INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS 
AT THE 
OPENING OF THE SIXTH SESSION 
OF THE 
^nlhgc, 
OF OIITOTLTITJLTI, 
NOV. 1st, 1865; 
ON 
PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS 
BY 
I 
KEO. MENDENHALL, M. D., 
PROF. OF OBSTETRICS. 
CINCINNATI: 
A. MOORE, BOOK, JOB AND NEWSPAPER PRINTER. 
1 8 6 5. INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS 
AT THE 
. ■' t 
OPENING OF THE SIXTH SESSION 
OF THE 
Jlnnd Olep, 
oh1 ciisrciisrisrjL^ 
NOV. 1st, 1865; 
ON 
PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS- 
BY 
GEO. MENDENHALL, M. D,, 
PROF. OF OBSTETRICS. 
CINCINNATI: 
A. MOORE, BOOK, JOB AND NEWSPAPER PRINTER. 
1 8 6 5. CORRESPONDENCE. 
Miami Medical College, 
Cincinnati, Nov. 4, '65. 
Prof. Mendenhall, 
Dear Sir-At a meeting of the Class-C. Hixson, presiding, and 
W. R. McAllister, acting as Secretary-it was on motion, 
Resolved, That a Committe, composed of one from each State rep- 
resented, be appointed to solicit for publication, a copy of your Intro- 
ductory Address, delivered at the opening exercises of the session 
of 1865-'66. Respectfully Yours, 
J. L. Cilley-Ohio. A. B. Barnes-Missouri. 
J. N. Regan-Wisconsin. C. Hixson-Kansas. 
J H . Smith, Penn. H. N. Fox.-Michigan. 
P. M. Bigney-Indiana. L. Roush-West Virginia. 
0. B. Yager-Kentucky. A. D. Hill-New York. 
A. A. Cooling-Illinois. F. Dowling-Massachusetts. 
R. E. Sweeney-Tennessee. L. A. McPherson-Mississippi. 
J. E. R. Miller-Maryland. J. H. Carothers-California. 
M. H. Jordan-Alabama. 
197 Fourth Street, 
Cincinnati, Nov. 6, '65. 
Gentlemen :- 
I have received your kind note of the 4th inst., requesting my In- 
troductory Address for publication. It is herewith transmitted to 
you to be disposed of according to your wishes. 
I am Truly Yours, 
GEO. MENDENHALL, 
To Messrs : 
J. L. ClLLEY, 
J. N. Began, 
P. M. Bigney, 
0. B Yager 
And others of the Committee. INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
Gentlemen of the Medical Class: 
It is my pleasant duty on this occasion to welcome you on 
behalf of the Faculty of the Miami Medical College of Cin- 
cinnati to these halls, dedicated to medical instruction. We 
assemble this evening for the purpose of initiating the sixth 
course of lectures of this Institution, and we consider it emi- 
nently proper to state briefly why this organization was 
brought into existence, and why it is now revived, after having 
been suspended. 
For several years prior to 1852, many of the Profession of 
this city were strongly impressed with the conviction that 
some different system was necessary, calculated to stimulate 
the younger members of it to greater and more systematic 
efforts in the cultivation of Medical Science. 
To do this the avenues to professional advancement, which 
were practically closed, in a great measure, by the system of 
foreign appointments to places of prominence in medical 
teaching, must be opened wider, and home capacity acknowl- 
edged. 
The condition of things existing at that time tended to 
paralyze home efforts and dishearten the young men of Cin- 
cinnati. They needed some central object, around which 
they could rally, and which in turn would lend them a helping 
hand into places of honor and usefulness. A bond of attach- 
ment was needed between the young man who was struggling 
for professional advancement and the gray-haired Professor. 
Encouragement to labor with the hope of professional honors 
in the future, was necessary to stimulate him to be worthy of 
the positions occupied by the savans of the Profession. This 
reciprocal feeling did not exist; this kindly bearing between 
the seniors and the juniors was wanting m the training so 
necessary to mutual prosperity. The result was disastrous to 
the permanency and efficiency of. the Medical Institutions of 4 
this city; mutual disappointment followed, and frequent 
changes were the order of the time. 
Many of us thought the remedy for these difficulties con- 
sisted in extending a helping hand to the young and rising 
members of the Profession, so that they might reasonably ex- 
pect to be rewarded, should they by diligence and ability 
prove worthy. In short, the object was to cultivate home 
talent, by holding out inducements to industry, and not to be 
continually looking abroad for individuals upon whom to 
bestow medical honors. 
In the summer of 1852, the sentiments of the Profession 
culminated and took form in the association of a number of 
gentlemen, under the name and style of the Miami Medical 
College of Cincinnati. It was composed of young men, 
mostly untried as teachers, with the exception of the vener- 
able Professor, R. D. Mussey, father of our present Professor 
in the Surgical Department, who gave his great name, influ- 
ence and labors for the benefit of the enterprise. The dis- 
tinctive principles adopted were to give a thorough course of 
medical instruction; inculcate at the same time a sound code 
of medical ethics; and make available the medical capacity 
of the young men of Cincinnati in accomplishing these results. 
We hoped to stimulate undeveloped talent to labor in the 
medical vineyard and prepare them by proper qualifications 
for the occupancy of places of professional responsibility and 
honor. We hoped also to form an institution around which 
the junior members of the Profession could rally with the 
certainty of having their claims and merits acknowledged by 
professional advancement. With these objects in view our 
bark was launched on the stream of medical teaching. 
