3) a  Costa   (XM.J
                      Speech

         Delivered by Dr. J. M.  Da Costa,
                   At the dinner given to
Prof. Alfred Stille, by the Medical  Profession of
                 Thursday, June 5th, 1884.
    In rising to propose the health of the guest of the even-
ing, I do so with mingled feelings.   Joined  to the pleasure
of the duty, is the sad reflection that the master to whom
common consent had assigned the agreeable task, has gone
from  among us, and that  on another has devolved the
expression of the kindly sentiments which have brought us
here.  Most fitting, too, would it have been that he  should
have  presided to night;  for  a  great  man  befits a great
occasion.
    In truth, it is a  great occasion which calls us together.
When at the end of  a long  and  distinguished career, those
who have labored with  or  alongside of a man ; who have
been  his pupils, his  associates, his colleagues;  have  striven
for the same offices,  have vied with him in generous rivalry,
voluntarily meet to  testify their  friendship and to mark
their  approbation of his  life, it  is, indeed, a  memorable
event, not  only to  him, but  to his calling.  And we  are
giving all that we have  to give.  We cannot bestow  on you
an order of merit, such as a government in some countries
might bestow.  No  ribbon  of the Bath, no ensign  of the
Legion  of  Honor,  no  Iron Cross can be placed on your
breast.  Nor can we crown you with a civic  crown, with its
appropriate inscription ob decs servatos.  Yet your crown of
triple oak, accorded to you now by the  representatives  of
y
 
2
your own profession, for a life of valuable services, will be
no less a mark of pre-eminence, because  it will have to rest
invisibly on your brow.
    It is difficult, in your presence, to speak of the title you
have to this and other distinctions without appearing to vio-
late the  canons of good  taste.  But you must look upon
yourself as  being with us on  an occasion in which your
claims are being summed up at the bar  of American medi-
cine—claims not alone for to-day, but for posterity ;  and in
which the advocate may plead  the more earnestly, because
he feels the consciousness of an assured  verdict.
    Dr. Stille has been distinguished in various capacities—as
author, as professor, as worker for the common good of the
profession.
    Stille, the author, has produced works, the learning and
style  of which, are ornaments to American literature, and
in whose  pages  discriminating judgment is as conspicuous
as grace of language.   The great treatise on Therapeutics
and Materia Medica, has been described by a foreign journal
as a work on medicine of a kind rarely seen, so  ponderous
in its  dimensions, so fascinating in its contents.
    Stille, the professor, has been remarkable for the fulness
and accuracy of his discourses ; the eloquent denunciation of
new names given to old things; the conscientious attempt to
keep  abreast of the times in an ever-widening subject; the
admirable  exposition of  the  matter; the clear,  sonorous
delivery.    In the occupancy,  for  twenty years, by  this
scholarly  physician, it is certain  that  a great  chair—the
chair  of Rush, of Chapman, of Wood, of  Pepper—has lost
nothing of its  fame.
    As a worker  for the common good of the profession,
the efforts  in the  cause of medical education, the active
interest in societies, recognized by having been  chosen to
the position of President of the County  Medical  Society, of
the Pathological Society, of the American Medical Associa-
tion,  and, recently, of the College of Physicians, are  con-
spicuous.   It is not the least of his claims that he was very
prominent, none  more  so, among the founders of the body 
3
which has done so much to bring the medical profession into
unison,—the American Medical Association.  Nor must the
generous giving of the bulk of his large library to the ancient
University with which  his name is indissolubly connected,
remain uhmentioned among his public-spirited acts.  Many
an aspiring student will become a lover of literature  and of
science through the thoughtful gift of this lover of books.
     But, sir, it is not  the author, the teacher, the worker
for public objects only, whom we hold dear.  If your titles
were these alone, however much we might respect them, we
should scarely be here to honor you to-night,  Better than
Stille  the  author, better than Stille the teacher, better than
all, is  Stille the  man.   No  meretricious schemes  to make
gold jingle in soulless pockets attach  to your name.  A life
of probity, a high sense of honor, uniform courtesy, have
endeared you to us.
     Such, then,  are some of the titles to recognized dis-
tinction, in and out of American Medicine, which we gladly
claim for you.  That Medicine is now making for itself a
more  and  more  individual position.   In  every country
there  are  those  who are  born old, and  remain with  eyes
turned back to the past.   Knowledge has no charms for
them unless she is in wrinkles, and her joints creak, and her
utterances are wheezy.  There are those who stay as children,
restless, full of enthusiasm, stumbling over every thing, and
eager for  every change.   Our  national character furnishes
but few of the former; and the traits of the latter  are very
greatly modified by what, besides quick  perception  of the
useful, is a peculiarity of American Medicine, its thoroughly
cosmopolitan nature.   With the exception, perhaps,  of one
countrv, medicine is here more cosmopolitan than anywhere.
And there is a growing love of original research, an increas-
ing  appreciation  of pure  literary work—as shown  in the
enthusiastic reception  of the wonderful volumes in which
brigades of folios, divisions  of octavos, and army  corps  of
pamplilets, are being placed into line  under the direction  of
a marshall who is with  us to night,—which bespeak a bright
and most  active future. 
«*>lj^
4
     But it must be confessed, that, as yet, some of this love
 of work, with  the  desire to instruct which  comes with  it,
 takes doubtful means of expression.   For  the advancement
 of the profession, it does not seem absolutely necessary that
 wherever a railroad opens a new country, and a prosperous
 little town attracts eight doctors, there should be at once two
 medical schools.  Nor is it  clear, why the  establishment  of
 every post office should quickly be followed by a fresh medi-
 cal journal.  And in these journals it is a little trying  to him
 who endeavors to keep himself informed of the literature of
 the day, to find in six out of ten, articles to prove that opium
 will make you sleep, and is dangerous if too much  be  taken:
 that castor oil has purgative properties, and  is not relished,
 especially by children;  that it is  difficult to prescribe  for
 malarial diseases without using quinine ; and that aloes  is
 bitter and may gripe very unpleasantly.  One might pardon
 some neglect in these lively authors to let their overflowing
 plethora of knowledge  run  oft" into the common stream.
     Yet these  are, after all, but temporary  drawbacks  in
 that great development which we all of us see so clearly, and
 hail with so much pleasure.
     Honored guest:  Be it  in connection with the Medicine
 of our country, or, better,  as  a  summary  of your  whole
 career, it seems not inappropriate to apply to you  the words
 of Cicero :  " Omnia summa  consecutus es,  virtutc duce, comitc
fort una.'"   If you have attained the highest rank, with virtue
 leading the way and fortune attending, it will so  remain to
 the end.   During the many years of vigorous life  which we
 fervently hope are still  before you; wherever you elect  to
 pass these years, whether in the seclusion of  your  home and
 in lettered  ease, or in visiting  the scenes of former travel
 and early  studies ;  in whatever clime: whatever  skies may
 cover and sun shine  on  3^our path,—with you will be the
 affectionate regards of those who surround you to-night, and
 of the far larger body of which we are  only  the  temporary
 representatives; and you may know  and feel that hundreds
 are joining now, and  will  always join  us, in  the wish:
 ' Health and long life to Professor Alfred Stille.'