/*, ■.
   ■en.
THE
MEDICAL PROFESSION,
ITS POSITION AND ITS CLAIMS
A  SCIENCE, A  BUSINESS, AND
              AN  ART.

   AN   ADDRESS
DELIVERED
I
     IEDIZjIF*.^ JVT.  X3ZTJ3STT, Ts/LJD.

as president) op the medical society of new jersey, at its
   ninety-ninth annual meeting, held at burlington,
            January 24th, 1865.
•OLILIIAKI. <?
NO. 32 BEEKMAN STREET.
 
  Rcsolvcl, That,  the thanks  of the Society he tendered Dr. E. M-
Hunt for his Address, and that a copy be requested for  publication
with the Transactions.

  After remarks by Dr. J. H. Giuwoom, of New York City, Dr.  E.
S. F. Arnold, of Yonkers, Prof. T. Green, M. D., of Easton, Pa.,
Dr. L.  A. Smith,  of Newark, and Dr. T. J. Cokson, of Trenton* it.
was further
  R^olved,  That 500  extra  copies of the President's Address  be
printed for general distribution. 
PKESIDENT'S  ADDEESS.
   It is my high privilege, this evening, gentlemen, to welcome
 you to the returned anniversary of the State Medical Society
 of New Jersey.  Ninety-nine  years of its existence are now
 joined to the memories of the past, and the fresh, dewy dawn
 of its hundredth natal morn is  already  casting its twilight
 shadows upon us.   Venerable with the  acquirements of age,
 yet vigorous with the energy of youth, it again welcomes us
 to the council-board of professional re-union, and bids us ex-
 change the kindred sympathies of a mutual art.
   We come together to review the  medical  history of the
jk&r, to maintain the true courtesy of our calling, to pay defer-
 ence to the mementoes of the past, to measure the claims and
 progress of our science, to join the hands of a genial friend-
 ship, and to bid each other God-speed in all that relates to the
 true advancement of the noble profession to which are devoted
 the stirring energies of our manhood.
   But a temporary sadness comes over my heart as I proceed
 to the duty which devolves upon me.  I can not forget that
 since last we met, from among the honored members of this
 Society, one has fallen, who, each returning year, was wont to
 greet us here, with all the warmth of personal and professional
 attachment.  You have not forgotten his last utterance in our
 midst.  It was  a plea in behalf of the interests of unfortunate
 humanity ; in which the arguments, derived from elaborate in-
 vestigation,  were presented with  the  earnest voice and the
 thrilling enthusiasm of a living sympathy.  He felt that while
                           1 
4
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF  NEW-JERSEY.
others may be  philanthropists by occasion, the  physician  is
such also by profession ; and, had he known his time to be  so
short, he could  not have  pronounced  a valedictory more con-
sonant with himself,  or said parting Avords more worthy of his
honored memory.  The name of Condit, for  his own sake, as
well as for his father's sake, will not be forgotten by us ; and
the mantle of their honor  shall inspire  us to be faithful to our
profession, to humanity, and to God.
  But my duty  to-night is not so much to speak of our cher-
ished dead, as to the living members of a living profession.  I
beg that you will pardon me the formality of an extended in-
troduction, and  permit me to propose, as  the  subject of ad-
dress this evening,

OUR PROFESSION IN ITS  THREE-FOLD RELATIONS, AS A SCIENCE, A BUSINESS, AND
                          AN ART.
  At the very outset of student life, Medicine is presented to
us as a science, vast in the area which it encompasses ; and
when years of practice have added to  the treasuries of knowl-
edge  and experience, its  claims  as  such  are ever impressing
themselves upon us.   And yet we have stout and sturdy crit-
icisms, to meet us, in respect to it.  In the midst of our soar-
ings to its heights,  our penetration into its depths, our meas-
urings of its lengths and its breadths, the world stands  up,
and, striking a blow at its foundations,  asks, " Is it a science at
all."  Men, perhaps learned in other respects, but ignorant as
to it, too often bring  it to their false judgment-bars, and, from
isolated facts and vague generalities, give sentence in the neg-
ative.  The poel that thrills me with the real  philosophy of
verse, presides  over a college for graduating quacks.  My city
pastor gives diluted tinctures to his complaining horse; and a
learned theological professor, by the identical argument, which,
if applied to his own theme of instruction, would land him and
it into hideous infidelity, assumes that  the  human organism,
and its relations to disease and remedies, is so mysterious and
complex, that it is safest  to  rely upon a system which can do
no  harm.  Many thus (who  are well instructed in the other 
president's address.
5
sciences or in  literature) infer that they are abundantly com-
petent to decide upon this.   Now and then a physician who,
because he cannot understand everything, concludes he under-
stands nothing, by the false logic of doubt falls  into the same
error ; and  even  a late President of the  Excelsior State So-
ciety has announced the doctrine that Medicine, as an art, has
never been profited by Medicine as a science.  In mind, as in
nature, centripetal and centrifugal forces sometimes loose their
co-ordinate action ; the orbit is disturbed, and great planets be-
come little asteroids.    History had its  Gibbon, as  a  man, a
downfall like that of  Rome; philosophy its Voltaire;  astron-
omy its La Place 5 and Religion its Colenso; and the fact that
now and then a great soul  goes overboard from the  vessel
wjiich moves, even upon unfathomed depths, as  on  a friendly
element, only shows the occasional frailty of reason, in contrast
with the substantial basis of  truth.
   If we could submit  this whole  question to antiquity, and to
the confirmed verdict  of the ages, we should have no trouble.
The ancients saw  in man, even as to bis body, a condensation
of human knowledge, and an object for scientific research, such
as was presented in no other  created thing, and  thus made of
the  " yvoovi seavrov"  a science by itself.
   They viewed the human form as the grandest  idea of nature,
developed it by the   skill of the athlete, sculptured it in the
choicest of Parian marble, painted it  in  enduring  colors on
speaking  canvass, and when  they found  an art whose  design
was  to preserve  it, they called it the Science of Physic—not
physic in the paltry sense of drugs, but cpvffiS, Nature's grand
embodiment, its most meaning text; and amid all the false
systems of medical  theory and  medical  practice, that have
gleamed across the galaxy of almost every decade, with Mi-
nerva, the goddess of wisdom, as its patron deity, it has pre-
served for us that which it fears not to send word along the
wires of time is the  true science and  art of medicine.  But
this 19th century will not take antiquity at its word.   It is  a
mighty doubter—full of endless questionings.  Human thought
seeks new channels.   There is more excitement and vivacity 
 6             MEDICAL SOCIETY OF NEW-JERSEY.

 in a freshet, breaking over into new courses, than in the ocean
 staying where it belongs, lasting portraiture of the unchanged
 Infinite.
   Men say not  the  old  is  better, but give us  the new, bub-
 bling and  boiling though  it may be with scum.  The old Fa-
 lernian will not  do.   Champaigne and carbon  gas  are more
 representative.   In government, in law, in  ethics, they call  in
 question the grand consolidations  and expressions of the past.
 America, especially, with its vindicated nationality, its stirring-
 activity in all  that relates to mind or matter, breathes its spirit
 of inquiry  over  every science, and with its  " cui  bono,"  its
 whys  and  its wherefores, puis the past to its test without a
 bow to "your Riverence."   We must not, therefore, complain
 if the great fortress of Esculapius, with its massive turrets and
 elaborated enclosure, is battered and stormed like a citadel; or
 if, beside  it, some  pseudo-medical philosopher opens  up his
 arsenal, and with sarsaparilla, seaweed tonic, life  bitters, teeth-
 ing  fluid, and cephalic pills, builds on  foundations cemented
 with prepared glue imposing superstructures.
