\83Z ■*■* /< \ v ADDRESS Delivered in the Masonic Hall) Commencement of the First Course of Lectured 01* THE MEDIC AE INSTITUTE OF THIS STATE OF GEORGIA. 'it- *' AUGUSTA: Vriated at The Worth-American Gazette Office. B. Brantly, printer. 1832. \N ADDRESS, &A Ffllow-Citizexs : The Trustees of the Medical Institute of the State of Georgia, having organized a Medical College in the City of Augusta, it was thought proper, that at the commencement of the first course of Lectures, some one should deliver an address suitable to the occasion ; and in presenting myself before you as the humble organ of my colleagues in this great enterprise, I respectfully claim your attention, while I proceed to exhibit their object and their resources, with the consequent benefits which would result from its success to this community. In no country, perhaps, has individual enterprise been car- ried to greater extent than in our own. And when we look around and compare the advantages of our mode of legislation with that of other nations, we cannot but rejoice that we have been thrown into existence in such an age, and under such a government. Here, emphatically, the humblest individual will receive the reward of his own labour and ingenuity, and state patronage or court favor are as unlooked for, as they arc unknown in our operations. He who here can attain the proud satisfaction of having done his country some service, or he who has even benefitted the community of which he is a member, rarely passes unnoticed and unhonored. It would therefore be unjust, were I on this occasion to neglect a tribute of respect to the author* of our present undertaking. With him, not only originated the idea of establishing a medical school in this place, but he has been its most active promoter, and in pro- portion to its success, ought his reputation be raised. It has been said, the existence of an Intitution of this kind was premature and uncalled for by this State. It is true, there is a Medical College in the full tide of successful expe- riment in a neighboring city : but when we calculate that by the establishment of a similar school among ourselves, there miffht be an annual saving to this State of more than thirty thousand dollars, which have heretofore been expended by Students of medicine from Georgia, at New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Lexington and Charleston—when *e reflect that talented young men, who might he ornaments to their profes- sion, and useful members of society, from limited circumstan- ces are unable to prosecute their studies abroad-and when we consider the improvement that must necessarily result from our own preparations, and from our more immediate applica- tion to one particular branch of the healing art; we trust, that * Professor, Milton Antony. 4 in exerting ourselves to affect these objects, we will meet with your encouraging approbation and your increasing support- Have we no peculiarities of climate and of habits ? Are all our complaints fully investigated and perfectly understood ? Have we here no fatal diseases ? And are there not men entrusted to our care, upon whose existence may depend the destinies ot the Republic? Are there not families whose means of subsis- tence and happiness are placed in our hands ? Are not the healtifand lives of our most endearing friends and relatives, confided to our knowledge of the healing art ? And shall it be said we are premature in organizing a school, whose object is to make us better acquainted and better qualified for exercising our profession ? So great were the abuses in medicine a few years ago. that the State Legislature was compelled to appoint a board of Physicians to examine and grant licenses to those only, whom they considered qualified to practice the healing art. We have consequently the highest authority for declaring that medical instruction and improvement arc required at home; and an Institution, whose operations would be economical to the country, which would charitably provide for the poor, and which would render us the industrious cultivators of medicine, is wc therefore conceive, peculiarly and directly called for by this community. We believe too the times are propitious to the enterprise; and who, besides, does not cling with greater attachment at this political crisis, to his Southern feelings and his Georgia principles ? Who so dead to patriotism, that would not be first for his own, bis native land ? The spirit of the present age is onwards to perfection in the arts and sciences. Breathing the inspirations of the genius of improvement, and yielding to the impulse of the times, we are determined to be no longer idle spectators of passing events, but to be up and doing for our- selves. Cherishing the laudable ambition to be good and use- ful, we have entered upon an engagement, which in develop- ing the resources of our State and calling into action our native talent, will we honestly believe, promote her interest, advance her prosperity, and ameliorate the condition of her people. The city of Augusta, containing a population equal to any other in the'State, from its central situation to a considerable portion of country, from the facilities of its communication with surrounding parts, from its increasing commerce and trade, and from its healthiness, has appeared to us best adapted for the location of the medical school of Georgia ; and unon application, the Legislature has been pleased to confirm this opinion, by incorporating the Institution, first as a medical Academy and afterwards extending its charter to the libera &0ftlI1Jln0st^P^^li!