LECTURE 
INTRODUCTORY TO THE 
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFIH COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 
IN THE 
MEDICAL DEPARTMENT 
OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
DELIVERED MONDAY. OCTOBER 10. 1870. 
BY 
I). HAYES AG NEW, M. 1)., 
Professor of Clinical and Demonstrative Surgery. 
PUBLISHED BY THE fcLASS- »S 
PHILADELPHIA 
R. P. KING’S SONS, PRINTERS, No. 887 CHESTNUT STREET. 
1810. LECTURE 
INTRODUCTORY TO THE 
ONE HUSStlED AStl FIFTH COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 
IN THE 
MEDICAL DEPARTMENT 
OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
DELIVERED MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1870. 
BY 
D. HAYES AC4NEW, M. H, 
Professor of Clinical and Demonstrative Surgery. 
PUBLISHED BY THE CLASS. 
PHILADELPHIA : 
B. P. KING’S SONS, PRINTERS, No. 337 CHESTNUT STREET. 
1810. CORRESPONDENCE. 
D. Hayes Agnew, 
Philadelphia, October 12, 1870. 
Professor of Clinical and Operative Surgery, 
University of Pennsylvania: 
Dear Sir:—We, the undersigned, at a meeting of the Class held 
October 11, 1870, were appointed a Committee to wait upon you, and 
request, on behalf of the Class, a copy of your Introductory Address, 
delivered before the Faculty and Class of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania on Monday, October 10, 1870, for publication. Trusting that 
it may meet with your approval, 
We are, respectfully, 
THOMAS C. POTTER, 
LOUIS STARR, 
LOUIS S. STILLE. 
1611 Chestnut Street, October 19, 1870. 
Messrs. Thos. C. Potter, Louis Starr, and Louis S. Stille : 
Gentlemen :—Your letter requesting a copy of my Introductory for 
publication, in conformity with a resolution of the Medical Class, has 
been received. I cannot believe the Address entitled to such distinc- 
tion, but ivill cheerfully place it at your disposal. With the highest 
regard for the members of your Committee and the Class whom you 
represent, 
I am very truly your obedient servant, 
D. HAYES AGNEW. ADDRESS. 
Gentlemen: 
By appointment of the Faculty it becomes my pleasing duty, 
in accordance with an established custom, to meet you to-day, 
and in their name, and on their behalf, welcome you to the halls 
of this venerable school. Over one hundred years have been 
numbered with the past since this institution commenced the 
work of medical education. During this period eight thousand 
of her sons have gone forth, authorized under her seal, to exer- 
cise the beneficent art of healing the sick. Her annals contain 
a long line of names which not only give lustre tq her history, 
but are known and honored by the universities of every country. 
Many of these have paid the inexorable demand of nature; their 
voices can never again charm the occupants of these seats, or 
communicate the rich stores of practical wisdom which lives of 
enthusiastic devotion to a noble profession had secured. Yet, 
though absent in body, they are present in thought and doctrine. 
There is something mightier than the sword, more enduring 
than territorial conquest. The dynasties of Charlemagne, Csesar 
and Alexander have all passed away, but the writings of John 
Milton, the practical thoughts of Peter the Great, will continue 
to operate with accumulating force to the end of time. Ho 
prison doors can incarcerate the thought of man: it has opened 
them by a word. Fires cannot consume it; it has come out of 
the crucible like fine gold. Floods cannot drown, despotic de- 
crees subsidize, nor time annihilate it. A thought may come 
into the world long before the world is ready for its reception, 10 
and fall without observation, like a seed-corn into some rocky 
crevice; but the hour of its enlargement will come. Little did 
Wollaston suppose that in those spectral lines which he first 
noticed almost eighty years ago, lay the secret of determining 
the chemical constitution of the sun and the stars ; or Apollonius 
Pergocus, that after twenty centuries should roll round, conic 
sections, of which he was the discoverer, should become the foun- 
dation of Astronomy. While, therefore, we rehearse with pride 
the great names which belong to this seat of learning, we are not 
insensible of the fact that every generation has its responsibilities 
and duties. Institutions are like nations: they must have a 
future in view; must make a future. If they decline to go for- 
ward, and prefer to fall back on the past, their decadence has 
already begun. 
You have come here, gentlemen, from the various sections of 
our countiy, to enter upon the study of a profession which is to 
he a life-work. This is a great purpose. To determine on some- 
thing which is to challenge every thought, control and regulate 
every desire, inspire every faculty, command every feeling, and 
interpenetrate the whole texture of personal and relational life; 
this is a great and serious purpose. Are you ready for this ? 
Permit me, on this occasion, to present to you in as brief a 
manner as possible this matter: the selection and study of a pro- 
fession. The first interrogatory which should meet an individual 
about to determine on the selection of any calling should be this: 
Is it worthy my consecration ? According to Ecclesiasticus, God 
created the physician and physic. When our race lost its primal 
perfection, suffering and pain entered the world; and I doubt 
not, the first physical pang which was realized would instinc- 
tively lead its victim to seek an antidote for relief. The remotest 
records of ancient nations by common consent regarded this art 
as sacred. Cicero writes, “ Deorum immortalium invention! con- 
secrata est, ars Medicaand in perfect accord with this senti- 11 
merit is the language of Hippocrates and Celsus. The Egyptians 
and the Greeks entertained the greatest respect and admiration 
for their physicians. There were those who stamped upon their 
coins the names of their eminent doctors, side by side with their 
gods. The Athenians entertained such extraordinary regard for 
the medical profession, that no slave or woman was allowed to 
enter its ranks; and in some instances, as in the days of Julius 
Caesar, the freedom of a great city was extended to the disciples 
of medicine. The city of Edinburgh recently furnished a notable 
example of a similar kind, in the case of one of her distinguished 
sons, Sir James Simpson, who has recently been stricken down 
by the angel of death, in the very midst of professional labor. 