  In all this  there lurks, for us, no real harm.   In such a pro-
 fession as ours, founded in antiquity, and sustained, developed,
 and  improved through centuries, we  need sometimes to  take
 reckoning,  in  order  to appreciate it.  Truth does not always
 move in unobstructed air-lines.  It fronts the cave of iEolus, and
 often faces grim North-westers. Even in a seeming calm, gales
 spring up about it; but,  though its progress is thus made zig-
 zag,  the very adverse winds beat it forward.  Although not an
 ocean steamer, plowing its way through the broad brine, care-
 less  of wind  or  tide, it  is  a little Pinta, beating hither and
 thither, not in vain.   Though the  crew are sometimes discour-
 aged, and Faith below deck instead of at the  helm, there are
 men like Columbus aboard, and faithful ones watching around
 the mast-head; and, when  all  is dark and mutinous, " I see a
 light" breaks  the spell of the shoreless sea, and the very drift-
 wood tells  of land.   True  science and  true art,  which are  al-
 ways practical epitomes of truth, have a similar experience,
but need never fear the rude buffetings of change or the test
of searching criticism. 
president's address.
7
  Let  us then fully to the question:  Is medicine a science ?
True science has  three prominent characteristics:
  It deals with some  object of nature, with a view of eliciting
truth.
  It has definite and determinate laws.
  These laws are studied in reference  to their practical appli-
cation  and results.
  Surely our profession answers this first test of a science.  It
deals with the grandest object of nature  in order  to define its
method  of action.  The  sublimest combination of the handi-
work of Divinity is the material for our  specific study.   If the
natural philosopher, in  the earnest investigation of his partic-
ular department,  feels the thrill and joy of science, its poetry,
its pathos, its logic—if, as he analyses the flower, questions the
sandstone or fossil, or scans the heavens with magnified vision,
he is engaged in  scientific inquiry, how much more the physi-
cian, who, in one embodiment, can study both material and im-
material things, whose  science is that of matter and its pre-
servation ; who has for analysis the most wonderful of mechan-
isms, the most admirable of combinations, and  the most elabo-
rate connections  of cause and effect.   The man of numbers
may have to deal more with  axioms and  theorems, the meta-
physician may soar higher into the regions of  the Infinite, the
natural philosopher, in  his questionings of mother earth, may
have a wider field from which to gather bis cabinets and herb-
ariums, and the astronomer a wider range through the star-lit
avenues of space, but this microcosm, man, is equal  to them
all.  In the construction of bone, so as to unite strength with
lightncsss  and mobility; in the arrangement  of muscle  and
tendon, so as to secure mechanical power at no loss of space;
in the organs  of nutrition and  assimilation, performing func-
tions as elaborate and  successful as the harmony of the uni-
verse ; in the lungs, inhaling  the sweet, rustling air, and trans-
acting the unique chemistry of life ; in  the heart, lone prototype
of perpetual motion,  throbbing out the melody of life, the soul
rhythm of humanity; in the ear, Avitb its bony chain-work, and
its labyrinth of waters rippling to the  echoings  of sound; in 
8
medical society of  new-jersey.
 the eyes, star planets of the mind, glorious  in  their orbits as
 Castor and Pollux, the Gemini of the zodiac; in the senses, all
 combining the material and  immaterial  as no science can fully
 display,  and the  Avhole  subject  to the nerve, net-work of
 organic and inorganic life—surely, I need no longer stay  my
 course to prove that the science of nature is here enthroned
 in all the glory of its royalty.  And  the physician  takes hold
 upon  it just on  purpose  for investigation.  To him it  is  the
 more  than  golden ore-bed of material, and its principles, by
 studious zeal perceived, constitute science—not symbolized, but
 realized—not defined, but synonymed—not described, but  felt
 like love.
   Nor is it general in its character.
   II. It has definite and determinate laAvs.
   It deals with man specifically.  It has to do with synthesis
 and analysis, and obtains decisive results by strictly scientific
 methods.  If not demonstrative, like Euclid, it  is definite with
 the  logic of accumulated facts.   Quinine and opium have their
 results as Avell  as a binomial theorem. There are certainties in
 this world besides logarithms and logic.  Because mathematics,
 as  a pure  science, is built  only on  self-evident truths, or  be-
 cause metaphysics is built on certain generally admitted truths,
 we are by no  means  to  conclude that only these  have deter-
 minate laws.   When, indeed, as  in the  natural sciences, you
 bring together the various facts which observation has afforded,
 and  thus have  an assemblage of the general principles  of an
 art,  you really come directly back to the very kind of  reason-
 ing upon which rest all the truths of metaphysics, i.e., you have
 as a basis generally acknowledged facts.
  Experiment  itself is an effort in a scientific direction, and
 when you classify the ascertained results  of a  series of well
 conducted, oft repeated experiments,  you have experience, and
 that is  as really a foundation and a part of real knowledge, as
 to rest upon the laws -of personal  identity or the axioms of
numerical formulae.   Experience  has the word experiment as
its root, and success as its fruit, and by its arranged aggrega-
tion  of facts, assumes all the strength  and dignity and certainty 
president's  address.
9
of a science.   It is the general assent of the learned to these
views, that has given  the Baconian  and Newtonian philoso-
phies their hold on the  reasonings  of  men.  We have come to
feel and know that it is safe to assume, that Avhat is true of a
vast numbers of individuals of a class, is true of the class ; and
hence  the inductive method of Bacon, and still more  Newton,
applying  the relations  of cause and  effect to natural science
has  shown us, that deductions from these natural relations, as
determined by repeated observations, are safe as foundations,
and yield logical results.  With such reflected  light, it is  not
difficult  to  recognize medicine as  a science Avith fixed and de-
termined laAvs.   We call  Theology a  science, not because it is
finished  and has no mysteries, but because Avith Faith as  the
substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things  not
seen, it reasons correctly of God and of. man in his relations to
him.   We call LaAv a science, because  it has principles founded
on eternal equity ; and though often pettifoggers go quibbling
with it,  and make it dispense injustice, it loses not its high
behest.  So  Ave  call Medicine a  science,  because  it too  has
fundamental principles, and  arrives at its conclusion by evi-
dence derived from nature, experience and observation.  We
cannot select a single organ of the body  in reference to which
enough is not known to entitle the study thereof to the name
of science, because of the specific laws Avhich relate to it.  We'
knoAv from  absolute  investigation  of organ and function, what
kind of  food is suited to the human organism, AA'hy pure air is
necessary for the lungs, and a\ hat  pure air is ;  AAdiy heart and
brain  must suffer  from causes that disturb the equilibrium of
circulation;  why impression made upon the  skin  by sudden
alternations  of temperature must  effect  the inner man, and so
of multitudes of facts of Avhich these are but the passing illustra-
tion.  Pathology too, as Avell as   health, has  its appreciable
laAvs.  Our profession  includes Avithin its pale a knowledge of
the  antecedents  and sequela: of disease, its cause, its cure, its
effects.  We know that as a rule, its anassthetics and sedatives
will control pain, and that other remedies are in certain definite
and  specified cases curative, and  can rely upon them just as 
10
MEDICAL  SOCIETY OF  NEW-JERSEY.
 well  as  the  Mathematician, on the Liavs of Parallax, the Logi-
 cian on the facts of established identity, or the Farmer on the
 general  results of Agriculture.  There may  be  possible and
 even unknown contingencies, interrupting the process  of the
 law ; but the  mariner's needle, though it has its mysterious
 variations, is on the Avhole a faithful guide amid ocean billoAvs.
 The  learned and experienced  physician  knows  that  he can
 approach disease Avith scientific forecast, and while none in this
 or any other science are absolutely free  from puzzling doubts,
 yet only those are skeptical  who are unduly influenced by
 isolated  cases, or Avho instead of lacking  knowledge, lack the
 ability to practicalize and  apply it.
   In the character of the foundations upon which it rests and
 its superstructure, it will, in its harmonious subjection to prin-
 ciples, compare favorably Avith any of the sciences of material
 life.  Although it is not a very Parthenon with every frescoe
 finished, and every column fluted and assigned, it is nevertheless
 an edifice with great huge blocks of granite truth for its corners,
 upbuilded Avith stones polished after the similitude of a palace,
 and better than if finished, each year is adding both to its solid-
 ities and adornments.
