AN ADDRESS 
TO 
THE GUARDIANS 
OF TH1 
WASHINGTON ASYLUM, 
£ ■ 
AND THE 
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD 
OF 
ALDERMEN AND COMMON COUNCIL 
BY A PHYSICIAN. 
Bonis nocet, quisquis pupercerit mali^ 
IN REPLY TO AN ADDEESS 
RE THOMS HENDERSON, M. B. 
PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE 
IN WASHINGTON, 
WASHINGTON CITY. 
1827. AN ADDRESS 
To the Guardians of the Washington Asylum, and the Members 
of the Board of Aidermen and Common Council. 
Gentlemen :- 
In presenting you this address, I have been actuated by 
a principle which irresistibly compels me to expose the cha- 
racter and conduct of one whom, in my heart, I believe to 
be an enemy to the harmony and happiness of society. And 
though I write you over an anonymous signature, yet, (as I 
have referred you to persons and places) it is hoped you 
will be no less attentive to the facts which I have related. 
I am, gentlemen, &c. 
MEDICUS. 
August 24th, 1827, ADDRESS. 
" Bonis nocet, quisquis pepercerit malis" 
Considerable excitement has been produced in this city 
in consequence of the extraordinary course pursued by Dr. 
Henderson, a Professor of Medicine, who lias, a short time 
ago, been indived to shift his quarters and locate himself 
among us for the ostensible purpose of pursuing his profes- 
sion. This Professor had scarcely taken up his residence here 
when he placed his affections on the Poor House. He fan- 
cied that if he possessed only the regulation and entire con- 
trol of that Institution, the sphere of his usefulness, and the 
sound of his fame, would be, thereby, very much extended. 
In accordance with that great general principle which na- 
ture has impressed upon the human mind, he had no sooner 
singled out the object of his affections, than he began to 
contemplate that plan which offered, to his morbed appre- 
hension, the greatest possible chance for insuring the gra- 
tification of his desires. But the designs of the cunning are 
generally frustrated when the dictates of reason are drowned 
in the ebullitions of unprincipled passion. 
His first mode t and very reasonable request was made to 
Dr. McWilliams, who then was, and who still is, the re- 
gularly appointed Physician to the Asylum. 
He asked Dr. McWilliams if he would have any objec- 
tions in giving up to him the management and direction of 
the Medical Department of the Washington Assylum? ob- 
serving, at the same time, that if the salary was any object 
to him, he (Dr. McWilliams) might still continue to draw it. 
This singular proposition, at first, somewhat astonished 
Dr. McWilliams, who, after some time, told the modest 
Profe sor, that he, " as a man of honor and principle, could 
not comply with his request-that he could never consent 
to hold any situation, and draw a salary, for which he ren- 
dered no services." 
The gentleman, however, resolving to pursue his dar- 
ling object, renews his endeavors with a zeal that would 
have been laudable if exerted in an honorable cause. 
Knowing that in a few days the Guardians of the 
Poor should hold their annual election for the purpose of 
choosing their physician, he presented them a memorial 6 
which, it is said, covered three or four pages of fools- 
cap. In this memorial he represents numerous advan- 
tages that would result, both to the corporation and 
asylum, from his election-he .endeavors to convince 
them of the propriety of complying with his measures- 
he greatly underbids Dr. McWilliams; even proposing 
to do the duties for nothing, if they would only elect 
him Physician to the Washington Asylum. This, no 
doubt, would have sounded well at a distance. It might 
have been the means of convincing the good people of 
Georgetown, in which this professor has lived during the 
last twelve or fourteen years, that in withdrawing even the 
little confidence which they once reposed in him, they ex- 
hibited a total want of that quickness of perception-that 
acuteness of intellect which enabled the enlightened inha- 
bitants of Washington to discover and appreciate, at once, 
his talents and his 'virtue,'. 
