wz 100 S6535R 1867 ■Eag *■ ty- A.H Ritchie / ETJLOG-IUM % UPON THE LIFE, PROFESSIONAL LABORS AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF Joseph Mather £mith, M. D, LATE PROFESSOR OF THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PHYSIC, AND OF MATERIA MEDICA AND CLINICAL MEDICINE, IN THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, NEW YORK; PHYSI- CIAN TO THE N. Y. HOSPITAL; PRF.SIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF HYGIENE OF THE CITIZENS' ASSOCIATION IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK; PRESIDENT OF THE N. Y. ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, ETC., ETC. DELIVERED BEFORE THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEB. 6, 1867. BY WILLIAM C. ROBERTS, M. D. '• History may be formed from permanent monuments and records, but lives can only be written from personal know'cdge, which is every day growing less and less, and in a short time is lost for ever."—Dr. Johnson. $rirtt*U for ^ribate ©istriiution. NEW YORK: ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, 770 BROADWAY. 1867. 100 SC535({ 1^7 |it Utaonum. These to life's cherished, honored guide, Translated to a heavenly crown; Whose sun, while yet 'twas day, went down, Ere fell the shades of eventide ! In worth of heart and wealth of brain, In all that noble was and pure,— All that is destined to endure,— When shall we see his like again ? Long lingers in the western sky The vanished orb's resplendent hue. In gleaming memories, ever new, That life survives : it cannot die. This tribute of most sacred lave We lay upon his honored bier; If we could do it, not a tear Would weep him from his home above. 'Tis better far to be with HIM, Whose work gave zest to life while here ; Oh, grudge him not the wider sphere, The Brotherhood with Seraphim. J. R. Macduff, D.D. EULOGIUM. Mk. PRESIDENT AND FELLOW MEMBERS op the Academy op Medicine : In every age and country to which our knowledge of antiquity extends, reverence and honor, according to their several customs, have been paid to the remains and memory of the distinguished dead. Funeral rites have been celebrated, eulogies pronounced, monu- ments and statues erected, and titles and pensions conferred, to evince and perpetuate the national grati- tude. This has chiefly been the case, however, with the memories of heroes and statesmen: while those who, b}T steady devotion to the cultivation of science and art, have increased the longevity and happiness of mankind, have been treated with less ostentation of » respect, and less munificence of remuneration. The merits of a Newton, a Franklin, and a Jenner, are, un- happily, less generally recognized and acknowledged, than those of a Napoleon, a Marlborough, a Nelson, or a Wellington. Yet it cannot be doubted that he who, by some wise adaptation of science to a practical end, has increased the comfort, or saved the lives and miti- gated the sufferings of millions, deserves better of his fellow-men and of posterity, than he whose policy has 6 EULOGIUM UPON TEE LIFE OF led to desolating wars, or who has slain his hecatombs of victims in the field. The Romans carried their dead of rank to the Fo- rum, and there pronounced their eulogium. This cus- tom has been borrowed from the ancients by the learned societies of Europe, and it is usual with them to utter funeral panegyrics, commemorative of his merits, either at the place of sepulture of the distin- guished deceased associate, or at some period after- wards in the halls of the Academy. Such posthumous fame has ever been deemed, by great minds, an ample recompense for devotion to science, even in the midst of poverty and privation ; and a sufficient incentive to ceaseless energy in the cause of suffering humanity. Hope of the remem- brance and applause of posterity, has sufficiently con- soled many great discoverers, heroes, patriots and martyrs, amid neglect and injustice, defeat and disap- pointment, and the physical sufferings of the cell, the torture, or the stake. So small a meed, at least, should not be denied them. The Royal Academy of Medicine in Paris confides this duty, which is never neglected, to its perpetual secretary, an office successively filled by the distin- guished Ant. Louis, Yicq d'Azyr, the eloquent and industrious Pariset, and now held by M. Dubois, d'Amiens. To the zeal of the latter, we owe the " Re- cueil des Eloges," pronounced by these learned and eloquent men upon the lives and services of their con- temporaries, published in two beautiful volumes : en- during monuments of merit, and valuable contributions to the history of medical science and literature. JO SEPE MATHER SMITE, M.D. 7 Our own Academy, also, has wisely adopted this custom ; but, with greater propriety, commits to the judgment of its presiding officer, the selection of a fel- low-associate who from long acquaintance and con- geniality of pursuit with the deceased, shall be quali- fied to do justice to his merits. This sacred duty in reference to the late Dr. Joseph M. Smith, has been confided to me. I could have wished that it had been entrusted to abler hands ; but I have not refused its performance. I have known him well for many years, and have been often in pleasant professional and social relation with him. It is now thirty-five years since his name was affixed to my diploma, and I am proud to have been his pupil and his friend, and to believe that our regard for each other was mutual. I am indebted to him for many acts of kindness and courtesy ; and I take pleasure, therefore, however imperfectly I may do so, in re- calling his many and varied excellences to those who knew him, and of imparting to those who did not, a true estimate of the personal and professional qualities which gave him prominence among us. My zeal must atone for deficiencies which I rely upon your indul- gence to excuse. I have come to praise him, and I think I can do so without undue adulation, in all sin- cerity, and without fear of contradiction. Death is always a solemn thing ; that of an old friend particularly, even when circumstances have extenuated the poignancy of bereavement. It is sad to look upon the composed form, the pallid and sunken features, the closed eyes, the compressed lips and folded hands of an old acquaintance, and think that the face 8 EULOOIUM UPON THE LIFE 01 shall no longer beam with intelligence, that the hand shall never again return our cordial clasp, that the lips which have greeted us so kindly, and whence we have so often derived lessons of profit and interest, are now silent forever, and that in the places which once knew him, and where we so much delighted to see him, he shall nevermore be known. The flowers with which it is now customary to strew the coffin, are emblems of man's transitory nature. Like him they bud, blossom, bloom and decay. It is in this spirit of subdued but solemn grief, and affectionate reverence, that we may be supposed to surround the bier of our late beloved associate, and offer our humble tribute to his worth. The President of the Academy,* in his model eulogy of the late illus- trious Mott, justly said that "the death of a repre- sentative man marks an era in the history of the science in which he acted a conspicuous part; and that it becomes those who have been associated with him, to commemorate his death by passing in review the important events of his life, and by bringing into relief the distinguished acts by which he identified his name with that of the profession which he adorned." I can think of no one after Rush, Miller. Bailey, Hosack, and Beck, to whom the title of a representative of American Practical Medicine more justly belongs, than to the late Dr. J. M. Smith ; and lam justified, therefore, I think, in asking of my fellow-associates in this Acad- emy, to accompany me in a succinct consideration of his claim to this distinction, and of the acts and labors whereby he attained to professional eminence, and so greatly advanced the interests of Medical Science. * Dr. Alfred C. Post. JOSEPH MATHER SMITH, M.D. 9 In reference to his pedigree, and the antecedents of his professional life, I shall be brief. He was born March 14, 1789, at New Rochelle, Westchester Co., State of New York. His father was a distinguished physician of that place, and his mother, a daughter of Dr. Samuel Mather, belonging to a New England family