  Nor need  I  spend  long time in noticing the third respect in
 which medicine answers the description of a true science.  The
 activities of our art are the standing  proof that it is studied
 in reference  to its practical application and results.   It does
 not wrap the drapery of conscious greatness about it, and then
 lie down to pleasant dreams.  It is studied, not for theory, but
 for practice.   Having  classified  its  truths,  with admirable
 promptness, it brings them  to apply to the daily necessities  of
 life.  It  has  no cold  abstract formulas on which to prate, but
 with  a living ardor submits each and all to the test of utility.
 Its constant  effort is, mutually, to correct its  science  and its
art by each other, to look to the one as the confirmative or test
of the other, and it thus  seeks to have good theory only that it
may have  good practice.  Its whole  object  is  result—such
result as identifies the causes of disease and prevents them ;  as
seeks their cure and overcomes them, or when acknoAvledging 
president's address.
11
 their  mortal  power,  controls,  assuages and delays them.
 This, indeed, is science awake for a cause; and  that the preser-
 vation and prolongation of human life.  With such foundations,
 such aims, such devotion, it stands forth pre-eminently a science,
 in the subject Avith which it deals—the determinate laws AA'hich
 govern the utilitarian effort it puts forth.
   I ask you next to notice it as a progressive science, and  thus
 still more appreciate the glory of our calling.  Where, in all
 the range of human investigation, will you find  a field in which
 is displayed more of  intellectual activity and patient research.
 Where Avill you go to find more of the enthusiasm of true  phi-
 losophers ; more of the zeal of fond, devoted pursuit,  or more
 rapid accumulations of the facts and principles  which make up
 a science.
   In order to measure  its progress, Ave need not to commence
 with the  history of medicine.  We need only to  retrace our
 steps Avithin the bounds of the present  century to perceive
 that our profession is all alive, not only Avith  the spirit  and
 poAA^er, but with the  fruits of active  advancement.  Early in
 the present century a neAV idea, as to the proper basis  of med-
 ical  truth, commended  itself to the  professional  mind.   Too
 long  had we  relied  upon the aphorisms of some prominent
 medical author, or upon the empirical popularity of individual
 practitioners.  But a French Avork,  under  the  title, " Med-
 icine Illustrated by Observation and  the Examination  of Bod-
 ies," struck the key-note Avhich was to be the guide of future
 and  of successful investigation.  The profession commenced,
 as it had  never learned before, to look to ascertained facts, to
 statistical record, to anatomical and careful  observation, as
 the  only  true  bases  of substantial advance.  From  dealing
 Avith general opinions, it came to inquire for specific facts.  It
 studied disease, not only in view of symptoms, but of  lesions.
 It penetrated into physiology that it might knoAvwhat should
 be, and  into  pathology that it might ascertain what Avas.
 Broussais  on  Chronic  Inflammations;  Corvisart, Laennec,  Gri-
solle, Bouillaud, and  Hope, on the Lungs ; Lallemand, Mar-
tinet, &c, on the Brain ; Andral and  Gavarret  on the  Blood  ; 
12
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF NEAV-JERSEY.
Raver on the Kidneys ; Bichet in General Anatomy ; Collins
and Ramsbotham in  Practical Midwifery ;  and multitudes of
other more recent observers in every department of our sci-
ence, have given direction and precision to our inquiries.  A
zeal  arose to enrich  medicine by facts', and to rely upon that
kind  of conclusion,  of Avhich intelligent examination, careful
diagnosis, and  an accurate  enumeration  of the ascertained
phenomena  of disease, in  numerous  classified cases, consti-
tuted the material  substance.   The profession came to  feel
that it must rest its  claims as a science upon a careful study
of relations  of cause and effect, of organ  and function, of at-
tack  and lesion, of disease and remedy, derived, not by any
philosophical abstraction, or from results  in a limited sphere,
but from a numerical comparison of a large number of cases,
in Avhich all points should  be stated with clinical  exactness.
Hence, the  remark  of Sir Henry Holland is fully justified,
that " the methods  of research  in  medicine at the preseut
time haAre gained greatly in exactness, and in  the just appre-
ciation of facts, upon those of any previous period."  This, of
itself, is a grand  progress, even Avere it only preparatory.
But  this Tightness of method, and  definiteness of system, is
full  of actual,  practical  results—a  tree full of fruit for  the
healing of the nations.  Diagnosis has  become a science  by
itself, and, Avith admirable  precision, Ave are often able  not
only to give name  to disease, but  to  specify its locality, its
extent, its stage—in fact, to  have its full descriptive vividly
before the mind ;  and this  is what Ave Avant, in  order to  lay
right hold of it for treatment.   There  is glory and progress
in the discovery of a little star, not  so  much because of the
momentary  result, as because it shoAvs accuracy and zeal in
investigation, and adds to the real material of a science ;  and
so each step in diagnosis is a discovery in the range of our
profession AArhich  lights  up  the track  of a  hopeful destiny.
But not in accuracy of diagnosis alone do Ave note advance.
We  have  evolved  therefrom, and  from experience  added
thereto, actual treatment very different from  the  methods of
the  past.  We study more accurately the relatiou  betAveen 
president's address.
13.
 remedies and disease in its particular stages.   We knoAv more
 of the action of remedies, as modified by circumstances.  We
 see a reason why the medicine given in the  second stage of
 pneumonia is not to be depended upon when grey hepatiza-
 tion has almost suspended vital action.
  If the case be one of rheumatism, or pleuritic effusion, Ave
 can measure the relation of our medicine to the appearance
 of chlorides in  the urine, or if  the kidney is involved, tell
 with no small degree of accuracy Avhether the disease is to be
 treated as one functional  or organic.  Even in cases Avhere,
 with all our  knowledge, Ave are yet too often unsuccessful, we
 have dispensed Avith a great deal of false  treatment, and, if
 Ave do not  cure, we at least understand the design of treat-
 ment,  and  prolong life,  and deliver the  patient from long
 courses of ill-advised medicines.  The action of remedies, too,
 has become an important part of our study.  We have more
 definite medicines, can measure their effects more accurately,
 and suit them more judiciously to the invasions of disease.
  If one doubts the progress of medicine  as a science, let
 him but turn to the standard works of 1800 and those of 1865.
 Then the Avhole of medical science  could be kept in a  corner
 book-case, and, even  of that, a larger proportion Avas  specu-
 lative than now.  Instead  of chemistry you had alchemy, melt-
 ing up medleys in crucibles, and looking in the dark for elixirs
 and magical  stones ; materia medica, Avith a little more sense,
 searching amid the luxuriance of vegetable life, and yet, but
 for-a Cullen, scarcely a science at all.  Uterine diseases were
 sadly misunderstood.  Surgery,  though  bold, had not even
 enunciated  much of Avhat is now regarded as a part of its
 fundamental principles ;  and practical medicine was  so ex-
 clusively an  art  as to be too artistic, and  so little of a science
 as to be empirical.  As  for  special anatomy, it Avas a very
 little infant.  Physiology  had but an indefinite meaning, and
 the oldest  professor  of Pathology in this country, who had
not been born \vhen the century commenced, has told me that
Avhen he returned from Paris and commenced to lecture, as
he might be  permitted  to do, on pathological science, many 
14
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF NEW-JERSEY.
looked upon him  as  a medical visionary, and  the first chair
bad to be made for him with misgiving.
  As for the nervous system, as little was  knoAvn of it as of
the circulation of the blood before Harvey ; and  the Avbole
of. hygienic and  sanitary science  had scarcely been thought
of as a part of the study of medicine.
  Too often  empiricism asserted  royalty in dealing Avith dis-
eases of the body, and the straight-jacket  Avas the catholicon
for  the diseases of the mind. But  noAv, turn to VirchoAV, amid
the elements of molecular action, tracing the  starting  points
of organic life ; Clark on Clinical Pathology; Dalton in Phys-
iology, and the fields of biological  research ; Barclay, Turner,
and Da Costa, on  Diagnosis ; Hall, S^quard, and Bernard, on
Nervous Affections ; Watson  on General ^Practice ; to  Vel-
peau, Miller, Sym, Mott, and Gross, on Surgery;  and to  mul-
titudes  of elaborate  monographs  on the  specialties  of  our
calling, and we have enough  to satisfy us that  outspeaking
facts have taken the place of speculation, and  that these have
been so studied and  classified as, in most cases, to form a part
of diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.  Even  where we have
not reached the ultimatum of their application, we knoAv that
Ave  have hold of the  right handle, just as  much as  Sir Hum-
phrey Davy,  Avhen he had  discovered  two or  three  of the
alkalies, knew that he Avas on  the road to scores of like re-
sults.
