NW YORK UNIVERSITY-MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. 
AN 
INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 
DELIVERED IN 
<lje Ininrrsitt] nf jRm ^nrk, 
SESSION MDCCOXLIX-^L. 
BV 
VALENTINE MOTT, M.D., 
PROFESSOR OP SURGERY. 
NEW YORK: 
JENNINGS & HARRISON, PRINTERS, 122 NASSAU ST. 
1 8 5 0. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY-MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. 
AN 
INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 
DELIVERED IN 
« 
€(je ftaiwwhj of 55m ^irk, 
* 
SESSION MDCCCXLIX-L. 
BY 
VALENTINE MOTT, M. D., 
PROFESSOR OF SURGERY. 
NEW YORK: 
JENNINGS & HARRISON, PRINTERS, 122 NASSAU ST. 
1850. New York University, Medical Department, 
October 31st, 1849. 
Professor Mott,- * 
Dear Sir-At a meeting of the Students of the Medical Department 
of the University of New York, held October 30th, 1849, John M. Snyder 
of Memphis, Tenn., being called to the Chair, and John A. Dickson of 
North Carolina, appointed Secretary, it was unanimously 
Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to present to Professor 
Mott the thanks of the Class for his able and instructive Introductory 
Lectuie, delivered on the evening of the 29th inst., and to request a copy 
of the same for publication. 
The undersigned having the honor thus to represent the class, take the 
liberty of adding to the message they were delegated to convey, their 
personal solicitations that you will not refuse to confer upon them so 
great a favor. 
We remain, very respectfully, your ob't serv'ts, 
J. M. Snyder, Tennessee, Chairman. 
E. W. Pope, Nova Scotia. A. P. Dalrymple, Maryland. 
J. K. Might, E. Canada. E. L. Wager, Virginia. 
D. B. Wright, W. Canada. J. J. Register, N. Carolina. 
L. H. Gulick, Sandwich Islands. J. D. O'Bannon, S. Carolina. 
S. D. Washburn, Maine. M. P. Deadwiler, Georgia. 
E. G. Bartlett, New Hampshire. H. Shearer, Alabama. 
G. W. McKeon, Vermont. J. M. Todd, Mississippi. 
T. H. Smith, Massachusetts. A. Grimes, Louisiana. 
D. A. Fox, Connecticut. W. H. Bradford, Florida. 
C. E. Nicholas, Rhode Island. J. S. Stevens, Ohio. 
T. Walsh, New York. W. H. Cunningham, Kentucky. 
W. Kitchell, New Jersey. G. L. Andrew, Indiana. 
J. A. Glenn, Pennsylvania. S. W. Everett, Illinois. 
J. A. Dickson, Secretary. 
Depau Place, Nov. 1st, 1849. 
John M. Snyder, and others,- 
Gentlemen,-I received this morning your kind and flattering note. 
The Discourse you refer to, was delivered in compliance with the wishes 
of my colleagues, the Medical Faculty of the University of New York, 
and was not written for publication. 
If you think it will be gratifying to your friends and the class to have 
it published, it is at your service. 
With sentiments of great regard, I remain your friend, 
(Signed) 
VALENTINE MOTT. DISCOURSE. 
GentlemexN, Students of Medicine :- 
The period has again arrived when it is at once my 
privilege and my pleasure to welcome you to these 
Academic halls. With the faces of many I am familiar. 
I rejoice to see you again at your posts, and eager, I 
hope, to pursue, with assiduity, the acquisition of knowl- 
edge which you have so happily began. You return, 
I trust, refreshed by a period of comparative repose, 
passed in the homes of your childhood, and in the bo- 
soms of your families, during which you have, I hope, 
pondered upon the information which was here impart- 
ed ; arranged in your memories the facts and princi- 
ples laid down to you, and are not only prepared for 
a vigorous advance in science, but better ^qualified to 
profit by the lessons of your teachers. 
Others, again, I see here, who, as yet, are strangers 
to me. We shall soon, I hope, become intimate ; and 
when we again separate, I shall have, I trust, equal rea- 
son to be gratified with the punctuality and diligence of 
the new class, as of the old. 
To all, I may safely say, that they enter upon and 
pursue their medical studies under the brightest auspi- 
ces. Never, since medicine has been taught as a sci- 
ence in this country, have such advantages been pre- 
sented to the medical student, as at the present time. 
