A635
\827
 
 
ADDRESS
DELIVERED IN THE
i.NT)E,u.
AT
%
•N THE THIRD DAY OF DECEMBER,
1837.
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    BY BB,. MILTON ANTONY,
President of the Board of Physicians of the Stats of Georgfr.
   MILLEDGEVILLE:
PRINTED BY CAMAK «^AGLAN»«
1827, 
V*.. -  ,J
M35,
J $77 
I
  "When we advert to the past medical history of Georgia, what
objects do we find,  on which the mind may dwell with pleasure ?
What instructing or interesting in  Medical Science arrests our at-
tention?—What is there from which  we may draw  one gleam of
satisfaction  in the retrospect ? •

  Alas! we look into a wildernesss—a wilderness on  which nature
has indeed bestowed her bounties—We look on a land on which
she seems to have lavished her gifts with a prodigal hand, but they
might as well not have been.  Time like  a resistless torrent has
passed by and left them  in eternal night.    We and  our ancestors
have looked into forests*, fields and meadows, and beheld them la-
den with all of vegetation which was valuable and beautiful—They
have vegetated, blossomed, and died !  They have reproduced, gen-
eration after generation—They have continued to shoot forth with
the genial breath of spring, and sink into death with the rude and
chilling blasts of winter, and the footsteps of Medical Science are
scarcely to be traced in all the land.

  If an Abbot,  a Bibb and a  Lee have sojourned awhile in this
delightful land,  who have shed a diamond lustre about them for a
time, the record  they have sought, has been the hearts of their per-
sonal friends, or the annals of political fame; and their traces in
Medical Science have been as the  tracks of the weary traveller on
the light and desert sands of Africa—dear indeed, to  the travelling
companion who follows  immediately after ;  but the  Simoon blast
of time has blown—the sands have moved—the traces are effaced
forever!—Although the  wide-spreading Indian Ocean  may beat
her Eastern, and the deep-rolling Atlantic her Western shore—
Although the Mediterranean  may  roll her  resistless  waves on the
north, and the vast  Nile flow from the heights of Donga to Alex-
andria, yet the dry sands of her deserts yield obedience to the dis-
mal blast, and each trace becomes as though it had not been.

  Such,  my friends, appears  the Medical History of Georgia—
Across it, as across the map of Tropical Africa, we seem to behold
in large and glaring letters the inscription,  " unknown parts."
  Contemplating on this humiliating  retrospect, the mind is na-
turally led  to enquire into the cause of such  dearth of science-
such want of character, and such general neglect  of the subjects
of scientific  investigation with which providence has surrounded us.
  Whilst the calls of philanthropy have-been- loud, the-bounty'of
nature has been  paramount.
  Instead of beholding health  and longevity  wafted to us by the
perfumed breezes of Tropical grovon, we have  suffered the Sijoee* 
4
 ©f the East, bearing in  its course disease, pain, and death, with
 their thousand stings.   ^\ e have  beheld  our cities, villages and
 cottages teeming with diseases, often spreading desolation far and
 wide ; spreading their spoliations,  not only amongst our fortunes,
 but amongst the best feelings and enjoyments of our nature-—doing
 violence alike to the serene  pleasures of parental affection and
 conjugal bliss.   On whatever hand we turn our eyes,  Ave behold
 the weeds  of grief.   Our melancholy  catalogue  of  distressed
 widows and helpless  orphans loudly speaks the mortality of our
 diseases; and so common are the habiliments of woe, that they
 have become the fashionable costume of the State.

   If we turn another leaf in  the  book of nature, we  behold the
 vegetable and mineral kingdoms of our State yielding almost ey;ery
 natural production  necessary for  the  healing of those diseases
 which  are curable ;  but not one article of them has become a com-
 modity of commercial importance, as prepared for medicinal purpo-
 ses, because science, has  not  yet spread her illuminating rays
 around : the Botanist and  Mineralogist have not yet publicly no-
 ticed the existence and importance  of such things.