But aside from all this, there is one thought which should for- 
I 
ever hallow, dignify and ennoble medicine. The great Founder 
of Christianity dispensed with a prodigal hand His gift of heal- 
ing. Eyes which had never seen one object in this beautiful 
world, were opened ; ears which had never heard the sweet tones 
of human speech, were unstopped ; palsied limbs, dead and wasted 
by long disuse, felt again the electric flow of poorer, and became 
agile as the mountain roe; wasting fevers were rebuked ; reason 
again enthroned, and the fierceness of the maniac replaced by 
the gentleness of the child. In the selection of His followers, one, 
the most learned and cultivated of them all, was a physician— 
styled a beloved physician ; and in sending this little band forth 
to conquer the world, one of the leading instructions inscribed on 
their commission was, “ Heal the sickand from that day to 
this, all adown the centuries, physicians have occupied a distin- 
guished and honorable position, for their learning and devotion 
to all the interests of the race. Who first chained to his victori- 
ous car the scourge of small pox ? Whose sagacity gave to sur- 
gery a power to execute her boldest triumphs without a pang or 
a pain? Who found hospitals for the sick, and with singular 
devotion give to these noble institutions their time and skill, 12 
without a thought of pecuniary reward ? Who when pestilence 
shakes her sable wings over the land, and the multitude stricken 
with fear fly like a routed host; when even the ties of blood are 
not strong enough to bind man to his fellow; who, at such a 
time, cheerfully volunteer to stand in the breach, and administer 
the blessed resources of their profession without one mercenary 
thought ? Who thread your lanes and alleys by night and by 
day, carrying relief to the thousands of our wretched humanity 
who swarm in the background of metropolitan life? 
There is a corps of educated young men who, in behalf of the 
Guardians of the Poor and the various dispensaries, make annu- 
ally over ten thousand visits to the destitute sick, at all hours of 
the night, in all states of the weather, and in the most miserable 
abodes of wretchedness and want, receiving for such service the 
munificent sum of about three and one-third cents for each visit; 
and it is to the honor of our profession that the poorest man in 
the land can command, in the consideration of his case, as dis- 
tinguished skill and learning as the chief magistrate himself. 
Again, who have gone forth with every army from the siege of 
Troy until the present time, to conflict with an enemy more 
potent and deadly than chassepot or sword? In fine, who in 
every part of the world are the magnates in all departments of 
scientific pursuit, which give to our civilization its greatness and 
power? Yes, gentlemen, the profession is noble and unselfish, 
worthy of your highest consecration. 
This settled, we may inquire—Who are to study medicine? 
Does sex offer any barrier to its prosecution ? This opens up a 
wide field for discussion. I do not propose to enter it, except in 
a very general way. There is, and always has been, a party in 
the world which believes it has a special mission to pioneer. It 
appropriates infallibility in all matters of progress; its govern- 
ing principles are pure abstractions; nothing is too sacred in 
morals, religion, or government to escape its violence; it strikes 13 
at the foundations of the best ordered society; it drives the 
ploughshare of disseveration through every organization, custom, 
or institution antagonistic to itself, and like an earthquake con- 
vulsion upturns in interminable confusion the well-compacted 
strata of social order which time had proven to be eminently 
wise and good. All movements contemplating change in estab- 
lished systems should be considered with great moderation and 
judgment. Even when reform is desirable, all violent measures 
are to be deprecated, destroying as they do the good along with 
the evil. The ancient despotism of France, says Bishop Whately, 
bad as it was, did not cause more misery in a century, than the 
Reign of Terror did in a single year. Lord Bacon, in speaking 
of changes in matters of long-established usage, counsels “ to 
stand upon the ancient way, and look about to discover what is 
the best way.” The dogma upon which rests the entire struc- 
ture of “Women’s Rights” is a transparent sophistry. “The 
male is not the superior of the female.” The fallacy of such a 
statement is to be found in connecting the idea of inferiority 
with diversity of duties. In a piece of mechanism there may be 
many wheels, levers and springs. These do not all perform the 
same office, yet each is essential to the piece. Or as Paul, em- 
ploying the human body in one of his masterly illustrations, says, 
“ the eye cannot say unto the hand I have no need of you, nor 
again the head to the feet I have no need of you; nay, much 
more, these members of the body which seem to be more feeble 
are necessary.” In this view no comparisons can be drawn be- 
tween the sexes to the prejudice of women; nor can inferiority 
be predicated on diversity of function. That the sexes were 
never designed to follow the same line of occupation is apparent, 
even during the earliest years of life. Their dispositions, sub- 
jects of thought, and amusements, are altogether different; but, 
being designed to mate, these diversities accord with the most 
perfect harmony. The world over, among civilized nations, it 14 
lias been observed, the very qualities which the female admires 
in the male are the contrasts of her own, such as are preeminently 
masculine. And so the converse is true; the qualities and graces 
which men esteem and admire in the female are such as are emi- 
nently feminine. The hoy in his boyhood romps with boisterous 
lawlessness, hrcs his marbles, or wrestles with his playfellow; 
now perched on a roof-top flying a kite, or riding his grand- 
father’s cane for a horse. If the boy receives insult he resents it 
with blows, the girl with indignation and tears. If they en- 
counter a snake or even a worm, the boy sets upon them to 
destroy, the girl flies with a scream. The girl is altogether 
more quiet and retiring; loves to sit at her mother's feet, to 
dress and nurse her doll, and when rudely treated, or encounters 
some accident, runs to her brother for protection and defence. 
This beautifully shadows forth, not the equality of the modern 
school, but the existence of a law embedded in the constitution, 
by which man is authorized to protect and govern, and woman 
is disposed to confide and obey. 
The empire in which she should reign is the family; and there 
she should reign, as Rosseau has said, like a minister in the 
State—“by making that which is her inclination, to be enjoined 
to her as her duty. Thus it is evident the best domestic economy 
is that where the wife has most authority ; but, when she is in- 
sensible to the voice of her chief, when she tries to usurp his 
prerogative, and to command alone, what can result from such 
disorder but misery and dishonor ?” In fact, however much the 
liberal school may sneer at the statement of a certain old bach- 
elor who said, “ I suffer not a woman to teach ; to usurp author- 
ity over the man, but to be in silenceand then adds as a 
reason, “ the man was first formed, then the woman; and the 
man was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the 
transgression”—I say, however much they may sneer, the proper 
observance of this very relation confers on woman her greatest 15 
power and dignity. This obedience was the very secret which 
gave the Empress Livia—as it has given thousands since—such 
influence over her husband Augustus; and so.of a former queen 
of Spain, who obtained great influence over the king by her ex- 
traordinary prudence, and loving submission to his commands, 
the more easily obeyed, says her biographer, as they were com- 
monly, though to him imperceptibly, dictated by herself. She 
cured him of many foibles, and in a word was his Minerva, under 
the appearance of Mentor. 