From small beginnings we gathered strength yearly, until 
at the fifth session we had over one hundred students, and 
sent forth, in all nearly one hundred graduates in medicine, 
who are now scattered over the West, and many of whom 
have served with distinction in the war for the preservation of 
the Union. 
During the summer of 1857, in an unfortunate hour, a ne- 
gotiation was set on foot to unite this College with the Medi- 
cal College of Ohio, and which was accomplished by an equal 5 
number of Professors from each School being appointed to fill 
the Chairs of that College. The Demonstrator of Anatomy 
of the Miami College, our present Professor of Military Sur- 
gery, was also transferred. The appointments from this Col- 
lege were not made because of the superiority of those 
appointed to those who did not enter into the arrangement, 
but with reference to the adaptation of Chairs for the union 
of the two Colleges. Those not appointed were gentlemen 
as highly educated and of as eminent qualifications as any in 
the new Faculty. The venerable Professor Mussey retired 
from active professional duties at that time and now lives in 
the enjoyment of the consciousness of a life of great useful- 
ness, spent in doing good to his fellow-beings, at the ripe age 
of eighty-six years, with faculties keenly alive to everything 
bearing upon his beloved Profession. In his retiracy he has 
until quite recently devoted two hours per day in reading 
some medical work of interest; and the short period of inter- 
ruption not thus occupied has been caused by bodily sickness. 
At the present time, I am informed, he is engaged actively 
and ardently in the study of Astronomy, although confined to 
his room by feeble heal th. 
What a noble example we have here presented to those of 
us who are in the enjoyment of vigorous manhood! 
This much and more is due to the Father of American 
Surgery as a slight tribute from his old associates in the un- 
dertaking, to benefit the young men of our profession. 
The reasons for the union were, that the interests of both 
Colleges might be concentrated in one Institution, with such 
an infusion of the principles that controlled the Miami College, 
that the great objects which brought it into existence might 
be carried out more efficiently than by the divided action of 
competing schools. 
Theoretically it seemed to be right, but practically it was a 
failure. The great objects, therefore, for which this College 
was established for the time being were not fully realized. 
Progress, however, was made, and it was clearly demonstrated 
that we had talent in Cincinnati worth cultivating, and capable 
of conducting a Medical School successfully in competition 
with gentlemen of ability from other cities. 
Notwithstanding this progress, the necessity for a re estab- 6 
lishment of the Miami Medical College was soon quite appar- 
ent; but the breaking out of the late rebellion postponed 
action. Several members of the present Faculty gave their 
entire time and services to their country in the struggle, 
while every member has given a greater or less portion of his 
time to the good of the soldiers of the Union Army. 
Now that peace has happily spread her protecting wings 
over us again, and each one is left free to return to ordinary 
professional pursuits, the opportunity is embraced of a renewal 
of the organization and a return to first love and original 
principles. We now present ourselves again, in the arena of 
medical teaching, under the belief that we will not be wanting 
in efficiency and character, upon which alone we claim the 
patronage of the Profession. And to show that we are not 
unmindful of our professions, I will point to the fact, that five 
of our students are now assisting us m this re-organization. 
But mutability is written upon all earthly things. Death 
entered our circle and snatched from us one of the most 
esteemed members of our Faculty. Prof. J. Byrd Smith died 
on the l'2th day of May of the present year, at the age of 
forty-five; and I shall be wanting in the proper manifestations 
of respect for my late beloved colleague, did I not devote a 
small portion of my time on this occasion to his memory. 
He was born in the State of New York, and was the 
son of a physician. His father came to the West with 
his family, and settled in Indiana when the subject of our 
notice was quite young. His new home furnished him but 
few advantages in acquiring an education. At an early age 
he was placed in a printing-office for the purpose of learning 
the business. This position undoubtedly gave him many op- 
portunities for increasing his stock of knowledge, and assisted 
in the formation of his character for future usefulness. After 
the termination of his apprenticeship, he entered the office of 
Dr. Threlkeld, of this city, as a student of medicine, and grad- 
uated with honor in the Medical College of Ohio, at the close 
of the session of 1844 and 45. Immediately after graduating, 
he was elected upon a rigid examination as Resident Physician 
of the Commercial Hospital. He served his term in that In- 
stitution, and at the expiration of which he went to Indiana 7 
and practiced his profession. In about one year he returned 
and opened an office in this city. 
Prof. Smith relied upon himself for success. With limited 
educational advantages and few influential friends to put him 
forward, he made up for the lack of these by his naturally 
superior mind and untiring industry. They enabled him to 
obtain a large practice won by making himself indispensable 
to the public through capacity and attention to his business, 
which are usually sure guarantees of success. He was always 
courteous, and treated his brethren in the profession with entire 
fairness. He was incapable of a mean act, invariably honor- 
able, truthful to the point of extreme nicety, loyal to the gov- 
ernment of the United States, and generous toward his fellow 
men. He set up a high professional standard and bent his 
efforts to maintain it. At the time of his death he occupied a 
position as one of the staff of the Commercial Hospital; was 
Surgeon in charge of the Washington Park Military Hospital, 
and was just appointed Professor of Diseases of Women and 
Children in this College. These positions were all accorded 
to him through the high estimation of professional friends, 
who could best appreciate his worth. 
But he is gone from among us ; his example remains, and 
we may profit by emulating the virtues of our departed friend 
and brother. His place has been filled by Professor B. F. 
Richardson, who was connected with the Miami College in 
the summer course of lectures, and more recently was 
Professor of the Diseases of Women and Children in the 
Medical College of Ohio. His reputation and character are a 
sufficient guarantee that the position of Prof. Smith will be 
worthily sustained. 