   It is a truth not to be  denied, that we  have had  many gentle-
 men of our profession to  locate and labor amongst us,  commenc-
 ing their medical career with high expectations, founded on a val-
 uable store of genius and acquirements ; they  have engaged in the
 cause of humanity,  fame, science  and fortune, with the  warmest
 zeal; but they have soon swerved  from  these important ptiposes,
 and have been forced to turn to trade for  fortune, politics for famej
 abandon the cause of medical  science, and turn  a deaf ear  to the
 calls of humanity.
   Fame, fortune, and philanthropy are the great incitants of phy-
 sicians ; and of these, the two former seem to be the most gener-
 ally'operative.   But; my: fellow-citizens,  and my brethren  wif
 pardon me,  whilst I state the facts, that no field of fame has been
 opened to the devotees  of medicine; fortune, even competence,
 has been placed beyond their  grasp, and heaven-born philanthropy
 has been blighted in its bud by want of that competence necessary
 to its useful  displays,  or has  failed to be  cherished  into valuable
 growth, from a want of the genial  influences of  the christian reli-
 gion on the  moral faculties of physicians.
   Recently a few valuable papers have been afforded to the journals
 —a pamphfcet or two, and one  book !—These  are, I bebeve,  tie
 this day, the only written  testimonials to tell the rising generation
 that physicians  have resided  in  Georgia.  These, it may  be re-
 marked, have been the  productions of the professional  youth  of
their authors.  Observations had not yet been made on the <neat
 disproportion between mental  and corporeal labor and distress, and
 their just compensation in  fame and fortune—the cheering beams
 of hope still  brightened their professional horizon—her invigorating
 influences had not yet been worn  down by  repeated disappoint-
 ment—doubt of' success  had seldom entered into their minds, and
*hey still felt ther inspiration of zeal and the impulse  of devotion  to 
5
the cause.   But if we search for one memento, the production of  ■
advanced years, combined with continued and extensive observa-
tion and experience, we shall search in vain.
   Let us, for a moment, turn  our attention to the political annals
of the State.  Here we find physicians in abundance, rapidly as-
cending the hill of fame,  and  proving  themselves  men of minds
capable of achieving ends of the highest  importance in their pro-
fession, had they continued with undivided attention in its service.
   If we look into our congressional annals, we rarely find the pe-
riod when medical  gentlemen have  not  constituted an important
part of our representation.   Look into the commercial, the  agri-
cultural, the military, and  the forensic  departments,  and we still
find physicians who have been forced to seek  fame and fortune in
these ;  having abandoned their profession at, or before the prime
of life.
   The chief remote cause  of this erratic disposition of our profes-
sion, and the  consequent deficiency of medical character, is easily
discerned by the  practioner who has for many years trod the path
of experience.  To such, no cause of an effect is more plain than
that the want of State patronage has been the operative one in the
production of these circumstances.
    Until very  recently, we have been placed  far from the seats of
medical science.   We have been central to eight hundred thousand
 square miles  lying  between Lexington  on  the  North,   Cape
 Sable  on the South,  Baltimore on the East, and  the  Sabine
on the West; in the whole of which vast extent, not one Medical
 Seminary was to be found, nor one society really valuable for the
 dissemination of medical knowledge.   We have consequently suf-
 fered a privation of the opportunities for the acquisition of knowl-
 edge which such institutions afford, and the incentives to great ex-
 ertion arising out of the presence of those who re reared up in, or
 converged together by them.
    Nor should we stop  here in the enumeration of causes arising
 out of the want of  State patronage.  From the first settlement of
 the State, until very recently,  there has been  no protection  of the
 rights of physicians.   Ours having for many years been a frontier
 State,  possessing a vast body of unsettled lands, it has necessarily
 been subjected to a perpetual change of its population, and a con-
 tinued influx  of strangers from  other States and Nations, consist-
 in" chiefly of illiterate  poor, or enterprising merchants, mechanics,
 agriculturists, &c. &c. who,  being ignorant of characters, and in-
 capable of judging of professional merit, have adopted the custom
 of calling for the  practitioner who might throw himself most in
 their way; and thus has the charlatan, by his greater forwardness
 and unblushing boastings, been the more  abundantly patronised,
 whilst the laborious and  retired student and honest practitioner,
 has suffered a want of support, or been driven into such continued
 and extreme  fatigue and exertion  to procure  it, as to deprive him
 of all leisure for  scientific  research—ultimately  so to endanger
 his health as to disgust him with his profession, and thus force him
 Jato other occupatigns. 
6
    There are two other great obstacles to the progress  of Alrdical
  Science,  which operate by  consuming the  time of  physicians,
  which are within legislative reach,  and to  which the attention of
  that honorable body is respectfully invited.  One is the great pro-
  portion of poor within the State, who are  illy provided for; and
  who, from their bad living are the more sickly, as well as numer-
  ous part of our population.   This interesting portion of the com-
  munity is  always needing, and often meriting the careful attention
  of physicians.   And  such is the nature of their necessities-
 such their helpless condition,  tha$ the practitioner is a brute, and
 not deserving the name of one who ministers in a humane calling,
 who does  not  feel bound to sympathise with, and labor for them.
 Nor do his feelings, time  and labor constitute all his losses ; for he
 often finds them  so destitute of fuel, food, and raiment, as to ren-
 der success impossible, without at the same time  contributing such
 portions of money as will procure the comforts immediately needed.
 Nor is there, for  all these, any thing like an arrangement in exis-
 tence, whereby the practitioner  can draw one cent of reward or
 remuneration.
   My hearers will doubtless experience much surprise when I state
 to them, that it is not less true than strange, that, small as the pro-
 portion  of practitioners is to the  general  population, when we
 consider their time, labour, medicine and money,  they contribute
 more  to charity than all other individuals of all grades and profes-
 sions together.  The other, is the compulsion to discharge militia
 and jury duties.  Notwithstanding they pay a tax extraordinary for
 the purpose of securing to them the privileges of their  profession,
 still they are subjected to a loss of  one  or two months in the year,
 because the privileges for which  they are taxed are not secured to
 them.
  The law passed in 1825,  restricting the practice of medicine to
 those who  have been well prepared, cannot operate to the pecuni-
 ary benefit of physicians of the present age ; because our State
 has been almost the last in establishing this restriction—the conse-
 quence of which  is, that  as impostors have fled from test-boards
 elsewhere,  our State has continued to afford them an asylum, until
 it has become replete.   The  Board established by that law, may
 therefore be considered as labouring for the medical character of
 tlie State, and for the  pecuniary  benefit of the next generation of
 physicians.
  I well recollect,  that some twenty years ago, a vigorous effort
 was  made  by  respectable physicians  of  the State, to procure
 the passage of a law calculated to  protect the  interest of  phy-
 sicians and of the community, by the establishment of  a tribunal,
 the ordeals of which should soundly test the qualifications of those
 who should thereafter desire to commence practice in this State ;
 and had that laudable  zeal then  succeeded, I hesitate not to  say,
that at the present period, the medical character of the State would
have been widely different from what we now find it.   But at that
time the people seemed not  to have drawn a distinction between
 the liberty of virtue and the liberty of vice—the liberty of the qual 
7
rtied and that of the unqualified.  Such a restriction seemed to them
an unjust curtailment of some one's liberty ; and they seem not to
have reflected,  that whilst they were tenacious of the liberties and
pecuniary benefits of a few impostors, they were neglecting their
guardianship over the best interests of the general community, and
leaving their property and their lives to be swindled from them  by
a parcel of vultures and jackalls.  The country,  however, was
comparatively new, and her citizens inexperienced and uninformed
—Darkness pervaded almost every department—A few bright stars
of science bespangled  our firmanent, but their scattering  beams
were lost in the darkness of ignorance  which yet lingered  about
the land—A midnight scene had passed, in which the sons of re-
velry delighted to sally forth  in search of pleasures only, whilst the
bright Aurora of intellect  still slept beyond the eastern hills—To
this scene had succeeded only the  oblique rays, of twilight, spread-
ing over us a partial day.

   I have said ' the next generation of physicians/   Yes, the pre-
sent generation is but a new one, and another will soon succeed it.
Look around the State, and you  will scarcely find the physician
who, twenty years ago wept over suffering humanity,  or  poured
libations before the temple of Esculapius.  Alas !  desolate are their
mansions!   They have spent their  sleepless  nights—they have
dropped the rich tears of sympathy—they have early retired from
the stage of  life ;  and the knowledge and remembrance of them is
recorded—only in the faithful bosoms of a few surviving relatives
and personal friends—rleaving, in many  instances their orphaned
families destitute of competent support.   They, h.-we retired, and
with them,  their extensive and valuable  observations, and we are
left to tread the same wine-press of experience.
   But, whilst the senior members of  the profession have l>een thus
falling around us, our country has basked under the vivifying in-
fluences of a republican banner.   It has become civilised—its citi-
zens improved, and its legislators  enlightened.
   The day has now arrived when our statesmen are  capable of
taking comprehensive views  of the general weal—when they see
alike the propriety of guarding the  interests of the general com-
munity and cherishing the sciences.
   Glancing at the history of the  world,  we find these  are  the le-
gitimate  effects of such a state of things.   We find every thing
which is valuable and liberal in the sciences, and more noble in the
arts, and every thing truly noble in human character, has, been the
production of that philanthropy  which  belongs  to republicanism,
either in individuals  or in State institutions : and on the contrary,
that all that is contracted, selfish, ignorant, and base, have been
the production of high-toned despotism.  For the proof of this,
we have only to turn our eyes on  Spain and Africa.
   The ancient republics have yielded Orators  and Patriots, whose
examples have thus far withstood the reign of darkness, and  will
continue to stand, whilst generation succeeds generation, and cen*
4ury succeeds  century, the patterns of excellence to all mankind: 
8
  whilst their other acta have withstood the dilapidations of ruthless
  time, and more ruthless tyranny, even down to the new republics.
    Of Medicine, in particular, in those days, we have not much to
  gay; because luxury had not yet spread her baleful influence over,
  nor enervating ease and indolence filled  the world with their legi-
  timate offspring, human misery.