The Guardians of the Poor, not having had their con- 
sciences graduated according to the scale of ethicks, which 
regulates the moral conduct of Dr. Henderson, thought pro- 
per to reject his proposals, and re-elect Dr. McWilliams. 
But the Professor is not one of those whose sensibility is 
to be awakened even by this second mortifying rebuff. 
He made, it is said, another appeal to the Board of Aider- 
men in council, has presented to that body the memo- 
rial which he originally laid before the Guardians of the 
Asylum, hoping that a law might be passed compelling the 
Guardians to break the appointment of Dr. McWilliams, 
and give the situation to him, as he was the lowest bidder. 
Here again he has failed. 
It is unnecessary to say that the physicians, gener- 
ally, as well as every enlightened member of socie ty, look 
upon such unprincipled conduct with contempt and in- 
dignation. Some say that, had he intended to commit 
moral suicide, he could not have adopted a more successful 
plan of carrying his intentions into effect. Do you suppose 
that Dr. Henderson now blushes when he thinks of the 
mortifying result of his unprincipled perseverance ? Does 
he avert the public gaze and withdraw himself from the pre- 
sence of his fellow man, as a lump of moral infirmity-as a 
mass of human depravity, unfit to mingle, or be seen, among 
honorable men ? But, no. Mirabile dictu: No, he has 
again addressed the Guardians of the Poor, in a printed 
pamphlet, in which he not only attempts a justification of 7 
his conduct, but even hopes that a reconsideration of the 
subject may jet be the means of placing him in the poor 
howe. 
He cites what he alleges to be the course pursued by 
city authorities towards Medical Colleges, with respect to 
alms-houses and hospitals. To follow him through the 
different cities, colleges, alms-houses, and hospitals to which 
he has alluded in his address, is not my present purpose. 
Neither is it necessary that I should do so in order to con- 
vince you that he has in this, as in other instances, been guilty 
of setting forth the foulest and most contemptible mis-state- 
ment of facts, as well as the most infamous and degrading 
falsehoods and equivocations. 
He sets out with a palpable untruth when he says " that 
there is no hospital or ahns-house in this country, in which, 
if convenience of location will allow medical students 
to see the practice or the professors in the school to 
attend it, a fee is paid to a medical attendant." It has been 
well and appropriately said, that " there is no difference in 
moral turpitude between asserting that which we know not to 
be true, and that which we do not know to be true, when the 
assertion has been made for the purpose of deceiving others, 
and advancing the personal interest of him who makes it. 
Let the Doctor choose either horn of the dilemma, and I can 
prove that he has been guilty of the grossest misrepresenta- 
tion, and that he has acted so, in order to advance his own 
pecuniary interests, notwithstanding his hypocritical cant 
about " public good" and " purity of motive." 
In the first place. In the city of Baltimore there is an 
hospital and alms-house, in both of which, a yearly salary 
is paid to the attending physicians, and in neither of these 
institutions have the professors of the University ever had 
the control of the Medical Department. Does Dr. Hen- 
derson pretend to assign location as the reason why they 
have not ? Then a fortiori, the objection bears against him- 
self, because it is well known that in winter the difficulty of 
going from the City of Washington to the Asylum is greater 
than that which presents in going from Baltimore either to 
the alms-house or hospital. 
That he has been influenced by pecuniary considerations, 
can be proved by his own confession. Will he deny that 
he said, that the management of the Medical Department of 
the Asylum would be a great object to him; as he wished to 8 
fill his office with medical students, and as an inducement 
for young gentlemen to study in his office, he would pre- 
sent them the advantages of attending his Clinical Lectures 
at the Asylum. If lie dare give the negative to this asser- 
tion, it can be proved by Dr. McWilliams. 
Dr. Henderson, in his statement respecting the different 
medical colleges in this country, has artfully endeavored to 
impose on the Guardians of the Asylum, by leading them 
into the belief that the professors of medicine have always en- 
joyed a monopoly-an important control over the hospitals 
and alms-houses which the inhabitants of our large cities 
have, in their benevolence, established for the reception 
of the poor and afflicted. But upon the slightest examina- 
tion of facts, such a position will be found to possess not 
the least shadow of truth for its foundation. 