This much it has been necessary for me to say in explana- 
tion of our position. 
And, now, gentlemen, permit me to say that the Profession 
which you propose to enter has been called into existence by 
the imperfections and necessities of our race; its honorable 
history may be traced back into the traditions of by-gone cen- 
turies, and our earliest writers have been proud to rehearse its 
glorious achievements. 
The relation which we are about to form, as teachers 8 
and pupils, involve mutual responsibilities. On our part we 
engage to conduct you through the intricacies of the pathway 
to the Medical Profession ; and your presence here to-night 
would seem to imply that you have weighed well the subject 
of taking upon yourselves an obligation to labor for the purpose 
of becoming honorable members of it. An important land- 
mark in life (that of choosing a pursuit) is about being passed, 
and from which you ought to look back with scrutinizing eye, 
and review your preceding course of action, and determine 
whether the step is wisely taken ; whether you are fitted for 
the new undertaking upon which you propose to enter. This 
subject should be carefully weighed and fully settled in your 
minds ; and if, after a careful scrutiny into your own determi- 
nation and capacities, should doubts enter as to its propriety 
you had better withdraw now from the contest. Having 
concluded to engage in this work as a matter of propriety and 
duty, then let hope cast her anchor into the depths of futurity, 
and invite you to engage with ardor in your new undertaking. 
Bright prospects of useiulness and success will open to your 
mental vision, which we hope may be more than realized. 
Our official connection which commences this evening, will 
bring with it an interest in your welfare which will exist 
increasingly in after life: it can not be terminated by our 
separation when this course of lectures is brought to a close. 
As your medical teachers, we shall feel that we are involved 
to some extent in your future history; your success and use- 
fulness -will always contribute to our happiness, while, should 
perchance misfortune overtake you, our sympathies on your 
behalf will not be withheld. Do not think, therefore, we are 
transcending our proper limits should we from time to time, 
while you are under our instruction, take upon ourselves the 
functions of guardians by making suggestions in reference to 
your future course of life. We hope to have the assurance, 
while you are with us, that you appreciate your advantages, 
and that at the close of our connection, we can cheerfully and 
heartily accord to you the honor of your alma mater, won by 
assiduity and diligence in the prosecution of your collegiate 
labors. Success can not be attained without labor and 
vigilance in any department of life; many difficulties will have 9 
to be encountered and conquered; in short,life,to be success- 
ful and happy, must be interspersed with difficulties, which 
require great exertion to be overcome: ceaseless and indefa- 
tigable industry must be the price of success. " The proper 
element of man is constant activity. The waters of life are 
like those of the Bethsaida pool:-it is only when they are 
agitated that they are healthful." 
Permit me, therefore, briefly to point out to you some of the 
difficulties besides those in acquiring your profession, which 
you must necessarily encounter; together with the means 
for overcoming them. Among the most discouraging obstacles 
which the honorable, young and ardent lover of truth will find 
opposed to his success, is Quackery. 
It will be met with in two forms. 1st. Under the imposing 
title of " Systems of Medicine." 2d. Irregularities and violation 
of medical ethics in those who profess to adhere to scientific 
medicine; or as commonly understood, belong to the regular 
profession. The prominent characteristics, however, of all 
forms of quackery are uniformly the same, and they may 
therefore be easily recognized. It 'is defined by our best 
lexicographers to consist in " the boastful pretensions, or mean 
practices, of an ignoramus." These " mean practices," however, 
are sometimes indulged in by the intelligent, as well as the 
ignorami. The verb, " to quack," means to boast, to talk 
noisily and ostentatiously; and the term quack designates one 
who boasts, or who ostentatiously pretends to skill or knowl- 
edge of a very superior kind, whether he possesses it or not. 
It is " an ignis fatuus that bewitches and leads men into 
pools and ditches." With these definitions I trust you will 
have no difficulty in recognizing this hydra headed monstrosity 
under any guise it may assume. Whether shielded behind an 
ostentatious display of learned or unlearned nonsense in the 
form of a pretended new " system of medicine," or under the 
cloak of a dignified regular, who, 
" Like the Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose- 
An evil soul producing holy witness 
Is like a villain with a smiling face : 
A goodly apple rotten at the core," 
Even though, he may claim fraternity with the legitimate 
household of scientific medicine. 10 
The multifarious forms of development of the principle defy 
computation; although the characteristics of vain-glorious 
boasting will ever serve to distinguish quackery from true 
science. Its origin may be traced to the earliest ages of 
medicine, although the first of its votaries of great renowm, the 
prince of the sect was Paracelsus, who boasted of his power 
to render man immortal. He styled himself the " Monarch of 
Physicians," and arrogantly claimed that the hair on the back 
of his head knew more than all the authors ; that the clasps 
of his shoes were more learned than Galen or Avicenna, and 
his beard possessed more experience than all the teachers of 
his time. The value of his medical panacea, the tincture of 
life, which he claimed would prolong life indefinitely, was 
sufficiently well attested by the death of its originator at an 
early age ! A singular point in the history of this man is, that 
his family name was Bombastus; the appropriateness of 
which has been remarkably preserved in his numerous 
followers. " Man," says Southey, " is a dupeable animal. 
Quacks in medicine, quacks in religion, and quacks in politics, 
know this, and act upon that knowledge. There is scarcely 
any one who may not, like a trout, be taken by tickling." 