    Passing down the stream of time, we have little to interest us in
  this enquiry, through successive ages of  despotism, dark supersti-
  tion and intolerance, until we arrive at the sixteenth century.

    About this time England, though monarchical, was tolerant, and
  extended much liberty to her citizens, and much patronage to pro-
  fessors of Medicine—-She made their rank honorable and their la-
  bours profitable—She chartered the London College of Physicians;
  securing to them certain privileges which were "calculated to raise
  the reputation of the profess.on, and prevent the people from being
 imposed upon by bold and ignorant adventurers, who had before
 sported with their lives and robbed them of their money."

   In the succeeding century, the College Royal of Physicians in
 Scotland was established by patent of Charles II, with similar pri-
 vileges and benefits.   Ireland adopts the  precedent.  The reward
 to the United Kingdom has been,  that she has  given birth to the
 first dawn  of philosophy  in medicine.   Here in the seventeenth
 century the  immortal  Harvey discovered the  circulation of the
 blood, without the  knowledge of which  the science could never
 have prospered.
   To this we might add a long catalogue of those important dis-
 coveries in Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry, Pathology and The-
 rapeutics, which opened the door to the modern reformers, Cullen,
 Brown, Hunter, Darwin, Black, Cavendish, Sir Humphry Davy,
 &c. whose names are  held  in grateful remembrance by all true
 friends of Medical Science.

  Whilst Italy, and other  petty monarchies of the Continent were
 sinking into  oblivion,  and only continued to afford the faint em-
 blems of hereditary science and arts,—retaining some  of the habits
 of freedom and independent thought, which however,  were still in
 the wane, and shewing themselves only like the  last glimmerings
 of an expiring taper, in the occasional discovery of a fact, as the
 valves of the veins by Fabrjcius ab Aquapendente, the lacteals bv
 Asellius,  &c.—liberal patronage in England was thus producing its
 fruits in an increasing ratio.
  With the dawn of republicanism in America, we find a Rush, a
 Physic, and a Wistar,  early  embarking in the mazes which sur-
 rounded our Science, and dispelling the mists from before our eyes.
  Fired by the example of American liberty,  Napoleon, who had
wrested France from the hands of matchless tyranny, glowing with
republican enthusiasm, commenced his reform in every department;
and has left the indelible  traces of his footsteps in the field, the
senate, the forum, and the college ;  but above all, and what peca- 
9
liarljr interests us in the present  enquiry, he extended a patronage
to our Science unparalleled in any  n»tiou.—He established Aca-
demies, Colleges and Hospitals ; endowed Professorships liberally,
and employed gentlemen of the first talents  and energies in the
improvement of the different branches of Medicine, undisturbed by
the toils and perplexities of a  complicated  business—Franked his
schools, so as to draw into them all the native genius of France,
however poor and obscure of  birth,  and liberally rewarded  every
one in proportion to his merits.  Behold the consequences!—Pre-
viously, at least  half a century behind the Science of Great Britain,
she now presents to the world  her proud list  of Richerand, Dupuy-
tren,  Pinel, Bichat,  Beclard, Larry, Lis Franc, Magendie, &c.
&c.—She has raised  for  herself a character for  Medical Science,
which not only  commands the high  respect of all nations, but
which compels us to  look to her for almost every  thing which is
new and valuable in Medicine.   We are not  only receiving  from
her a continued  series of  facts and  theories in Medicine, Surgery,
Chemistry, Physiology, &c. &C.—But  when we  look on the pre-
sent happy condition  of the profession in France, we are daily ex-
pecting such a developement of facts and independent thought, as
shall  lay the foundation of a revolution in  all  natural philosophy.
A revolution which must ere  long burst forth from some quarter,
with all that splendor,  that noon-day brilliance which belongs to
truth ; dazzling all former theory, and sinking into eternal oblivion
all that complexity which abounds  in  the errors, even of the pre-
sent day; and like the light of creation, discovering at once to the
mind of man, the simplicity,  the beauty,  the grandeur,  and the
sublimity  with which  the  Supreme  Architect of  the Universe rolls
on the perpetual tide  of cause and effect—Simple, because all its
parts are  the product of one physical agent as a cause—Beautiful,
because of perfect regularity and proportion, harmony and elegance
—Grand,  because of its  universality, oversowing the imagination
of man with its immensity—And  sublim^ in elevating the  mind
above circumambient objects,  to the contemplation  of Him who
first said " Let there be light."
   No matter if Napoleon did  yield up his native republican views
to the hereditary spirit  of vassalage in France,  and assume that
despotism he  found  necessary  for the government of those over
whom he  had to reign—no  matter if he  gloried  in victory and
sighed in  banishment—no matter if at  last he was  conquered by
the treachery of pretended friends and superior physical force, and
finally languished out the remnant of his  days on St. Helena—
And no matter, if now, when he is no more, the  voice of fame ex-
claims  "Tyrant!"  Still he  forsook  not   his plighted vows  to
Science ;  and doubtless I speak the sentiments of my enlightened
brethren of the  profession, when  I say that,  notwithstanding all
her scientific productions have been veiled for months and years by
a language not generally known in Great  Britain and America,
France  has, during the last twenty-five years, effected more for our
Science than all the world beside :* and that these things are the
result of Napoleon's policy, the leading feature  of  which was the
* Sir Uumphrjr Darey alone excepted. 
10
 extension to it of the cherishing influences of State patronage—A
 policy, the excellent effects of which were so fully developrd before
 the end of the Emperor's reign, as to supply his army with talents
 of the first order, and to cause itself to be amply cherished by the
 monarchs who succeeded him, whatever may have been the desires
 of retrenchment.
  Let these examples suffice to impress on our minds the value of
 State patronage.
  America, more than France, has the materials for independent
 thought;  and I blush not to say,  that Georgia has a liberal share
of valuable  intellectual soil,  unproductive only  from the causes
above alluded to.

  As my object on  this occasion  is not  merely to fulfil their ap-
pointment by coming before them  with an anniversary address,  but
to promote in some  humble degree, the interests of the community,
and of the profession of which we  are  members, my brethren of
the Board will pardon me whilst I digress from the ordinary course
on such occasions.