^Iedical Colleges of the United States. It now consists of twenty-four Trustees and six Pro- fessors empowered to frame laws and regulations to carry H into full operation; and accordingly, we have assembled this a day to open the first course of Lectures on the six principaf branches of medicine. A suitable building has been provided, and the necessary apparatus and preparations have been receiv- ed from Europe and the North, which we hope will enable us t > give a satisfactory course this winter. In order to afford ample time and opportunity for study and daily examinations, and to embrace the advantages of clinical Lectures in the hos- pital, the term has been extended from the usual period of four to six months . the session commences the third Monday in October, and terminates the third Wednesday in April. At tho last annual meeting of the Board of Trustees a committee was appointed to petition the next Legislature, cither for direct aid by endowing the Institution, or by granting us those means by which this ornament f of our city was erected. Should it please that body to accede to our proposition, a Medical Library, an Anatomical Museum and Chemical Apparatus, together with a handsome building and a hospital arc in contemplation to be added to our city. The benefits which would result to this State, and more im- mediately to this community, from the success of so important an enterprise, must be evident to every reflecting mind. The existence of our earthly happiness and the first law of nature, self-preservation, are even involved in the subject; for it is an undeniable fact, that in proportion to the advancement of medicine in every country, there has been a corresponding diminution in the mass of human sufferings, and in the mortal- ity of diseases. If we only consider the improvements that have been made in this respect in our own country, since the establishment of its medical schools, they alone will be suffi- cient to elicit your interest if not to enlist your feelings in our behalf. The prosperity of our large cities and their diminish- ed number of deaths, when compared to their increased popular tion, is attributable to their well regulated medical police and sanitary boards, which are the offsprings of our liberal Institu- tions of medicine. Though mankind be the same in every ago, and though medi- cine b6 exercised on certain fixed principles, still the varieties of manners and customs and the differences of climate and lat- itude, impose such modifications on diseases, and do even gen- crate new diseases, that they require a local investigation and a peculiar treatment. Hence the urgent necessity for the Georgia Medical Institute, and in soliciting your patronage in its favour, we might justly appeal to the strongest of human passions, to self-preservation and self-interest. Having thus, fellow-citizens, explained to you in a few words our object and our present condition in attempting to es- tablish a Medical College in this place, permit me to observe, \ The Masonic Hall it» which this Address was delivered, was erected from the proceeds of a Lottery granted by the State. 6 that in entering upon the arduous task winch we have taken upon ourselves, we have reflected, deeply reflected, on the re- sponsibility of our situation. Some of us arc indeed too young in years, and too inexperienced in our profession, to promise much as teachers of medicine, Others might have been select- ed, whose talents and observations would have belter qualified them for the offices which we fill; but we have pursued no ex- clusive course: the door of admission has been opened to all, and if we have apparently thrust ourselves upon the public, though humble be our origin and meek our pretensions, we hope we can say our opportunities have not been altogether contemp- tible,^: and that our previous conduct promises industry and perseverance in the undertaking. >Ye are free to confess our inabilities, but whether success attend our efforts, or the bitter cup of disappointment be onr portion, we are resohed to do our duty, happen what will. Feeling the necessities, for im- provement, anxious to keep pace with the daily advancement of our profession, and to afford a better opportunity of investiga- ting the diseases peculiar to our climate, we are willing and ready to sacrifice our time, our labor, and if required, our mor- tified feelings in so good a cause. Were there no other profits to be derived from the experiment than in our individual prepa- rations and studies, this would even be a satisfaction, and we might glean some consolation from the rectitude of our conduct and the honesty of our intentions. But we arc cheered by the reflection, that similar Institutions have heretofore made their own men, by exciting that emulation which tends to our mutu- al advantage and to the promotion of our science. Confiding our enterprise in the hands of the disposer of all