of distinction and prominence in medicine and divin- ity, some of whom were among the founders of Har- vard University. He may thus be said to have in- herited the taste for the study of the science which he so successfully cultivated. He was originally intended for mercantile pursuits ; but, happily, finding them uncongenial to him, re- nounced them, and entered on the study of medicine in the office of his father, in 1808. Licensed to prac- tice in May, 1811, by the Medical Society of West- chester county, of which Society his father was then President, he settled in this city as a practitioner, and was for several years associated with Dr. Wm. Baldwin. In 1815, he graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of this city; the subject of his inau- gural thesis being "Phlegmasia Dolens." He seems early to have exhibited his fondness for literature, for he soon associated himself with Mott, Dupuy, Bliss and others, in the formation of the New York Medical and Physical Society, and under his supervision the first volume of their Transactions was issued in 1817. To this volume he contributed two papers, one of which, on the " Efficacy of Emetics in Spasmodic Dis- eases," with an " Enquiry into the Final Cause of Sympathetic Yomiting," at the time attracted much 10 EULOG1UM UPON THE LIFE OF attention, and is still considered to be ingenious and original. This was the dawn of those mental powers which expanded into a full and refulgent day. The year 1824, (he was then thirty-five,) may be considered as the turn in the tide of his fortunes. In this year appeared his " Elements of the Etiology and Philosophy of Epidemics," a work so learned and logical, as to have attracted everywhere the most profound attention, and stamped its author as a man of no ordinary thought and ability: which was pro- nounced at the time to be " fifty years in advance of the Medical Literature on its subject:" which gave, of itself alone, a triumphant answer to Sidney Smith's sarcastic question, " Who reads an American book?" It is deeply to be regretted that one edition of it only has appeared, that it is now much less known than it deserves to be, and that its author did not, as I believe he hoped and intended, revise it and issue a new and improved edition. I do not know, however, that on the subject of which it treats, it has, even now, either parallel or compeer. The book is with filial reverence dedicated to his Father. In it he has attempted, he says, to arrange the causes of febrile and epidemic diseases in system- atic order, and to deduce from an examination of the nature of the modus operandi of these causes, the laws which govern their rise, prevalence and decline ; and also the manner in which they severally modify and supersede each other. In investigating the na- ture and causes of febrile diseases, the subject of con- tagion is considered of primary importance. Upon the subject of yellow fever, plague, dysentery, typhus JOSEPH MATEER SMITE, M.D. 11 and other fevers, Dr. Smith never was, and we believe never became a contagionist. Whatever may be thought of the correctness of his views, there can be no doubt of the talent with which they are defended. It is my purpose only to record and analyse, not to criticise them. He maintained them with consistence and ability throughout life. He considers that the conviction is generally arrived at, that yellow fever is never communicated by a specific contagion, but is uniformly produced by a miasmal poison, generated by materials entirely distinct from the human body. In like manner, reasoning from analogy, we are led to the belief, that plague and the bilious fevers of this country are never to be suspected of being communi- cated by contagion. Typhus, being believed to be propagated by means of vitiated human effluvia, the idea of specific contagion is equally rejected. "During the period," says Dr. Smith, " that fevers were generally believed to be personally communi- cable, the terms ' contagion1 and ' infection' were con- sidered as synonymous," and ambiguously or indiffer- ently employed : which is true even at the present time, as the writings of Copeland, Williams and others will testify. In 1796, Dr. R.Bailey, of New York, made the impor- tant etiological proposition, that contagion be restricted to morbid animal poisons, as those of small-pox, measles, &c, and that the term infection be limited to the pestiferous effluvia arising from the excretions of the sick, and other species of filth : thus making infec- tion a poison, and cause of disease. Dr. Smith does not believe that diseases which arise from noxious exha- 12 EULOGIUM UPON TEE LIFE OF . lations can be subsequently propagated by specific contagions, which idea, he says, violates an established rule of philosophizing. He denies to them any zymotic property, sui generis. He thinks that when many patients ill with yellow fever, or plague, are crowded into small and ill ventilated apartments, and cleanli- ness is neglected, the disease which results will be typhus. Persons in good health, when long confined in close apartments, will produce a miasm of the same qualities as that which frequently surrounds the bodies of those laboring under fever. There is, in fact, no material difference between them, and the idea of spe- cific contagion readily suggests itself as plausible. This idea of " ochletic miasm," as Gregory calls it, though denounced by some able men, has nevertheless many supporters at the present day. It is one which Dr. Smith, I believe, never abandoned, and constitutes one of the many questiones vexatce relative to the causes of fever, which deserves to be carefully studied, and if possible, determined. The three general causes of disease, each distinct and peculiar, are, 1st. Contagion ; 2d. Infection, and 3d. Meteoration, each of which 1 shall explain according to Dr. Smith. These three divisions constitute three natural orders, each reducible into genera and species. Contagion, according to Dr. Smith, is a poison gen- erated by morbid animal secretion, possessing the power of inducing a like morbid action in healthy bodies, whereby it is reproduced and indefinitely mul- tiplied ; and always originating in the living animal body. It is communicated exclusively by contact, and both by contact and the atmosphere. JOSEPE MATEER SMITE, MB. 13 It is in reference to Infection, however, that Dr. Smith, in the work before us, exhibits most strikingly his scholarship and his originality. This, according to him, is a febrific agent produced by the decomposi- tion of animal and vegetable substances, existing in the state of a gas, or miasm, in filthy houses, ships, jails. hospitals and cities, and also in marshes and fenny and low districts of country. He establishes several gen- eric divisions of Infection, under some one of which are to be found the various forms of febrile disease to which the morbid poison gives origin, adopting the terms employed to designate them by the late Dr. Ed. Miller, of this city, with such abbreviations as render them better adapted to general use. These are, 1st, Koino-Miasma, from the Greek "koinos," common, which comprehends the effluvia exhaled from the public filth of cities and the soil of marshes, &c, which, when aided by warmth and moisture, and diffused by the common atmosphere over a wide area, produce that general prevalence of disease which is called "Epidemic." In this genus are arranged the miasms which induce plague, yellow fever, remittent and in- termittent fever. 2d. Idio-Miasma, from " idios," personal, which is produced from the matter of perspiration and the other excretions of the human body, accumulated in small and unventilated places, and acted upon by heat. This is the source of genuine Typhus, jail, hos- pital and ship fevers, becoming innoxious when dif- fused in the atmosphere a few feet beyond the apart- ments where it is engendered; hence they are seldom epidemic. 