  On the subject of State patronage, I  would address my fellow-
oitizens  generally, because by t they are intended to be  benefited  ;
and because, in our happy  government,  they  are the sovereign
power—But you, fellow-citizens  of the  Legislature  particularly,
because, from amongst them, you are chosen their  worthy  and au-
thorised agents ; and you are those to whom they loon for the pro-
tection of their interests, and the  security of their happiness and
prosperity.
  The science of medicine is a progressive one.   So changed is  it
within the last eighty years, that scarcely  are the land marks left to
tell us what it was.  During this period, more has been accomplish-
ed in it than had been ia all past  time from  the earliest history.—
It now presents  to the £ind of man, monuments  of genius  and
 laborious research, wonderful  and admirable.   There  can be no
perfection in some of its branches, short  of perfect knowledge of
 all cause and effect, which can never belong to the limited intellect
ef man.   But under proper  auspices,  progressive  improvement,
 and  consequently a nearer approach  to that knowledge will be
 made.
  Looking still forward my fellow-citizens, as we most earnestly do,
 for a much nearer approach of man to God, by a greater knowledge
 ©f His works and His truths, we feel that it is peculiarly incumbent
 en physicians to examine those works, and  discover those truths,
 so far at least as they are concerned  in the  various branches
 <*f Natural Philosophy, because there is not that branch of Natural
 Philosophy which is not more or less directly connected with  the
 duties of the physician.
  If then you regard as of great importance, the general cause of
 humanity, or the professional character of the State whose guardi-
 ans  you are, or the best temporal interests of those  whom you
 represent,  turn your  attention to what  is now  the  true  state of 
11
 Medical Science—to the removal of those causes which, on a closer
 examination, may be found  to have retarded its  progress within
 this State—to the promotion of those means which may open  the
 door to its progressive improvement—and finally, to the promotion
 to every possible extent, of those institutions which may reasonably
 be expected to result in the abundant improvement of the geuius
 of our own country.

   Some of the chief of the former objects of attention, have been
 already enumerated.  On the subject of the latter, we feel it a duty
 to suggest a few ideas in this place.

   Our sister State, South-Carolina, has  recently  established a Me-
 dical College, which, from its great natural advantages, added to
 the  exalted talents  and  laudable zeal  of its Faculty, is at once
 better suited to the necessities of those who are preparing for Sou-
 thern practice, than any other  College  in the world;  and should
 therefore be considered our College, and used as such.

   But we should have a regular system of private instruction at
 home :  because, at present, young gentlemen aspiring  to the  pro-
 fession of medicine, are apt to turn to the nearest  practitioner for
 their private studies,  and shape their character by  the very limited
 library, the prejudices, and the peculiar views of  their preceptor.

   As a remedy for these inconveniences and injuries to  the Science
 of Medicine, and to the community, I would respectfully  suggest
 the propriety of establishing a Medical Academy within our State,
 on the following plan :

   Erect at the expense  of the State, in Augusta  or Savannah, an
 edifice with suitable apartments for study, boarding, laboratory, lec-
 tures,  &c. for the accommodation of one hundred pupils.  Ap-
 point a proper number of physicians, (say two or  three,) of  high
 moral character and professional zeal and acquirements, whose du-
 ty it shall be to direct the regular reading of the students—deliver
 regular lectures on all the various branches of medicine,  in  such
 manner as to give two complete courses in  each  year—to examine
 each pupil daily or semi-weekly, in such manner  as  to  allow no
 part of  his regular reading to pass, without  ensuring the formation
 of correct ideas therefrom.  Support these appointments  by  such
 salaries as will command the best talents, by enabling  the  first
practitioners to take so much of their time from their other profes-
sional engagements, as  may be necessary for the faithful discharge
of those duties.   Supply a competent medical library and chemi-
cal apparatus, and a steward whose duty it shall be  to furnish plain
 board for all who  will board in the institution.  Support the stew-
ard by a salary worth his services  as such. #Let the rate of board
be determined by the bill  of fare,  i. e. divide the  cost of all  the
consumables by the number of students,  and let each one pay his
proportion of the expense.   This will reduce the board from the
common high price of that item in the medical student's expenses,
down to the bare cost of what he actually consumes.  Let his oth-
er expenses be $100 per annum, for the privileges and  benefits of 
12
 the institution, which in  only the common price of private pupil-
 age, and less  than the common price of tickets to one  course  of
 lectures.

   Certainly it may be said that, on this  plan, the Institution will
 not only be an expense to the State at the outset, but an annually
 repeated charge for  steward's and professor's salaries.  This fact,
 though not so terrible as may at first sight appear, we admit to some
 extent.   But this will annually  diminish, as the  school grows  in
 reputation, and its patronage consequently increases.

   Let us examine the reasonableness of the view we have taken, by
 supposing that the number of students will, within a very short time,
 amount to forty, (which we  think  a very  reasonable estimate,  as
 there is, without doubt, that number of  medical  students  at this
 time in  Georgia, besides a considerable  number who, so soon  as
 the institution gains a  name,  may be calculated on from other
 Slates,) each paying $100, would make an ai'i'ual income of 4000
 dollars,  which would probably pay for the services of instruction.

   Let us suppose the steward's  salary is $400.   Now if we divide
 this amount by 40, the number of students, we find  that by  exact-
 ing a ten dollar fee in annual advance of each student, in  addi-
 tion to his cost of consumables;  we shall raise the steward's salary
 out of the students, and afford them  board at as little as 70 to 90
 dollars; less than half the cheapest board in towns, and altogether
 little more than  half the present expenses of private  pupilage,
 with much better opportunities; and aftbrd them two  courses  of
lectures for about one half the cost of one course in a medical col-
lege.

   Having taken a hasty view of the fiscal concerns of the Institu-
tion in contemplation, we will define its powers.

   Let there be an annual examination on the first Monday  in Oc-
tober, to test the progress of the students, and confer the degree of
 Bachelor of Medicine ou  all who  are  believed worthy of the de-
 gree of  Doctor of Medicine.

   Thus will such receive their first degree, in time to visit any col-
 lege in the Union, the same fall ;  and  by an arrangement  which
 (we doubt not) may be made with some  one of the Colleges, re-
 ceive the second degree the following Spring.

   On this plan it is  believed, that two to  three years will accom-
 plish more for the well prepared  student of genius and zeal, than
 double that time underlie present want of arrangements.

   We have said we doubted not, that an  arrangement  might  be
 made with some one of the Medical Colleges,  whereby the  degree
 of M. D. might be conferred on the Bachelors of  our school, after
 attending one course of lectures  only.  We  believe this opinion
 will be found a very reasonable one, when we analyze the subject.
 Let us examine its claims. 
13
  There are but two leading reasons why Colleges require student*
to attend two courses of lectures, viz:

  1st.  That they may, with the more certainty, acquire a compe-
tent knowledge of the profession.

  2d.  That the institution may receive competent support

  Remove both these reasons,  and the law predicated on them will
be yielded up by any body of  liberal-minded men.
                                   *
  In reply to the 1st. we say 1st. That we believe the plan suggest-
ed for  private instruction, if well executed, better calculated  for
minute instruction, and particularly for obtaining the ideas of  va-
rious authors, than that of College  lectures only,  because it em-
braces means which cannot  be embraced in  a  professor's lee*
tures.

  And 2d.  That it is proposed to send none from  this Institution
to College, but such as are considered by a competent Board,* wor-
thy the degree of M. D. before they leave the academy.