If, to begin with their enumeration, we consider the 
condition of the Institutions devoted to his instruction 6 
in the sublime mysteries of his high and holy calling, 
we shall find that they scarcely admit of improvement. 
Capacious and commodious edifices are erected for the 
reception of the student-arranged with perfect adap- 
tation to his wants and comforts. Faculties, composed 
of men of undoubted eminence and learning in their 
profession, selected from the great body of the frater- 
nity for their peculiar adaptation to the duties which 
devolve upon them, stand ready, with conscientious zeal 
and consummate ability, to develope to him the princi- 
ples and practice of his art. 
Nor is the materiel for illustration less copious and 
appropriate. 
Spacious, well ventilated and cleanly dissecting 
rooms, amply supplied with subjects, presided over by 
accomplished demonstrators, are prepared to initiate 
him into the most intimate acquaintance with the fear- 
ful and wonderful machinery of the human fabric. Mu- 
seums, rich in every variety of preparation of natural 
parts, by which the skill and industry of man has con- 
trived, in a thousand ways, to demonstrate its compo- 
nent parts, their internal structure, and their anatomi- 
cal relations, are open for hourly inspection ; rich, too, 
in every variety of singular and mal-conformation, and 
in illustration of the ravages and the nature of Disease. 
The exquisite designs of the later eminent patholo- 
gists, supply to the professor of Theory and Practice 
the amplest opportunity of exhibiting to his class the 
minute Morbid Anatomy of the diseases which he de- 
scribes ; and scarcely any have not been figured with 
a beauty and life-like accuracy which a glance at the 
morbid specimen serves only to confirm. The cabi- 
net of the professor of Materia Medica is replete with 
every variety of vegetable substance, indigenous and 
exotic, used in the practice of the healing art; and with 7 
the principles which Chemistry has extracted from them 
by their destructive analysis. Every simple and mine- 
ral body, with its compounds, is to be found upon its 
shelves. Colored plates of the vegetable Materia Med- 
ica adorn its walls; and the diligent student need not, 
and ought not, to be unacquainted with the outward ap- 
pearance, color, smell, taste, &c., of every substance 
which he is hereafter to dispense in the exercise of his 
vocation. 
The high priest of Lucina, too, falls not a whit behind 
his brethren in the amplitude of his resources for the 
imparting of a thorough and accurate knowledge of 
his most delicate, difficult, interesting and important de- 
partment of the latric art. To allude to the facilities 
given to the professors of Anatomy and Surgery, for 
the illustration of their lectures, after a notice of the 
perfection of our dissecting rooms and museums, and 
the skill and zeal of our demonstrators, would be super- 
fluous. And a glance at the varied and costly array of 
Chemical and Philosophical apparatus, contained in the 
cases of the unsurpassed apartment in which the truly 
eminent professor of that most delightful, instructive, 
and important department of your professional educa- 
tion, unfolds with a true eloquence, based upon a pro- 
found knowledge of his subject, the invaluable resour- 
ces with which Chemistry has endowed the Materia 
Medica, and reveals the hidden mysteries of that ines- 
timable science, will convince you, that nothing is want- 
ing in that department, in the principal medical schools 
of our Union, for the perfecting of the student in its 
countless minutiae. 
In short, Gentlemen, I need but ask of you to peram- 
bulate these halls to-night, opened for your and the 
public inspection-to attend a very few only of the 
prelections of your professors, to be fully assured, that 8 
everything that can contribute to the comfort and in- 
struction of the student, is now a part of the organiza- 
tion of a"we 11 endowed, well managed, and well patron- 
ized Medical School. 
In this enumeration, Gentlemen, of the superior ad- 
vantages enjoyed by the medical student at the present 
epoch, immeasurably greater than in the past, derived 
from the perfection of the organization of our medical 
schools, I have left unattended to the Clinics and the 
Text-books of the day. Of the former I shall speak 
hereafter. In regard to the latter, I cannot forbear to 
congratulate you upon the very great advantages you 
enjoy in their superiority to those of former times, and 
in their perfection of adaptation to the purposes for 
which they are designed. 