events, and whom we have this day invoked for its success, I leave this subject and beg your indulgence in making a few remarks on the present state of the medical professsion. The origin of medicine is involved in too much obscurity an uncertainty, and its history previous to the past half century, contains too many wild conjectures and unreasonable specula- tions, to offer much interest or profit in its consideration. It will be sufficient for our purpose to know, that it musthave been co-eval with the existence of human misery, and that it arose from the exercise of that heaven-born principle, which teaches us in feeling for the sufferings of others to attempt their relief— from the exercise of one of the noblest motives implanted with- in us—from the exercise of sympathetic benevolence. Though among the last of the sciences to be reduced to true philosophical principles, within the hist fifty years, it has at- tained that degree of perfection which ought to convince the most skeptical of its importance and utility to the hum J.race- and the respectability of its cultivators in every country L at least™ inducement to believe it an enlightened, a liberal anil Europe6 three ?oun&est Professors have visited the Medical Institutions of X i tin honorable profession. Still there are those of the present day, who relying upon their own exemption from accidents and diseases, and confiding in their own self-sufficiency, not only attempt to ridicule the practice of medicine, but to decry all operations in surgery as cruel and barbarous. The skeptic, however, to the healing art in this enlightened age, can be compared to the atheist, who denying the existence of a Godj daily invokes bis name, and calls upon him in the hour of de- spair. So he who sports with the feelings and professions of the practitioner of medicine and surgery in the full vigour of health and youth, will not be the last when laid on the bed of affliction, to apply for the drug which can give relief, or to submit to the operation which can prolong life. After three long years of toil and privation, the faithful student of medicine enters upon the duties of bis profession. Commencing his studies either from inclination, accident or necessity, he leaves the endearments of home, and with all the ardour of youth and the fond expectations of becoming useful, we find him in some distant city, communing with the cold mortality of the sepulchral hall, or breathing the noxious gases of the chemical laboratory. In his researches and enquiries after truth, no obstacle can check his enthusiasm, no effort too great, no labor too immense for bis never-tiring patience and uninterrupted perseverance. At one time, we behold him descending to the most humiliating offices in administering to the sick of hospitals at another, "performing one of the most philosophical operations within the circle of human know- ledge. "|j Not content with the advantages which his own country affords, and feeling it a duty to make every possible preparation for the deep and awful responsibility which he as- sumes in becoming the guardian of the health and lives of his fellow-citizens, we next see him crossing the billows of the Atlantic, to visit the medical schools and hospitals of Europe,. where, from extensive observation and enlarged experience, he will be better able to judge correctly of the true principles of medicine. He has surely endured enough in the acquisition of his profession, to entitle him on bis return to the encouraging smiles of friends, and a hearty welcome to the confidence and favour of the public. But how frequently is it otherwise. Enlightened on almost all subjects, mankind appear to regard medicine as a mystery, and he who practices it as one whose sympathies are benumbed, and whose feelings are chilled to human emotions. Notwithstanding the improvements that are being made in all things, and even in many of the accessory sciences of practical medicine ; notwithstanding the diffusion of general information on every subject; and notwithstanding the number of highly talented men that are now devoting their time, their labour and their lives to the medical profession, still 0 Dufouard says this of Amputation. s tlie prejudices of the world are against its humble votary ana be is often called upon to contend with ignorance and supersti- tion. Should he still continue to devote himself to his studies', to retire from the busy croud, and to forego the pleasure of society in order to improve every moment and opportunity to better serve his fellow-creatures, he will be considered cold and unnatural; while he who merely obtains a degree, and lays his books asiuj for the dissipations of life, by parading public places and courting popular favour, soon bee >mcs the/as/u(wa- ble physician, in spite of a deficiency of intellect, of merit or of claims upon the community. We wish not to be misunderstood. We are fully aware that in medicine, as in all other avocations, wealth and fame are the reward of industrious habits and of honorable deportment. But unfortunately fur our profession, there exists circumstan- ces in its present state, which have a tendency fatal to its ad- vancement, which occasion it to be misrepresented, and which cause officious pretensions