14 EULOGIUM UPON TEE LIFE OF So far, the classification and nomenclature is that of Miller ; which, however, does not provide for that combination of the two miasmal poisons which pro- duce compound fevers. Dr. Smith, therefore, makes a 3d genus, the Idio-Koino-Miasma, in which the human or idio-miasm, combines with the exhalations of Koino- Miasma ; a very striking instance of the result of which is the memorable Banker Street fever of 1820, which by some observers was denominated unequivo- cally yellow fever ; by others, with equal confidence, typhus, and which the Bulam fever of the African coast probably resembles. It was, however, Dr. Smith thinks, neither genuine typhus, nor bilious re- mittent, nor yellow fever, but a distinct and compound fever. This compound miasm is frequently engendered on board of ships, of which Pringle furnishes us striking illustrations, and was the probable cause of the plague of Athens, recorded by Thucyclides. Dys- entery, which has not yet been alluded to as a pro- duct of Infection, is to be looked upon as a disease vicarious of several forms of fever ; in cities and rural districts, arising from Koino-Miasma ; in hospitals, camps and ill-ventilated chambers of the sick, from Idio-Miasma, or more commonly from Idio-Koino- Miasma, the epidemic predisposition to the disease appearing to depend upon the secret influences of the general atmosphere. Still further to distinguish the different properties of the infectious poisons, Dr. Smith divides them into two species, prefixing to one the Greek ordinal numeral protos, to denote the mild, and to the other, the intensive participle per, to denote the malignant The species of JOSEPE MATEER SMITE, M.D. 15 the genus Koino-Miasma are, lst.Proto-Koino-Miasma ; 2d. Per-Koino-Miasma. The first consists of those exhalations of the soil vaguely denominated Marsh- miasmata, &c, which produce intermittent and remit- tent fevers, and much valuable information is afforded as to the causes and manner of their engenderment, and the effects of the poison upon the human s}~stem. Per- Koino-Miasma, embracing the. poisons of yellow fever and plague, is the more virulent and pestilential, and oftenest epidemic. It is exhaled from masses of public filth, and soils containing putrescent matter, under high ranges of temperature and certain epidemic in- fluences of the general atmosphere. The non-conta- giousness of yellow fever is asserted, and ably argued, and much valuable information relating to that inter- esting disease, and its prevalence amongst ourselves in 1819 and 1822, is afforded. It is both imported and of local origin. The lucid, logical and philosophi- cal ratiocination, by which Dr. Smith's conclusions are arrived at, is, of course, too long to be reproduced here, and must be studied to be duly appreciated. . Protidio Miasma is the ordinary source of genuine Typhus fever, a disease of frequent occurrence in the cities of the United States, although comparatively rare in the interior. The typhoid state of remittent fever, and the typhoid appearances sometimes ob- served in atmospheric and contagious diseases, has, in part, a similar origin. Typhus, thus originating, is comparatively mild, answering to Cullen's T}Tphus Mitior. The Peridio miasm arises from similar causes of aggravated character, and attains the utmost malig- nity. It is the parent of Jail and Ship fevers, of the 16 EULOGIUM UPON TEE LIFE OF former of which the Black Assizes at Oxford, in 1571, and the Old Bailey in London, in 1750, are memorable instances. It is the typhus gravior; now, happily, under a better state of sanitary science and supervi- sion, of rare occurrence. The 3d, or Compound genus, Idio-Koino-Miasma, has equally its species, per and protidio-koino- miasma; sources of mixed fevers, as that of Banker Street, the " poor's" plague in London in 1665, which, in the course of a few months, destroyed 68,000 per- sons, and of the plague at Athens. An accurate differential diagnosis in these cases of mixed infec- tious origin, is, to say the least, extremely difficult ; while, to determine the physical and essential differ- ences between the various kinds of miasmata and other combinations, is, in the present state of science, impossible. Under the 3d order, " Meteoration," Dr. S. arranges all the atmospheric sources of disease, not depending upon the presence of infectious and contagious efflu- via. The term seems to be of his own creation, and avoids, he says, a circumlocution, and ensures ac- curacy of discrimination and great facility in gene- ral research. Those qualities of the atmosphere which are manifest to the senses, are denominated sensible; those which are insensible, and principally operative in the production of epidemics, are dis- tinguished by the term "Epidemic Meteoration." The peculiarities of these genera are exhibited in a full account of their nature and effects, abounding in research, and exhibiting great powers of reasoning and observation, into which my limits do not permit JOSEPE MATEER SMITE, M. D. 17 me to enter, and for which I must refer my hearers to the original work. I may, however, observe, that among the epidemic diseases depending upon insen- sible meteoration, according to our author, Influenza, Pneumonia Typhodes, Asiatic Cholera, the noted English Sweating Sickness of 1483, Angina, etc., are to be included. The Philosophy of Epidemics, which is the second part of the work before us, and which even more strongly displays the great ability of its author, is divided into sections ; which, 1st, treat of the manner in which epidemics modify and supersede each other ; 2d, of the origin of the Pyrexial contagions, in which is broached the idea, now somewhat gaining ground, that certain diseases, as small-pox, which are gene- rally believed to arise only by morbid animal poison of specific character, may have, in certain states of the atmosphere, a spontaneous origin: curious and interesting questions in the etiology of disease, yet to be decided ; and, 3d, of the different varieties of epi- demic meteoration, and of their laws and modus ope- randi • a section exhibiting all the more important facts relating to this extensive and interesting subject. Section 5th discusses the inquiry " Whether Epi- demics occur in a determinate order?" Section 6th, that of " how far Epidemics are connected with extra- ordinary seasons, famine, unwholesome food and epizo- oties." This brief and imperfect attempt at analyzing the " Elements of the Etiology and Philosophy of Epidem- ics," will suffice to show the hearer how great and com- prehensive a work was here undertaken ; but nothing 9. 18 EUL0G1UM UPON TEE LIFE OF but a careful perusal of the volume itself will suffice to convince him of the extreme scientific accuracy, the plenitude of patient research and learning, and the logical acumen and philosophical spirit it displays. It is one which can never be overlooked by any one who devotes his time to the study and advancement of this very interesting and important branch of me- dical inquiry. And when we consider the age at which it was undertaken and accomplished, the ground which it covers, the fact that so little aid was to be obtained from the labors of preceding inquirers in the same field, and the mental characteristics which it displays, we must, I think, admit that it is a produc- tion alike creditable to its author and the country which produced him ; a work which few would have undertaken, few could equal, and fewer still surpass ; a glory of American medical literature, and a presage, never falsified, of that high eminence in its advance- ment and cultivation which its able author, by every succeeding production of his pen, as we shall proceed to show, was destined to attain. Nor can we wonder that, among European critics, it received the most lavish encomiums, and was the foundation of his future successful progress. In 1826, Dr. Smith was appointed, without any soli- citation of his own, to the chair of Theory and Prac- tice of Physic in the u College of Physicians and Sur- geons" in the city of New York, in the room of its former occupant, the illustrious David Hosack ; who, with his colleagues, Mott and Francis, as a consequence of a long series of dissensions, resigned their Profes- sorships, and organized a new nodical school. It JOSEPE MATEER SMITE, M. H. was, undoubtedly, owing to the great ability and scholarship displayed by Dr. S., in the work already quoted, and other writings, that this great honor was obtained at so early a period of his professional life. He, at first, declined to accept it, from a conscien- tious sense of inability to fit himself for his duties in proper time. But it was pressed upon him so earn- estly that he could no longer refuse it. The prognos- tications