  It would be pleasant, did time permit, to draw  attention to
other points illustrating the poAver of medicine as a science.
There is, evidently, about it an attraction which aAvakens  the
most  noble enthusiasm in the  intellects and hearts of those
Avho pursue it as such.  To-night, could you take a passing
glance into the offices and laboratories  of  our profession
throughout the world, you Avould find an  activity and  enter-
prise which, of themselves, Avould stamp it Avith the sign-tokens
of a true philosophy.  Anatomists, amid unpleasant odors, by the
midnight lamp, are still picking away, to discover the minute
relations of the human organism.  Microscopists are spending
lone hours where  no plaudits of stimulating audiences greet 
president's address.
15
them, revealing in the human world wonders as marvelous as
those which the telescope notes as it traverses the loftier but
not deeper depths of another science.  The medical chemist is
busy prying  into  the  nature of poisons, or discovering new
therapeutic combinations ;  and so, in every department, there
are zealous votaries, pursuing their investigations Avith a care,
an accuracy,  and a diligence, which Avould be inexplicable if
they Avere  not impelled by that love of learning which meas-
ures its devotion,  not  by the acquirement  of Avealth, or  the
huzzas of fame, but which, with a magical charm, binds  the
scholar to his pursuit, and fills  his soul, as by a spell, Avith the
inspiration of an indescribable enthusiasm.
  Five or  six years since, I was  pleasantly chatting with a
distinguished professor of physiology,  Avhen in walked a jolly
old Irishman Avitb a train of  a dozen dogs.  The professor
sprang from  his seat as if in an ecstasy of  delight, and as he
whistled and  talked to them, and called  them by pet names,
and heartily  commended and reAvarded his successful agent, I
could not but look upon it as quite a scene, and it was the first
love of dogs for Avhich I had  ever had much respect.   He  was
occupied in  experiments which proved most important, and
had been scant of  material, and as I beheld  his sprightly  joy,
his delighted familiarity, his forgetfulness of every thing  but
the objects of his  scientific affection, it afforded me a perspec-
tive of the ecstasy of a true lover of science such as I shall not
forget.  There was  pictured right out, as a stereoscope does
it, the thrill   of a scholar's zeal, in the consciousness that he
had before him, the demonstration of great physiological and
functional  laws, and  the  method of illustrating hoAV vital
action is performed.  And  this is but a  homely specimen of
the  true enthusiasm which Avarms many  a  hundred of those
who are studying  the philosophy of human life in its bearings
upon health and disease. ,
   Ours, too,  is a  God-adoring, as well as attractiA'e science.
The poor materialist may stop short of its  glory and grandeur,
and in dealing Avith matter, commit  the  same error that the
rationalist  does in dealing Avith mind ; but the true logician 
16
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF NEW-JERSEY.
who is  not content Avith  half conclusions, and Avho does not
attempt  to  Aveigh \\rith the  balances  of reason, that Avhich
reason itself teaches to  be beyond its  boundaries, sees in
humanity and its construction just as it  is, the highest proof
of divinity—the  image and superscription not totally effaced.
He at times feels  as did the ancient anatomists,  Avho Avhen
they first sawed into the bony labyrinth of the ear and beheld
its  melodeon of  bones, its Avinding channels, its  pearly sea
rippling to  the waves of sound, dropped  as by instinct  their
instruments, and  together joined in a Te Deum Laudamus to
the Maker.

  From  our profession as a science i pass briefly to notice
it as a business.  As Ave have to do with it as a livelihood, Ave
are under  the necessity of considering  it and ourselves in
practical relation to society.  As Avell as  a science  and an art
it is an  occupation for support—avocation—if you choose a
trade, and as such it comes in contact with  other callings and
must  be  pursued in some respects on a common  basis.  As
6uch, we claim for it all the  rights  Avhich belong to any  other
occupation in Avhich learning and culture are made conducive
to support.  It  is a candidate  for success as a living, as Avell
as for scientific  and artistic acceptance.  It must bear its
share of jostling  in the crowd of  business rivalry, and must
expect to stand in part upon its business  merits.
   We think there are two classes of errorists in respect to
medicine as a vocation.   The  one " Mens conscia scientia,"
hangs out its sign, and that is all.   It  uses no effort to sustain
itself as a branch of human industry.  It  throAvs itself back on
intrinsic merit, Avith more of dignity than of perceived poAver,
It resorts to none of the usual  efforts by which men build up
a business.  It feels that it deserves success  and then leaves
success  to  come as best it may through what it calls natural
channels. It is over-sensitive, Avould not be suspected of having
an eye to business, sneers at a man Avho attends tQ a specialty
as if he Avere a medical sinner, talks much of punctilious ethics,
and is as formal as a Romish archbishop in  bis robes.  I have 
.president's address.
17
known such men, appreciated only by the very few Avho know
their  real merit, living like artists and poets on hope instead
of assets, worthy of admiration  because men of honor and
attainment, but still failing in the profession as a daily support,
in a Avay that it is not necessary to fail, in order to preserve
high models of professional self respect and ethical propriety.
  Another  class is more impressed with medicine as a busi-
ness, than Avith  it as a science or an art.  They practice to
make  money, have an air of  mystery about them as if in the
secrets of patents, see no harm in pushing their claims upon
the  public, take advantage of every operation as a means of
notoriety, cajole antiquated  nurses that they may be recom-
mended in private circles, ride very fast when  not in a hurry.
have a pressure of  business Sunday mornings at church time,
are  specialists  pre-eminently in self-esteem,  and in a word,
place  themselves on the same footing Avith Yankee tradesmen
and dealers in small Avares.
   Now there  is  a proper medium betAveen these.  There  is
such a thing as a legitimate  business tact in the practice of
 our calling.  The  doctor should be above all petty arts, but
 there are arts which  are not petty.  His  culture, antecedent
 to his profession, should be such as will enable him to express
himself with correctness and ease, Avhether in conversation or
 with the pen, as Avell as to Avrite elegant prescriptions.  As  a
business qualification, and as a debt due his profession, no one
 more  needs the culture and the heart of the true gentlemen.
His approach to the invalid requires none of the studied eti-
 quette of the mechanical formalist, but it does  demand the
happy ease of  one Avho has learned how to adapt himself to
the phases of human nature.  There  is the child Avho often
needs by that true art, which has true feeling as its basis, to
 be brought into confidence, the modest sex Avho have a kind
 of felt repugnance to our art which deserves  our respect, and
 Avhich if properly  appreciated grows  into reliant  trust, the
 man of business, anxious, restless, and perhaps unreasonable
 in  bis sickness, and  all need  to  be dealt Avith, not only Avith
 medical skill, but Avith that discernment  of  character which 
18
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF NEW-JERSEY.
also becomes an element in treatment.   There is not a calling
in life, even including the other learned  professions of which
the .masses of men and those well educated in other respects
are so illy able to judge correctly.  They can not measure the
doctor by the same standard they do the minister or  the laAv-
yer, who deal with subjects of  which the hearers know some-
thing, and  hence,  popular  judgment is more  often erroneous
in physic than in anything else.  We come in contact largely
with the prejudices  and impulses of men, at  a time when by
their anxieties they are easily moved to  try various remedies
in tbe hope  of  more speedy recovery,  and Ave  need, not so
much from self-respect, as out of  respect to our profession, to
give it all the advantages of a favorable introduction.   The
polite boAv, the quiet manner, the word of firm but tender
kindness, the neat apparel  and  the general demeanor of cheer-
ful thoughtfulness for the Avelfare  of  the  patient, are never
more in place than Avhen illustrated by the  medical attendant.
True and manly adaptation of ourselves to varying  circum-
stances, is a fit accompaniment  of an adaptation of our reme-
dies to the disease  on hand, and the study of character belongs
to the business of our art.
