PROCrRESS AM) PROSPECTS Buffalo Médical Collège. A Sl'EKCH AT THE HAN^CET OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION IN KKSPONSE TO THE TOAST OF Al.MA MaTKR. \/ PUOI''. .TiVTVITi u Mr. Président and Gentlemen of the Alumni Association: For more than a génération I hâve used my best énergies in the interest of the Buffalo Médical Collège, and hâve never refused an y call in her name ; and it is eertainly too late for me to fail her now, especially as her hold upon my affections grows stronger and stronger with each succeeding year. I am not expected to make a set speech in answer to the compli- ment you hâve just extended to this object of our affections ; there- fore I shall hâve but little to say on thie interesting occasion. As the oldest member of the présent faculty, and the pnly one of the founders now connected with the institution, I cannot refrain from a few words of history of your Aima Mater and of her prospects, and the desires and intentions of the faculty for her préservation and improvement. A little more than a third of a century ago— in the winter of 1845-6—Dr. Austin Flint, with the speaker, aided 2 Progress and Prospects— White. by a few such public spirited citizens as Millard Fillmore, N. K. Hall, O. H. Marshall and George R. Babcock, procured a charter for a University in the city of Buffalo, then just emerging from the obscurity of a " western town." We, Dr. F. and myself, were soon joined by Prof. Frank H. Hamilton, of the Geneva Médical School, who subsequently induced his colleagues of that institution to become interested in our project. We, therefore, commenced teaching medicine with able and for the most part experienced lec- turers. We assembled a class of.sixty or more students in the old Baptist Church, moditied to suit our purposes, then standing on the corner of Washington and Seneca streets, on the site of the présent Postoffice building; and at commencement, conferred the degree of Doctor in Medicine upon seventeen young men, of whom, those now living are almost "old men.'' Thus was established the first successful educational institution, above the grade of common school, in western New York, after the Senecas left to us their homes and lands. During the yearr1849, unaided by state bounty, which had been extended to ail its other collèges, chiefly through the generosity of the citizens of this then small and struggling city, and through the energetic efforts of two or three of the Fac- ulty, the présent substantial and convenient édifice was erected and dedicated to the cause of médical éducation. In parenthèses per- mit me to say, that it behooves the friends of éducation in this now large and flourishing city, to make strenuous efforts that the re- maining departments provided for in the charter, and especially the académie and law, be organized without further delay. We hâve now more than six times the population, and twenty times the wealth (assessed value), we had when the charter was obtained and the médical department carried into successful opération, and it should be an easy matter to place the whole University in a flour- ishing condition, capable of teaching ail our own young men, as well as those of the neighboring country, to take a wise and intel- ligent care of ail thèse great interests which soon, in the course of nature, must be committed to their charge. It is fully time that the men of wealth and enterprise should interest themselves more actively in higher éducation, and provide our city with collèges as well as parks, public school and other municipal buildings. It is Progress and Prospects— WJiite 3 conceded that our future as a nation, and the success of our dém- ocratie institutions, dépends upon the higher éducation of the youth of the Kepublic, and the intelligent interest they shall take in public affairs. We must ail do our part, and I am confident that it re- quires only energy and a proper présentation of the subject to our men of wealth and enterprise, to accomplish this great desideratum for our beautiful city. From the day of graduation of this little band of doctors our success as a school was assured; and if the members of the Faculty were true to themselves it became a ques- tion of degree only. (No pun intended.) Although the project was met with bitter opposition and we were surrounded by cheaper schools, our progress has been steadily "onward and upward," and the session just closed bas been the most successful in our history. The Buffalo Médical Collège now has its gradnat.es scattered throughout the entire country and indeed over the whole civilized world, and I am happy to state that they stand well in the profes- sion of their choice, and are men of progress and position in the community, doing honor to Aima Mater. It is our boast, and I take pleasure in hère repeating it, that of the uumerous applicants for positions in the army and navy during the late war, not a grad- uate of this collège was rejected by any examining board. In my journeying from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the gulf of St. Lawrence to the gulf of Mexico, 1 hâve never met one of our rep- résentatives