  To the 2d reason we reply : That the College so agreeing would
lose nothing, but derive, on the contrary, actual benefit from such
an arrangement.  This will be apparent when we reflect, that  not
one half of the students of Georgia, and a still less proportion of
those who may ultimately  be expected to attend  the Academy, visit
any one  College ; and but very few indeed attend the same Col-
lege more than once, but prefer taking their secondcourse in  an-
other.
  Thu9 it may be easily seen, that more than double, and  perhaps
thrice the number of students, would be sent from the State to  the
College thus agreeing, that would otherwise attend it.   This effect
would  be ensured by the very circumstances of the agreement, viz:
That under the arrangement, only the time  and expense of one
winter would be  necessary to procure the degree of M. D. for  the
pvpils  of the Academy., whilst elsewhere, one year's time and  ex-
pense additional would be required.

  In conclusion  on this siibject, we will revert  a  moment to  the
State expense.   We have admitted that in the beginning and rise
of the,Institution, there would be an expense to  the State—And
now we Would ask, who are, to> be benefited by the Institution! It
is not the members of the profession in the State at present.

  So far otherwise indeed, is the fact, that the more talent  brought
into operation in the State, the more will their profits be lessened,
because of the increase of worthy competition.  But it is the pop-
ulation of the State at large whom you represent, and of whose in-
terests you  are the proper guardians, who, and  who alone, are  to
receive the benefits.  They are to  receive them in all the  endear-
ing departments of life.  'Tis wives, husbands, parents, children,
friends and  servants, who  are  to be substantially  and,particularly.
          * JLetttrat be the Medical Board of the Statt for the time being. 
14
benefited: the Medical character of your state advanced by the pro-
motion of Medical science, and  its wealth increased by  retaining
within it, at least one half or two  thirds of the money otherwise
annually expended  in foreign parts for the acquisition of Medical
knowledge.
   For embracing the present opportunity of presenting you with a
crude outline of a course for improving Medical Science within this
State,  we have no apology to offer you, but a sense of duty to which
we hope ever to be found obedient.  We now leave it to the ordeal
of your own judgments.    *

  I congratulate you my brethren of the Board—I congratulate the
enlightened members of the profession  generally, and  the commu-
nity at large, on that first display of State patronage which, in  1825,
e-tablished the Board, on  the duties of which we are now assembled.

  Late as  it is that  this patronage  is extended  to   our prof<£-
sion, it is genial as the cheering rays  of Aurora on the verdant
landscapes of May.

  I hail it as the first interesting era in the Medical history of Geor-
gia, and as an ©men of the happy rise of professional character
from the ashes of obscurity in which  it has hitherto dragged on a
miserable existence, (if indeed an existence it may be called,) to  a
level with that of the  sister States, and of the other enlightened
nations of the earth.
  Our Legislature has opened a portal through which we look  into
a vast uncultivated plain, which  has in the distance, the eminence
of fame and usefulness.   It now becomes our duty to enter,  and
labour faithfully in the field,  paving the way to the goal in view—
The work before  us is various and extensive. ' Let us be faithful
and industrious;  and  as the mild rays of morning soon ripen into
meridian splendor, illuminating,  warming, and cherishing the well
cultivated plains below, so as to perfect tlie harvest, so doubtless,
as we shew a good cultivation of  the talents  given us,  will our le-
gislature directed by a wise and kind  Proviaence, spread her  fos-
tering wings over, protect and strengthen us.
  As members of a high and responsible calling ;  as professors of.
those branches of Natural Philosophy  which  are decidedly  the
most important to the community, it becomes us to'attend particu-
larly to all things Avhich are calculated to procure and maintain for
our profession, a character every way dignrfied in proportion to its
real worth.
  Industrious effort, and a steady regard for moral rectitude must.
be combined with great zeal  for the advancement of our science,
and a constant desire for the increase of our own knowledge.

  When we enter upon a medical lifev we should feel as if we were
entering upon holy ground—We  should feel as if we were enter-
ing on a life of much self-denial,  and relinquishment  of worldly
pleasures, and a  life of servitude to the community in which we
live. 
16
  In this life, our primary object should be the promotion of the
safety and happiness of our fellow-creatures; our secondary ob-
ject, the decent  maintenance of  our families;  and the ternary
object the advancement of our Science.

  Relative to your peculiar duties as a Board for testing the quali-
fications of those who come forward to the practice of medicine, I
am happy,  by the experience and acquaintance of one session, to
know that I needr^t say much.

  The great prudence,  good  feeling,  and depth of professional
ability displayed during that session, are worthy to stand as pre-
cedents for your future  imitation,  whilst they warrant perpetuity
and success to the Institution entrusted  to  your care.    Nor is it
but justice to you as individuals, and as members of the Board, to
state in this place, that by avoiding every display of political feel-
ing and sentiment,  and devoting yourselves during your delibera-
tions, entirely to professional duty, you have proven yourselves in-
capable of error  in the latter—from difference of opinion and feel-
ing in the former.  You have made medicine and politics entirely
distinct branches of science, by keeping in view that "the common-
wealth of  medicine is of no party."*

   I well know your good feeling  towards candidates  for license,
and your ardent desire  that each  should acquit himself well, and
receive the reward which awaits the worthy.   But allow me  to say
to you, that whilst every good and kind feeling towards candidates
is desirable to justice on one hand, this will lead  you into great er-
ror on the  other, without the countervailing influence of the con-
sideration,  that at the same time, you stand as the life-guards of
this community  ; and that your  decisions are of the greatest  im-
portance to their properly and their lives.

   In order to be enabled the better to judge of the merits of can-
didates, and ensure their good preparation previous to their pie-
senting themselves, I would  remind you,  that your sessions as a
test tribunal are  not proper seasons  for the instruction of candid-
ates :  and consequently,  that it may be well to dispense with that
practice during the  examinations,  into which the ability to  do so,
and the kind feeling of some of the members have heretofore occa-
sionally led them.   Let the only business of the Board with can-
 didates, (at least, until after decision on their cases) be to ascertain
 the qualifications they possess, and dispose of them accordingly.

   Another duty  to our profession, as well as to the community, (a§
 a Board,) if in your opinion the law which established the Board,
 admits of such exercise  of sound discretion, requires not only that
you weary not in your endeavors to ascertain the qualifications of
candidates, and that you pass none but such as, by their acquire-
 ments and  zeal,  prove themselves capable of safe and useful prac-
tice ; but that  you  consider  all qualifications  and  acquirements
nothing, without the accompaniment of good moral character.
t Dr. Romeyn's Address, (page 77.) 
16
    ^Before taking leave of the subject of your  duties as a Board, I
   would remind you  that most of us are at a considerable distance
   from our families, and our other professional obligations j and that
   whilst we are willing to  submit to painful  privations  for the pur-
*'  pose of giving all the time and attention here,  absolutely necessary
   for the best possible discharge of the duties to which  we are call-
   ed ;  still, in order that we  may the sooner be returned to the en-
   joyment of our  homes and our families, where %lone the toils of
   life  are lost in ease and comfort;  and  that we 9tiay the sooner re-
   sume our other  labours  in  the cause of humanity, we trust that
   each member will feel it his duty to give his whole time to the bu-
   iiness of the Board.