to be preferred to modest merit___It cannot be denied that in this country, the great mass of people are less informed on the subject of medicine thart on any other. Even those who are well educated and versed in classical lite- rature, display here a want of knowledge totally at variance with its importonce. This is undoubtedly to be attributed to our present systems of education, which enjoin on our youth the study of navigation, surveying, kc. to the exclusion of the CCT^nts of the most useful and noble of the arts and sciences. Were a professorship of medicine established in our literary Institutions, whereby a structure of the human body, and the laws by which it is governed, could be disseminated, we would not only see a host of impostors with their pretended panaceas, disappearing from this country, but the profession itself bG elevated, and real worth and virtue be the only surety to its honors and distinctions. Some pretend to think it is men and not hooks we are to study, to gain wisdom and knowledge. This, says an emi- nent writer, is the consolation and language of dunces, who shelter their ignorance under a few brigbt examples, whose transcendant abilities, without the common helps, have been sufficient of themselves to great and important ends. If this he applicable to some of the avocations of life, few I trust can believe it correct when associated to the study of medicine.—- We live truly in a revolutionary age of the arts and sciences, our own is as much under its influence as any other, and it re- quires the greatest possible industry and daily application to keep pace with its steady and gradual march of improvement. He who is therefore continually seen in the streets and election. eering forbusiness, besides lowering the dignity of the profes* sion, must neglect his studies; and accordingly it has ever been remarked, that fashionabte physicians are the most un« successful practitioners. 3 Much has been said of our uncharitablcness to each other and of the disagreements among ourselves. With respect to this latter charge we would observe, that we do not candidly think there will be found to exist upon investigation, as much differ- ence of opinion between physicians, as is generally imagined. All are more or less capable of forming some idea of politics, of religion, kc. , and in comparing these with medicine, it is too often forgotten that this latter is a peculiar profession, which few only study, and are consequently able to judge correctly of its theories and practices, as well as of the opinions of those who exercise it. Are there not differences too on subjects connec- ted with the future state of the immortal part of man and are there not daily controversies and disputes about the policy of nearly every act even of our own happy government ? And though we may differ as to the means employed, still like the navigators of the pathless ocean, we' may have the same object in view and arrive at the same desired and destined heaven . It is indeed a difficult task for any association ot men, so to regulate their intercourse with society and among themselves as to give no offence, and this seems peculiarly the case with the medical profession. To be always ready to act without being officious, to be attentive without being too familiar, to be kind without being too yielding, to proportion the pleasures ot soci- ety without neglecting study, to treat all claiming the profes- sional fraternity with due regard and circumspection without exhibiting partialities or inattentions, is indeed a happy medium •which few can practice in life. . Medicine according to our ethics "is a liberal profession, the practitioners are, or ought to be men of education, ™d their ex- pectation of business and employment should befounded on then degrees of qualification; not on artifice and insinuation. Acer- tain undefinablespicesof assiduities and attentions *£*££ to be considered as beneath the dignity of a regular P™***™* and as making a mere trade of a teamed profession : and alloffi cious interferences incases of sickness cvl»«» "^XsU disnosition unbecoming the character of a gentleman 01 aiWs r3> If there be a case which calls loudly for our sympathy, it sure^^ and who though certain of his impending fait and ^viUble rum not compound a nostrum with as muui . whocould those wboare confessedly ignorant of the subject, 01 w immolate their lives upon its alter, by too ardent uevu B 10 even by self-experiment in establishing its principles or in pro- moting its cause. It was but yesterday that we were called upon to mourn the loss of one, whose talents, toil and privations promised much for the medical world. In his zealous efforts to prevent and alleviate the sufferings of others, in bis strenuous exertions to advance the literature and medical science of his country, in the productions of his highly gifted pen, which will long remain a monument to his greatness, and in his solicitude for the wel- fare of an increasing family, " he grew still paler o'er the midnight lamp." The band of death has been upon him.