  In  the preparation of  our  medicines,  too, Ave may use
another kind of justifiable  tact.  We  should  study to make
them taste better, and take much  more pains to please the
palate when Ave can do it without sacrificing strength or value.
The people have a just claim upon elegant pharmacy.  There
is  noAV little  need of nauseous potions, and  as  the law of
association  is a law of life, strong in the cradle and groAving
to the grave,  Ave should conform to the  demand it makes upon
us.   There is no necessity that even the country doctor should
be, to the child or the adult, the synonym of assofoetida  and
castor oil, and if you have ever been long sick yourself, you
will appreciate that kind of natural inclination  there is toAvard
the attendant whose  drugs are coated Avith sugar, fragrant
with  essential oils, or flavored with odorous  extracts.   We
have no right, in justice to our calling, to alloAv paltry quacks,
wth sAveetened bubbles, in their granular degeneration, to steal
away from truth, if possible, our very elect. 
                    president's address.                 19

   There is much  discussion noAv-a-days as to specialties in
 medicine, and as to how far the regular practitiorier may, in his
 business, give prominence thereto.  We believe the tendency
 of some medical organizations is, to be too  strenuous in refer-
 ence to  them.   I for one see in them the highest hope for
 Progress.   The scope  of our science has become in the last
 half century enormously enlarged.  It is hoav rather a family
 of sciences—a  Banyan-tree with its grand  old centre still in-
 tact, but the branches  have arched over and taken root, and
 we have a noble group ; an academy amid whose groves, as
 did Plato and his followers, Ave may sit and sup each our relish
 ofdthe fulness of Philosophy. One man can not now expect in
 perfection to encircle this forest-city, and our most frequent
 failures are in the  attempt.  It is only by joining bands that
 Ave can complete the round.  Let each one feel himself as of
 the  family  ; draw nourishment  from  the  same abundant
 source ;  receive a full  curriculum in every department; and
 then choose his favorite branch.   To be great aurists, occu-
 lists, stethoscopists,  microscopists,  dermatologists, toxicolo-
 gists, orthopoedists, obstetricians, physiological, pathological,
 and chemical  classifiers of all acute and chronic  conditions,
 surgeons, apothecaries  and physicians, is  asking too much
 for three score years and ten.   There must  be  division of
 labor in order  to success ; and  the  time  is coming  when
 the general practitioner will dare  to claim that he  knows only
 what he  does knoAv, and will feel it to be a not umvortby part
 of his professional  duty to serve  his patient in divers other
 cases, by directing him to those  skilled in  a specific branch.
 The old distinctions, so Avell recognized in the British Empire,
 Avill ere long be revived here under a different kind of  classi-
 fication ; and  medicine pride itself, not as  complete  in each
 practitioner, but complete because all its members  will togeth-
 er make up  a harmonious Avhole;  and  the man of real merit
 and science, Avho puts up a modest sign of his specialty, will
 be criticized no more than he Avho  by his M. D. proclaims him-
 self  a proficient in  all.  Thus will Ave find exaltation accruing
to our profession, and be less in danger than now from imag-
                           2 
20
MEDICAL SOCIETY  OF NEW-JERSEY.
 inary and arbitrary distinctions.  We  shall then  not fail to
 distinguish betAveen those Avho, in a  proper Avay, lay  claim to
 superior skill, and those Avho, Avith gilded baubles, long adver-
 tisements, and vaunted cures, seek  only cash and notoriety
 combined.
   Let the practice of physic, as a business, have thus its defi-
 nite plans  and methods ; let love of it as a  science  and an
 art, and  energy, high-toned devotion to it as a daily vocation,
 be the motive poAver, and it  will  not fail to  place itself in a
 still more commanding  position, and reap brighter and more
 golden reAvards.

   I HASTEN TO SPEAK LASTLY OF MEDICINE AS AN ART.
   Old Playfair Avas right Avhen be said, " a principle in science
 is a rule  in art."   It is  difficult to dissociate art from its sci-
 ence, or  science from its art.  Wherever you find a real sci-
 ence, there you are sure, ere long, to discover a corresponding
 art.   There  is not always the  same  order of sequence, for
 sometimes the science gives rise to the art, and then again the
 art may introduce the science ;  and oftener still, both are uni-
 ting their labors to ruminate  and advance each other.  And
 so it is in our calling.   The science  and the art of medicine
 are indissolubly connected.   They travel on in  the same  di-
 rection, not  always  just alongside, but still ever  in intimate
 correspondence, aiding, abetting,  and elucidating  each other.
 A true art alioays seeks to illustrate and apply science, and to
 t°,st theory  by utility.   The profession  of medicine responds
 to these  requisitions.  It is so practical that  it is called the
 practice  of medicine.  Its chief effort is to use its science and
its art, both in direct application to the wants  of man.  With
 both, it aims at practical  purposes, and has definite plans by
 which it  operates for the benefit of humanity.  It is eminent-
ly utilitarian in all  its ends and  aims.   All art is  so.  Even
the fine arts, Avith the exquisite  pleasure  they  yield to the
senses, and the culture  they give  to the developing taste, are
humanitarian  and utilitarian  ;  but still more, our art, as it
seeks to  give that SAveet relief Avhich folloAvs the lull from ex- 
president's address.
21
 cruciafing pain, and to delay the pangs with which body and
 soul take  parting, is aiming at  one  of the most useful offices
 Avhich it can propose, as the goal of its ambition.
   Our art, as such, has a threefold relation to humanity.  Its
 designs are, 1st, to cure disease; 2nd, to prevent it; and 3rd,
 TO relieve pain.  It recognizes these as three separate depart-
 ments for its  effort.  It is not  only the healing art, but the
 preventive and the soothing art.  The true physician  feels
 that he has in charge the physical welfare of his species, and
 nothing that relates to hygienic or preventive science is for-
 eign to bis occupation.  In fact, as an art, independent of its
 relations to business, it has no higher triumphs than in seek-
 ing out and abating the sources  of human misery.   As it sur-
 veys the broad expanse of disease, it  perceives hoAv much of
 it is a direct  result of a disobedience of natural laAvs, b}r the
 individual himself, or by those who have in charge the sanitary
 or municipal  regulation of society, and  the  zeal of  the  true
 philanthropist, combines Avith that of the earnest physician,
 to strike at the roots and cut off  the sources of human malady.
 Thus, in reference to the laAvs of health and diet, in the study
 of meteorological  changes, and in various other matters bear-
 ing upon  the  physical status  of the nation, Ave feel  no small
 degree of interest and accountability, and realize that society
 and humanity have claims Avhich can  not be measured or dis-
 charged by  pecuniary considerations, but which, like  many
 an out-gushing effort of earnest devotion to one's pursuit, are
 rendered, because of a living interest, in all that relates to the
 material elevation and virilization of the race.
   But  Avhen our science can neither heal disease or prevent it,
 it still  has a noble office to perform.  When the body is writh-
 ing Avith the contortions of pain, and every nerve  tAvinges
 with the sensitiveness of misery, there is something Avortliy of
 the name of  art and science, too, in the man who  can speak
 peace to the  excruciating pang, and make quiet repose  take
 the place  of agonizing Availing.  Yet  this is not all.  We
 knoAv that Ave not  only avert and relieve disease, but that Ave
often cure it.   We step in  between life and  death, and with 
OO
MEDICAL SOCIETY OP NEW-JERSEY.
those remedies which the God  of nature has placed at our
command, turn aside the  reaper, death, and restore health
and  strength  to  the prostrate  form.   However perplexing
may be the indications in some  cases, every physician can re-
call manifold instances in which he knoAvs, as far as human cer-
tainty can go,  that he has averted the stroke of the destroy-
ing angel, removed the  barbed  arroAv  rankling amid the life-
blood, and can  say of this or of that one : " I saved his life."
Let  others pursue the  paths  of fortune, and build their pal-
aces of wealth, or run the race of fame, and listen to the plau-
dits of the forum and the stage. ;  let the poet and the painter
revel in the delights  of  their Avork and picture colorings, but
Avrite my name as one who strove to quell the fountains of hu-
man misery, to delay the progress of fatal disease, and ward
off the  strokes of earnest death—as  one Avho  learned to ease
the pain and  lull  the anguish of bitter trial—Avho loved  to
work, and Avatch, and Avait  by the bed-side of suffering human-
ity, in order that mortal grief might be assuaged, and that mor-
tal maladies might yield to the remedial agencies of our art.