of his friends were found not to be fallacious. He performed the duties of his position with zeal, fidelity and acceptability, until the year 1855. Dur- ing this period he delivered four introductory dis- courses, which were published : viz., in the years, 1831, 1839, 1846 and 1848, to which, as vehicles of his opinions, I shall make a brief allusion. The first of these related to the Epidemic Cholera Morbus of Europe and Asia, then extremely prevalent on those continents, and respecting which great anx- iety was felt lest it should invade our own shores ; as in the succeeding year it did. After a succinct description of its rise, nature and progress in Asia and Europe, he places it among Epidemics of the third category, the meteoratious, believing it to depend upon certain influences of the atmosphere, the precise nature of which has hitherto eluded inquiry, and can be known only by its effects. As a natural consequence of this connection, he pronounces all measures of quarantine and expurgation to be impotent and nugatory. Time, and a personal observation of the disease, which, at this time he had never seen, somewhat modified his views upon this important and interesting question. (See Med. Topog. and Epidemics of New York.) 20 EULOG1UM UPON TEE LIFE OF The second Introductory to which I shall now allude, is that delivered in 1846, on the " Public Duties of Medical Men," in which he plainly exhibits, in language of singular beauty, and with great truth and force of argument, (he high responsibilities the physician assumes on entering on the practice of his profession ; but those only of a public kind. The preliminary requisites for correctly discharging these, with credit to one's self and advantage to the commu- nity, are a knowledge of the principles of H}Tgiene, a close and careful study of the origin, nature, pecu- liarities and treatment of epidemic pestilential dis- eases, the effects of which upon the moral feelings of the people are interestingly illustrated by a reference to Thucydides7 account of the pestilence of Athens, and Hodges' account of the plague of London ; a warm and steady support of the great temperance reform ; a knowledge of military hygiene and medi- cal topography, in reference to the lives and health of soldiers in peace and war ; a competent knowl- edge of medical jurisprudence ; high proficiency in any art or science which it is professed to teach, united to a deep sense of the responsibilities of the office, and an exemplary moral deportment; a dis- inclination to theory, and a love of inductive truth ; a readiness to renounce opinions when convinced of their falsity ; a careful study of the interesting sub- ject of insanity, as connected with asylums ; a zealous promotion of the arts, sciences and literature, condu- cive alike to the advantage of humanity and the glory of the country: these are some of the topics elo- quently pressed upon the attention of the medical JOSEPE MATEER SMITE, M. D. 21 hearer, young or old, as necessary qualifications for the proper discharge of his professional duties, in the able discourse before us. There is one passage which I must beg to be per- mitted to transcribe : "To those who have enriched their minds with the treasures of classical Medical Literature, and made observation and experience the basis of their reasoning and practice in Medicine, the infinitesimal therapeutical appliances of the Homoeo- paths, and the fictions of the Mesmerists, betray an utter disregard of sound experimental truth, and a blind or willful devotion to visionary hypotheses." No published discourse of our departed associate more strikingly displays the philosophical character, the power of observation, the aptness of illustration which distinguish all his writings, than that upon the " Influence of Diseases on the Intellectual and Moral Powers." (1848.) The following is a brief summary of its subjects : The mind, essentially immaterial and self-existent, is, nevertheless, manifested and influenced by the in- strumentality of the brain. Its powers are of two classes—the intellectual and the moral: by the first, we perceive, attend, remember and reason. The second are the sources of our mental sensibilities and sympathies—of our desires, aversions, hopes, fears, joys and sorrows ; of the active movements of the will and the conscience ; of our mental happiness and misery. They are inseparably united. Reason, mis- led by false premises and erroneous interpretations of phenomena, cannot always be relied upon with confidence. Conscience intuitively distinguishes right 22 EULOGIUM UPON TEE LIFE OF from wrong, and immediately announces it. When enlightened and rightly exercised, its decisions are infallible, and from them there is no appeal. Hence the superiority of man over the brute. Reason infers the existence of an almighty, wise aud beneficent Creator. From the stirrings of conscience are evolved the sentiments of religion and moral responsibility. The brute knows nothing of death. The reason of man soon teaches him that his body must sooner or later decay and dissolve. The knowledge of this fact, apart from the moral powers, occasions neither pain nor uneasiness. It is they which, when the intellect is impressed with the idea, excite, in various de- grees, the fearful emotions peculiar to the anticipa- tion of the advent, or near approach of the " King of Terrors." It is in sickness and in incidents of peril, that death demands attention and claims the tribute of our fears, and not always even then. The mind, in acute diseases, is often blunted, prostrate, or deranged. In sickness, there are often anxiety, despondency and irascibility ; or, on the other hand, affection and kindliness are displayed. Regrets are formed, con- trition is felt, and often resolves made of reform which are, after recovery, but too often unheeded. In some cases the conscience is pure and tranquil, and the mind serene in the contemplation of the future. In some it is obtuse ; there is indifference, or resigna- tion ; in some, doubt and despair. Hope, which sus- tains the mind under the anxieties of life, often aids in resisting the fatal assaults of disease. Under some circumstances, again, there is a fervent desire of death, and recovery is a disappointment — an unwelcome JOSEPE MATEER SMITE, M.D. 23 respite. The sanative power of Hope, in curable illness, is most salutary, and should be cherished and supported. Faith in the curative efficacy of certain agents in the treatment of disease, requiring the possession of a peculiar mental temperament, a credulous imagination or superstitious cast of mind, produces in some instan- ces astonishing results. Hence the general belief in the vaunted nostrums of charlatans and certain popular remedies. It matters little what may be the agent employed, faith is the all-essential; the wooden tract- ors of Haygarth effected cures equally with the metallic tractors of Perkins. To the beneficial agencies of the diet and regimen, aided by faith, are to be ascribed the advantages which sometimes seem to follow the use of homoeopathic remedies. Nor is this faith iii charlatanry less observable in the higher and more cultivated classes, than among the low and illiterate. The secondary, or functional diseases of the brain are generally mild ; but they may assume an acute and idio-pathic form. Insanity is of two kinds, moral and intellectual. Slighter degrees of the former are so common that it may be safely said that no one is sane at all times. But when it shows itself in reckless ex- travagance of expenditure and speculation, in boister- ous hilarity, in pride, or melancholy; in dislike and hostility to dear and true friends ; in a propensity to suicide or murder, it becomes truly a subject of medical jurisprudence. It not unfrequently precedes intellec- tual insanity. This is of three kinds: mania, characterized by great mental incoherence, or furious raving ; monoma- nia, characterized by a fixed hallucination on a single 24 EULOGIUM UPON TEE LIFE OF subject, sometimes agreeable, sometimes distressing— a dread, for instance, of having committed some great crime, almost always imaginary—often leading to mur- der, pyromania, or suicide. Dementia is the decay of a mind which had once been healthy and well devel- oped ; idiocy, on the contrary, a congenital incapacity, owing to defective