— '• But how unjust is society, how little it appreciates its true advantages, how unequal its estimate of useful services. Had Godman fallen by a foeman's hand on the field of carnage, the butcher of his race in a quarrel of sordid interests, he would have passed from the world shrouded with its glories, mauso- leums would have been erected to perpetuate his fame, eulogy have poured forth its pompous harangues, poetry lavished its gorgeous decorations to blazon his memory, and a nation's coffers been open to protect the widow from want, and the or- phan from desolation. He has died a sacrifice to the best interests of society, and the permanent welfare of mankind—the advancement of know- ledge, the progress of science, the refinement of humanity, and the melioration of the sufferings of human nature. The world looks coldly on. the tear of the philanthropist and friend in silence bedews his remains, the philosopher in retirement turns from his meditations to sorrow for his loss, and the widow and the orphan must look for their consolation and their support, to the sad remembrance of his virtues." As medicine is one of the most ancient studies of man, manv suppose It ought therefore to be one of the most perfected. But when compared with the physical arts and sciences, itshouldbe recollected, that for more than a thousand years after the chris- tian era, superstition prevented the dissection of the human body, that the prejudices of the world have ever been and are still opposed to its free investigation, and that its cultivators operate upon living matter which is ever changing. If how- ever, the advancement has not been in proportion to its an- tiquity, and if its perfection has not been as great and satisfac- tory as some of the other studies, its present condition is far from being humiliating. The first thirty-two years of the nineteenth century, will ever remain conspicuous in the annals of medicine, forthe 7ast and important improvements which have been affected in it du S^ilBSJl' and * LS n°W "Uh h°neSt P»«e and g att bh^ of sustaining0Ur Profe.sslon risi»S i" eminence, and capa- ble ot sustaining a comparison not only with divinity and law but even with some of the most certain and^ositive of% phys1Cal arts and sciences. Does the^onorrforkn the 11 .-xact time of eclipses, and the conjunction of the heavenly bodies ? docs he calculate the return of comets, the distances of the planets? docs he measure their magnitude ?—present, says Jackson, (from a law established by Cuvicr) to a well instructed zoologist a single tooth or a bone with an articula- ting surface, or even the track of the foot of an animal, and from these apparently imperfect data, be will construct the whole skeleton, even though it be of an undescribed or extinct animal. Does the sailor direct his ship across the pathless ocean and over unknown seas ?—it is no more necessary, says Rush, with just principles, for a young physician to sec all the diseases of the human body before he prescribes for them, than it is for a mariner, who knows the principles of navigation, to visit all the ports of the world, in order to conduct his vessel in safety to them. Docs the chemist predict with almost un- erring certainty the results of the admixture of two solids or fluids ? does he reduce the diamond to its constituent parts ?— the anatomist can unravel every tissue of the body, can foresee the effects of agents upon it, can calculate the contractions of the heart, the resistance of muscles, or even exhibit the materi- al oro-an of the mind, the seat of the reasoning faculties of man. The physician does more. Guided by the principles of his science, he heals the wounds made in angry controversy, be arrests hamooragies that would prove fatal, he removes useless members from the body, be neutralizes poisons introduced into the system, be cuts short the progress of diseases, he even robs the grave for a time of its devoted victims. IfWronomv has not been so perfected as to prevent idle peculations and superstitious dread with respect to the move- ments of the- heavenly bodies, (and which was so forcibly evinced a few months ago, when it was believed a comet was approaching our earth)-if navigation has not yet attained thit decree of perfection when shipwrecks shall cease-or if chemistry cannot so calculate the expansive force of vapor as to obviate the annual destruction of hundreds of lives on ou ■ rivers-how can it he expected that Medicine, whicn has eye been studied under the most unfavorable circumstances, could b^ more dear, more certain, more perfect ,, its operations ? rejection belong alone to Him whose image wconl;, bear,. and who made and "fashioned us such as we are. It is not Bi- llable bv man in his earthly career. And in medicine to 3, en an amputated finger or to restore a part dis- ;EL' these states once induced the power to hea must e°ib e to creatc-the attribute and prerogative of Deity." - What! it may be inquired, is to be understood by the per- fection dmedicine ? Is it supposed with some enthusiasts of ^^S it medicine will invariably prove successful HcnSwith disease, and that old age and accidents wil be Uic only outlets of humau life? Most certainly not. It s the de tiny af man that he shall be the victim of disease and. 12 mortality, even from his foetal condition to the ultimate period of his allotted existence?" Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return, is a mandate to fulfil which we are all hastening, and from which there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. "Diseases—the thousand maladies that "flesh is heir to," are the chief instruments, provided by a governing and protect- ing providence, to repress the accumulation of the human race, for its security and happiness, within the limits of an active and vigorous organization of society. Could our science be brought to the perfection that has been vainly imagined for it, a curse would be inflicted, not a benefit conferred on man. Subsistence being limited, a population diminished only by the decay of nature, would soon become redundant. Disorder, confusion, violence and outrage, would invade society: its firmest bonds would be dissevered, and its tondercst ties dissolved. Anarchy and revolution would shat- ter the frame of governments—all charitable and humanly sentiments would be extinquisbed, in the predominancy and intensity of selfish feelings, generated by sufferings and the necessities of self-preservation. Children would utter denun- ciations against the fecundity of parents, and parents exclaim against the wants of their offspring. The benefits that medicine confer, are, and will always be restricted to individuals. It diminishes the mortality of dis- eases ; it palliates where it cannot cure, it lessens the mass of human sunenngs and evils ; it often saves from a premature tomb the great and the good—their country's stay and support, —the ornaments of society, the benefactors of humanity, the promoters and cultivators of science. In the hour of distress and (Impair, when the hopes and expectations of happiness, l°f ie;«,,s of subsistence of families, depend on the exis- tence of a father, a mother, a child, stretched on the bed of dis. case, medicine with its salutary aid. like an angel of li-ht W P^ m "? f7)m its Win-S' disPpls t,,c S^om, wipes the SK?ffl,cll0n*P'c> and I'™* the balm°of comfort in the ?'£ -frt- Thcse are lhe benpfit« «"* """liciiio bestows, bc^sTnSJn! I,n]lr>°Vemcnt ^»a»g«»ent; that make it a of rh\tt\0,,l™n»*»«»" impart to^i* elevation and dignity o'Im p vJt f ,"-m1er lU W,,PM ««rciscil on the principles npractise,!! here, ,M almost c.,rl„Ti£^.fj, £"• »«''«"* pity within the fewimst years .»mi,7 c"o"sh. But hap- 13 nvdher country. " The remuneration of the English Apothe- caries for their attendance, is derived from* the physic the pa- tient swallows, and the more they can get down him, the better is their pay. The.great mass of the medical profession ofEn- giand being of thisdescription, uniting a trade to the science, wc still see in English medicine an absolute confidence in pre- tended specifics, and the interminable search after new reme- dies, new- medicines. &c." Hence the popular opinion in this country, how strange is it that no certain remedy lias been discov- ered for the present existing epidemic, and this too after its prev- alence to so great an extent in so many countries and for so long a time. No one possesses a specific for any disease whatever, none ever existed and emphatically, none ever will be discovered. "Millions of experiments and two thousand years of experience, have demonstrated the utter futility of this expectation." As each individual of a community is distinguished from his neighbor by his physiognomy and appearance, in like manner he possesses a peculiar constitution, cognizable at first sight, to a well educated physician, and it is as necessary to success- fully prescribe for a patient to sec ami examine him. as it is for a witness in swearing to the identity of a person to have that person present or to have him accurately described. The best instructed and experienced in our profession cannot safely prescribe for the name of the simplest disease; what then must bethought of those issuing nostrums, which they declare to be cqually°applicable to the tenderest infant and most vigorous manhood, to the mildest affection and most dreadful malady —alike beneficial to exhausted nature and a burning fever or sinking debility and active inflammation ! We do not deny that there are preparations of medicines of more o-eneral application than others, but wc contend that prac- tice to°be correct and philosophical, must be regulated by the peculiar circumstance attending each case ; and moreover, that moden medicine in opposition to the received opinion, docs not depend upon the introdection of one poison to over- come the effects of another or of the disease itself. h-.t -r on the direct abstraction of this latter. .... The revolution that Medicine is now u..uivgomg in this country owes its origin to the French capital, which has been for the last thirty years the head quarters of the medical sci- ences Time and vour patience will not allow me at present to enter upon an explanation of the general principles of the physiological medicine. It teaches that life is maintained by stimulants ; that there are only two classes of disuses, these are originally local, and are the results of irritation ; that there are no specific diseases and consequently no specific ^medics ; and that the abstraction of blood, local applications, HZ and diet, will affect more in treatment than the internal ^ministration of medicines. It has shown the necessity of