" in Philadelphia," he says, " where the first medical 
college wts organized, the hospital practice was given for 
the benefit of the school." To prove that this assertion is 
false, I might refer you to Dr. Cutbush, who resided for 
four years in that institution. Dr. Barton and Dr. Park 
were both medical attendants, though neither of them ever 
filled a professor's chair in the medical college. In fact, 
the trustees of that benevolent institution elect whom they 
please, whether professor or practitioner of medicine 
He states that " in Baltimore, in consequence of the re- 
moteness, both of alms-house and hospital from the city, 
the citizens have created and support an Infirmary for the 
express purpose of affording facilities to the medical school. 
The professors attend it without fee." This is another of 
the Doctor's unblushing misrepresentations. That Infirm- 
ary, instead of having been evented either by the city au- 
thorities, or the citizens, (as Dr. Henderson says) was erect- 
ed and supported by the Professors of Medicine in the 
University of Maryland. It was well furnished for the 
genteel accommodation of those whose circumstances 
enables them to pay a stipulated compensation, per veek, 
for medical and other attendance during the cure of their 
respective diseases. They have supp'ied it with a splendid 
library, and furnished apartments in the most elegant man- 
ner for the reception of young gentlemen as resident students. 
These students pay the Professors a certain sum per annum, 
for board and accommodations in the Infirmary, and their 
tickets to attend the public lectures at the College. They 9 
hear clinical lectures on surgery and practice of medicine 
daily, throughout the year, and they take charge of the 
patients when the professors are absent. Those who are 
not rc.s/.fcwt i/udopay five dollars for the privlleg of 
attending clinical lectures in the Infirmary, during the 
winter session; but it is entirely optional with them to take 
the ticket or not-it is not a si tie qua non. Dr. Biake and 
Dr. Thomas, of this city, who graduated at the Baltimore 
school, can corroborate this statement. 
It is obvious, that the privilge of entering into such a 
speculation as this, is as free to the professors or practition- 
ers of medicine in Washington, as it was to those of Balti- 
more. 
To induce you to comply w ith his request, Dr. H. has 
made loud and frequent appeals to the "disinterestedness 
and purity of his intentions, and the benevolence of his mo- 
ti\es;" he says that he is influenced solely " by feelings of 
ph lanthropy, and his anxiety to promote the cause of' medi- 
cal science"-he calculates a pecwu saving to the Corpo- 
ration of 500 dollars, per annum, from the changes which 
he wishes to effect. To these a passing consideration is 
due. 
His disinterestedness and ruritq may be understood from 
his own confession to Dr. McWilliams, to which I have 
already alluded, and from which it is obvious that he has 
been influenced, in this whole affair, more by his own mean 
and sordid views, than by any desire to advance the cause 
either of science or humanity. Had he been influenced solely 
by these laudable motives-had he been prompted purely by 
feelings of philanthropy-had he been actuated only by 
a desire to promote the science of medicine, he needs not 
have resorted to means so infamous in order to effect such 
an object. Two years ago, he, himself, Dr. May, and Dr. 
Sewall, as a committee from the medical faculty, waited on 
the Trustees of the Assylum and Dr. McWilliams, and 
solicited the privilege of delivering clinical lectures on me- 
dicine and surgery to the medical class, during the winter 
months in the wards of the Assylum. The privilege which 
they so anxiously solicited, was promptly and cheerfully 
granted them. Do you see him immediately accompany- 
ing the medical class to the Asylum? Do you find him 
among the wards of that Institution, surrounded by the 
young devotees of science? Do you hear him demonstrate 
the cause, and point out the symptoms of disease ? Do you 
see him exhibit those indrcatious of cure which the com- 10 
bined efforts of science and philanthropy have collected 
for the removal of disease and the promotion of human hap- 
piness? No, gentlemen, no : that privilege which he so 
anxiously sought, which he considered so important to the 
medical class, he has shamefully disregarded! Two years 
have now elapsed, and he has never yet availed himself of 
the opportunity of giving a clinical lecture to the Medical 
class, either at the Assylum, or any other place. How can 
he apologize for this flagrant neglect of duty? How will he 
account to his conscience for having published to the world, 
in the yearly circulars of the College, that those clinical lec- 
tures should be delivered, and that the students attendingthe. 