If we turn to her physical organization, it requires no Daniel 
to decipher the “ handwriting on the wall.” There are portions 
of this State where females engage in the usual occupation of 
farm-hands. I have often witnessed them, and observed the 
execution of her task was one of difficulty, devoid of both mas- 
culine grace and efficiency. Nor can any amount of practice 
overcome this, simply because it is in hopeless conflict with the 
arrangement of the skeleton, and the development and the dis- 
position of the muscular system. 
One-fourth of the active period of a woman’s life, she is under 
the perturbating influence of a function, during which neither 
publicity nor exposure are desirable, and in which neither the 
mind nor body are in a condition to meet the demands of a pro- 
fession. Every physician at all conversant with the peculiarities 
of the female sexual system knows very well menstruation and 
logic are not interchangeable terms. 
If we turn to the mental organization of females, we find no 
necessity to depart from the ordinary classification of the facul- 
ties. They are the same in both sexes, and yet are so influenced 
by organization in the female as to operate in mode and degree 
altogether different from the male. Without individualizing 
these differences, we may say, in females the emotional element 
prevails; that while she is brilliant and fluent, she is neverthe- 
less incapable of sustaining those long and laborious processes of 16 
thought, experimentation and generalization which are the glory 
and power of the man. Can you point me to any great law like 
that of gravitation; any great invention like the power-loom, 
the steam-engine, the sewing-machine, or the reaper; any theo- 
logical system; any great allegory like that of Bunyan; any 
system of law like the Pandects of Justinian ; any philosophy 
like that of Brown or Hamilton ; any grand epic like Paradise 
Lost: which ever came from the mind of woman? Eot one. 
And yet, if she cannot invent an engine she can construct the 
most ingenious and entertaining works of fiction; she can excel 
in music; can train the young with matchless skill; can carry 
forward the important duties which attach to asylums and homes 
with a delicacy and forethought peculiarly her own; she can do 
the work of an evangelist, in reading to the poor and neglected ; 
she can traverse seas and become a co-worker with man in win- 
ning the nations from the curse of Paganism; she can bear chil- 
dren, nurse them from the fountain of her own breasts, and train 
them in the best of all schools to fear God, and honor authority, 
whether in the household or the State ; and I tell you, if you 
place the results of such a work, faithfully performed, to her 
credit, over against the items of man’s inventory, she is not his 
debtor. 
The numerical relation which the sexes bear to each other 
clearly indicates the pairing of the human family to be in accord- 
ance with the design of the Creator, and, of course, inseparable 
from such a relation are the duties and responsibilities of mater- 
nity, which rise paramount to every other consideration. If the 
woman be faithful in these, she can assume no professional en- 
gagements. She cannot rightfully leave a sick child or nursing 
baby at home, or a house to the irregularities of irresponsible 
servants, while she waits at the bedside of a protracted labor. I 
know it will be answered, “but large numbers of women are not 
married.” Still this does not meet the fundamental objection of 17 
sexual disqualification for masculine employments. The question 
may he asked with great propriety, Why are they not married ? 
The statistician is often perplexed at the result of his figures. 
He finds portions of our country in which there has been a steady 
decrease in the marriages, and where the native deaths actually 
exceed the births. May not such a startling fact be clearly trace- 
able to the practical operation of this doctrine of women’s rights? 
The women are strolling about the country, attending conven- 
tions, delivering lectures, and clamoring for admission to clerk- 
ships and professions, when they ought to be at home bearing 
children, and guiding the house. As regards medicine, its study 
by females is not a novel event. It has been on trial centuries 
ago. We have mention of Aspasia and Cleopatra, women who 
practised at Rome about three hundred years after Christ.* We 
learn that among the Saracens during the thirteenth century 
many women engaged in obstetrics, as they have been from 
the days of the Pharaohs to the present time. This was true of 
freeborn women at one period both in Rome and Greece. The 
Arabians encouraged the same on account of Saracenic sensuality, 
and by Mohammedan laws the attendance of males on females 
was for a period utterly prohibited, Indeed at one time she had 
the field almost exclusively to herself, and yet, after sixteen hun- 
dred years of trial, has failed to vindicate her claims to success 
and now, in this nineteenth century, she turns up again in 
bloomer and swallow-tail, to make another attempt to reverse 
the inevitable decree of organization. 
Will she succeed? Will she command the confidence of her 
own sex ? Will not women in all times of serious illness turn 
instinctively to man, as the needle turns to the pole ? 
It is within the range of possibility, under modern views, to- 
develop a race of women, who may yet inaugurate a Platonic- 
republic, where men and women may wrestle in the same gym- 
* American Encyclopedia. 18 
nasium, nuda cum nudis; or, like the Greeks, plunge into the 
same bath; or maidens, like those of Rome, who could witness 
unmoved the tierce encounters of the Colliseum, and after the 
slaughter was ended, sit down, in the arena wet with human gore, 
to enjoy a sumptuous repast. It will be an unfortunate day for 
woman when her mistaken friends force her into the attitude of 
a competitor with man. The moment she accepts such a place 
she loses the protectorate of those instincts of the male which 
grow out of the subjection imposed by divine legislation on the 
female, and which have been wisely arranged to prevent the 
tyranny and oppression which might otherwise spring from the 
stronger. If, however, she is to implead juries, endure the Bil- 
lingsgate of ward meetings and nominating conventions, mount 
the political platform, amputate limbs, make a perineal section, 
or cut for stone; let her remember there are laws controlling the 
social structure of society, the operation of which will disrobe 
her of all those qualities now the glory of the sex, and will cast 
her down in the dust of the earth. While such then are my 
personal views on this subject, I am opposed to waging a pro- 
fessional warfare either against the sex or their apologists. Let 
them alone. If it is, as I believe, one of those wild eccentricities 
which ever and anon come to the surface, in the ongoing of the 
world, affecting the body social, as boils do the body human, 
there is no use in trying to resolve it; better let it suppurate and 
come to a head as quickly as possible. If, on the other hand, it 
rests on the basis of some advanced truth, it will live, and should 
live, superior to all opposition. 