organization. The terms are far from synonymous. Another fearful form of transitory insanity is that which arises from the abuse and effects of alcoholic stimulants—delirium tremens. Who that has seen the trembling wreck of humanity, wretched victim of this degrading vice, bound upon his bed in ceaseless rav- ing, or fleeing about the room in constant fear of some imaginary enemy or danger ; anon, breaking out in peals of senseless laughter, and again, shrinking with dread, sweating, panting, haggard, affrighted, and struggling in the possession of superhuman strength and energy, at length dying, exhausted by the violence of his own efforts, but will say with our author that " the Furies in tormenting Orestes could inflict no se- verer sufferings." In diseases of the chest, the mind may, perhaps, be confused and anxious, but the end is inaction, or hebe- tude. In dropsical effusions, great anxiety is felt, and the desire for death and dread of its sudden occurrence are often simultaneously co-existent. In phthisis, there often exists the well known delusive hope of recovery. The disease, while it exalts the imagination, conceals the final issue, and even when despondency is the pre- vailing feature, gleams of hope occasionally shoot through the darkness, and irradiate the pathway to JOSEPE MATEER SMITE, M.D. 25 the tomb. In peritonitis and disorders of the abdo- men, the mind at the very last is often unimpaired and unclouded. In chronic cases there is despondency and hypochondria ; in uterine disease, hysteria, in its curi- ous and protean forms. In typhoid fever, we have restlessness, jactitation and muttering delirium, ending in coma. In yellow fever, the patient, pulseless at the wrist, walks, writes, converses, and dies suddenly at the very moment when his happy friends are sanguine in their hope of his recovery. Such is a brief syllabus of a discourse which contains the materials for a volume of deepest interest upon the subject of the mental phenomena of disease and their modifications. I omitted to say, in its proper place, that in 1833, Dr. S. delivered an Introductory on the Comparative Yiew of the State of Medicine in the years 1733 and 1833, which presents a graphic and interesting view of medical men and matters, science, theories, schools, eminent professors, hospitals, etc., at the first of these periods and at the latter, replete with research and amusement. The improvement in the state of things at the close of the succeeding century is most gratifying and encouraging. It is owing to the in- creased diffusion of medical knowledge, fame and ex- cellence ; a substitution of practical study for theoreti- cal speculation, and a more careful analysis of the productions of the three great kingdoms of nature. But I can afford it no longer notice. Times presses and I must proceed. In May, 1847, Dr. Smith, as chairman, prepared the report of the Committee of Practical Medicine for the American Medical Association at Philadelphia. It 26 EULOGIUM UPON TEE LIFE OF embraced, 1st, the most important improvements ef- fected in this country in the management of individual diseases ; and 2d, the progress of epidemics. This latter portion, which constitutes the bulk of the work, is ex- ecuted with the zeal with which his fondness for the subject inspired him. It treats chiefly of yellow fever and typhus ; and on this latter disease, it constitutes in itself a monograph which no student of the subject could safely neglect to consult. It prevailed as an epi- demic four times during thirty-five }rears, from 1818 to 1847, chiefly among Irish emigrants, of whom large numbers arrived. In this report, typhus is considered rather as infectious than contagious, and as capable of being generated de novo. Seventeen pages of the re- port are occupied with an elaborate discussion on the subject of the identity of typhus and typhoid fever ; and after a full and candid investigation, Dr. S. arrives at the conclusion, which is now, however, doubted, that, "in view of the facts which have been stated, it seems to the Committee that no reasonable doubt can remain that typhus and typhoid fever are identical." I re- commend the paper to the careful consideration of all who desire to arrive at a satisfactory opinion as to this disputed subject. In the 3d vol. of the Transactions of the Am. Med. Association (1850), Dr. S., as Chairman of the Com- mittee of Public Hygiene, submitted, as the theme of his contribution, the "Sources of Typhus Fever and the Means Suited to their Extinction." The following is a synopsis of his views on this important and inter- esting subject: JOSEPE MATEER SMITE, M. D. 21 The human body, in health, is continually under- going composition and decomposition, and the effete materials are ejected as noxious and dead matter. Being subject to the influence of chemical laws, they form various new compounds, among which, there is reason to believe, is idio-miasma—typhus poison. The quantity of these effete matters is large. Those from the lungs and skin are continually escaping; the more viscid parts adhering to the skin and clothing, the more volatile diffusing themselves in the atmosphere, or becoming attached to surrounding objects. When long retained in a confined place, they become highly noxious to those who are exposed to them. The ani- mal matter contained in them is the most directly con- cerned in generating idio-miasma. The excretions of a single individual may suffice for this purpose ; but it is chiefly when the effete matters of the body are ac- cumulated and retained in private dwellings, that fever is generated. All these statements, let me say in passing, are sup- ported by analysis, computation and statistical enquiry, novel in method and of very interesting and practical character. The history of prisons abounds in exam- ples of the origin of typhus, from human filth accumu- lated within them ; less commonly now than formerly. The same is true of ships sailing on long voyages ; crowded, ill-ventilated and filthy ; the passengers ex- hausted with privation and sea-sickness, and deprived of due exercise and ablution. It is not, thinks Dr. S., conceivable, in a true spirit of philosophy, that under such circumstances it should be necessary to resort to the hypothesis of a specific contagion. Soldiers living 28 EULOGIUM UPON TEE LIFE OF in barracks, or close tents, become excessively filthy, and rapidly generate typhus. The quantity of waste matter eliminated from the bodies of a given number of people living in a crowded city, and other h}Tgienic data referring to ventilation, are elaborately and curi- ously calculated. Typhus is, no doubt, communicable, but the trans- mitted principle has no analogy with the specific pois- on of small-pox. It cannot, then, be properly called contagious. It is, strictly, the effect of a chemical aerial poison, originating from human excrement, and correctly denominated idio-miasma. Nothing short of ventilation the most efficient, and of cleanliness the most thorough, can prevent the occurrence of the dis- ease under circumstances of encombrement, or even in the apartment of a solitary patient. The hygienic re- quirements in reference to such prophylaxis are laid down with fullness, upon a chemical, physiological and statistic basis, and deserve careful study. I look upon the paper read by Dr. S. before the N. Y. Academj^ of Medicine, in 1857, upon " Puerperal Fever, its causes and modes of propagation," as one of the ablest of his contributions to medical science, and at home and abroad it has been received with unlimited favor. It exhibits a new phase of Dr. Smith's views on the etiology of malignant "febrile diseases," which are given with peculiar force and fullness, as if from the ripeness of his thought and experience, and he touches on the curious and interesting question of their convertibility. The poison he believes to be idio- miasma, originating de novo, under circumstances of crowding and ill-ventilation, with puerperal patients, JO SEPE MATEER SMITE, M.D. 29 promiscuously with typhus, the affections being, not es- sentially different, but congeneric and cognate. One source is thought to be the decomposition of retained coagula, membranes and discharges. That the poison can be conveyed to a patient from a foreign source is undoubted, but it is then not al- ways derived from a case of