medical class should have free sccess to them ? Has he not, 
in doing so, endeavored to allure young men to his class by 
holding out inducements merely to deceive ? Has he not ex- 
cited expectations in the minds of students which he has ne- 
ver gratified? How will he, as the Teacher of a liberal sci- 
ence, ask for public patronage after having thus shamefully 
violated one of the fundamental principles of morality? 
But he now tells you, that he has "objections to serving 
under his (Dr. McWilliams') directions, or that of any in- 
dividual." Now let me ask, why did he not urge this ob- 
jection two years ago, when he waited on Dr. McWilliams 
and the Guardians of the Assylum-when he solicited and 
obtained the asked-for privilege ? It is evident, that this 
objection (if it be one) existed in as full force then as it does 
at the present time. But his intellectual faculties have been 
so benumbed-so involved in tartarian darkness, that he 
Jias never, until he breathed the fashionable atmosphere of 
Washington, discovered that the practice which he himself 
desired, would be "unbecoming" the dignity and honor of 
his elevated station. I am inclined to think, that his ideas 
of honor and dignity, as well as morality, must undergo 
another revolution, before they are countenanced in the 
City of Washington. 
The Professor of Surgery, though some cases did present 
at the Assylum, never could be induced to exhibit to the 
Students, an operation on the living body at that Institu- 
tion. It is true, that Dr. Staughton, the Professor of Surge- 
ry, got five or six of the Students, some days previous to last 
Christmas, to go with him into Montgomery County, Mary- 
land, for the purpose of seeing him perform an operation in 
Surgery. It may not be improper to detail, in this place, 
the outlines of the case. Capt. Beckwith, some time in the 
month of December last, in a personal rencounter with a. 11 
.neighboring gentleman, received a stab with a pointed in- 
strument, (either a dirk or knife) in the region of the neck, 
neai' the angle of the jaw. A large diffused aneurism of the 
carotid artery was the consequence. A messenger was 
sent, with all possible haste, to Washington, for a Sugeon, 
to take up the artery before the patient was snatched from 
existence. Dr. Staughton being a Projessur of Surgery, 
the messenger was directed to him, as a person who ought 
to be capable of performing the duty required. The Pro- 
fessor was called on, and consented to go. Accompanied 
by five or six young Esculapians, anxious to witness an 
operation-they all repair to the scene of horror-they be- 
hold the tender husband of a lovely woman, the affection- 
ate father of a rising family, in artirulo mortis, hourly 
waiting the bursting of the tumor, and his rapidly ap- 
proaching dissolution. At the presence of the Doctor, a 
ray of hope was discovered lighting up his anxious counte- 
nance. The fond partner of his bosom, with the pledges 
of their love, approached the Professor, bathed in tears of 
the most thrilling sorrorw. Can his life be saved? Will 
my father yet live ? is murmured all around. The wound, 
together with the circumstances attending its infliction, 
were immediately examined,-his neck was measured, in 
order to ascertain, if that, space, which is describedin books, 
as necessary to the performance of the operation, remained. 
After a complete examination of the case, the Professor came 
to the conclusion, that there was not sufficient space to per- 
form the operation-that it was impossible to save his life- 
that if he were to cut down to the artery, he would be inun- 
dated with blood, and that the patient would die under the 
operation I I will not attempt to describe the scene of woe 
that followed this opinion. 