If, then, the profession belongs peculiarly to man, there follows 
another most pertinent question, which every one aspiring to its 
duties should ask himself—Is it the 'profession for me ? We have 
no difficulty in admitting that nations have their missions. Ho 
one can doubt the Hebrew was designed to teach the world mono- 
theism and purity; the Roman, legislation and law; and the 19 
Greek, the splendor of logic and art; and so, I take it, every in- 
dividual is designed to till some place, to do some work. In 
looking over the vast field of human industry, we cannot fail 
being impressed with the diverse and multitudinous avocations 
of the race. Here is the smith at his forge; the joiner driving 
his saw and his plane; the merchant at his desk. Here are 
crowds thronging the marts of commerce and trade; and arti- 
sans of every name engaged in their varied handicraft. One 
man follows the tail of his plough, content to break up the fallow 
ground, and garner the precious fruits of the earth; while others 
go down to the sea in ships, to visit foreign lands, and mingle 
with strange nations. Here is one who finds his chief joy in 
giving visible forms to thought on the canvas, or marble; and 
another who enters his laboratory to kindle the fires of analysis, 
and interrogate the conditions of matter. Here is one who points 
his glass to the heavens to explore that stupendous province of 
the Creator, where human reason is awed into silent contempla- 
tion before magnitude and boundless space; while others long 
for the stirring contests of the forum and the senate. These, 
with many others, are the pursuits which continually invite men 
in the struggle of life. The great matter is to fall into the right 
ranks; to ascertain exactly your place, and mission, and then, to 
play well your part. All along the highway of life we see lag- 
gards ; those who go on their way halting on the thigh; out- 
stripped in the race. These finally sink out of sight. The great 
mistake was, they were deficient in the equipments for the race. 
The most superficial observer will not fail to discover the incon- 
gruity which so often exists between persons and places. How 
many thousand barks have slipped their cables and gone out to 
sea only to drift about at the mercy of the winds and the waves! 
What a shame that these immortal powers, capable of unlimited 
sweep and cultivation, should be so perverted, or misdirected, as 
to be all the while driving against the current; failing to accom- 20 
plish any thing noble or good, when there are fields in which 
distinguished attainment is possible. It is not expected that 
every toiler—even where no error on this point has been com- 
mitted—will reach the highest altitudes of professional distinc- 
tion : this is reserved only for a few; but it is to meet exactly 
the demands which fall within your own province, according to 
the measure of your highest possible capacity—that is the expec- 
tation. It is the best, the very best , use of what a man has, 
which constitutes the true measure of excellence. There are 
humble men in this world, without station, power or influence, 
who by kind words and thoughtful service do more to lighten 
the burdens of life, and infuse courage and hope, than thousands 
of more pretentious names. It is this disposition which, para- 
doxical as it may seem, makes penury, as by talismanic touch, 
affluence, and weakness confound the wisdom of the wise. With 
such an understanding of the subject in its application to medi- 
cine, have you sat down and calmly and deliberately considered 
the subject? Have you asked such pertinent questions as these? 
Do I possess such a mental cultivation as will enable me to grapple 
with the problems which cluster about this divine piece of mech- 
anism, the human body; investigate by long and tedious pro- 
cesses the phenomena of disease, with a mind so well trained in 
logical acumen as to detect and eliminate the apparent from the 
real ? Have I the ability to untangle the contradictions which 
constantly mask disease, and produce so often hesitation and in- 
decision? Have I that solid, fixed mode of thought which can 
withstand the fascinations of theory and speculation, and anchors 
only in the solid ground of facts? Have I that well-adjusted 
moral frame which knows how to sympathize with our broken 
humanity, without the exhibition of weakness on the one hand, 
or hollow sentimentalism on the other; to deport myself in such 
manner, when brought in contact with the multiform and con- 
tradictory moods of the sick and suffering, as they shall, by that 21 
wondrous magnetic power which inheres in the human soul, be- 
come drawn to my person with a power which imperial faith can 
alone inspire ? Have I that opulence of resource ; that readiness 
to take advantage of opportune circumstances ; to confront emer- 
gencies, and that resolute will, supported by moral principle, 
which defies temptation, does not surrender to flattery, and exe- 
cutes its convictions with manly decision and firmness ? Can I 
bear ingratitude, misrepresentation and abuse from inferiors and 
equals, and yet toil on with unselfish devotion, blind to every 
thing but duty ? In fine, can you bear all things, endure all 
things, hope all things ? If so, God speed your mission: you are 
called to this work. 
Let us next inquire how you can best master the branches 
included in the curriculum of study. Let me say here, there is 
no ro}7al road to this end ; no short cuts. Three years is the 
period at present allotted to making a doctor. Think of that; 
three y ears, and then to .go forth to determine the nicest ques- 
tions affecting human life; to meet disease in all its Protean 
forms; to be a master in medical analysis and diagnosis, appre- 
ciating all the possibilities involved in the conduct of a serious 
case, and to go forward, to wield the enginery of the art without 
hesitation or doubt. Here is a young girl of refinement and 
cultivation, an only child, brought up amid all the elegancies 
of polite life, idolized by her parents and loved by a circle of 
devoted companions; or a widowed mother, in some humble, 
retired court, striving, by industry and self-denial, to keep 
together a group of helpless children; or, perhaps, a man in 
public life, whose sagacity, influence and energy animate the 
industry of an entire community or shape the policy of cabinets. 
Suppose any one of these—each one of whom may stand for a 
class—be suddenly smitten with some formidable disease. The 
interest of many households, of an entire city, or even a nation, 
is concentrated on yourself; every look scanned, every word 22 
weighed. There must he no trace of indecision, perplexity or 
delay. It is as when Darius was only a few days’ march of 
Alexander, then seriously ill. Turning to his noble old physi- 
cian, Philip, he said: “ My case demands neither tardy remedies 
nor timorous doctors.” How, for this, only three years prepara- 
tion! You say it is impossible. I fully agree with you, and 
hope the day is not remote when it will he four or live years. 