Health has ever been looked upon as the first of blessings, 
and the fortress of strength among quacks, therefore, is their 
pretension of superiority in curing disease, the ultimate object 
of all medical inquiry. Sick people love prophets who 
prophecy good things; and when the candid physician, sensi- 
ble of human deficiencies, can not venture to promise a 
favorable result with boldness and ddcision, he is often set 
aside for one who, -Bombastus like, boasts a never-failing 
remedy. 
Without character to loose, and reckless of responsibility to 
truth, the charlatan deals in reiterated bold and unblushing 
assertions, which captivate the sick and inspire them with 
confidence, forgetting that, 
"When wicked men make promises of truth 
'Tis weakness to believe them." 
When you take upon yourselves the active duties of admin- 
istering to the sick, you may be under the humiliating necessity 
of competing with these dishonorable rivals, and even of 11 
witnessing their temporary success. These trials will sorely 
perplex and discourage you in carrying out laudable resolu- 
tions 
Notwithstanding the deformity and abomination of quackery, 
it is not an unmitigated evil; the vilest creature that crawls 
the earth has its uses; and so have quacks. It serves the 
purpose of proiessional sewerage, by which unclean elements 
are drained off, and the boundary between the good and the 
bad is more sharply defined. It is wonderful, also, with what 
alacrity a large portion of mankind will subject themselves to 
the experiments of these adventurers, from which sometimes 
important positive and negative facts may be established ; the 
mischief they occasion avoided, and the benefits, if any, 
appropriated to useful purposes. The quadrature of the circle; 
the multiplication of the cube ; perpetual motion; the philoso- 
pher's stone ; magic and judicial astrology, known as the six 
follies of science, have been attended with much benefit to 
mankind. Their study has been m vain, and the results futile 
in reference to these points. Notwithstanding this, they have 
incidentally been the cause of many discoveries of great 
importance to the human race. So it may be with the follies 
of medicine. From the profusion of these extraneous growths 
of what is called medical systems, they are destined to an early 
decay; like rank weeds, they tend to mutual destruction, and 
may also like them become valuable by their death and 
decomposition, even if worthless or noxious when in vigorous 
existence. A debris^ in some cases, may remain with which 
the thoughtful medical philosopher can enrich his profession. 
All quacks are exceedingly fond of persecution and martyr- 
dom ; they will construe an honest expression of opinion 
against them in this way, and fatten upon it, expanding like 
the frog in the fable, until they imagine themselves to possess 
real greatness. 
Another obstacle to your progress will be found in the 
deep-seated ignorance and superstition upon medical subjects, 
which to a considerable extent, pervades all classes. 
It is not confined, as you might suppose, to the ignorant and 
uneducated; but is probably even more rife among persons of 
some education and refinement, whose general knowledge is 12 
so respectable that they presume to judge of subjects about 
which they have not taken the necessary steps to obtain 
proper information. Medical facts must be acquired just 
as scientific knowledge is imbibed on other subjects difficult 
of attainment; that is, by patient investigation. 
A little medical learning is peculiarly a dangerous thing ; 
it begets presumption in those whose medical knowledge is 
too superficial to render the darkness visible that surrounds 
them. Such persous are the fit receptacles of medical super- 
stitions and extravagant theories. Did time permit, we might 
allude to some of the ridiculous phases they have assumed, 
including Alchemy, Astrology, Talismans, Amulets, Charms, 
Royal Gift of Healing, Sympathetic Cures, and many others 
equally ridiculous. Old superstitions may become obsolete, 
but the history of the world shows that the form only changes, 
while about the same amount of credulity has pervaded the 
public mind for many ages ; and now past the middle of the 
nineteenth century, there does not seem to be much abate- 
ment. 
Many circumstances will also arise in your personal inter- 
course with the world, and particularly with the sick portion 
of it; which may tend to discourage you ; among these 
ingratitude for faithful services rendered, may rank foremost. 
" For vicious natures when they once begin 
To take distaste, and purpose no requital: 
The greater debt they owe the more they hate." 
The popularity of a physician often depends upon trivial cir- 
cumstances, and may librate upon a very delicate pivot; one 
side or the other preponderating according to the caprices of 
the sick, or the fancies of the attendants. 
Neglect to give a definite name to a disease sometimes 
results in dismissal, although the pathological conditions may 
be well understood; the therapeutical indications clearly 
established and met by appropriate treatment. Many persons 
have a peculiar fancy for hard names, whether intelligent or 
not, is a matter of no consequence. The prescription of 
disagreeable or painful remedies, however necessary they may 
be, is often attended with inveterate displeasure, and particu- 
larly if unsuccessful. Sugar pellets and powders of diluted 13 
moonshine are easier for children and imaginative persons to 
swallow, and hence thought to be preferable. 
Making light of a disease will seldom be tolerated by the 
anxious mother or capricious invalid. When a physician is 
called they prejudge serious illness and necessary dosing; and 
wo unto him who has the independence to advise a different 
course. 
Dr. Rush says that persons who become elevated in the 
world from poverty to wealth, generally dissolve their connec- 
tion with the physician who attended them in obscurity, and 
particularly if the service has been rendered gratuitously. 
They are forcibly reminded by his presence of the small 
tenement, dirty rooms, and obscure location, in which he 
visited them and administered to their necessities. It grows 
out of a principle, which is too commonly found in human 
nature, that allows them to forgive an injury, but not an 
obligation. 
Absence of a physician from his office, from any cause when 
called for, and particularly if in pursuit of pleasure, often lays 
the foundation of a separation from his patients. 