But a few years since, I could only place upon the 
table in my office, for the use of my students, the works 
on Practice of Cullen, of Gregory and Thomas-the 
Anatomy of Munro, of Bell and Wistar-the Obstet- 
rics of James, Burns and Dewees-the Surgery of the 
Bells and of Cooper, and the Materia Medica of Cox 
and Murray; books that are now seldom met with, if 
in print, and which no student of the present day would 
purchase at any price. When we contrast the earlier 
Text-books of the Schools with those which have suc- 
ceeded them, you will see that my eulogy is not over- 
strained. Many professors in Medical Schools, both 
at home and abroad, have either prepared original works 
upon the branches which they teach, as text-books for 
their classes, which in fullness of information, and clear- 
ness of enunciation, leave nothing to be desired; or 
have edited the works of others with ability. In Anat- 
omy, we have now the great works of Wilson, of Har- 
rison, of Cruveilhier, of Horner, of Quain and Sharpey; 
in Physiology, of Muller, Carpenter, Roget, Dunglison, 9 
and the yet more recent and elaborate labors of Todd 
and Bowman. 
In the Practice of Medicine, we have now to boast of 
the entertaining- and instructive volumes of Watson, the 
works of Wood, of Dunglison and of my worthy and 
talented colleague, Dickson. In Surgery are now ex- 
tant and easily accessible to all, the able lectures of 
Ferguson, Miller and Liston-the mighty work of Che- 
licos, and the still more voluminous and comprehensive 
tomes of Velpeau, which, translated and so ably edited 
and copiously enriched by my late lamented friend, Dr. 
P. S. Townsend, and to whose pages the experience of 
him who now addresses you has made additions, nei- 
ther few, nor he hopes, insignificant, is an almost per- 
fect compendium of the art. In Midwifery, the unsur- 
passed work of Churchill and that of Chailly, so ably 
translated, improved and favorably recommended by 
my talented colleague, the Professor of Obstetrics ; to 
say nothing of Moreau, Maygrier, Ramsbotham, Mur- 
phy, &c., leave nothing to be desired ; whilst of every 
remaining branch of medical science, the same may be' 
justly said. 
Independently of the excellence of their arrangement,* 
the extent of scientific information which these works- 
contain, and its being brought thoroughly up to the level 
of the science at the present day, the excellence of their' 
typography, the beauty, fidelity and number of the illus- 
trations with which they are supplied and embellished, 
and their multitudinous notes, contribute in a high de- 
gree to facilitate the progress and increase the comfort 
of the student.* 
* The author regrets to have recollected since the delivery of this Lee- 
ture, that, owing to the haste in which it was composed, injustice has been 
done in that portion of it which alludes to the literature of the day, to sev- 
eral of his colleagues of this Faculty. Under the head of text-books of 
Anatomy, for example, no notice was'taken of the editions of CruveilhieK 10 
But, Gentlemen, if such be the state of the literature 
of the profession, at the moment at which you enter upon 
its study, how much more must we be amazed, gratified 
and interested, upon a survey of the present actual con- 
dition of the Sciences themselves, which constitute in 
the aggregate that of Medicine, and which it is the sep- 
arate business of each professor of this Faculty to un- 
fold to you ? Here, indeed, is a wide field for exulta- 
tion and sclf-gratulation. 
Never since Medicine was cultivated as a Science, 
has it been studied as at the present day. The chimeric 
imaginings of a Stahl, a Hoffman and a Cullen, have 
yielded to the safer and calmer results and reasonings 
of a strictly inductive philosophy, in the labors of a 
Bright, a Carpenter, a Bowman, and an Andral. The 
pathology of a Lientaud, a Morgagni, of a Baillie even, 
meritorious at it was, sinks into insignificance by the 
side of that of a Hope, a Carswell, a Bright and a 
Cruveilhier. The fallacies of a Boerhave, in his day 
the most eminent of his profession, and the Chemistry 
which he taught, and upon which he founded alone the 
principles and the practice of his art, fall before the 
searching analysis of a Liebig and a Muller. 