that I did not receive a hearty welcome, and that my heart did not go out to him as to no other man. There exista be- tween us a Free Mason like understanding and cordiality, an assured confidence which can be engendered only by the relations which we bave held toward each other of teacher and pupil. Meantime my early associâtes bave fallen by the way or hâve been transferred to other fields of usefulness, and I am left alone of the originators and first faculty. The vacancies, as they bave occurred, hâve been tilled by able and progressive men, and I do not hesitate to state that didactic medicine is as well taught to-day in the University of Buffalo as in any institution in the land. In many things essential to the thorough teaching of medicine this school has taken the lead; hère clinical niidwifery was first intro- duced into America, before the graduating class of 1850, and the 4 Progress and Prospects— White. neophite learned his duties at the bedside of the parturient, where alone it is possible to acquire that knowledge. The speaker, in con- junction with the late Bishop Timon, established a lying-in hospi- tal for the permanent use of our pupils, but circumstances hâve taken it out of our reach for the présent. Physiology was first taught experimentally at this school by Dalton more than a quar- ter of a century since, who with his pupil and successor hère, Flint, Jr., and his pupil and successor Mason, are to-day the advanced men of that départaient in America, and stand at its head. In an effort to extend the length of the lecture course, made many years since, we were among the few who adopted that improvement. We early advocated in the American Médical Association the rejection of certificates of study from irregular practitioners. During dis- cussions in thcAmerlcan Médical Association, on the subject of médical éducation, it has often been asserted- that nothing would so much contribute to the élévation of the standard, as the estab- lishment of some System for examination of candidates for degrees by compétent persons not connected with the faculty. This has always been the custom at this Collège. Believing, at its organi- zation, that the. interests of the profession and the public would be promoted by an independent Board of Examiners, who, without fee and without sympathy to bias their judgment, should stand be- tween the Faculty and the students as guardians of the rights and interests of both, we instituted the Board of Curators, selected from the most able and distinguished members of the profession through- out ail the neighboring country as well as this city. So far as I am aware no other school has this impartial tribunal, and I think that too great importance can scarce be attached to the utility and merit of the System where, as is the case hère, the members are selected from a large area of country and are the most prominent and progressive men, unbiased in judgment and influenced only by a désire for the best interests of ail. If, for any reason, the Fac- ulty should recomniend unsuitable persons, this Board of Révision would be very likely to detect their failings and throw them out. Besides which, this arrangement serves to* make the Faculty more cautions and thorough in their own examinations, knowing, as they do, that their work will be subjected to sharp criticism and Progress and Prosperfs-- Whi/e. 5 any flaws or weakness detected. Perhaps we may in some meas- ure attribute to this fact the superiovity of our classes in the aggre- gate. Thèse are a few of our " good werks " past ; now for the future. We propose to extend the period of instruction from six- teen to twenty weeks, beginning with the next course. In order to bring teacher and pupil into more intimate relations, we assume most cheerfully, the additional labor of giving several evenings in each week to extra instruction in the form of "quiz" or review of the subjects taugbt in the regular lectures. Thèse reunions or re- views will be informai, free of extra charge, and will give the pupil an opportunity of asking explanation of any points that may not be clear to his own mind; and going over the subjects already placed before him will serve to impress them more firmly on his memory. Who can so well explain the various topics discussed in the lectures, as the professor who has given the subject much thought and spécial study in his own department? He, also, can best clear up obscure passages in the text books. Not the least re- commendation of this System of informai "evenings at home," as they might be called, is the fact that teacher and scholar will be brought to know each other more intimately as they meet without the restraint necessarily observed in the more formai lecture. To those who désire to learn to make practieal analyses in chemistry and the use of the microscope, further facilities will be afforded. Professors Doremus and Mason will examine and quiz the class evenings the same as the other professors, according to the above plan, and in addition will receive pupils in the laboratory for spé- cial instruction in practieal, expérimental chemical Avork, and démonstrations in expérimental physiology and microscopiG anat- omy, which are impossible to exhibit in the lecture room. Their lectures and experiments before the class will be as full and complète as it is possible to make them, but for this additional work, with the able professors in charge of those two departments, spécial classes will be made for which they will charge a small fee. Thèse classes in this instruction are entirely voluntary on the part of the pupil, and the facilities are offered only to those who désire more minute teaching than it is possible to obtain at a class lecture. 