extendin- our researches beyond the extinction of life, of tra- 11 ring diseases to the organs affected, of localizing the most of them to {he alimentary canal, of referring symptoms to their true causes, of overthrowing nosology, of destroying confi- fidence in the idea of specific remedies, of exhibiting in their true light, the pretended properties of medicaments, of simpli- fying, treatment, and of reducing the practice of medicine to a certain and positive science, based upon a few general, fixed and variable principles which are daily and hourly confirmed by reason and experience. It is too common to hear theory denounced in medicine and experience declared to be the only guide to successful prac- tice. This, says an eminent physician, appears to be one of those maxims, uttered by some authority Without reflec- tion, and repeated by hundreds without examination. What, continues he, is there in theory, that renders it peculiarly hazardous and fo be distrusted ? To theorise is to think; to exercise the noblest of our faculties, reason and judgment, in the investigation of knowledge, and the pursuit of truth.__ Theory is no more than the evident logical inference of the intellect, from an examination and comparison of facts offered by observation, experiment, and enlightened experience___ Experience may enable an individual to observe better, to think better, to theorise better ; it may impart a tact in the detec- tion, discrimination, and treatment of diseases, but which cannot be imparted to another. It dies wiih himself. Exoc- rience partakes of the character of the individual, and, de- serves confidence only as be is intelligent, well informed, free from credulity and prejudices, with a well-balanced mind, capable of clear conceptions, logical arrangements, and unem- barrassed deductions, the fruits of an exercised judgment___ Experience and theory, are by nature, intimately connected : Jet none pnt them asunder. A circumstance peculiar to the members of the medical pro- fession operating to their disadvantage, to which I.would call your attention before concluding this address, is, that after having offered their services to a community, it would be offi- cious, mtru^and be.ncai.:. the proper dignity of our honora- ble avot-r+mn, for any physician to pr™rrjbc voluntarily cr interfere with a case of sickness withou a special invitation The lawyer, however, can at any time advocate the cause of the innocent and the wronged ; bis reward and his reputation depend upon his own talent and his own exertions 'The Divine has almost daily opportunities of exhibiting his -/ ,1 and his devotion in the holiest of causes. But the nhvsiri £•« calling is to the lonely bed-side of the sick and the disTrewJ The midnight hour witnesses his privations and his£& *,' He does no display the strength of his mind or the power uf ih eloquence by addressing assemblies; the means, theTns ru ments, even the language he employs is nnl-„„\™ *« *i a.ound him; and if faUed upon JpYrfo™ an «£ ihe" 15 shudder 'at the idea, and retire in sorrow and disgust. His only field for action is in the Lecture room teaching his science, in the debate of the medical society, or in the productions of his pen : the only competent tribunals are his professional brethren. All others are incapacitated to judge of his skill and acquirements, and when we hear of individuals and fami- lies boasting of their physicians, wc know it to be most com- monly a judgment without comparison—an act of the heart and not of the head. But though we cannot consistently volunteer our services in individual cases, vet when nations suffer from the rude hand of tyranny, or from *the desolation of the pestilence that walketh in darkness, who have been more liberal, who have manifested mere philanthropy, who have displayed more selfrdevotion . The mouldering remains of five and twenty members ot tbt medical profession, now lie buried in the ruins of au unfortu- nate, but heroic and hallowed land ;§ and the lives of several of our own countrymen have been sacrificed in their efforts to arrest that disease, which probably, were it not for them and their companions might now be spreading dismay among us, and be sweeping as with a besom of destruction over this conti- nent. Do we iitdeed dofcerve the prejudices of the world, the lotf G*tm&MW*lwb services are held by the community, foilJtS^JRia} tlfcig he hold most dear and sacred in this lifeTeven our very existence, for its benefit, for its security, tor itsiaMMMaiS ? Rob us of our theories of medicine; say we ex- peSKenTwrai the lives of our fellow beings; that we arc insen- sible to the sufferings of others;|that we are destitute of the finer feelings of humanjnatuji; that we are devoid of sympathetic beaevdyfeT^uHVsnlrtlie world that our actions are regula- tedby the hope of gain ; brand us^th dav-deepest-infamy : still von cannot take away that satisfaction nor deprive us ot ihat consolation, wMch^every hones^hysi^^nmys in ap, . T$aclJSite eternity-the satisfaction^ conso- k LtioXSav%g doifc good in relieving the sick and the distress -ith tlie hopes and expectations of happiness hereafter, . acl . . i-oland. s ► *wfa*sy& .~- ^** illlllllllllllillllllJliiUIIIIIIIUI 'Ait. ■ ..■ ,rr. - ■ Jrs'l'i1- ■'■» iiF'taj1';'