Difference in religion, or politics, often prevents the em- 
ployment ot a physician, and may also lead to dismissal when 
discovered. I once knew an eminent and learned physician, 
of andoubted skill, in an eastern city, who had an extensive 
practice, but who lost it almost entirely by changing his 
religious belief. 
Engaging in pursuits not directly connected with medicine, 
is generally attended with a loss of professional popularity, 
and is destructive of the interests of the physician. There is 
yet another relation of a delicate nature that must arise 
between physicians and their patents, which frequently leads 
to difficulty. I allude to the communication of a hint that the 
"quid pro quo" for professional services would be acceptable} 
That a little of this world's medium of exchange is wanting 
to complete the comfort of the medical attendant. A 
compliment has been paid your professional skill by calling it 
into requisition, and it now remains to be seen whether this 
will be rendered substantial by " material aid." The response 
will often be most gratifying; while it can not be concealed 14 
that sometimes it will be the reverse, and a reasonable claim 
for medical services becomes the occasion of an interruption 
of friendly relations. 
Agreeable manners, personal appearance, and style of dress 
also, have much to do in influencing persons in their choice of 
a physician, independent of merit. 
From what has been said, perhaps you may conclude that 
the choice of a physician is governed wholly by caprice ; that 
professional success is a lottery in which chance has as much 
to do as solid merit. Such, however, is not the case ; good 
sense and knowledge are almost sure to receive their reward 
sooner or later, when united with ordinary prudence, and bn 
avoidance of such conditions as tend to produce failure in 
other occupations of life. This much for the difficulties and 
trials which beset your path; what lights can we place before 
you which will enable you to overcome them ? What 
instruction and word of hope can we whisper in your ear that 
will guide you to professional success ? 
In assuming the responsible duties of practicing the healing 
art, one of the highest obligations you will owe to the com- 
munity in which you may reside, is to look well to your 
professional knowledge. The exercises of this evening imply 
that you are here with an enthusiastic determination to 
obtain such knowledge and qualify yourselves to fulfill the 
obligation. It will not be sufficient that you rest satisfied 
with attainments made during your collegiate course under 
our instruction, but you must swear on the altar of medicine 
eternal devotion to its highest interests in the future. 
A conscientious regard for the interests of the sick who may 
be placed under your care, renders it imperative that you shall 
not eat the bread of idleness. Recollect the aphorism of the 
Coan Sage, the Father of Medicine-" Life is short, and the 
art long; the occasion fleeting; experience fallacious, and 
judgment difficult." 
Lay, then, now the foundation broad and deep, by every 
means in your power to qualify yourselves in the performance 
of your sacred duty in the cause of humanity. Our science 
and art are in a state of rapid progression, and it will be 
necessary for success that the training within these walls shall 15 
be considered as preparatory to keeping pace with their rapid 
advancement. When beyond the influence of our teaching 
you must be diligent in study; not books alone, but nature, 
whose huge volume is ever open before you, and inviting you 
to the acquirement of kncwledge. Let her laws be studied 
and indelibly engraven upon your minds by direct teaching 
and unerring precision. Books are useful and not to be 
despised; the labors of others will serve to enlighten your 
path, although a blind subserviency to authority and opinion 
must be cautiously avoided. You must, then, be your own 
teachers, and exercise a close scrutiny that you do not have 
laggard and incompetent masters. 
Directly connected with this subject a few words will not be 
amiss in reference to some of the means by which professional 
improvement may be promoted. 
In the beginning of your career commence with the habit 
of recording important facts and studying closely your cases 
for that purpose. Physicians seldom remember the particulars 
of a case of disease so that they can be relied upon for accu- 
racy two years after its occurrence ; and more frequently they 
are forgotten much sooner. So that unless a record is made 
at the time, the principal part of our experience is very soon 
sunk into oblivion. In making a record it should be done with 
minuteness and exactness; not only in regard to the symp- 
toms and history, so far as can be ascertained, but all the 
attending circumstances, and real or supposed causes, should 
be fully detailed. 
Upon the occurrence of Epidemics, their rise, progress, 
symptoms, decline, and various modes of treatment employed ; 
together with every thing connected with these mysterious 
visitations of disease, should be carefully noted. It is only in 
this way that accurate knowledge can be accumulated, and a 
comparison made with other places where the disease has 
prevailed. 
We may in this way be able to ascertain in what respects 
there is uniformity and dissimilarity ; so as to separate the 
essential particulars from the accidental; and thus deduce the 
rue nature and causes of each disease. A record of this kind 16 
becomes of great value, and which is enhanced greatly by 
every addition which may be made to it. 
The examples set us by Hippocrates and Sydenham are 
worthy of our imitation. Their records of disease will be 
appreciated as long as Medical Science is cultivated by an 
enlightened prefession; and it is to their faithfulness in 
delineating what they observed in reading the book of nature, 
that they owe their great celebrity. 
To be useful you must be ever vigilant; and when the time 
comes for a failure of your powers, let them bear the evidence 
and exhibit the fruits of actual service, rather than the rusting 
of idleness. Many young men in commencing life, commit a 
serious error by relying upon active and influential friends. If 
you have not done so already, I hope you will at once, and for 
all time, divest yourselves of expectations of this kind. They 
will prove fallacious, and end in bitter disappointment at the 
time you are expecting them to sustain and advance your 
interests. 
Friends are often useful, but to be reliable you must lay a 
foundation upon which they are friends from a conviction that 
you are independent of them from the possession of solid 
merit. To be available, you must place yourselves in a 
position that your services become indispensible to your 
friends and the public, or at least promotive of their interest. 