The Professor and Students departed from the "house 
of mourning," and after having perambulated Montgomery 
County for two days, they arrived in Washington, exhaust- 
ed and depressed with fatigue, mortification, and disap- 
pointment. 
On the next morning, those Students, who remained, 
waited in the lecture room with great' anxiety, in order to 
hear the result of the operation. The Students arrive:- 
What news about the operation ? was the general saluta- 
tion. No operation b-the aneurism had proceeded so far, 
that it was found impossible to operate,-was the general 
reply. Presently, Dr. Staughton arrived, and proceeded 12 
co detail to the class a scientific and circumstantial account 
of the whole affair. He informed them of the directions of 
books on the subject--told them what he had before told 
the unfortunate man in the countn-represented to them 
the difficulty of performing the operation-saying, "that 
every time you plunge your knife into human flesh, your 
progress is obstructed with blood"-(and this was a true 
fact) he told them "that, after you cut down through blood 
and muscles, and nerves and tendons, you at last arrive at 
the common sheath which envelopes the ar vagum jugular 
'veil and carotid artery " (the vessel which was wounded.) 
"You then open the common sheath with a stroke of the 
knife," and here he represented in the most droling, 
onerous, tragi-comic style, the manner in which "the 
jugular vein is found ro-o-ling over the artery, ro-o-ling 
over the artery." This ludicrous anadiplosis contrasted 
with the aw ful scene which the Doctor was describing, al- 
most overcame the gravity of the class: many were obliged 
to yield to its irresistible impulse, and give full play to their 
risible faculties. However, he concluded, by demon* 
strati ng the impossibility of performing the operation safe- 
ly-saying, that he expected "the gentleman was dead," at 
the time he was then lecturing. It is supposed, that the 
reader also thinks that he was dead and buried-his wife a 
w idow, and her children fatherless: but no! he is not dead 
yet. Captain Beckwith, like a brave soldier, determining 
to have another throw for his life, resolved on going to 
Baltimore, and try to induce some of the Surgeons there to 
operate1 upon him. A carriage was immediately ready, and 
ho was driven off to Baltimore in all haste. The faculty 
was consulted, and Dr. Buckler, then adjunct Professor of 
Anatomy in the University of Maryland, determined to 
operate. Captain Beckwith was placed in a proper posi- 
tion; Dr. Buckler commenced the operation,"Cut down to 
the cellular sheath, opened it, cast a ligature round the ca- 
rotid artery-tied it up-dressed the wound-and sent 
Capt B. home literally well-Dr. Staughton and the roling 
of the jugular vein, "to the contrary, notwith-U'i'ding"- 
Thus, by the promptitude, energy, and extensive know- 
ledge of this distinguished young Surgeon, Capt Beckwith, 
in the vigor of his life, and the prime of his usefulness, has 
been snatched from the iaws of death, and restored to the 
arms of his wife and the smiles of his children. This, to- 
gether with Dr. Staughton's incapacity to reduce a luxa- 13 
ted humerus and some minor failures, have completely 
established Am rcpvtatio'' as a Svrgeon, To talk to a 
Student now of his performing an operation, would be con- 
sidered as quixotic as any adventure of the hero of la 
Mancha. 
Dr Henderson, in his proposition, has calculated a 
saving to the Corporation of $500. Some of the items 
which go to make up this sum, are $100 which, he says, 
a resident Student will pay-and $100 that he promises, 
will be paid by the Students of the College, for the privi- 
lege of attending his Clinical Lectures in the Alms-house! 
Here, again, he is raising your expectations, by holding 
out advantages which he either knows, or ought to know, 
cannot be realized. 