  I now further claim that, in  all these respects, as a prevent-
ive, a relieving, and  a  curative art, medicine is progressive
and successful.  As Ave  vieAved  its  progress  as a science,  so
let us view  its progress as an  art.  Here again  Ave do not
need to extend our vision over the remote past, but can gath-
er in abundant evidence from the scope furnished by the pre-
sent century.   At its commencement comparativly little was
known of the relation of causes to disease.  Certain facts, such
as the spread of epidemics in specific latitudes, and the cessa-
tion of diseases by special influences, as when the burning of
400 acres of tenement houses in London stopped the Plague,
had. indeed, long draAvn attention to the fact that there Avas
some connexion betAveen atmospheric and constitutional chan-
ges, between locality and disease, but no definite  method  of
investigation or laAV of action had been deduced therefrom.
But noAV hygienic and sanitary laws have their definite appli-
cations.  Though Ave can not trace the origin of such subtle
causes  as eliminate the  poison of cholera, or the contagion of 
PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.
23
certain fevers, yet, even in such cases, Ave knoAv much that can
be turned to practical account.  We recognize enough of the
antecedents of cholera, of the definite connexions between re-
mittent fevers and miasm, and  betAveen  human filth and the
prevalence of typhus, to  enable us to do  much in diminishing
their frequency, or modifying their severity.  We know that
certain measures as to cleanliness will secure immunity from
many diseases, Avhile  the influence of proper drainage, good
air, good diet, and contentment  of mind, are appreciated and
applied by the physician in many practical Avays.
  Besides, by the process of Vaccination alone, thousands upon
thousands have been rescued, not only from death, but from
disfiguring disease, and the greatness of the immunity and
blessing,  can  scarce  be  appreciated, now that variola has
ceased to be  a  sAveeping, unchecked scourge.  The value of
preventive medicine has been so frequently illustrated in the
last feAv years, that it no longer rests upon any doubtful evi-
dence.  Cities in Avhich all curative methods have failed to
arrest prevalent disease, have been  delivered therefrom by
removal of accumulated refuse, and it is not too much to say
that Avere those laws of hygiene, Avhich are no longer a matter
of doubt, applied AATith earnestness and  efficiency, the aggre-.
gate of sickness, in city and country, Avould  be reduced not less
than  forty per cent., and that of premature death in propor-
tion.   Even in an economical point of view, such an applica-
tion of these laws is desirable, inasmuch as  disease and mortal-
ity deduct from the industrial Avealth of a nation, but in the
higher  and more important aspect of blessing  to humanity,
there is the highest appeal to our  professional and personal
effort.  The  cities of Boston and Providence have well illus-
trated the value of such efforts  in their permanent methods.
and even New York and  Washington  been  greatly bene-
fitted  by  occasional aAvakening,  but have been oftener stand-
ing proofs of neglect.
  New York City, with its 5000 or 6000 cases of  small pox the
last year,  is good evidence on the point; and the proportionate
surplus of deaths by 6000 or 7000 is not to  be accounted for by
latitude or locality. 
24            MEDICAL SOCIETY OF NEW-JERSEY.

  As to miasmatic diseases, their laAvs are so Avell understood
that correct vieAvs, as to preventive measures,  have often led
to the relief of prevailing disease, by resort to practical meth-
ods of drainage, and the removal of obstructions to the Aoav of
natural channels.   Thus, by this  one  department of  hygiene
and sanitary art alone, thousands have been rescued from un-
timely graves, and tens of thousands from the  long-continued
inflictions of disease, and yet  there  is no field in which more
remains to be  done.   Strange  to  say, here, medicine as a sci-
ence is yet far ahead of medicine as an art;  in  other Avords
Ave know far more of  the  general and specific laws of health,
as applicable to individuals  and  to crowded communities,
than has as  yet found its Avay  into practice or  municipal regu-
lations.
  Not less,  as a relieving  art, has medicine  recorded grand
progress in  the present century. The discovery of  such  an
anesthetic as  chloroform, or  as ether, is of itself  enough to
croAvn our profession with honor for an age.  Human pain aud
agony are sad and terrible things, and he is no small  benefac-
tor to his race Avho disco\rers, or Avhose business it  is  to apply
principles and methods which lead to  its relief.   If Ave con-
trast the past age of medicine  in this respect with the  present,
Ave have reason for joyful  congratulation.  To perform opera-
tions without  causing a struggle or a moan,  Avhich  once re-
quired the lashing-table and the  strength of human force ; to
substitute the SAveet, calm smile of quiet sleep, for  the scream
of distress, when  the  scalpel  is penetrating nerves ; and yet
meanwhile,  to accomplish the most skilful operations of sur-
gery—this is a glory and a triumph of Avhich any science or
any art may Avell be  proud.  Could  all the  relief Avhich has
been afforded to human pain by chloroform alone be  express-
ed by measure of quantity, or test of quality, or poAver of hu-
man language, you Avould   have an aggregate  of. capacity, of
choice selection, of thrilling delineation such as any mere con-
ception fails to impress.  Could a painter in one gloAving picture
present you the sum of relief and  of comfort that thus our pro-
fession has bestoAved,  it Avouldbe worthy to take its place as an 
PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.
25
image of contentment beside the sleeping Madonna ; and could
another portray the condensed misery and pain it has averted,
it Avould be a portraiture  with La Miserable as its name, and
a part of Cornelius' "Last Judgment" as its model. '
  Nor are Ave to lose sight of manifold other  methods of relief.
The Avhole  class of narcotics and sedatives have, Avith all
their poAver, as a prominent  design, the relief as well as  the
cure of disease, and  how effectually and  satisfactorily they
accomplish it, patient and physician are often the happy Avit-
nesses.  Improvements in ease and simplicity  of  treatment
have added, in the last feAV years, much to the comfort of  the
sick or  injured;  and the Avhole practice.of medicine is now
pursued with less of inconvenience to the patient, and of less
expenditure of that vital poAver Avhich constitutes pain, than
ever before. Thus, the art of relief becomes next in precious-
ness to that of cure ; and unquestioned, may take a high posi-
tion among  Avell directed and philanthropic  efforts.
  No less progressive is medicine as a curative  art.   Where
once it shook the head of doubt, and trembled with the pre-
sentiment of failure, it noAV advances with the firm tread of a
reasonable certainty.   While by reliable statistics it is able to
show an appreciable,  numerical gain in the management of old
ailments, it cures others which were once consigned to the sad
Golgotha of hopelessness, and grapples Avith  disease, not to lull
into unconscious  security, but to renovate with  the blushing
ruddiness of restored health.  It  attempts  cure by methods
once unknown, and sustains their value by accurate experience.
In every department, it reaches out Avith energetic hand, for
all that reason can suggest and  example prove, and hesitates
not to subsidize to its service eA'ery thing likely  to overcome
or ameliorate injury or disease.  Once dealing with disease by
name, it noAV successfully defines  its stages, and assigns its
remedies, with no small degree of accuracy.   Operations once
considered  hazardous, or  not  even proposed, have become an
actual part of our science.  Articles of Materia Medica, Avhich
Avere unknown,  or so crude as not to be available, have had
their virtues so extracted as to be manageable, and have taken 
26
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF NEW-JERSEY.
  their place as valuable remedies ; and  in the department of
  Uterine disease an almost radical change has been inaugurated.
  The phyiician  of the present  day can approach almost any
  disease Avith a  consciousness of valuable facts in possession
  bearing upon it, and in a large number of cases these facts are
  such as advance our  art as much as they elevate our science.
  Notwithstanding  the inroads of luxury, and the  deterioration
  of physical stamina, Avhich  too much marks  our age, careful
  statistics show that where the  principles of our  art are faith-
  fully applied, there has been a uniform  and  appreciable de-
  crease.  Under improved hygienic regulations,  Paris,  since
  1830. has diminished its percentage of death from one in thir-
  ty-two to one in thirty-seven.   In London a corresponding
  improvement has  taken place, until the death rate is reduced
-  to one in forty.