How long, think ye, does it require a boy, at the mouth of one 
of our great hays, to complete his pupilage as a pilot ? Why, 
seven years before he is trusted with the commonest vessel, and 
eleven before he is formally allowed to undertake a first-class 
bottom. Think of that: seven years before a man is deemed 
competent to conduct a vessel from the Breakwater to the city 
of Philadelphia; and yet, three years are deemed sufficient to 
tide safely to port the most precious thing which belongs to our 
humanity I 
You will commence, then, alive to .the fact that a work of 
magnitude is to he done in a brief period. Let your time, there- 
fore, be properly apportioned, both for study and recreation, every 
hour properly provided for; and when such method solidifies 
into habit, it is amazing what can he accomplished. Sir Richard 
Blackmore wrote his Prince Arthur, in many volumes, a book 
receiving the marked approval of Locke, during the little paren- 
thesis, or breathing spells, of an extensive practice. Brougham 
his voluminous works when in full practice at the bar and on the 
Woolsack. The museum of John Hunter was the accumulations 
of little periods of time, snatched stealthily as it were from daily 
professional toil. “ I must go and earn that guinea,” said this in- 
defatigable worker, in the midst of a dissection, “ for I shall he sure 
to want it.” Lord Bacon carried forward his studies in the midst 
of official labor, and, indeed, it may be said his entire works of 
massive and recondite thought were the product of leisure hours. 
The author of the Old Red Sandstone laid the foundation of his 23 
distinguished name during such moments of relaxation as he 
might take, while engaged in the work of a quarry man. Sir 
Walter Scott’s literary labors were executed during the morning 
hours, when other persons were asleep. Grove, a name associ- 
ated with the correlation of the physical forces, is a barrister, 
in active, laborious practice, yet pursues his philosophical studies 
during the fragments of time which he steals from his clients; 
and Dr, Barnes wrote his Commentaries, a work involving much 
laborious research, in the hours before nine o’clock in the morn- 
ing, never allowing this side work to interfere with the duties of 
his parish. Indeed, our literature teems with examples of a 
similar kind, a few only of which have been selected to illustrate 
what may be accomplished by carefully appropriating brief 
periods of time. 
In the acquisition of knowledge be as thorough as possible. 
Bring to bear on every subject of study the full exercise of your 
own powers, not simply viewing through the media of others. 
A teacher best fulfills his work when, like the celebrated Doctor 
Arnold, he strives to inspire in his pupil the art of training and 
using the faculties he possesses. By way of illustration, apply 
this to the study of anatomy. Before ever reading critically an 
authority on this subject, what would you say were the uses of 
the skeleton, considered merely from the standpoint of mechani- 
cal law? Why the curves in its pieces; the peculiar disposition 
of its articulating planes; interior structure, together with the 
nature of its composition. After such a consideration, turn over 
the pages of the text-book and ascertain the result of your re- 
flection. It was in this way Gibbon commenced the study of 
any subject, always noting down what was known to himself, 
and afterwards turning to the authorities. The simple accu- 
mulation of facts, however, is no more education than the 
reception of food into the stomach is digestion. Selection, 
differentiation and assimilation are as essential in the one case 24 
as the other. The simple acquisition of knowledge, or mental 
culture, carried to the highest degree, does not make a man 
useful, neither qualifies him to discharge the legitimate demands 
of the world. There must be something more; something to 
flow out of all this; a product of mental distillation. It is 
wisdom. Hence, one of the wisest of men said ; “ With all your 
getting, get wisdom.” Solomon understood the meaning of true 
education. What think ye of the miser who spends his whole 
life in amassing wealth, laboring night and day to fill his coffers 
with gold, locking it up in iron safes, and finding his chief 
gratification in counting these hoarded gains, but never dis- 
bursing one dollar toward any public or private object ? Knowl- 
edge, to be valuable, must be used, made practical, circulated. 
The reflex influence of applying your acquisitions and skill for 
the benefit of others, of adding to the sum of human happiness, 
outweighs a thousand times the pleasure of the student who 
seals up the fountain of his learning, or contents himself with 
only a mental rumination. 
The medical student, entering on his collegiate course, should 
carefully follow the instruction of each Chair; yet it will pro- 
mote progress to give prominence to at least three branches each 
term. In grouping these dominating studies, two, at least, of 
the three, should be closely allied, so that the mental lines of 
thought may be analogous, and in this way assist the memory in 
their retention. Thus we may place in one group Anatomy, 
Physiology, Chemistry and Practice. The first two deal in 
terras very similar, and therefore mutually aid each other. The 
second group may consist of Practice, Surgery, Materia Medica 
and Obstetrics. 
Anatomy will first claim your attention. This forms the 
ground-work of all that follows. It describes the various parts 
of the human body. What a charming task, to sit quietly down 
in the apartment for dissections and take apart this master-piece 25 
of workmanship; to call each piece by its proper name; know 
its proper place and work; to wonder over the multitude of 
organs, so compactly pressed together, so diverse in operations, 
yet each executing its appointed task in the grand confederation 
without a jar or tremor. Yes, gentlemen, do not neglect dissec- 
tion. The lifeless frame is the greatest of all hooks. Turn over 
its leaves with untiring diligence. You can never know its 
contents too well. It is said Johnson could never think of 
Goldsmith’s description of the men of England without having 
the tears suffuse his eyes, and I think no anatomist can recur 
unmoved to that memorable incident in the life of Yesalius, 
when, alone, at midnight, with furtive glances at the suspended 
crucifix, he is about to unveil by dissection the mysteries of the 
dead body. 
I should greatly regret to witness a period when the interest 
of a medical class in dissections begins to wane; and yet, I fear, 
such is the case. Illustrated works on anatomy, colossal models 
and diagrams, exceedingly useful in the lecture-room, have had 
no small tendency in producing this result. The work is repug- 
nant to many, and yet it is indispensable. A surgeon, I care not 
how familiar and accurate his anatomical knowledge, should 
frequently consult this great text-book. The most eminent 
abroad were always in the habit, before an important operation, 
of reviewing details on the cadaver; and were this practice 
more general at the present time, there would be less liberty 
taken with parts other than those diseased. 