In the first place.-The few lazars, with sore legs, chro- 
nic rheumatism, and worn-out constitutions, who have 
sought an assylum in that Institution, offer not a sufficient 
inducement for a Medical Student to pay for the privilege 
of living among them. while he can see a more advantageous 
practice in the office of any distinguished practitioner in the 
District. It is well known, that the private Students of the 
Physicians of the City and Georgetown, can see as much, 
and some of them even more practice, than their scientific 
reading will justify them in attending to. 
He promises you one hundred dollars from Students 
for the privilege of attending his Clinmical Lectures!- 
Now he must either have intended to deceive you, or he 
must be possessed of the most unconquerable vanity, else 
he never would have offered such a bonum as this. To 
convince you that I speak correctly, it will be necessary to 
investigate the grounds upon which he bases such an ex- 
travagant proposition. To do so satisfactorily, would 
lead me to the origin of the present Medical School, and 
the manner in which lie happened to be appointed Profes- 
sor. It is sufficient to say, that had his character as a man, 
and his talents as a Physician, been as well known then as 
they are now, to those who were instrumental in his appoint- 
ment, it is confidently believed, that he would not, at this 
time, be importuning the Trustees of the Assylum, nor 
would I be exposing that imbecility of mind and obliquity 
of moral feeling which so eminently characterize him. 
Twenty-two Students attended the first session of the 
Medical Department. It was a short session, and most of 
the Students from the City, were disposed to be pleased. 14 
The second session twenty-eight Students attended, many 
of whom, expressed great dissatisfaction with the Lectures 
on Theory and Practice, and Surgery. The third 
session, last winter, exhibited a great falling off in the 
number of Students. This falling off in the ranks of 
the Medical Class, was to be attributed particularly to 
the paucity of talent in the Professors of Theory and 
Practice, and Surgery. It was a rare occurrence, that 
even one-half of the class submitted to hear Dr. Hender- 
son's lecture. As soon as his hour arrived, part of the 
Students would go off to the Billiard room-some to the 
Tavern-and frequently almost as many staid up stairs, 
playing cards, as went down to hear him lecture. In doing 
so, they justified themselves by saying, that his lectures were 
so unprofitable, that they had always a less satisfactory 
knowledge of the subject upon which he lectured, after he 
concluded, than they possessed previous to bis commence- 
ment. Even some of those who attended his lectures regu- 
larly, acknowledged that they did so more through courte- 
sy, than from the expectation of deriving any instruction 
from them. 
That the Students should pursue this course, is a matter 
of no surprise, when the character of Dr. Henderson's lec- 
tures is taken into consideration. They may justly be 
described as a heterogeneous mass of isolated facts and con- 
flicting opinions, drawn from Rush, Cullen, Good, Syden- 
ham, Van Swieten, and others; collected without taste, 
arranged without judgment, and forming a dark, incongru- 
ous, literary mole; illustrating no pathological law, coming 
to no general or satisfactory conclusion, and presenting no 
clear distinct idea to the mind of the Student who has plod- 
ded after him through his tenebral labyrinth, without a clue 
to direct his way, or a light to guide his path. Such a com- 
bination of difficulties is well calculated to paralyze the 
energy of the firmest and most persevering devotee of 
Medical science. The ardent ambitious Student departs 
from his lecture room almost disgusted with a science which 
the Professor has involved in mystery and confusion. Dr. 
Henderson having no clear practical ideas of Medical sci- 
ence, can, of course, impart to his auditors no satisfactory 
information on a subject which he has accidentally been 
called to teach. The Student is consequently obliged to 
resort to his private tutor, in order to have the obscurities 
removed, and the disease intelligibly explained, or he must 15 
yield to that negligence and despair of success which inva- 
riably accompany that want of classical arrangement, that 
vox et prwtera nihil, that rhapsody of words to which no 
definite or satisfactory idea can be attached. To substan- 
tiate what I have here stated, I would refer to the young 
gentlemen who have graduated at the school, and who have 
attended the three courses of lectures which have been de- 
livered in the Medical Department. Dr. Wing, Dr. Kirk- 
wood, Dr. Hagan, and Dr. King, can testify to the truth of 
the facts and opinions which are here stated. 
