to practitioners? That 
information they have not been so accommodating as to afford us 
in any specific resolution to be found as a part of their proceedings 
on this interesting and memorable occasion, an omission, which, 
by the way, reflects somewhat injuriously on the reputation usually 
enjoyed by the members of this body for critical accuracies in many 
other things. It is by no means a difficult task to supply the omis- 
sion in their proceedings. By the phrase irregular practitioner 
is understood one who deviates in some one or several important 
particulars from what is regarded as routine and established prac- 
tice of orthodox physicians; an individual becomes at once noto- 
riously irregular if he happen to be endowed with sufficient inde- 
pendence of mind and originality of thought; tinctured with enough 
of moral courage to embolden him to avow the reasons of his dis- 
sent from the doctrines and practices of his professional brethren. 
He has fallen from that species of professional grace which can with 
admirable facility transform the most stupid blockhead into a reg- 
ular physician, if he will only first consent to creep with becoming 
servility along the old worn out and beaten track, looking 'neither 
to the right, or to the left, promising implicitly to obey the orders of 
his leaders and swearing that he will never consent to any change, 16 
in the existing condition of the science without such change has 
been duly indicated by what he conceives to be the leading author- 
ities of his order. We are now prepared to take another step in 
the analyzation of this truly wonderful proposition: since we have 
learned that every one who does not consent willingly to wear the 
yoke of an ignominious medical bondage and to move forward in the 
march of progressive improvement only wdien the word of com- 
mand is given by his leaders. We shall have no difficultyin 
reaching the second branch of the inquiry and that is the absurdity 
of attempting to compel, by stringent rules and regulations, any 
considerable number of the cultivators of Science and especially 
medical science, to think and act in harmony even in reference to 
all its material details to say nothing of minor points. In order to 
expose the absurdity of the assumption on which this anticipation 
is predicated it is only necessary to refer to that well known and 
universally acknowledged fact "that the minds of different men are 
differently constituted and as a matter of course the same evidences 
produce different effects on different minds notwithstanding they 
may be presented under precisely similar circumstances. We 
should, as reasonable beings, be duly admonished to tolerate to a 
proper extent these differencies of opinion necessarily resulting 
from diversities in the organization of the human intellect. 
The pursuit and cultivation of medical matters necessarily in- 
volves the mind in a great variety of very complex considerations 
and it should not be a matter of reasonable surprise to any one, 
having a tolerable acquaintance with its numerous deficiences that 
there should exist opposite and conflicting views touching the 
measures to be adopted to advance its highest and best interests. 
Bnt to another feature of this memorable resolve developed by 
the deliberative wisdom of the American Medical Association I 
would briefly solicit your attention : and that is this. "That the 
combined wisdom of this body should have made the rare discovery 
that a young gentlemen however well educated and respectable in 
talents, should be deemed unworthy as a member of a medical class, 
for the simple reason that he had passed his preparatory studies ; 
in the office of a preceptor who had been guilty of the crime of 
thinking for himself and of reaching his own conclusions: irrespec- 
tive of the reigning dogmas of the day. No matter what may be 17 
the character of his qualifications if he be, by universal consent, a 
man of the most extensive attainments and distinguished reputation 
he has foreited every claim to respectful consideration among the 
blue skinned deciples of medical orthodoxy. Who could have for 
a moment supposed that such a despotism of opinion should have 
been erected in this country of free principles to restrict the liberty 
of thought and the freedom of expression so utterly repugnant to 
the enlightened and liberal principles of the times so much at war 
with the best and noblest interests of suffering humanity calculated 
in its ulterior effects to cast a dark and dismal gloom over the pros- 
pects of your glorious profession designed to paralize the efforts for 
its improvement and progression which might otherwise be made 
available by the labors of the Galens, Sydemhams, Jenners and 
Harveys of future ages. Yes, gentlemen, you are at liberty accor- 
ding to the tenor of this noted proceeding to exercise the functions 
of freemen in everything else except in the investigation of medi- 
cal matters. The American Medical Association have decreed 
that you shall forever remain in medical bondage, as an indispen- 
sible condition to the reception of the smiles of their reconciled 
countenances. They will be graciously pleased to point out to 
you the footsteps in which you must tread and all the antiquated 
channels of thought in which alone you are at liberty to allow 
your minds to run. 
Are you prepared to submit to the odious behests and trammels 
of a despotism so much at war with the true spirit of medical progress? 