    We next pass in conclusion to inquire whether medicine as
  an art is successful.   This is in fact involved in the idea of
  progressiveness, for that scarcely deserves the name of a pro-
  gressive art, Avhich does not eventuate in advantage  and suc-
  cess.  But it may be  Avell briefly to inquire  to Avhat extent the
  art of prevention, relief, and cure, as represented in the prac-
  tice of medicine, is successful.
    A general proof of the success of an art is to be derived
  from its antiquity, and from  the estimation in  Avhich it is held
  by all civilized communities.  While  the deference  and pat-
  ronage which is often extended to empiricism may sometimes
  lead to disgust and doubt ; yet  this can only result from a cir-
  cumscribed vieAv  of the area of our profession.   While,  ever
  and anon, some neAV system  is  vaunted  and popular, yet  the
  great fact stands out  from  the rubbish of all these false meth-
  ods, that the regular profession still holds its Avay amid them
  all, and not a single system,  Avhich has stood  the test of time,
  pretends to vie with it.  The alchymists and  vegetarians, the
  Thompsonians  and hydropaths,  the  chrono-thermalists and
  eclectics, and many  other upstarts  Avhose very names  are
  iioav  forgotten, have  passed  aAvay, as  will  Homeopathy  in
  its turn, Avith the age begetting them, and the progress of the 
president's address.                  27
Avorld writes Nihil, as their epitaph.  This alone shows  that
in the general estimate  of mankind it is successful; for a pro-
fession in Avhich are involved the actual life and health of the
people, Avould not have had such perpetuity conferred upon  it.
in compare Avith other systems, unless in  the main it had com-
manded the intelligent assent and approval of the Avorld.  This
alone confers upon  it, so far as the " vox  populi" is  concerned,
the croAvn of successful competition, as having, in the long run,
fairly and fully distanced its more pretentious rivals.  Mankind
have thus honored it, because in general they  have recognized
it as the most successful dispenser of the preservatives of life,
and the restoratives of health ;  and  that  old English duke is
yet  Avorthy of admiration, who, in a time Avhen Popery and   \
Quackery were rampant in  England, Avas  taken sicT^Avith in-
curable ailment, and Avhen informed by his medical attendant
that his disease was mortal, replied, <: I  am content, inasmuch
as I am permitted to  die in the faith of the regular church, and
under the care of a regular physician."
  But Ave need not rely for  proof of success upon the general
assent of mankind.  Our advance is more demonstrative than
this.  When  a man is Avrithing Avith the contortions of pain,
as the result of intestinal irritation, and successive narcotics
quell  the  griping  monster, and relax the Avoful  spasm, that
relief AA'hich is as responsive to the remedy as ever effect is to
cause, is  quite convincing  enough  to the patient and to us.
When the  injured artery is  pouring out the life blood, Avith
the pale death damp settling  on the countenance, and the well
applied ligature is the thread which interweaves Avith the
parting thread of life, and gives it strength for other years,
the patient does  not fail to see the connexion betAA-een his
surgeon and his rescue. These are but specimens of number-
less cases of direct demonstrative success, and besides these,
there are thousands of others, Avhich, although not so accurate-
ly sequent, yet can appeal for proof of success  to the same
kind of evidence deemed satisfactory in other vocations.
  In dangerous diseases it is always safe  to refer recovery to
treatment, Avhere  the  symptoms  have been such as are gene- 
28            medical society of neav-jersey.

rally fatal, and where the treatment adopted has been  such
as experience and  statistics prove to have  diminished the
fatality  of  the particular disease.   In respect  to  pleurisy,
pneumonia, puerperal feATer, typhus and many other diseases,
we  may rest our proof  upon just this kind of evidence.  In
phthisis pulmonalis, although cure is seldom effected, we  have
many and indisputable  principles of treatment, and that Ave
are able to elevate  the system above the consumptive mark,
and to prolong life, Ave have all that kind  of assurance which
is furnished  by  increasing   strength,  diminished  cough,
higher vitality, and cessation of serious symptoms.  In other
cases, such as organic heart disease, Avhere Ave can not change
structure, yet Ave are able to make  accurate diagnosis, and by
warning the patient against certain contingencies, lead him to
prolong his life, and thus secure a partial success.  I kneAv a
man with pulmonary aneurism, who, after treatment  for con-
sumption  and divers other ailments, had  his  obscure  case
recognized by a learned auscultafor, and not only was relieved
from all doubt and long courses of ill advised medicines, but
led  to such  a judicious course of regimen and life, as served
to add much to his comfort  and his days, and even this cannot
be  called failure.  A profession Avhich had no higher  claim
than that of thus securing partial deliverance, would not be
cast out as useless, and much less, one which has in it so much
of real success that we  need scarcely allude to such evidences.
  There is another  kind of success, not attracting the public
eye, Avhich our profession has  a full right to claim.
  By the Avritings and opinions of medical men, a very great in-
fluence is exercised in behalf of public  and private medical
charities, Avhich, Avhile  adopted in  most civilized countries,  is
seldom traced to its primal source. As many a river is bounding
Avith life, and bearing over its Avaters the common Avealth  of the
people, Avhose fountain-head aAvay  off in the quiet top of some
rocky mountain has  never mirrored a  single  face of those Avho
travel on it; so these sources of correct physical  laAV are un-
seen and unknoAvn  Avhile the world  is gathering in  the rich
reAvard of their labors.  Thus, a large part of what has become 
president's  address.
29
the common stock of  enlightened  humanity, as to the laAvs of
life and health, and public provision therefore is due  to  the
investigation and experience of our profession.  Those noble
charities which grace the Avorld, Avith the realizations of a prac-
tical philanthropy, as exhibited in infirmaries and dispensaries,
for the poor and needy ; in hospitals for the sick, the Avounded,
and the sore ; in  asylums for the  deaf and the blind,  the
outcast and the destitute, are  in no small  degree the direct
outgroAvth of our profession.  If  religion is the foster-mother,
our scientific art is the foster-father.  All over the broad area of
Christian civilization, every asylum for the blind is a monument
to the energy of Dr. Howe, Avho not only looked to their tempo-
ral Avants, but invented the raised letters, Avhich introduce them
to  the  Bible and the literature  of the world.  The hospital
upon the  Alps,  on the grand  landscape slope of the Abend-
berg, Avhich has demonstrated Iioav much can be done to ameli-
orate the condition of the cretin and  the  idiot, is the  life-work
of Dr.  Guggenbuhl;  the idea of rescuing  the drunkard from
the Avierd  poAver of the spell  enchantress' habit, by  medical
treatment, has been happily practicalized under the  fostering
care of Dr. Turner ; and never let it be forgotten, that the noble
charity at Trenton, Avhich confers upon our  state all the honor
due to a generous provision for the  most unfortunate  of  her
children, had its origin in the action of this society, and its in-
ceptions in the minds and hearts  of some Avho to-night honor
us Avith their presence.  In no profession is so much of service
thus rendered Avithout pecuniary reAvard ; and even the call of
public institutions for the relief of their suffering inmates, is re-
sponded to by the''very ablest men of the profession, Avithout per-
sonal recompense. I speak after investigation of the subject, Avhen
I say, that in all countries a \7ery large proportion of the public
provisions made for mental and physical disability, its prevention
and its cure, is traceable to our profession, and Ave need  only to
read their  careful reports, to satisfy us  Iioav much of success
has attended our efforts.  Civil and political poAver have neces-
sarily been  called upon to  consummate endoAvments,  and to
secure  munificent pecuniary patronage,  and thus  have gene- 
30            medical society of  neav-jersey.
rally been regarded as the authors.   But, behind all this, you
will  find  the earnest labors of medical men,  by  essays,  by
appeals, by petitions, by expenditures of time and skill and
money, touching the main springs Avhich have started these me-
chanisms of  philanthropy into motion.  Their success is  the
success of our profession ; and though the Avorld may not regis-
ter our names upon the tablet of fame's temple, in the eternity
of knoAvledge, in the hidden registry of human benefaction, " Lo,
Ben Adhem's name leads all the rest."