Upon this foundation alone can you build hopes of advance- 
ment from the recommendalion of others. No greater drone 
exists in society than the man who lives in a constant 
condition of great expectations on his friends for the advance- 
ment of his interests. I have known many men of superior 
ability, ruined in their prospects of success for want of relying 
upon their own will and energy. It is a principle of our 
nature, implanted by the great Creator of us all, to help those 
who help themselves. 
All men are influenced by self-interest; and when you 
place yourselves in such relation to those who surround you, 
that your services contribute to this principle in them, then 
you may rely upon their friendship, patronage and influence. 
While on the other hand, should you become burdensome, or 
weary them, you may expect soon to be treated with cold 17 
neglect. Another point which will contribute greatly to your 
success is the cultivation of a habit of making a definite and 
clear diagnosis in every case coming before you; never rest 
satisfied with a superficial examination ; investigate carefully 
until you obtain definite views of the pathological changes 
Habits of making accurate diagnosis before prescribing, ensure 
much greater certainty in the appropriate therapeutic appli- 
cations of remedies, and hence contribute essentially to the 
success of treatment. 
In visiting patients arrange your calls, if possible, so that 
you may see them at different periods of the day, and thus be 
able to judge of the diurnal changes occurring in the disease; 
night visits are often necessary for this purpose. When the 
changes are liable to be sudden or frequent, the visits should 
be adapted to the variable character of the affection; while 
at the same time unnecessary visits may lead to vascilation of 
treatment, and may also bring you under the imputation of 
unnecessarily enlarging your bill. 
Never be found in that class of the profession who are in the 
habit of denouncing and finding fault with it. It is undoubt- 
edly easy to point out many things which ought to be 
reformed, but the co-operation of superior minds can always 
be obtained in honest efforts to accomplish it. Every man 
who thinks the profession is degraded, should leave it at 
once, and not hold a membership, while he gives its ene- 
mies comfort by traducing as noble a calling as exists 
on the face of this wide earth. Never be afraid of speaking 
to a brother of its imperfections, but there is no principle of 
ethics which requires you to publish them to a censorious 
world. When you become members of the Medical Pro- 
fession, let your great aim and mission be to elevate it; and 
when you shall receive the final call to render up your 
accounts, may you have that satisfaction which will bring 
peace in your departing moments, that you left the profession 
in a better condition than you found it. 
In this connection let m» enjoin upon you to identify 
yourselves with the profession in whatever place your lot may 
be cast. Stand not aloof from its organizations, but merge 
yourselves with the general interests of the brethren. Join 
local societies if they exist, and if there be none, use (?your 18 
influence for their formation. State and national societies are 
also entnled to your hearty support. These unions and 
re-unions may be made productive of a vast amount of social 
scientific, and professional advantage. 
Another injunction which can not be too strongly impressed 
upon medical, men is the necessity of secrecy in reference to 
the diseases and affairs of their patients. They have a right 
to demand that every thing entrusted to their physician shall 
be sacredly kept from the world. The relation of physician 
and patient implies a confidence reposed in the former which 
is as deep and abiding as if made under the solemnities of an 
oath. Any reference to the maladies of patients, unless in a 
general and careful manner, is highly reprehensible. To do 
this the temptations are some times exceedingly strong; a 
feeling of ambition to speak of the treatment of serious and 
difficult cases ; and particularly if the subject be a prominent 
individual, may betray into indiscretions of this kind, unless 
the language is strictly guarded. So completely is the 
physician admitted into a knowledge of the family arrange- 
ments and incidents, that an unguarded word escaping his lips 
might endanger permanently the peace and harmony of a 
large circle of individuals. Tattlers are always despicable 
characters; no gentleman is ever found in their ranks ; and 
certainly no physician of exalted character can indulge in the 
reprehensible practice of tattling. So sacred do I hold the 
knowledge obtained by a physician in his intercourse with the 
sick, that I think it ought to be guarded by legal enactments, 
and not extorted from him even on a judicial examination, 
unless required Oy great public interests. Confesssions made 
to clergymen and lawyers, of a private character, are held 
sacred, and under reservation on taking an oath, and I can see 
no reason for withholding the privilege from physicians. A 
free communication of confidential facts may be just as 
important in one case as in the other. I profess to be a law- 
abiding citizen, and to have the highest respect for legal 
enactments when the rights of a healthy conscience are not 
trampled upon ; but when they require us to divulge secrets 
necessary to the successful application of remedies, I think 
our professional prerogatives are invaded; and I would suffer 
the penalties of the law rather than violate the confidence of 19 
my patient, unless under circumstances of great and pressing 
public necessity. 
Let me also advise you when you assume the responsibilities 
of the doctorate, to devote yourselves faithfully to the interests 
of your patients. There is probably no pursuit in life in 
which the opportunities for deception are more frequently 
presented, or the apparent inducements greater at times, than 
in ours. The comparative ignorance in community upon 
medical subjects, together with the deep solicitude of the 
friends of the sick, renders them extremely liable to gross 
imposition. As an evidence of this, I need but to point to the 
vast amount of deception successfully practiced upon the 
confiding invalid. The close relationship and confidential 
intercourse which should exist between physicians and 
patients, often place the latter in positions where advantage 
may be taken of them in various ways. The defenceless and 
dependent relation produces obligations which can scarcely 
be higher in any human relation. Every man in the practice 
of medicine should, therefore, feel himself bound by the most 
sacred obligation to faithfulness in the discharge of the high 
trust reposed in him. His sacred honor is pledged, and every 
solemn consideration points to the necessity of preserving it 
unsullied. The man who would betray a trust incurred by the 
professional relation, should be branded with infamy and 
excluded from intercourse with the respectable portion of his 
species. 