     Your chief other obligation to the profession, (though not strictly
   to the Board) includes every  effort which  can possibly contribute
   to the immediate advancement of the  Science.

     The character of the  profession  will certainly  be improved by
   your passing such candidates only,  as are well prepared ; but the
   improvement of the Science, can  only be effected by the direction
   of your attention and labors to the acquisition and distribution of
   knowledge: and for these  purposes the Central  Medical Society
   of Georgia, formed  by you  at the first session  of the Board,, is
   well calculated.

     By the formation of that society, you have  afforded  facilities for
   the  interchange of ideas and  information between the members
   from all parts of the State, and for collecting and examining the
   products of genius, which heretofore,  for want of a point of con-
   vergence, have not only  remained in obscurity, but have been lost
   forever.  You have prepared a field not hitherto  before the medi-
   cal public of the state, which with due management, will nourish into
   valuable growth that professional zeal which has hitherto been defi
   cient in this State, and  stimulate  to emulous  effort in  scientific re
   search many who would otherwise live and die but routinists.

     I congratulate you gentlemen,  on the happy disposition for as-
   sociation and improvement in the Science which has caused: the
   formation of that Society.   In it you  have a voluntary assemblage
   of members of a respectable, a liberal, and  an honorable profes-
   sion,—not, I hope, with mercenary views-*—not for the purpose of
   considering it as regards its emoluments to those who labor in its
   fields—not for  the purpose  of pledging yourselves to stipulated
   prices for professional services,—but, with  the exalted motive of
   advancing its other interests as a high branch of  Science;  of ad-
   vancing the general literary, and'particularly the Medical character
   of the State*
     Nor is this all—I trust it is the honest  intention of each one of
   you, by this association  to cultivate  in a  more  eminent  degree,
   those social virtues which  are so  indispensable to the peace, har-
   mony, welfare, happiness, and character of each of you as brothers
   of the same profession  ;—virtues which are calculated to  give you
   character as men  and as philosophers'*—to render you more enjin- 
17
 vntly useful to your fellow beings,  and to gild the evening horizon
 of your latter days with those benign felicities which alone can
 render them desirable to man.

   But  for a spirit of pure ingenuousness ;  but for a  social and
 brotherly disposition ; but for a willingness for affable communica-
 tiveness, and a free disposition to impart to each  other the pro-
 ducts of your observations and your reasonings,  your attempts at
 useful association will be vain and futile.  They will appear before
 the world  only as idle presences to something, and will be remem-
 bered  only as evidences of your want of those qualities as men and
 as philosophers, which alone could enable you to accomplish it.

   Emulation to  excellence in every  thing which is calculated to
 honoiably aid and adorn the professional man, will, I hope, be the
 polar  star of each associate; and if it should, I  will vouch for
 your success  in  Medical Science,  and your happiness  as  social
 brethren.

   But  in the exercise of a spirit  of emulation you  mu6t be care-
 ful that jealousy and envy be not allowed  to enter into your as-
 sociations.

   Should  this unfortunately  be the case, enmity and  hatred will
 enter in quick succession ; a baneful spirit  of opposition to every
 thing, right or wrong, will haunt your deliberations  and debates ;
 your efforts will end without fruition, and your otherwise prosper-
 ous harvest be marred into unprofitable and  loathsome chaff.

   I look on the formation of the Central Medical Society as no
 trivial movement.  A noble purpose is proposed to be effected.—
 The field before  you is vast in extent; the invitations to it eminent-
 ly exhilarating:  no less  than the prospect of a  nearer approach
 to  God, by a greater knowledge of his works and  his truths ; no
 less than a general change  in almost all the  philosophy of life and
 of disease.

   My cordial, my ardent desire is that you may be zealous in your
 exertions to promote  the grand objects of this  association, and
 that in those exertions liberality, generosity and candour may pre-
 side as guardian  spirits of your intentions and operations.

   There is before you a great physical cause,* which demands your
 observation and your investigation, and to which I invite your at-
 tention as  the richest of  wordly treasures.  A cause of  which, im-
 portant  as it is to all true  philosophy, at present  little more  is
 known  than a few of its many laws and some of its isolated  phe-
 nomena.

   It is a cause in itself so wisely endowed ;  so minute,  so deli-
 cate,  and  yet so  vast, so powerful, so universal, that the very con-
templation of it in  its incalculable  minuteness  and delicacy, as
well as its power  and  ubiquity, must necessarily  overwhelm the
• Wsctricity, 
IB
mind of man with sublimity and admiration.   A cause every way
indicative of the wisdom, power, extent and benignity  of the Al-
mighty God, who, by its instrumentality created,  and  continually
preserves a  Universe !  A  cause which, being by His  Almighty
will cast into chaos, produced order out of confusion, and life and
motion out of primeval stillness and repose !  A cause which seems
proximate to the great intellectual cause of all  causes, and which is
itself,  not only proximate, but final!   A cause generally operating'
throughout  all the  subjects  of all  the kingdoms of nature ; no*
a cause of a moment or an hour, as a spark from a prime conduc-
tor or a thunder storm ;  but a first cause, (under God,) of all ex-
istences ! Eternal t as matter ! beginning with, accompanyingr in-
habiting and acting on  all of it, from the  simplest  geological  or
atrial atom, throughout all mineral, vegetable and animal natures
up to the  incomprehensibly - extended universe  itself!   A cause
competent to the production of all effects,  from the most  delicate
chemical experiment in a test phial, up to the retention of Jupiter
in his orbit—competent to the production  of the slightest  cobweb*
sensation, or the  movement  of  a hair, or fanning us with the gen-
tlest summer evenings  zephyr;  to the production of the  tempetrt
which uproots  the  forests, and  rolls  the vast, the ponderous deep
into mountain  billows; or the  lurid  thunder storm which  turns
the noon day glare into twilight darkness, and in one little instant
rends in twain  the towering oak of centuries !  A cause which in
less  than one minute, whilst " distant falling mountains" thunder-
ed the dismal requiem, could ingulf in one vast, one horrible Atlan-
tic grave, a populous city ! \ Could  whelm  for  seventeen centu-
ries  a  Pompeii,  and   perhaps  forever  a Herculaneum  and  a
Slabia in one mighty  blazing ruin ; one boiling  tide  of  sulphur,
salt, bitumen, iron  scum, in hundred  torrents  rolling on resistless 1
and make an
           " Ftna roar with dreadful ruins nigh,      J
           " Then hurl a bursting cloud of cinders high, >
           " Involved in smoking whirlwinds to the sky; J
           " With loud displosion to the starry frame,
           " Shoot fiery globes and furious floods of flame"?