Now, I would ask candidly,-can any man, for a mo- 
ment, suppose that Medical Students will either walk or 
ride through the mud up to the poor-house, and voluntarily 
pay for the privilege of hearing Dr. Henderson's clinical 
lecture, when they will not listen to his lecture delivered at 
the College, in the midst of the City, with a brick pavement 
to the door, and for which lecture they are obliged to pay, 
by the laws of the College ? I should think not. 
But even supposing you were to yield to his repeated im- 
portunities, you would soon find that in a pecuniary point 
of view, it would be a real loss to the Corporation. In the 
first place, before you could charge resident Students for 
their accommodation, you must furnish apartments in a 
style equal to similar institutions-you must supply them 
with a variety of expensive surgical instruments-you must 
fill the wards with patents from the City or elsewhere. All 
this must be done, before you can render it an object for 
young men to pay for the situation of resident student- 
When all this is done, instead of diminishing the expense 
of the Corporation, it is confidently believed, that it would 
vastly increase it. 
He says, that "by recent arrangements in the chair of 
Chemistry, the school has concentrated much good feeling 
in and out of the profession." If, by his expression, he in- 
tends any disrespect to Dr. Cutbush, he may rest assured 
that the poisoned shaft will recoil upon himself. As a man 
of science, and as a gentleman, Dr. Cutbush occupies too 
elevated a position, to be affected by the malevolent insinu- 
ations with which Dr. Henderson would insiduously assail 
him. 
In his pamphlet, he says, that it has been urged 
against him, that he is a "stranger of recent introduction 
and pretensions in the Medical circle of Washington;" and 
in order to meet this objection, he tells you, that, instead of 
being a stranger, he has enjoyed, in the City of Washing- 16 
ton, "a highly respectable practice tor more than ten 
years" !! I should like to know who has ever befor • heard 
of his "highly respectable practice in the City of Washing- 
ton." So very improbable is this, that in Georgetown, 
where he has resided for the last 12 or 14 years, he had be- 
come so obnoxious to the people, that he had scarcely a 
single patient, while other Physicians, of "recent introduc- 
tion," were enjoying an extensive and profitable practice. 
But he is not a stranger. Happy would it be for him- 
self, happy would it be for his family, happy for the insti- 
tution to which he is attached, if he were even an entire 
stranger, a novus homo in the literal sense of the term. A 
liberal and enlightened public would then have supposed 
him honorable until he had fully proven himself unworthy 
of their confidence. But his character preceded him. 
Marked by treachery and dissimulation, cunning and deceit, 
he had become obnoxious to society where ever he lived, 
and he is now rapidly confirming that character which all 
good men detest. 
Towards a student of the College he has acted the part 
of baseness, treachery, and deception, which, if exercised 
towards his equal in years and iniquity, would have ren- 
dered him contemptible in the estimation of a virtuous com- 
munity; but when exercised towards a pupil, who had lis- 
tened to his lectures for three successive seasons^ it was in- 
famous, it was hateful. 
Still Dr. Henderson may get men, aye, and good men too, 
to sign him a certificate of character. Pity for his family 
may induce many to do so: as the tear of sympathy has 
rolled down many a virtuous cheek, and pardon bas been 
asked by many a feeling heart, for the most abandoned felon 
that ever dangled on the gibbet. 
The author of our existence has wisely arranged the va- 
rious objects of creation. Where he has planted the bane, 
he has placed the antidote. Before the snake can discharge 
the deadly poison into the vitals'bf its intended victim, it is 
obliged to warn him by its rattles ; before Cain was let 
loose upon society, he received a mark by which his char- 
acter might be known. So it is with Dr. Henderson : na- 
ture has impressed upon his forehead that obliquity which 
is found to pervade the moral and intellectual, as well as 
the physical man. 
MEDICUS. 
Washington, August 25, 1827.