Your whole time, also, belongs to your profession, and you 
must be watchful that it be not diverted into other channels. 
If you expect success engage in no other business ; you will 
find that the study and practice of medicine, if properly 
attended to, will leave no intervals for devotion to other 
means for a livelihood. 
There is another subject that I approach with more reluct- 
ance ; but a deep and abiding sense of its importance urges 
me to bring it before you ; and that is total abstinence, in 
health, from all that intoxicates. The propriety of this may 
be too self-evident to require mention; and others may see in 
it an interference with their rights ; and therefore, both classes 
may possibly deem this subject out of place on the present 
occasion. Formerly intemperance was much more frequent 20 
in our profession than at the present time. There is probably 
no class of persons more tempted to contract habits of drink- 
ing than physicians. Exposures to inclement weather, 
irregularities in rest and refreshments; importunities some- 
times, by females, to take a glass in the sick room ; and the 
social position in which we are almost hourly placed, all 
contribute to render the temptations peculiarly strong. To be 
able to resist them, and not give offence, you must possess 
firmness of purpose, with the manners of a gentleman. 
The importance of a steady hand, and an unclouded 
intellect, are of too much consequence to permit them to be 
risked at the shrine of Bacchus. A single glass not only 
weakens the resolution to abstain at a future time, but it may 
be the commencement to a rapid movement on the downward 
road to ruin. It may, perhaps, have been taken under the 
influence of a friend of superior mind, or a female who loved 
you affectionately, or even a parent who doated upon you 
with all the fondness and affection of such relation; yet the 
result is liable to be the same. 
It has been urged that young men should taste so as to 
become disgusted with the folly of the use of intoxicating 
drinks, and thus be able to resist temptation by their strength 
of mind, firmness, and free will. But One who was wiser than 
man has said, " Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us 
from evil." Remove this temptation, and there will still be 
sufficient unavoidable exposures to vice, upon which you can 
strengthen your free will and powers of resistance. You 
may hear the remark that gluttony is a sin of equal magni- 
tude ; but while I can make no apology for the man who 
worships his appetite, I may ask if any comparison can be 
found between the results ? 
"Does a full stomach cause theft and arson, fratricide and 
parricide, with every other form of moral evil that affects the 
earth ? Ask the records of our courts, the reports of grand 
juries, the newspapers ; ask the jailor and the hangman ; ask 
the many miserable wives and children-are you so poor 
because your husbands and fathers gormandized ?" 
But what can be said of the poisonous bowl, the contents 
of which men "put into their mouths to steal away their 21 
brains?" It is a perfect Pandora's box, scattering ruin and 
devastation in profusion all around. 
The Jewish priesthood were forbidden the use of wine dur- 
ing the time they were in the tabernacle, and engaged in the 
services of the altar. Now, every physician's practice may 
be considered as his tabernacle, and we are fully persuaded 
that strong drink should form no part of the beverage of those 
who administer at the altar of Hygeia. 
The drink prepared by God himself, and which he caused to 
gush from the rock of Horeb, smote by Moses in olden time, 
should supply our wants in health, 
"So that thou mayst live, till like ripe fruit, thou drop 
Into thy mother's lap, or be with ease 
Gathered, not harshly plucked, for death mature." 
Having firmly established yourselves in the habits of total 
abstinence, you have yet a duty to perform toward your 
fellows; your influence should be felt in the community in 
which you live. You will be bound as faithful physicians, to 
watch over the health of your neighborhood. Hygeinic con- 
ditions are legitimate subjects for your influence. On this 
ground alone, irrespective of the moral aspects of the subject, 
your position requires you to do the utmost in your power for 
the abatement of the most fruitful source of disease, degrada- 
tion, and misery in the world. You must guard diligently the 
portals of drunkenness, and not only do nothing by which 
others will be seduced within the enclosure, but you will be 
required by the sacred duties of your Profession to use every 
means in your power to turn them away from the path which 
leads to destruction. Many opportunities will be presented, 
and great will be your accountability if they should not be 
improved. 
Habits of drunkenness have been sometimes contracted 
from the prescriptions of physicians, when wine and other in- 
toxicating drinks have been recommended. Great caution 
should, therefore, be observed in the use of such articles, and 
prescribed only when the interests of patients will not admit 
of a substitute. Even then, it will be preferable to form 
such combinations as may accord with the result intended, 
and by which the taste will be rendered less attractive. 
Never let it be said that you have, in any case, by example 22 
or prescription, lent your influence to swell that mighty host 
which no man can number, who become bereft of the intellect 
given them by their Creator, for the purpose of exalting them 
above the rest of his works. The superior intelligence of 
man, with the immortality of his soul, are his grand charac- 
teristics ; and when one is destroyed, and the other cast down 
into eternal perdition, surely the great objects of existence 
are subverted. 
Take heed, therefore, that ye be not partakers in this 
iniquity. 
And here let me entreat you to cultivate carefully the per- 
sonal qualities and manners of the true Christian medical 
gentleman. Place your standard of ethics at the highest 
point; and live up to it in your daily practice. 
It sometimes happens that differences and misunderstand- 
ings arise between members of the Profession. This may 
occur between those who are well disposed, or it may be 
otherwise. I exhort you to beware of these differences; nip 
them in the bud; settle them before they acquire magnitude. 