   Roll on resistless tide of time !  Thou great matrix of years, cen-
turies and epochas !   Roll on the happy period, when philosophy
shall be added to inspiration to establish the great truths of Divini*
ty", and man shall approach nearer to God by a correct  knowledge
of His character—when We shall cease to wonder at effects, from
our. ignorance  of their physical cause—but when e\ery mind  shall
bask in perpetual love, ecstacy and admiration,  on each  contem-
plat.on of His mercy, wisdom and power !
   We come now to the last and greatest of our  duties, and those
with which  all others should operate in sweet concert ;  I mean our
duties to God.

   It is a lamentable and deplorable fact, that  so  generally has in~
fidelity prevailed amongst physicians  that,  in  public estimation it

  t It is not intended  hereto say that either matter, or the physical cause spoken of was without be-
ginning, or that eitherof them will be without end; but the paucity of the lynguat;.- require* the
use of this word to mean that the causo spoken of was Teateu at least as ewly, and wiU at least be
lasting as matter.
                     tPort Royal.   JWhartmi, 
19
 has become identified with the name of the profession ; and Quacks
 have thought  they could not  be considered physicians until they
 had openly professed infidelity  !  This character of the profession
 has induced many  a worthy, pious  citizen to  withhold  his son of
 much  promise, from  the study of a profession which he honestly
 believed would contribute to the eternal ruin  of  his offspring.
   But I am thrice happy in being able thus publicly to  state, that
 there is nothing in the nature of our profession, which is necessari-
 ly conducive to such a state of mind.  So far otherwise indeed ie
 the fact, that it seems to me, the mind which is well informed in the
 various philosophy of our science, and is  capable of contempla-
 ting on the wisdom, order,  harmony and beauty of thousands of
 subjects  of nature presented to its view—on the  perfect  adaptation
 of cause to effect, and these to  the purposes of life—to the preven-
 tion or reinoval of those things which tend to produce disease and
 death—in a word, the whole economy of nature, from the simplest
 subject of botanical investigation, up to the perpetuation of human
 life itself, and its connexions again  with  Satellites, Comets, Plan-
 ets and Swis ;  the mind I say capable of these contemplations, and
 can deny the existence  of a creating, and continually  preserving
 power—'in short a God, who  superintends, causes or  allows  all
 events, must labor under, at least, a very considerable derangement
 of* its judging faculty.

   And when the experienced practitioner  reflects  on the endless
 variety and perpetuity of human miseries he is culled  to witness^
 the general fallacy of human designs for worldly happiness, the
 impotency of human power, both  physical  and moral,  and the
 abundant overrulings of Providence, where  his own   reasonings
 have appeared  most plain and  conclusive ; when, to use the lan-
 guage  of Cuvier,  " he beholds  a female in the state of  youth and
 health, her form round and pleasant, her movements graceful and
 eupple, her warmth genial, her  cheeks tinctured with the roses of
 pleasure, her eyes sparkling with love  or the fire  of genius, her
 countenance enlivened by  sallies of wit, or animated by the glow
 of passion—every grace and every charm  united  to render^jler a
 being the most  enchanting; he  beholds  again, and one  instant
 has sufficed to destroy the fond allusion !  Without any  apparent
 cause,  motion  and  feeling have  ceased—her body has lost  its
 warmth—the beautiful roundness of her muscles has shrunk away,
 and her bones  appear in angular jettings—her eyes have become
 dull, her cheeks and lips livid !  These are  the harbingers of a
 change even more horrible !  Her flesh  passes to  blue,   green, or
 black !   Dissolving into  moisture, one portion evaporates  in foul
 emanations, another melts into putrid sanies, which also hastens
 to dissipate'itself in the air!  In a word, at the end of a few days
 only, there remains  visible, nothing but a few earthly and  saline
 principles!"   When he sees  the  dying christain  recline  his
 head softly on his pillow of faith and
                   " Breathe hi* life out sweetly there;"

which, in the perfectly honest moment of death shews that it pos-
se v.-jes the wonderful and desirable  power of guiding him  safely 
20
through,  that last, solemn, closing  scene;  and that it  is  the
surety of his kind reception into the presence of his God,  where
he is to bask in all eternity  in unalloyed bliss ; and when again he-
sees the vain and proud infidel chilled in the  iron grasp  of death;
still ineffectually  exerting his  expiring powers to ward oft' the im-"
pending and certain fate—and that, not for the enjoyments of this
world,  but  because he has  no eye  of faith by which  he can see
through the gloomy vale of death, into the  bright eftulgencc  of
eternal  glory ; because he sees no pleasures blooming on the  bor-
ders of  his  grave, nor cheering  joya  springing around his truly
woful bed of death, nor even one fancied hope to shield him from
the wrath of God !  When  1 say  he reflects  on or  witnesses these
scenes,  (which are so commou in the profession,) even putting re-
velation aside, and giving reason her reign, he must sayt that God
is not God,  because  his works and  providences are not  wise, just
and merciful, or that all orders of people are made for immortality,
and that that immortality must be  happy  or miserable,  according
to the judgment of a just sovereign on that conduct || which the pro-
bationary life affords.

  Taking these reflections, we find  no motive nor reason—no ob-
ject worthy the vast expense of wisdom and labor in the  construc-
tion of  a universe,  and the creation of rational beings, consistent
with the attributes of God,  short of another life.

  All we know, and all  we can learn of  man, can only tend  to
prove to us  that this life is but a  probationary moment;  and when
on  the other side the Jordan of death, we  cast back a  retrospec-
tive glance, it will doubtless appear to us as a point  in  the grand
scale  of eternal existence, and as valuable only for  having afforded
the means  of preparation for a better estate.