We go into one of our extensive manufactories, and pass from 
room to room. Yot a wheel revolves, or lever moves; the engi- 
neer is absent, and the entire mechanism stands still. Just so 
the anatomist passes through the various apartments of the 
lifeless body; and as he scrutinizes each piece of the matchless 
combination, feels there is but one thing wanting—the com- 
munication of that power which will set this rare machine in 26 
motion ; and so he turns to physiology, which is living anatomy, 
the study of the phenomena of living beings. You see how 
closely allied, and how naturally these two branches stand side 
by side. Chemistry will claim a portion of your time: afield 
almost boundless in extent, and which might well demand the 
undivided energies of an entire life. At this moment it is 
perhaps true that medicine has reached a stage, through the 
labors of earnest workers, where further progress is improbable 
except through the agency of organic chemistry. Of course it 
is not expected you will compass such a realm, but its general 
facts and their ordinary application to medicine must be known, 
or you will be like one who walks with his eyes closed amid the 
grandest operations in the natural world. Therapeutics often 
proceeds only in the light of chemistry. The knowledge thrown 
upon the electrical conditions of muscles and nerves by DuBois 
and Raymond, and their relational mutations in disease by 
Duchene, are familiar illustrations of chemical agencies direct- 
ing both diagnosis and remedies. Surgery will demand your 
attention. In one sense, every physician must likewise be a 
surgeon—that is, the great majority of every class which leaves 
these halls will occupy localities where the lines of special medi- 
cine are not sharply drawn, and where each man must be pre- 
pared to labor, in a measure at least, in every department of his 
profession. It will always be true that surgery will gravitate to 
great cities. The multiplication of manufactories, the concen- 
tration of railroads, and the existence of hospitals, must make 
such a result inevitable. Still, surgical disease will be encoun- 
tered everywhere, and cases of emergency will arise where you 
cannot set aside its claims, and must employ its resources, how- 
ever distasteful or repugnant to the feelings. The great princi- 
ples of the science should be mastered, and a knowledge in the 
applications of surgical dressings possessed. In country localities 
you will be required to take charge of fractures. This you 27 
cannot decline. In the management of such accidents the com- 
munity will prove very exacting. You will be expected to come 
up to Voltaire’s definition of a physician, “An unfortunate gen- 
tleman who is expected to perform a miracle every day.” Of 
course you are not expected to be experts: that were impossible ; 
and hence the legal responsibilities of rural and metropolitan 
surgeons should not he gauged by the same measure. I suppose 
the great mass of this class will be occupied principally in their 
future work with the practice of medicine, and obstetrics; and 
there can be no doubt the claims of these branches are of the 
highest urgency. They will prove the staple of every country 
practice: to be sure, not so captivating in the public eye as 
surgery, yet demanding an equal degree of skill. The mechan- 
ical appliances introduced into medicine, within the last few 
years, have greatly extended the horizon of positive knowledge, 
by subjecting to the scrutiny of the eye conditions of structure 
which could in no other way have been determined with cer- 
tainty. These must demand some portion of your time. In 
rural districts, the duties of the pharmaceutist devolve upon 
the physician, as well as visiting the sick. The materia medica 
is his armory. From it he must draw the weapons wherewith 
to combat disease. He should therefore possess, not only a 
knowledge of the nature and action of medicinal substances, 
but also the mode of preparation, as well as the most eligible 
forms of administration. Let me ask for this branch a most 
careful and thoughtful study, devoting at least a part of your 
second term to the duties of practical pharmacy, quite as 
important to the understanding of the materia medica as dis- 
sections are to anatomy. 
I have no doubt the enumeration of these subjects which are 
to engross your attention has a tendency to give the matter 
almost colossal proportions. Still, there is something wanting. 
The thoughtful student will ask himself, “ How, and where, may 28 
I verify the statements of the lecture-room ? In what gymna- 
sium may I bring into practical activity and discipline these 
instructed faculties ? where can I train ? The anatomist tells 
me, and my text-book tells me, the biceps muscle has two heads; 
that an important blood-vessel and nerve lie along its inner 
border. I want to see it for myself, as well as every other 
statement which he makes.” Then go to the dissecting-room 
and verify it for yourself. That is the whole secret of learning 
anatomy. “The surgeon tells me if an incision be made in the 
middle of Scarpa’s triangle, and a certain number of super- 
imposed layers of tissue be divided, the femoral artery will be 
exposed, and may be ligated. I should like to test the feasibility 
of this.” There is the operating-room ; try it for yourself, as 
well as every other operation. That is the only way to make 
a surgeon. “From the chair of practice is detailed a train of 
symptoms which, it is alleged, belong to typhoid fever. If I 
could only see such a case, and have the testimony of my own 
e}7es, it would add greatly to my self-assurance.” Very well; 
there are our hospitals, rich in all manner of disease; give them 
your constant attention. There is a great law of compensation 
ever active in this world, by which good is made to come out of 
evil. Poverty and orphanage are to be deplored, but by this law 
almshouses and asylums become nurseries of the benevolent and 
philanthropic sentiments of the heart. They give play to human 
charities, and counteract the curse of selfishness. And so sick- 
ness is an evil to be deplored; but these hospitals for the 
reception of the indigent sick furnish opportunities for observa- 
tion, by which the highest skill may be attained in the cure of 
disease. These are, after all, the great schools of medicine ; and 
the man who would shut the doors of a hospital against clinical 
instruction sins against humanity—is an enemy to his race. 
With a view of bringing the student into more direct contact 
with practical medicine, and so qualifying him for a safer and 29 
more efficient use of the powerful resources at his command, the 
Faculty of this Institution have introduced a very important 
feature in her instruction, that of special, daily clinics. These 
embrace Medicine; Physical Diagnosis; General Surgery; Dis- 
eases of the Eye and Ear; the Microscope and Chemistry in their 
applications to Urinary Medicine; Diseases of the Mouth; Dis- 
eases of Women and Children; and Syphilis with Dermatology. 
The morning instructions of each day will terminate with a 
clinic on one of these branches, so that the student may witness 
living illustrations of those subjects which have been discussed 
in the previous lectures. These will be carried on throughout 
the entire year. They are not designed to be mere numerals of 
doubtful quantities, or mutes to play a part. 
The gentlemen who have been appointed to this great work 
require no commendation at my hands. This clinical department 
will receive our warmest support and cooperation, and the large 
resources at command will be utilized for the benefit of the 
class. 