Should you concei ve that you have cause of complaint against 
a professional brother, go to him in a friendly spirit and state 
the grounds of your complaint. Give him an opportunity to 
explain and defend himself, or acknowledge his error if he be 
in error. In a great majority of cases the difficulty will be 
settled, you will understand each other ; both may be found 
to be somewhat wrong, or if the fault should be on one side, 
an apology be made by which former friendships will be 
renewed. Should this mode of settlement fail, refer the case 
to mutual professional friends with as little notoriety as possi- 
ble ; and when this can not be done, or the nature of the case 
is too glaring to admit of it, then pass by those who have in- 
jured you silently, and protect yourselves by non-inter- 
course. 
In some way or other, our Profession has acquired the repu- 
tation of being quarrelsome. I fully believe the charge is 
untrue. It grows out of the fact that whatever differences 
occur become more notorious than in other relations of life, 
and the friends of each party are apt to take sides in the con- 
troversy. Whether this view is c orrect or not, always use 
your best endeavors to put an end to professional misunder- 
standings. 23 
The liberality and fraternal regard existing among the mem- 
bers of our Profession toward each other, I believe, to be 
more general than exists in any other calling or profession, 
not excepting the clerical, to which we are all taught to look 
for the highest condition of fraternal regard. Por one I here 
publicly acknowledge my experience to be tliat physicians, as 
a body, exhibit the highest condition of perfection in the de- 
velopment of the Christian virtues toward each other that can 
be found in any Association, all insinuations to the contrary 
notwithstanding. 
As for my own experience, I freely concede that whatever 
I have attained to of professional success, I owe more to the 
courtesies of my professional brethren than to any other influ- 
ence whatever; and I hope I may not be unmindful of this 
obligation in my intercourse with them, and particularly with 
the junior portion. 
In regard to communication with your patients, I can not 
do better than recommend to you the study and imitation of 
the character of Sydenham, one of the greatest and best of 
men who ever adorned our profession. Attainment and repu- 
tation in science are not sufficient to make a physician truly 
reputable, without exalted moral excellence. "It is not," says 
Sydenham, " acting the part of a good man to convert to his 
private advantage what might prove eminently serviceable 
to the public ; nor of a wise man to deprive himself of the 
blessings he might justly expect from Heaven for endeavoring 
to promote the public good." 
Again he says: " Whoever takes up medicine should serious- 
ly consider the following points : 
Firstly, That he must one day render to the Supreme Judge 
an account of the lives of those sick men who have been 
entrusted to his care. 
Secondly, That such skill and science as by the blessings of 
Almighty God he has attained, are to be especially directed 
toward the honor of his Maker, and the welfare of his fellow 
creatures ; since it is a base thing for the gifts of Heaven to 
become the source of avarice or ambition. 
Thirdly, He must remember that it is no mean or ignoble 
animal that he deals with. 
Lastly, He must remember that he, himself, hath no exemp- 
tion from the common lot, but that he is bound by the same 
laws of mortality, and liable to the same ailments and afflic- 
tions with his fellows. For these and like reasons, let him 
strive to render aid to the distressed with the greater care, 
with the kindlier spirit, and with the stronger fellow feeling." 
Sentiments like these, if properly acted upon, will produce 
salutary results. They will destroy pride and vain conceit of 24 
knowledge, they vill tend to develop the " wisdom of the ser- 
pent with the simplicity of the dove," which, according to the 
illustrious Rush, does not produce more solid advantages in 
any human pursuit than it does in medicine. 
Remember that true science promotes humility, and that 
ostentation and affectedness of manner as certainly indicate 
superficial attainments. 
Sir Benjamin Brodie remarks that "He never knew any 
man attain much merit, or do any real good in the world, that 
did not begin life with a considerable portion of humility. 
The greatest men are humble. It leads to the highest distinc- 
tion, because it leads to self-improvement; and it is the only 
foundation for a just self-confidence." 
Neither ought you to be content with simply practicing 
your profession, and giving health to the sick; but you should 
strive to add greater certainty to the art, and should so direct 
your course that the science of medicine with your aid may 
grow day by day more clear and more efficient. And when 
the shades of the evening of life are lengthening and thicken- 
ing around you, you may be able to say with the illustrious 
Dr. Pott, " My lamp is nearly extinguished. I hope it lias 
burned for the benefit of others." 
It must be apparent to you all, that your expected vocation 
is of a high and responsible character; and that to some extent 
the protection of its honor and usefulness is assumed by you 
this evening. The extent of its relations are almost unbound- 
ed ; every thing both moral and physical, which relates to the 
well being of man, is more or less intimately associated with 
it. It includes the wonderful development of the universe 
from the minutest microscopic object, to xhe most magnificent 
heavenly body; all of which may directly or remotely affect 
the physical and intellectual condition of the human family. 
That you may be able when you go forth from these halls 
with the evidences of our confidence, to meet these responsi- 
bilities with credit to yourselves, and advantage to your 
patients, and thus reflect credit upon your teachers, we feel 
strongly assured. 
In conclusion, and on behalf of my colleagues, let me 
assure you that we will use our best endeavors to instruct you 
in the various departments of that Profession, "the foundation 
of which is science, and has for its end the good of man- 
kind." 
May you improve your opportunities, and merit the richest 
blessings of Providence while here, and finally be gathered 
home in the evening of lite, rejoicing that you have lived, 
and not afraid to die. 
" Illimani nihil alienam"