   Another proof of success is to be  found in the spirit and in
the result with Avhich we grapple neAv diseases.  If diptheria,
or spotted fever, or malignant pustule or other sudden epidemic
invades a locality, hoAv quickly medical men are on the alert to
trace its history  and to  stay its  deadly tramp ;  and even in
such a class of  cases, we are conscious of increasing success.
Although we may not fully  eliminate the poison, or  eradicate
the disease, Ave can and do meet it with the poAverful antago-
nism of an earnest and a practical art, and generally  have  the
satisfaction of  seeing the severity decrease as  we  the more
thoroughly study and treat it.
   Besides all this, there are  numbers of diseases now success-
fully treated  which once bade defiance to all the investigations
of our science, and the experience of our art.  There are dis-
eases of the eye, such as Iritis, which once consigned nine-tenths
of those attacked to hopeless blindness, Avhen noAV such a result
is only the sparse exception.   There are affections of the brain,
such as the Hydrocephaloid disease, which  a careful diagnosis,
has so separated  from acute dropsy as to  save many a child.
Diseases of the heart, the lungs, and the alimentary apparatus
are  much  more  definitely  understood, and  Ave knoAv, from
a comparison of aggregated results, that Ave meet them better
than  did our fathers, and almost every year improve  upon  our-
selves.
   In  Uterine affections, the last tAventy-five years have  wit-
nessed great  modifications of treatment, and the operation for
vesico-vaginal fistula  has been but  the prelude  to local treat-
ment of other  sexual ailments, which has  lifted many a sigh 
president's address.
31
from off the sorroAvs of Avomanhood and returned many a chron-
ic invalid to the useful  happiness of restored health.  A new
era has daAvned upon this department; and new and surprising
success is attending those who keep pace Avith the advance.
  In the domain of surgery it would be too tedious to particu-
larize the progress.   With chloroform as the presiding almoner
of peace, the dislocated joint, -by scientific manipulation, falls
into its  socket Avithout the seven mechanical poAvers; and
French surgery, during the past  year, even reports the reduc-
tion of a broken neck.   The broken bone no longer consigns
the patient to Aveeks of bed-ridden impatience, and exsection
and resection preserve many  a limb,  once  buried  before its
time.  The system of extension and counter extension no longer
means a cumbersome appliance of boards, and bandages, and
dragging Aveights, but Avith simple adhesive plaster, or Smith's
anterior splint,  ease  and motion are  alike secured.  The
pitiable sufferer from  hip  disease,  no  longer  lingers  long-
months  of  Aveary confinement, but Avith Avell adjusted splints
Avalks forth to  breathe  that  air which is health to his  bones
and doeth  good like a medicine.
   The SAVollen epiglottis no longer necessarily proves fatal, and
had George Washington lived in our day his ATaluable life might
have been prolonged for many  years.   Plastic operations, if Ave
can judge from groAving custom have  made hare-lip popular,
 while the  orthopaedist has no  apology to offer for any limping
Mephibosheth he may  meet.
   The beautiful system of arterial lignature, as with silken or
silver thread, it has  passed  from one success  to another, has
recorded the grandest triumphs of modern surgery,  until since
last we met, it has reached the climax of its  achievements in a
successful  tieing of  the ateria  innominata.   With wounds and
bruises and putrifying sores we deal in a simpler and more suc-
cessful Avay, Avhile diseases of the joints are  less fatal than for-
merly.  Hernia admits of many a radical cure, and encysted
dropsy,  and ovarian tumors are  not unfrequently relieved  by
operations, which by their extent, and length, and boldness;
seem to the unpracticed eye almost superhuman.  Contracted 
32
medical society of new-jersey.
tendons yield to mechanical contrivances ; and spinal cutwatures
resume the graceful symmetry with which nature has elaborat-
ed  the great flexible column of upright humanity.  Scientific
ingenuity has  provided  us Avith the  microscope, the ophal-
mascope,  the laryngoscope, in such rapid succession, that Ave
have yet only partially  profited by their augmenting revela.-
tions.  Numberless minor  instruments  have simplified or ren-
dered  possible many operations ; wooden limbs are  Avalking
as if with the comfort and agility of living  calibre ; and in the
various departments of mechanical appliance Ave are daily prov-
ing, by our success, Iioav much can be done externally to over-
come the invasions of disease and injury.
  In a word, our profession in all its departments, is teeming
Avith the trophies of recent success, and is bidding its votaries
to keep pace Avith its advancing triumphs.
  As thus we have glanced over the field of vision presented
in this hasty review, there  is found  enough to thrill the heart
of science Avith zealous enthusiasm, and to Avarm the practi-
tioner  of medicine Avith all  the gloAving  energy of a living, ad-
vancing art.
  Such, my fellow laborers, is the noble calling Avhich we have
selected as ours, among the learned  professions.   In the name
of all that is precious inhumanity,  of all that is joyful in the
ecstacy of advancing knowledge and successful  application, I
bid you hail I   Called by your kind  preference to the highest
honor Avithin the gift of the Profession of this State, I desire
to magnify my office only by endeavoring  to  arouse one and
all to an adequate appreciation of the power  and progress of
our noble vocation.  When I address you as the FoIIoavs and
Delegates of the State  Medical Society of New Jersey; I call
you by no common name.   With it are intertAvined not only
the precious  memories of ninety and nine years  full of friend-
ship and renown, but the devotion of true men  to  a glorious,
scientific art; the majestic campaign of an organized battal-
ion against  the  encroachments of disease ;  the unflinching
valor of tried  heroes, battling with  life-energy against  the
grim forces of Death.  It is the combination  of learning and 
president's address.
33
experience ripened into accurate judgment, and wielded  Avith
intelligent skill, in order that the aged grandparent  may still
occupy the good old family chair ; that the bonds of conjugal
affection, cemented in love, may not be  rudely severed by the
untimely separations of the  grave ; that the prattling cherub
may still cheer the household Avith his ringing laugh ;  that the
fond parents  may  still gather their loA'ed ones, like olives,
about the table, and that all the SAveet amenities that render
life a social, holy joy, may be prolonged as much as the insta*
bility of the Avorld will permit.
   Consecrated to such Avork, Ave meet, that our plighted  voavs
may be reneAved.   We review the past, that Ave may gather
strength for the  future ; we grasp  the hand of  professional
friendship, that we may Avarm our mutual sympathies to no-
bler and stronger endurance.   We trace our progress, and re-
cord our success only that avc may rise up and tread the road
that leads to more ; Ave compare  our experience, that  each
may profit by that of the other, and thus hope to return to
our respective fields of labor, the better prepared to meet the
exigencies of disease.
   Thus, in our own appropriate spheres,  Ave will do  our part
to  make America,  in the triumph of her arts, coequal Avith
America in the triumph of her arms.   OA'er all the broad do-
main Ave Avill  spread the protecting  asgis  of the Healing Art;
and Avhile others  are  battling for the  nation's life,  Avith the
booming roar of the sea-fight or  the terrible conflicts of the
battle-field, Ave will bring sanitary and prophylactic science to
bear, in hold, hospital and  camp, will care  for the people's
health Avith the vvell directed effort of good Samaritan admin-
istration ; and, Avhen at home,  the strength  and glory of the
land, its men, its Avomen and its children, are prostrate Avith
disease, unheralded as  the  deAv, noiseless as the sun, Ave will
dispense those remedies, which, with the blessing of God up-
on them, Avill  give strength, and health, and vigor to the land.
With such  high resolves and strong desires, let  us  Avelcome
each other to  these deliberations,  hoping and expecting  bene-
fit from this  fraternal  and professional interview,  and from 
3-1            medical society of new-jersey.

hence shall we return to our duties, Avith invigorated deter-
mination to act Avell our parts as  members of that profession,
whose foundation is a true science, Avhose  superstructure is a
groAving temple of successful art,  and around whose  Doric pil-
lars, Religion, Philosophy, Philanthropy and Humanity bind
the chaplets and  entwine the garlands of their majestic  ap-
proval.
• 
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