  I have reflected much on the  source of this trait  of  character,
so common amongst my professional brethren, and have been in-
duced to conclude that it  is 'ess excusable  in them than in any
Other class of human beings; not only because  1 can find no rea-
son peculiar to our profession, but because it should  lead its vota-
ries to the habit of taking enlarged  views of all subjects presented
to their minds ;  and because,  in the pursuit  and practice of their
profession, they necessarily witness more of the  displays  of God's
character in his works and providences than others.
  But,  judging by my  own experience, i should  say there appears
to me to be two ways,  (not  rational causes,) in which this infidelity
is generated, cherished and perfected; of one only will the present
opportunity allow us to treat.  In the study of our profession, we
acquire the habit of ocular  demonstration,  and of confining our
judgments too much to tangible and visible causes,  and our convic-
tiofis to tangible and visible effects, to the  exclusion  of principles.
abstracted from these,  ff
  ||I!yconduct, is n.it meant, aets of morality alone, l:ut that moral and physic; 1 ccmorLy which is
ve:-lly the fruits and certain accotnpanimepts of genuine christian faith.
 'j-Perhajis^lhere may bea Mijht apology formed forthis error in tlie alnv>-t innumc -;,ule ia!^.-
•Iieories which have been advanced in  medicine,and which it has at all times been th'- I..ib,vi"■:-
met disagreeable dufy of the nWical philosopher f< ►<■: z :d» ;u ruliUsb. 
2i
   Unwatchful of ourselves  as we generally  are at that  period of
 life which is devoted to studentship only, and next, to  the early
 practice of the profession, we easily fall  into scepticism ; and the
 habit of giving  corporeity to every thing *  soon leads us to deny
 whatever is insusceptible of ocular demonstration, and consequent-
 ly to the denial of spiritual existences, which is materialism.
   Here  let us examine our inconsistency and weep over our weak-
 ness.  Let us remember that in our profession, we deal in  those
 identical things, the existence of which our false philosophy leads
 us to deny :  spiritual existences.
   We know that the bodies of living men possess  life, and  that
 the important branches of our profession we call Physiology, and Pa-
 thology  are founded on the knowledge of the different states of that
 life.  Yet the substance of that life is insusceptible  of ocular de-
 monstration.
   We know the magnetic needle has polarity, but we cannot make
 ocular demonstration of the substance of magnetism.
   We know  that  electricity exists,  and gives  qualities to matter
 without  being itself always demonstrable to the eyes.   We know
 that we labor to do  good to  our fellow  creatures,  and to procure
 sustenance by intellect; yet we cannot  see  the substance of that
 intellect; nor can we, by microscopical examination find a space
 allowed for the residence of either of them in the material substan-
 ces they occupy or influence. Why then do we admit their existence ?
 How do we become conscious of them ?  Not surely, by any des-
 cribable  nature they possess in the abstract;  but solely on the evi-
dence of their existence, afforded  by their effects on matter.  We
 can have no consciousness of matter itself—the God of materialist1?
 abstracted from its qualities, and without these should deny its ex-
 istence.   But its qualities so sensibly prove  its existeuce that the
 understanding is easily convinced of the  fact, and thus  we are in-
 capable of denying it.   Not less plain is the  reasoning  in favor of
 spiritual existences.  The qualities of matter  could not  be without
 something to  possess  those qualities.  Nor can the effects of spirit
 (which are the sensible qualities of this mode of living,) exist with-
 out the existence of spirit.  But  we did not dispute  the existence
 of life, magnetism, electricity, intellect, &c.  &c. on the least inti-
 mation of the fact, before we were well informed of them by siu-
 Jying and observing  their laws  and effects.   We can  believe  a
 King has swayed his sceptre over a nation because we see his pal-
 ace or his throne—we can believe the republic of Rome ended in
 the year of the world 3973, and that the Roman Empire commen-
 ced immediately after the battle of .Actium the same year, under
 Augustus,  being  31 years  before  Christ.  We can believe  that
 Louis XVI commenced  his reign  over France in 1774. ' We find
 it not less easy to believe those things  which depend on the  slight-
est intimation by the words of man.   We find i.o difficulty iu be-
lieving even air Indian tradition relative  to some of  the barbarities
of their ancestors.   We can believe and weep over a fiction of the
imagination,  if nature  be well portrayed.   Mark the inconsistency
 of our nature !  Here  we are very credulous.  We implicitly be-
 * Or ji'dguig of, cy tbirHngcr. it on'y I y its <;v.a!it:cs as lrcttrrcrl.odj-. 
22
 lieve the word of fallible-man, and as confidently deny the truth
 of the unerring and  infallible God !   We can deny the existence
 of an  immortal soul, because we cannot, in our anatomical inves-
 tigations, find that part which seems to have been peculiarly adapted to
 tlie residence of some material substance—of which  material sub-
 stance only Ave can  conceive—and we  can deny  the existence, of
 a wise omnipotent omniscient, just and merciful God, although
 surrounded by His innumerable works and blessings, and although
 created and  continually preserved by—we know  not  what else ;
 thus we seem to acquire to ourselves such an intolerable share of
 vanity and presumption as to  imagine we can " bind the sweet in-
 fluences of Pleiades ;  loose the bands of Orion ; bring forth Maz-
 zaroth in his seasons,  and guide Arcturus with his sons ;  that we
 know all the ordinances of heaven, and  set the dominion  thereof
 in the  earth, and can send the lightnings," that they  may go forth
 and say, " behold us."*   Nay more—without spending a thought
 on the reasons for believing its authenticity,  and  without learning
 from its sacred pages the inherent evidences of its truth, discard at
 ence as a fiction or an imposition that history t  whose truths are
 more firmly  substantiated than any other, and  which, so far .as
 ether  history goes, derives  additional  substantiation  therefrom.
 That book whioh came " from the love  and embrace of God, and
 was given in mercy to man and the children of men,"  which dis-i
 eloses  " to us the mysteries  of hereafter and the secrets  of the
 throne of God," which sets open to us the gates of salvation, and
 shews  us " the way  of eternal life, hitherto unknown;" which
 Bi withholds  nothing in heaven from our hope and ambition, and
 pours upon our earthly lot, the full horn  of divine providence and
 consolation ;" which brings to  us  " the  fulness of the knowledge
 of God, and speaks welfare to us and our children"—whose  " an-
 cient residence  was the  bosom of God," but which has come to
 occupy its throne in our hearts ; which will accept of no residence
 " but the soul of an immortal;  which would, if we would receive
 it, possess us of that peace which God alone can give ; which calls
 ©n and entreats us, "  but we refuse;  which stretches out the hand
 of God to us, but we regard it not;" and of whose truths millions
 of intelligent beings of pur own species,  at all times for many cen-
 turies in steady succession, have borne indubitable testimony from
internal evidence ; and which  has not only  stood firm as a iQck,
 amidst the desolating whirlwinds of infidelity  which have  spruncr
from a Phorphyry, a Hierocles, a Celsus, and an apostate Julie*
of ancient, and a Voltaire, a  Hume, a Paine, and a Mirabeau of
modern t;ines, and 1 may add a Laurence of .the present day, but
which hasflourished in immortal green, until it has spread its grate-
ful and soul-cheering shadow  over almost all the lauds and seas of
this  planet  on  which   we have  our  temporal  residence ; and
which w 11 continue to  grow and thicken until the grand catastro-
phe of universal dissolution !
  If then tc; frie;vls,  you*value tle.t which can sever  your  aftec-
iio:;'j from r,  aisha' i  pleasures  and fix themon imperishable one.s;
 if you value serene  pleesure  in  life;  if you  would  approach
            ' Job, chap, sxxviii, v. 31, et seq.      1 The Bib.!' 
aa
With ease the solemn ordeals of death and  judgment;  and if you
would value  the smiles of a reconciled God in all eternity,  seek
shelter under its umbrageous foliage :  seek knowledge  on its pa-
ges ;  examine well its authenticity, for it is well able  to bear the
test of scrutiny.   Fear  not to  compromit  the dignity of your
wisdom ; for a Quadratus, an  Aristides, and  an  Athenagoras of
Athens, a Clemens, an Arnobius, and an Annatolius of Alexandria^
md a Justin Martyr and aTertullian of Rome have believed before
you.  It will arm you with the " sacred precepts of Christianity,"
and thereby enable you to " meet the King of terrors without dis-
may, and without a tear to bid adieu to these. regions of mortality
iferever. 
 
I 
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