6 Progress and Prospects— White In my inaugural address as Président of the. New York State Médical Society in 1870, will. be found the following remarks on médical instruction : "The médical schools of the State, may now be said to be in a highly satisfactory condition. They are yearly increasing their requirements for graduation—though the standard is undoubtedly still too low—demanding constant effort on the part of ail men of progress, to carry it still higher. " The différent institutions are yearly enlarging their facilities for instruction, and in laudable compétition for increased classes, are affording opportunities, in both didactic and clinical teaching, which the student will scarcely find surpassed in any part of Europe. "There is, however, one step in a forward direction which should now be taken, and which it seems to me this society can promote by its influence and endorsement. " I allude to the teaching of Psychological Medicine, as a part of the curriculum of the collège course. Is it less important that the diseases of the miud, always involving the brain and nervous Sys- tem, with their sympathetic connexions and influences, should be properly taught and illustrated with cases, than any of those mala- dies now deemed essential to be elinically taught, in every institu- tion? The attention of the profession is beginning to receive this direction—some steps hâve alrt ady been taken toward its accom- plishment, and I believe the médical mind is thoroughly ripe for action, if commended by this society in suitable and proper ternis. Permit me therefore to suggest the appointment of a sélect com- niittee, to take this matter duly into considération, and recommend to the society, what action, if any, it should take in its furtherance." The society, upon the report of a committee, of which that able alienist, Dr. John P. Gray, was chairman, after careful consid- ération, unanimously reconimended to the schools of the state that they give instruction upon this important subject. Following up this initiatory movement in the state society, I subsequently brought the matter before the American Médical Society, where it received a hearty endorsement. Some of the Metropolitan schools hâve aiready acted upon this suggestion, and appointed professors Progress and Prospects— Milite. 7 to teach Psychological Medicine as a spécial department. It is with great satisfaction that I assure you this long cherished désire on my part is likely soon to be an accomplished fact in your Aima Mater. We shall, I trust, at an early day, hâve an institution opened hère that will furnish ample opportunity for clinical in- struction, and there is little doubt that the enterprising faculty of this collège will make it available in furthering progressive éduca- tion. Insanity is a subject of which the young practitioner is gen- erally totally ignorant; but I trust, that at no distant day, the graduâtes of this collège will leave it thoroughly instructed there- in. It is needless to state that the clinical advantages afforded by the two large hospitals, situate as they are in a city of nearly 200,000 inhabitants, afford ample opportunity for seeing ail the dis- eases found in this country, and without such a crowd as to pre- vent the modest from examining patients and witnessing opéra- tions. We, the faculty, claim for the Buffalo Médical Collège that it has always been progressive—intelligently, conservatively pro- gressive—in everything pertaining to médical instruction and that it will continue in the same course. We recognize the fact that modem medicine consista more in préventive than curative meas- ures; we shall enlarge our course in hygiène and sanitary measures and abridge it in dry therapeutical détail; we shall offer to our pupils an opportunity to profit by ail the advances in diagnosie, whether resulting from new instrumental devices, new applications of recognized principles, or in new methods of chemical analysis of the various sécrétions of the human body, or of the éléments taken for nutrition, .alimentation or médication. In short, we shall use every means in our power to send out our graduâtes thor- oughly armed and equipped for the contest with disease, and you may rest assured that your Aima Mater will always deserve your confidence and support. It shall be our aim to raise higher and still higher the standard of médical éducation, and secure the con- fidence and affection of ail those who hâve shown themselves worthy of the honors of the Buffalo Médical Collège. The remarks of Prof. White were loudly applauded. t