and Masse by his distinguished colleague, Professor Pattison. The vast 
learning, research, industry and logical acumen evinced by his friend, 
Professor Paine, in his great works, (the Medical Commentaries, the In- 
stitutes of Medicine, and Materia Medica) and which are among the most 
elaborate and valuable contributions to the Science of Medicine and its 
accessory branches-Physiology, Pathology and Practice-ever made by 
our own country, had escaped what they so richly merited, a particular 
allusion. The valuable additions made by the late lamented Revere to the 
Physiology of Magendie were not indicated. The outlines of Chemistry 
of Professor Draper, and though not strictly a text-book, the work of 
Professor D. on Light, may be fairly included in the above list, as deci- 
dedly one of the ablest productions of American Science, and as comple- 
ting the summary of proof of an ardent devotion to the advancement of 
Medical Science, and high professional and scientific attainment on the 
part of the Faculty of the University. 11 
Consider for a moment the precision which Diagnosis 
has attained by the observance of physical signs, chem- 
ical tests and a more accurate Pathology. Think how 
the Surgery of the day, with its ceaseless progress and 
improvement, both of principle, capability, and applian- 
ces, compares with that of the ruder, the barbarous days, 
I may say, in which Pare and Garangeot flourished, and 
compare, lastly, the Obstetrical art at this time, with 
its condition when Chamberlain first employed, and 
Smelie improved, the most useful of our embryulcic 
instruments. I say nothing in this place of the recent 
employment of anaesthetic agents, because I shall allude 
to them as they deserve, at a later period of this dis- 
course. 
Lastly, consider, Gentlemen, the immense and valua- 
ble additions which modern Chemistry has made to the 
Materia Medica, which were unknown to our ancestors, 
and say, whether at the present day the science of 
medicine has not attained to a height to which, at no 
previous time it had begun even to aspire. 
In every part of the globe where Medical Science is 
cultivated, thousands are at work in attempting the solu- 
tion of its mysteries, and with more or less success. 
The periodical press teems writh the innumerable, inter- 
esting and important results of their isolated labors; 
while larger tomes collect their scattered stores, deduce 
from them facts and principles, erect theories and ex- 
plain phenomena, and apply them to the elucidation of 
problems, physiological and pathological, and to the 
treatment and cure of disease. The Anatomist and 
Physiologist, armed with the scalpel, and aided by 
that important instrument, whose great perfectionment 
in modern times has contributed, and will hereafter 
contribute so much to our knowledge of diseased and 
healthy structure-the microscope-are busily subject- 12 
ing every organ and tissue to the most rigid scrutiny, 
to establish the nature of their internal structure, the 
very manner even of its development, its anatomical 
relations, and its physiological purposes. Aided by the 
same high power, the pathologist seeks, and in some 
instances has found, in the minute investigation of dis- 
eased tissue, the evidences of an arrangement of com- 
ponent parts that distinguishes malignant from the sim- 
ply abnormal tissue, and detects, amid the ravages of 
disease, the secret of its destructive energy, and thence 
infers the rationale of the cure. 
The Chemist is everywhere occupied in subjecting to 
analysis, not only the animal tissues, but their compo- 
nent parts, and deducing thence, equally, the explana- 
tion of many of the most interesting and important 
phenomena of life, and the means of controlling its 
higher functions. It is not possible, gentlemen, to esti- 
mate too highly the claims of Organic Chemistry upon 
your attention, nor the deep and intimate relations 
which it bears to the most subtile phenomena; nor, 
with all its apparent contradictions should we suffer 
our confidence to be shaken in its methods of investi- 
gation. The truth, however, must sooner or later be 
apparent. For all its problems are, in the last resort, 
resolved by the balance-that severe and impartial 
instrument, whose introduction into chemical in- 
vestigation has changed the whole face of science, 
and which appeals to the most unalterable attribute of 
matter. 
To Lavoisier, guided by a new and profound thought, 
by the motto, " nothing is lost, nothing is created," is 
owing the introduction of this instrument, and the 
physiological revolution now so happily in progress, 
and of which the future fruits are incalculable. Or- 
ganic Chemistry and Structural Anatomy, are now in- 13 
dissolubly united, and function is regarded as the result 
of their mutual relations. 
Nor is the attention which is now paid to the practi- 
cal part of Medicine less rigorous, or its results less 
cheering. Bringing to the aid of a most rigid scrutiny 
and interrogation of the rational, the strictest explora- 
tion and the most satisfactory explanation of the physical 
signs, and aided by the light which Chemistry and'the 
microscope throw upon its phenomena, the nature and 
locality of disease are now established with a certainty 
to which the physicians of former ages were entire 
strangers, and a scientific and rational basis afforded 
for the application of the means of cure. The true 
value of remedies is tested with care in extensive series 
of cases ; symptoms accurately noticed and compared 
with the results of the most critically conducted autop- 
sies ; results are recorded in numerical succession ; and 
thus are fading away, before the illuminating rays of a 
truly scientific ratio medendi, the innumerable errors and 
prejudices of a past empiricism, and the farrago of so- 
called remedies, which, prescribed according to some 
false and fancied theory, served but to delude the phy- 
sician when apparently successful, into a false convic- 
tion of their efficacy, to deceive or injure the patient, 
and to discredit the art. 