The blood of your revolutionary fathers was not spilled on the 
fields of Lexington, Concord, Bunker's Hill and Saratoga to pur- 
chase for you an inheritance so contemptibly disgraceful. They 
fought bled and died not alone for your civil, political and religious 
rights but for your medical liberty also. I believe that in this great 
revolutionary movement of Medical Reformation you are actuated 
by the same spirit which prompted them to resist the aggressions of 
the mother country; and like them that you will refuse to accept 
the terms of that degrading Medical Vassalage which those who 
have assumed to be the especial guardians of your professional 
rights and liberties have most graciously deigned to offer, that in- 
stead of meanly prostrating yourselves at the footstool of that Med- 
ical throne whichhasbeen erected, and offering up your humble pe- 
3 18 
titions for a small share of its royal favors you will stand forth 
in all the dignified and manly proportions of indomitable freemen 
prepared not only to assert but to defend the declaration of your 
Medical Independence, which has already been promulgated to the 
world under circumstances not very dissimilar in many respects to 
those by w hich our Fathers w'ere surrounded when they assembled 
on that ever memorable day, the fourth of July 1776, for the pur- 
bose of adopting the Magna Charta of our rights, which spoke into 
existence this great country as one of the independent nations of 
the world. Having been present and an active participant in the 
proceedings which led to the adoption of the declaration of Amer- 
ican Medical Independence, which took place in the great Com- 
mercial Metropolis of our Union about 20 yearsago which conse- 
quently led to the formation of the Reformed Medical Schools and 
Societies of the United States, which w'as the first great effectual 
step taken to give a proper impetus to the revolutionary movement 
in question. After having passed through the common course of 
regular study and been engaged about three years in the practice of 
my profession according to the Old School plan and witnessed 
enough of its effects to convince me of the great and pressing ne- 
cessity of a reform, based on proper principles, a newspaper fell 
into my hands containing a notice of the opening of a Reformed 
School, in the city of Newr York tc be conducted by educated and 
scientific men. To this School I immediately determined to repair 
although at a distance of something like a thousand miles from the 
place of ray home and friends. Shortly after my arrival at the city 
I united myself to the School in question and very soon thereafter 
the project came up of organizing and establishing a Reformed Med- 
ical Society of the United States. A Convention of Medical Re- 
formers w7as called and in due time assembled at the college edifice 
of the School and effected an organization, adopted their declaration 
of Medical Independence and sent forth their manifesto to the w'orld. 
It wTas my good fortune, as I before hinted, to have been an active 
participant in the proceedings of this convention, and I shall ever 
recur to that as one of the proudest days of my life, when I, in con- 
nection with some thirty-five or forty others, comprising the members 
of the aforesaid assemblage from some ten or twelve States of the 
Union, solemnly resolved to make use of our best exertions to pro- 19 
mote the objects of the proposed Reform to emancipate as far as 
might be in our power the profession of our choice from the sham- 
less depths of degradation and worthlessness to which it had been 
ignominiously reduced by the stubborn and intolerant spirit of that 
Medical despotism which controled its destinies. 
We were by no means insensible to the dangers to which we 
were necessarily exposed in the adoption of a series of measures 
in open hostility to the fashionable doctrines of the day, but we 
were willing to risk everything on the momentous issue about to 
be presented to the American people; indeed some of us felt very 
sensibly the same ardent impulses as those which animated that 
great patriot and statesman, John Adams, when he made his cele- 
brated speech on the adoption of the Declaration of American In- 
dependence, in which he emphatically declared in conclusion, 
"Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I am for the declara- 
tion, Living, it is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God 
it shall be my dying sentiment. Independence now, and Indepen- 
dence forever." 
The effects of the last speech made before the revolutionary 
band of Medical patriots in our little convention before the adop- 
tion of the Declaration of American Medical Independence were 
such as to produce impressions which can never be effaced from 
my mind. It was delivered by my distinguished friend and col- 
league Dr. W. Beach, who, with a master hand, sketched in true 
but vivid colors, the deplorable state of the Healing Art, as devel- 
oped by its practical use throughout the wrnrld, the universal dis- 
trust which existed in the most enlightened minds of the Medical 
profession in this and all other countries, in its present condition. 
The urgent cries and petitions of more than eight hundred millions 
of human beings then on the face of the earth, were constantly 
coming up to the Medical profession and imploring them in tones 
of earnest supplication, to institute some effective measure of 
Reform which wTould ensure the adoption of a better and safer 
mode of practice; all these and many other reasons were urged 
on us in the celebrated effort of my worthy friend, and after depict- 
ing the countless millions of blessings which must inevitably result 
to mankind from the success of the measures wTe wTere then about 
to adopt, he declared that if he could witness the consummation 20 
of these desirable objects and purposes of his life, he would be 
fully prepared to adopt the feelings and language of one of old, 
who after having finished the duties of a well spent and virtuous 
life, said in a tone of complacent resignation, "Now Lord lettest 
thou thy servant depart in peace." 
The feelings, patriotic impulses, the firm and resolute determina- 
tion, manifested by our little band of Medical heroes, when about 
to affix their signatures to the declaration of American Medical 
Independence, were very similar to those which must have burned 
in the bosom of that distinguished orator and patriot, Patrick Hen- 
ry, of Virginia, in 1775, on the occasion of the discussion of some 
proposition in the house of Burgesses, of which he was a member, 
looking prospectively to the war of the revolution with the mother 
country. On that memorable and exciting occasion, he addressed 
the speaker of the House as follows: 
"It is vain to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry peace, 
peace, but there is no peace. The war has actually begun. 
The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the 
clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! 
Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What 
would they have? Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be pur- 
chased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it Almighty 
God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, 
give me liberty or give me death!!" 
Yes, gentlemen, give us medical liberty or give us professional death! 
In this spirit the banner of your cause was first unfurled to the 
breeze, and it has ever since been proudly borne aloft by thousands 
of gallant spirits who have flocked around its standard, and it is to 
be earnestly hoped it will continue its tiiumphal march, until the 
last vestige of Medical error, intolerance, illiberality ,and bigotry 
shall fall to rise no more. 
Gentlemen of the class, on you will devolve, in some degree, the 
high and glorious duty of maintaining the rights of your cause, of 
promoting its interests and handing down its unnumbered blessings 
to future ages, as Heaven's best boons to afflicted man. Your 
efforts to this end will no doubt be crowned with abundant success, 
and the memory of your noble deeds will be cherished in lively 
recollection by an admiring and grateful posterity.