puerperal fever, but from typhus fever, or erysipelas, or other sources. Idio- miasma adheres to clothing and other articles, con- stituting fomites. It is in this way transportable. Physicians attending such cases, thus often convey it, and lamentable consequences are upon record. Their hands, however well washed, and even their very breaths, are thus communicative. The Miasm of Typhus fever produces puerperal fever ; of this abundant instances are given. I am dealing only with the leading facts, and have no space for details. For them I refer to the original paper. The poison sometimes produces the one, sometimes the other form of disease, for they are not similar in form, and the latter is by far the more frequent. But the pathognomonic lesions, and even the signs and symptoms of typhus, are sometimes seen in cases of puerperal fever. The Miasm of Puerperal fever pro- duces Typhus ; and so does that of Erysipelas, which, of the two, is the most dangerous, particularly when gangrenous. Ten cases were so engendered in the practice of a single physician. The Miasm of Puerperal fever produces Erysipelas. The emanations of bodies examined after death, produce puerperal fever, etc. In the great Yienna Hospital, this was remarkably the case until certain precautions were adopted. The 30 EULOGIUM UPON THE LIFE OF mere act of assisting at an autopsy is dangerous. Puer- peral fever and Erysipelas generally prevail as con- comitant epidemics, under the same meteoratious influence. Guided by these views, Dr. Smith naturally arrives at the conclusion, that although diverse in form, the three diseases are one and the same. They even con- cur in the same individual. The diseases are essen- tial, not symptomatic ; the local lesions being some- times absent, and in all, only complications. So highly susceptible arc puerperal women to the influences of idio-miasma and epidemic meteoration, when preva- lent, that the smallest quantity of the poison, even in a diluted state, suffices to affect them, and the poison is most deadly. Hospitals, for weeks after purification, are susceptible of communicating it, and it often happens that after removal into uninfected apartments, patients carr}^ with them in their sj'stems, poison, which re- maining latent until after delivery, is then rapidly de- veloped. With the following quotation I bring this analysis to a close: "If indeed there be any moral obligation resting on a medical man to his patients, paramount to every other, it is that of refraining from attending a patient in labor, if there be the slightest chance of his conveying to her the germ of a mortal disease." The last work of Dr. Smith which I shall notice, " The Medical Topography and Epidemics of the State of New York," as a report to the American Medical Association, June, 1860, is in some respects perhaps his greatest. When I consider the age at which it was undertaken, the labor of compilation and JOSEPH MATHER SMITH, M. D. 31 tabulation which it required, I can scarcely imagine that the leisure of so busy a man should have sufficed for its completion. It displays an amount of knowl- edge on the subject of geology, which with Dr. S. had always been a favorite study, and with which he was extremely familiar; of mineralogy, botany, and me- teorology ; of patient research and reading, truly astonishing. Here let me digress to say that Dr. Smith's memory was highly retentive. He kept a common-place book, in which he noted facts, etc., which struck him in his reading, and which furnished many of the anecdotes, etc., which are so freely inter- spersed in his discourses. He was a walking encyclo- pedia in all matters relating to medicine and its col- lateral branches, and could remember, not only the location of particular articles, which their very authors had forgotten, but the very foot-note in which, or part of the page on which, a particular passage occurred*. His knowledge of anatomy was minute, and his proficiency in chemistry such, that on either of these branches he was able to subject his students and pu- pils to an examination as thorough, as could most of the professors who occupy those chairs in our schools. How insufficiently did we estimate the unassuming scholar who passed so quietly through our midst, and seated himself so modestly on our benches ; and what an irreparable loss has science sustained in his de- mise ! How often too does it happen that the real value of truly great men is little appreciated during their lives : and it is a merit of these eulogistic autop- sies that they reveal and honour it. In the work in question, the prevailing diseases and 32 EULOGIUM UPON THE LIFE OF epidemics of the State, receive a careful notice. The cause of yellow-fever is admitted to be transportable. though its contagion is denied ; quarantine is deemed necessary to prevent its introduction. Epidemic cholera is pronounced to depend chiefly on a peculiar epidemic meteoration, and partly on a contagious principle ; fresh evidence is furnished of the spon- taneous, de novo origin of small-pox ; and erysipelas and cer. sp. meningitis are interestingly alluded to. In this work Dr. S. gave especial attention to his fa- vorite science Meteorology; and invented and pro- posed several novel terms. Such countries or locali- ties as have the same average annual quantity of rain, he denominates isohyetal, those having an excessive quantity, hyperhyetal, and those having a moderate or small quantity, hypohyetal. These terms have met with the approbation of his most distinguished contempora- ries in the science, and are now generally adopted. This meagre retrospect of our esteemed associate's extensive labors and leading inferences and opinions, will suffice to exhibit his deep devotion, indefatigable industry, great learning and research, and elegant scholarship, and will tend, I hope, to make him better known and appreciated. They embrace a wide part of the domain of medical science, and furnish material for much important thought on a multitude of topics. Few men in any country can show such a record : at once a valuable boon to the science, and a glory to the history of American Medical Literature. There are yet many minor contributions of his pen—reviews, papers, etc., which I have not time even to enumerate. The most important event in the life of our deceased JOSEPH MATHER SMITH, M.I). 33 friend was undoubtedly, as I have said, his appointment, in 1826, to the Chair of Theory and Practice of Medi- cine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in this city, vacant by the resignation of the late Dr. David Hosack. That he should have been selected, at the early age of thirty-seven, to succeed that distinguished physician and eloquent teacher, without solicitation on his own part, can only be attributed to the ver}r high opinion entertained by the Regents of the University, of his worth and ability. In 1853-4, he combined with those of his own chair the duties of that of the Materia Medica, during the long and fatal illness of his illustrious colleague, Dr. Beck. In 1855, he was established in this Chair, and con- tinued in it until his decease. His connection with the College thus lasted for almost forty years, and satisfied the most sanguine expectations of those by whom he had been appointed. Punctual to the mo- ment, he was, to use a quotation which he had found in Lockhart's Life of Scott, in one of Scott's letters to Moore, and which he had inscribed on the inside of the cover of his portfolio, " Slave to an hour, and vas- sal to a bell." He delivered to his pupils, with pleas- ing emphasis, a course of lectures kept fully up to the level of the science, and containing all the elements of thorough instruction : which, for fullness and practical utility, could not be surpassed. This, and not display, was the object of his ambition. He will ever be con- sidered as one of the brightest ornaments and most devoted friends of the College. His colleagues, and thousands of pupils, "will revere his memory and de- 3 34 EULOGIUM UPON THE LIFE OE plore his loss ; while the seeds which he sowed have germinated in every clime, and produced a rich har- vest of fruit, to the benefit of suffering humanity and the advancement and dignity of medical science. In 1829, he was appointed by the Common Council of the city of New York, Consulting Surgeon to the Bellevue