I have thus rapidly sketched an outline of the picture which 
you, gentlemen, are expected to fill up. Extended as it is, there 
is no ground for discouragement. Only look the matter reso- 
lutely in the face; begin; go forward; and like Arago, the cele- 
brated French astronomer, “faith will overtake you.” Every 
man possesses capacities of the value of which he can form no 
just conception. They may lie buried like the Trilinguistic 
Stone, or the Elgin marbles in the vaults of the British museum, 
until some accident shall evoke them into life. These immortal 
endowments which are never to perish were not designed to be 
bound up in napkins. Go to the ant, thou sluggard, and ponder 
over her growing mounds: behold the towering chalk-cliffs of 
Albion, or the submarine galleries of coral on our Florida coast; 
these monuments of insect industry forever stand to rebuke the 
idleness of man. It is no extenuation to plead the absence of 30 
genius. Genius is one-sided, and often proves the rock upon 
which the man of brilliant gifts splits. The plodders, the plod- 
ders, the men who are compelled to work in order to acquire— 
these are the men you will find in the high places of knowledge. 
They have grown slow, but sturdy like the oak. Adam Clarke 
was pronounced a very dull boy, but he became one of the great- 
est scholars in Europe. Sheridan, Linnaeus, Burns, were all stig- 
matized as dunces, yet they filled the world with wit, science 
and poetry. How lenient should be our judgment, and how pa- 
tiently should the teacher apply in turn, the various tests to his 
pupil’s mind, until that which predominates shall be disclosed! 
The merest trifle may wake into activity the mightiest energies. 
Like seeds taken from Egyptian sarcophagi: only bring them 
under the influence of heat and moisture, and the principle of 
germination which has been sealed up for tnree thousand years 
will assert its obedience to law, bringing forth fruit after its 
kind. 
A young man is quietly following the trade of a bookbinder; 
he is repairing an old encyclopedia, and his eye falls on an article 
from the pen of Sir Humphrey Davy, on Electricity. His soul 
catches the inspiration, and the bookbinder is transformed into 
the philosopher, Farrady. A lad is strolling along the sea-shore, 
and finds a cuttle-fish left on the beach by the receding tide: 
its contemplation kindles an ambition which placed the immor- 
tal Cuvier in the fore rank of Scientists. A Scotch quarryman 
while pursuing his laborious occupation is attracted by the im- 
pressions of animals in the rocks which he had drilled and 
blasted; and such developed the geologist in Hugh Miller. 
These insignificant events, fortuitous as we are wont to term 
them, formed the incitements ; completed the circuit, as the elec- 
trician would say; were the heat and moisture which gave play 
to the vital activities of the seed. 
Arou will not have advanced far in your studies, gentlemen, 31 
until certain parts of the domain of medicine will prove more 
attractive than others. You will have a bias; a predilection for 
some one branch over all others. Such a branch, whatever it 
may he, accords with some inherent or natural taste. It is not 
only so in our profession, but in every other. This was the secret 
of Rembrandt’s great excellence in painting Rabbais, of Raphael 
in portraying his Ropes, and of Murillo’s wonderful cherubs. 
In medicine, it is the foundation of Specialties, which in this 
country, following the lead of German and French precedents, is 
rapidly assuming a deserved importance. It is only by such a 
distribution, and concentration of labor and talent, the various 
veins of medicine can be satisfactorily explored, and their treas- 
sures developed. 
I have thus, gentlemen, most imperfectly, thrown out some 
thoughts to encourage you in the prosecution of your noble work. 
In concluding these remarks, allow me to drop a word of counsel 
before we separate. A great city, with all its elegance and retine- 
ihent, crowded with institutions of learning, philanthropy and 
religion, is no less a centre of every type of vice. The toils of 
the tempter are admirably spread to entrap the unsuspecting. 
Every thing which is fascinating and sensuous in art is laid 
under tribute to compass your dishonor and shame. A young 
man unloosed from the restraints of home, and thrown at once 
into the vortex of metropolitan life with its every appliance to 
fire his ardent nature, stands in the most imminent peril. Let 
me beg of you, under such circumstances, to allow reason, not 
passion, guide your every step. iSTever forget parental solicitude, 
but determine to secure the greatest of all victories, the victory 
over self, a triumph “ greater than taking a city.” I shall never 
forget the little incident of trunk-packing when a lad I was sent 
away to begin my college life. The trembling hands and averted 
eye with the words, which need not be repeated here, have never 32 
been erased from my memory. In all the vicissitudes of life they 
have been by my side, the “ pillar of fire and cloud.” 
Genius and learning, in order to exercise their full power, must 
be conjoined with character. The man who can stand forth with 
uplifted brow, in the conscious sense of a pure body and unsullied 
mind, as Sidney Smith once said of old Francis Horner, “ with 
the ten commandments stamped upon his countenance,” whether 
he be clothed in rags or fine linen, is a great power in the world; 
has something of more value than riches, and more honorable 
than the insignia of rank or official station; and when he comes 
to rest in his lot, to hang up the armor of life’s conflict on the 
wall, will realize a state of mind, and feeling, which will guild 
the evening of life with a splendor such as yon glorious sun of 
day spreads over the western sky as he sinks to his rest. There 
is much that is grand and beautiful in this world. The stars of 
heaven as they roll on in their appointed bounds; a growing 
State rising in population and opulence, and wheeling into con- 
federate rank; a people long under the heel of a relentless des- 
potism, rising in their might, bursting the cerements of political 
death, and asserting their claims to nationality. And then our 
noble rivers, flowing on with majestic power toward the sea ; the 
vast mountains which in massive ranges stretch across our conti- 
nent; the deep valleys clothed with pastures, and dotted over 
with hamlets and flocks: these, with a thousand others in sea, 
air, earth and sky, are beautiful indeed, but not one, or all com- 
bined, are half so grand and beautiful as a young man in the 
strength and vigor of his manhood; his head stored with solid 
learning, possessing a sound body, pure mind, and sober judg- 
ment; to such an one, inspired with honorable ambition, and 
penetrated by the grace of godliness, nothing is impossible; suc- 
cess is certain in whatever line he works; the arrows of detrac- 
tion find no vulnerable joints but fall harmless at his feet, for he 
is mailed in something better than steel. The work of the world 33 
is to be done by young men. The education, legislation, and all 
the great interests of humanity are to be entrusted to our young 
men, and whatever they shall be, these will be impressed with 
their image and superscription. If our young men are trained 
in the school of virtue as well as letters, then we may anticipate 
a glorious future; but if intellectual shall ever he divorced from 
moral culture, then we may read our fate in the ruin and disaster 
which have overtaken the civilization of a people who were once 
masters of the world. 