Hospital. This honor, however, he declined, having no taste for Surgery. In the same year, he was appointed attending phy- sician to the New York Hospital, and continued in his post to the last: discharging, until disabled by sheer physical exhaustion, only a very short time before his death, with characteristic and conscientious fidelity, the duties of his office. Kind to the patients, careful in diagnosis, skillful in treatment, courteous to all about him, and imparting freely to the surrounding students the rich stores of his learning and experience, never had any similar institution a more devoted servant* During the epidemic of cholera in 1849, Dr. Smith served as one of the Medical Council to the Sanitary Committee of the Board of Health. His associates were Dr. Samuel W. Moore, a most modest, upright, and gentlemanly 'man, of great practical experience and sagacity, and Dr. J. B. Beck, whose classical at- tainments, literary labors, great learning, clearness of perception and surprising energy of character, have conferred immortality upon his name. No fitter asso- ciation could have been made for practical purposes. That their work was well and wisely done, cannot * In 1853, a portrait of him, beautifully painted by Baker, was presented by a number of his private pupils, to the New York Hospital, and is suspended in the Governor's Room. JOSEPH MA THER SMITH, M. D. 35 be doubted. They established hospitals ; commenced and accomplished such a purification of the city as it had probably never had before ; gave suitable public advice ; refused the sanction of their names to homoe- opathy, or any other irregular mode of practice ; ap- pointed physicians to attend at the Police Station Houses, to prescribe and supply medicine and advice ; assigned physicians to districts of the city, for sani- tary inspection, and domiciliary visitation, and at- tendance on the sick ; removed and suppressed nuis- ances ; and urged the establishment of a thoroughly organized medical police, at whose head should be an active and experienced medical man ; now, through the zealous agency of the Citizens' Association, happily effected. That the epidemic of 1849 was less ex- tensive and fatal than the preceding ones, is certainly due, under the good Providence of God, to their able and energetic proceedings. In 1864, he was appointed President of the Council of Hygiene of the Citizens' Association of New York ; a fitting and complimentary recognition of his great knowledge of, and devotion to the subject. He per- formed his duties with his accustomed zeal and fidelity. and gave heartily to the cause, the inestimable benefits of his great learning and experience. In 1854, he filled, with his accustomed urbanity and punctuality, the chair of President of the New York Academy of Medicine, of which, as well as the Am- erican Medical Association, he was one of the early promoters. In 1850, he delivered the fourth anni- versary oration before the Academy, choosing for his theme the somewhat novel, though still appropriate 36 EULOGIUM UPOi\ THE LIFE OF subject, for a mixed audience, of " The Peculiar Mental Phenomena of the Soldier in Active Service." It is a charming production, in his usual classical style, and filled with a quick succession of historical, military and personal anecdote, which none but reading such as his could have supplied. The same remarks apply to the address delivered on the occasion of the Inauguration of the new South building of the New York Hospital, in April, 1855. The sketch of the history of this now venerable Insti- tution ; the practical suggestions as to its warming, ventilation and cleanliness ; the graceful compliment paid to the skill, learning and services of its attending officers, surgical and medical, deceased or contempo- rary, and to its venerable and philanthropic Govern- ors, past and present, crowning their days with acts of charity and benevolence not to be forgotten, are perfect of their kind. In May, 1831, he married Miss Henrietta M. Beare, daughter of Capt. Henry M. Beare, British Navy, who, with three sons and two daughters, survives him. Having thus exhibited to you, Fellow-members, our late lamented associate in his literary capacity ; as a teacher, as a hospital physician, and in connection with the great subject of sanitary reform, it remains for me briefly to allude to him as a physician, a man and a Christian, in all of which relations his record is unimpeachable. Rarely has it been permitted to any individual to possess a character so irreproachable. As a physician, Dr. Smith was patient in the ex- amination of every organ and symptom ; and as his knowledge and experience of disease was great, so JOSEPH MATHER SMITH, 31. D. 37 his diagnosis was accurate, and his resources abun- dant. To the patient, he was kind, conciliatory and encouraging. In his relation to the medical attendant he was courteous : listening with patience to the his- tory of the case ; gently hesitating dissent, and deli- cately suggesting changes in, or modes of treatment; seeming less to teach than to be taught Towards his professional brethren he was the soul of medical punctilio ; punctual to the moment, and sedulously protecting the interests of the attending physician. I have never heard Dr. Smith accused of even the slightest violation of strict medical ethics or propriety, and I am convinced that he would have shrunk from any such with disdain. It is not then to be wondered at that he was much called in consultation with his brethren. This, indeed, since he entered upou the duties of his professorship, has been his chief business. Private practice he abandoned, except in the cases of a few of his older and more intimate friends. Midwifery he declined in toto, (although in earlier life he had practised it much and successfully.) because of its demands upon his time of an evening. His private pupils, of whom he educated about 200, (devoting to their thorough examination, three evenings in each week.) sought for no other assistance ; and in few cases of illness among his cotemporaries, or in their families, or of public interest, was he not consulted. Envious of none, he cheerfully accorded to all, in conversation and in his published writings, their due share of merit, and candidly acknowledged the sources of his information. He indulged in neither sarcasm nor 38 EULOGIUM UPON THE LIFE OF satire ; hated scandal and instantly repressed it; and was reticent and apologetic of the faults and follies of others, as far as his sense of honor could permit, to a remarkable degree. Thus, as he made no enemies, he had no detractors ; and of him it might be said, as his late distinguished colleague, Dr. Gilman, said of Dr. Beck, "The rule was absolute, that those who knew him best, loved him best." He was a gentleman of the old school. His habits and ideas had taken a bias and impression in early life, from his association with the descendants of the old Huguenot families in Westchester county. Grave, without formality ; dignified, yet not haughty ; affable and unassuming; willing to assist all; dispensing freely, and without parade, to all who asked, the rich stores of his varied erudition, he was an agreeable and in- structive companion, a kind and generous friend. You all remember how eagerly we welcomed his presence in this Academy, and how ably he partici- pated in its discussions. He was a quiet, pleasant, not a rapid, speaker, earnest without assumption of eloquence and fluent without redundance or repetition. His oral discourses partook of the logical character of his mind, and might have been printed as they fell from his lips. His synopses from memory of some of his reports, not read before the American Medical Asso- ciation and other societies, are spoken of as wonderfully accurate and able. Seriousness of thought and system of action were his great characteristics ; non-commit- talism his only fault, if such, in one so learned and candid, it were. The style of his written discourses is classical and JOSEPH MA THER SMITH, M. D. 39 elegant, exhibiting, without labored attempts at fine writing, depth and beauty of thought and expression, wealth of erudition, abundance and felicity of illustra- tion and accuracy of logic and syntax. That amid the multitudinous duties of his busy life, he was able to accomplish so much, is owing to the steadiness with