Wisdom and character express the whole of trtie education. 
These, gentlemen, are what we want. These give perpetuity to 
reputation and force to opinion. They are the salt of the earth, 
and challenge the homage of all. To what shall I liken a man 
with this simple equipment? To the god of day ushering in the 
dawn, and shining more and more unto meridian splendor? or, 
like an Alpine peak, lifting its sunlit spire, calm and serene, into 
empyrean space, far above cloud and storm? We walk among 
the columns of the stone-cutter: many of these present specimens 
of the most elaborate workmanship, replete with ornamental de- 
vice. At last the eye falls upon one, a simple shaft of granite 
resting on its square and massive base. It is not distinguished 
by any single dominating excellence; its sides are all smooth un- 
broken planes; its lines all straight lines; its angles all right 
angles; it is but cold insensate stone: yet man has struck into it 
his thought; has transfused it with Promethean tire; it is grand 
in its exact simplicity. You feel that here are combined the 
primal elements of aesthetic harmony, all aglow with the symbols 
of strength, dignity, and power; and you gaze upon it, as one 
looks out on the resistless swell of the ocean, with never-tiring 
admiration. Such are faint emblems of the man of wisdom and 
character. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. 
The Lectures of the Session of 1870-71 will commence on the second Monday 
(10th) of October, and close on the last day of February ensuing. 
MEDICAL FACULTY. 
GEORGE B. WOOD, M. D., Emeritus Professor of Theory and Practice of 
Medicine. 
SAMUEL JACKSON, M. D., Emeritus Professor of Institutes and Medicine. 
HUGH L. HODGE, M. D., Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and the Diseases of 
Women and Children. 
JOSEPH CARSON, M. D., 
Professor of Materia Medlca and Pharmacy. 
ROBERT E. ROGERS, M. D., 
Professor of Chemistry. * 
JOSEPH LEIDY, M. D., 
Professor of Anatomy. 
HENRY H. SMITH, M. D., 
Professor of Surgery. 
FRANCIS G. SMITH, M. D., 
Professor of Institutes of Medicine. 
RICHARD A. F. PENROSE, M. D., 
Professor of Obstetrics and the Diseases of Women and Children. 
ALFRED STILLE, M. D., 
Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine, and of Clinical Medicine. 
D. HAYES AGNEW, M. D., 
Professor of Clinical and Demonstrative Surgery. 
H. LENOX HODGE, M. D., 
Demonstrator of Anatomy. 
One Introductory will be delivered to the Course. 
Clinical instruction is given daily throughout the year, in the Medical Hall, by the Professors, 
and at the Hospitals. At the Philadelphia Hospital, containing 900 beds, instruction is free. 
The Dissecting-rooms, under the superintendence of the Professor of Anatomy and the 
Demonstrator, are open from the middle of September. 
The Room for Operative Surgery and the Application of Bandages, etc., etc., is open early 
in September, and throughout the Session, under the supervision of the Professor of Clinical 
and Demonstrative Surgery. 
EXPENSES. 
Fees for the Course of Lectures, ..... $140 
Matriculating Fee, (paid only once,) ..... 5 
Graduating Fee, ....... 30 
*** No scholarships are sold by the University of Pennsylvania. 
R. E. ROGERS, M. I)., 
W. H. Salvador, Janitor, Dean of the Medical Faculty, 
University Building. ' ■ University Building. 
*** Alumni of the Medical Department of the University, and others who desire to receive 
the Catalogue and Announcement, are requested to send their addresses to the Dean, P. O. 
Box 2630, Philadelphia. CLINICAL LECTURERS. 
WILLIAM PEPPER, M. D., 
Lecturer on Clinical Medicine. 
EDWARD RHOADS, M. D., 
Clinical Lecturer on Physical Diagnosis. 
JAMES TYSON, M. D., 
Clinical Lecturer on Microscopy and Chem- 
istry, applied to Diseases of the 
Urinary Organs. 
EDWARD GOODELL, M. D., 
Clinical Lecturer on Diseases of Women and 
Children. 
D. HAYES AGNEW, M. D., 
Professor of Clinical and Demonstrative 
Surgery. 
HARRISON ALLEN, M. D., 
Clinical Lecturer on Syphilis. 
GEORGE STRAWBRIDGE, M. D., 
WILLIAM F. NORRIS, M. D., 
Clinical Lecturers on Diseases of the Eye 
and Ear. 
JAMES E. GARRETSON, M. D., 
Clinical Lecturer on Surgical Diseases of 
the Mouth. 
ASSISTANTS TO THE MEDICAL CLINIC. 
JAMES TYSON, M. D., Chief of the Medical Dispensary. 
CHARLES SHAFFNER, M. D., ) A . . * — ™ • • 
ROLAND G. CURTIN. M. D„ SASS1Stan* 
ASSISTANTS TO THE SURGICAL CLINIC. 
CHARLES T. HUNTER, M. D., Chief of the Surgical Dispensary. 
SAMUEL S. STRYKER, M. D., DE FOREST WILLARD, M. D., 
FRANK MUHLENBERG, M. D., JAMES MARKOE, M. D., 
WHARTON SINKLER, M. D., ELLIOTT RICHARDSON, M. D. 
ASSISTANT DEMONSTRATORS OP ANATOMY. 
LEONARDO S. CLARK, M. D., CHARLES B. NANCREDE, M. D., 
GEORGE A. REX, M. D., COMEGYS PAUL, M. D., 
STANLEY P. NEW SHAM, M. D. 
DEMONSTRATORS OF PRACTICAL SURGERY. 
CHARLES T. HUNTER, M. D., JAMES MARKOE, M. D.: 
DE FOREST WILLARD, M. D. 
ASSISTANT IN MEDICAL MICROSCOPY TO THE PROFESSOR 
OP THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. 
JOSEPH G. RICHARDSON, M. D.