which he persevered in his task. He went but little into festive society, and wasted no time in idle amusement. His working hours were from 8 p. m. to 12, often to 1 a. m. Neither the conversa- tion going on in the adjoining parlors, nor the frequent interruptions to which he was subjected, broke the concatenation of his thoughts, nor suspended the pro- gress of his labor. He took it up continuously, whence he had laid it down. He was wholly abstinent during his entire life, ex- cept on very rare occasions, from alcoholic drinks, wine or ale, and for many years abandoned the use of tobacco. He was remarkably abstemious in his diet. Regular and methodical in all his habits ; of singularly placid temper ; never irritable, nor morose amid the many minor annoyances of life, or, at least, having sufficient self-control to repress and conceal any mani- festations of ill-humor or dissatisfaction ; always hope- ful, and looking on the bright side of every difficulty, our departed friend attained, without evident bodily or mental impairment, to an age almost patriarchal, seem- ing, as was said of Fontenelle, " to gain rather than lose anything by the weight of years." He was of medium size and stature, erect and dig- nified. His face was thoughtful, his mouth and lips compressed, indicating firmness and decision. In 40 EULOGIUM UPON THE LIFE OF this feature, and generally, he much resembled the late Henry Clay, for whom he was often mistaken. His smile was peculiarly pleasing. Black was his only wear. His dress was neat without ornamentation. His gait was measured and elastic. Not generally jocose, although readily amused by pleasantry in others, he was nevertheless possessed of considerable humor. He related anecdotes, com- posed prose and poetical enigmas, and among his family and familiar friends was facetious and genial. It was said by one, who knew and loved him well, that "Nature had begun by making him a wit, but had ended in making him a philosopher." In morals he was exemplary. His mind was chaste. No profanity or idle speaking defiled his lips. He was scrupulously truthful, benevolent and just in all his dealings. At his death he was found to have car- ried out the maxim of St. Paul. He owed no man anything. In politics he took no prominent part, but was intensely loyal and patriotic, and never, in its least auspicious moment, did he despair of the Re- public. He exemplified in the daily practice of his life, the doctrines of the Gospel in which he believed. He was regular in his attendance upon public worship, and conscientious in his observance of the Sabbath. The sorrow and respect of his surviving partner, and the love and devotion of his children and household, bear sufficient testimony to his worth as a husband and father. Dr. Smith's character as a Christian will be best exhibited to you in the following extracts from the funeral discourse over his remains, delivered by his JOSEPH MA THER SMITH, M. D. 41 pastor, the Rev. Dr. W. Adams, in his church on Madison Square, April 24th, 1866, in the presence of a large concourse of sorrowing friends and brethren. "There lies a man who has left no enemy; who never had an enemy, because he was himself the friend of all. His was as kind and true a heart as ever throb- bed in a human bosom. "But he has gone to the grave in the ripeness of his years. The life of our venerable friend was rounded and finished to the last degree of complete- ness. He has sustained important relations to society, and having served his generation, by the will of God has fallen asleep. The head of a family, in which he was regarded with unalloyed reverence and love—the centre of a large circle of friends, who looked up to him with the respect and affection which are due to a father, it is a still higher eulogy that as a citizen, a philanthropist, a physician, a teacher, his death must be regarded as a public bereavement. "Dr. Smith was the son of a physician. 'Atavis edite regihus? Hor. Descended from an ancestry eminent in the medical profession, he cherished for that profession himself an attachment bordering on enthusiasm. Those addicted to the same pursuits are more competent than myself to pronounce upon his professional qualities, and analyze the method of study and practice to which he was indebted for his high and extended reputation. " With no pretension to any right of criticism upon his professional abilities, the morale of his professional life was seen and known of the whole community. 42 EULOGIUM UPON THE LIFE OF To none was it more patent than myself. No one can speak of it more intelligently than his own pastor. I had held that relation to Dr. Smith for more than thirty years. I should say that, in his profession, he was distinguished for great honest}r, faithfulness and conscientiousness. Duty was his polar star. So strong was his purpose to do all that duty enjoined, that even after disease had taken hold of him, he ad- hered resolutely to his 'journal course of life,' and staggered through his official engagements, dismissing his class at the end of the course, in the spring, with a paternal blessing. " Concerning the moral character of Dr. Smith, Scripture furnishes us with the best description: ' Behold an Israelite, indeed, in whom there is no guile.' In simplicity, in godly sincerity, and not by fleshly wisdom, he had his ' conversation in the world.' So truthful was he, that he was cautious in the use of words, inclined to reserve rather than loquacity, lest he might mistake. I do not believe that his most intimate friends ever heard a word of detraction from his lips. "As to his religious convictions and character, re- membering well his own exactness and caution in the use of words, I can pronounce the belief, without qualification, that he was a most sincere and devout Christian. To his own regret and mine, he was not a communicant in the Christian church. Those who knew his idiosyncrasies understood why he was not. Not because of any wavering as to his belief in the Christian religion, but because of that habit of mind to which I have already referred ; and this, coupled JOSEPH MATHER SMITH, 31. D. 43 with a degree of modesty, and a sense of unworthi- ness, which at length reached a point which was well nigh morbid, a mode of self-judgment which prevented a public confession, for fear that he might do that to which he was not entitled.* " The subject of making a public confession of his faith was one of frequent conversation and corres- pondence between us. Well convinced that it would be for his own advantage, as well as his usefulness, I reminded him, on one occasion, of a remark made by Dr. John Mason Good,, near the close of his life : ' I have endeavored to live in accordance with duty, but how far below my privileges !' Dr. Smith was greatly impressed with the remark, and repeated it with great emphasis of manner. Considering his conspicuous position as a physician, his influence as a public man, and especially his peculiar habit of mind, I was very desirous, as he knew, that his con- nection with the Christian church should be completed by his own act ; and without infringing upon the delicacy and sanctity of private conversations, it is proper to add that, at last, it was the occasion of serious regret on the part of our venerable friend, that he had not been known as a Christian commu- nicant. * I have been reminded, in this connection, of a paragraph in Burnet's Life of Hale, Wordsworth's Eccl. Biog, Keble's Christian Year, page 68 : " From the first time that the impressions of religion settled deeply on his mind, he used great caution to conceal it; not only in obedience to the rule given by our Saviour, of fasting, praying and giving alms in secret, but from a particular distrust he had of himself; for he said, he was afraid he should, at some time or other, do some enormous thing, which, if he were looked on as a very religious man, might cast a reproach on the pro- fession of it, and give great advantages to. impious men to blaspheme the name of God." 44 EULOGIUM UPON THE LIFE OF u But I have never doubted the sincerity of his faith. 'You know,' said he to me, with great fervor, a few days before his decease, ' if I should not be able to go to the Lord's table, WHO is my trust,' aHe was a most devout reader of the Holy Bible. No pressure of engagements prevented him from reading his