This, Gentlemen, is the only scientific and rational 
practice of legitimate medicine, as contrasted with em- 
piricism and routine. This it is which truly merits the 
confidence of the public-this it is, as far as it is yet 
established, which I thank God, you will here be taught, 
which you will teach, and which you will practice; 
destined, as I trust you are, to be the pioneers in the 
spread of a truer pathology, a more successful treat- 
ment, a higher glory of our divine and inestimable art. 
Permit me, Gentlemen, to survey, briefly, and imper- 14 
fectly-for, indeed, without a most extended research 
from the beginning, I could only so accomplish it-the 
present state of some of the separate branches into 
which the Science of Medicine is divided, as deduced 
from the labors of the investigators of the past quarter 
of a century-a period rich in results, I hesitate not to 
say, beyond any that has preceded it, of which the be- 
ginning is only, and of which you may, individually, 
augment the amount and importance, to your own and 
your country's glory, and the good of humanity. 
The science of Anatomy and Physiology, in their 
very nature inseparable, how differently are they stu- 
died at the present day, as compared with the past! The 
one is no longer the abstract and dry detail of parts and 
relations, nor does the other consist wholly in crude 
and often hypothetical notions of function, founded 
often upon fallacious experiment and incorrect ideas of 
structural arrangement. Without claiming for them at 
the present time any infallibility of perfection or pre- 
tending to assert a perfect harmony in the views and 
deductions of their cultivators, and while acknowledg- 
ing that there is much that is discordant yet to be rec- 
onciled, many errors of observation yet to be corrected, 
and an immense lacuna of knowledge to be supplied, 
to the effecting of which our present means, greatly 
improved and extended as they are, are wholly insuffi- 
cient, it cannot be denied that the progress of these 
sciences, within the last twenty years, has been great, 
and the basis on which they are now pursued that 
alone which promises success; and that from the vig- 
orous prosecution of the researches now in progress, 
and in which it is, Gentlemen, your happy privilege to 
be about to engage, the most brilliant results are to be 
expected. 
The Anatomy of the day is textural-the Physiology 15 
cnemical; and it is by their combination and modes of 
research, that the nature of the organs and of the func- 
tions which they exercise in the economy are being 
revealed, and at every step new cause elicited for 
astonishment at the intricacy and perfection of the 
wonderful mechanism by which organized beings are 
created, reproduced, live, move, and have their being 
-new motives for reverence for the wisdom and be- 
neficence of the great Author of Creation. 
" It is the province of Physiology," say the ablest 
authors of our time, " to investigate the ways in which 
the functions of living beings are effected; and their 
investigation naturally involves the examination of their 
mechanism, of their chemical constitution, and of the 
properties of their component textures. The study of 
Anatomy must always accompany that of Physiology. 
The history of the last shows that it made no advance 
until the progress of anatomical knowledge had un- 
folded the structure of the body. There is so much of 
obvious mechanical design in the intricate structure of 
the various textures and organs, that the discovery of 
that structure opens the most direct road to the deter- 
mination of their uses. 
" A correct Physiology must ever be the foundation 
of Rational Medicine. In Medicine the first step 
towards the cure of disease is to find out what the dis- 
ease is, and where it is situated. Without a knowledge 
of the offices which various parts fulfil in the anima] 
economy, our search to determine what organ or func- 
tion is deranged must be most vague and indefinite. 
" Pathology is the Physiology of disease, and it is 
obvious that no pathological doctrines can command 
confidence, which are not founded upon accurate views 
of the natural functions. It is also certain that im- 16 
provements in Pathology must follow in the wake of an 
advancing Physiology." 
If then, Gentlemen, such are the inevitable and 
indispensable necessity-the inestimable advantages- 
the deep interest-the rich rewards, of a devotion to a 
close and untiring investigation of these momentous 
branches, should I not fail in my duty as your teacher 
and monitor, your guide and friend, alike to you and 
my profession, if I did not impress upon you, with all 
earnestness, the duty of their cultivation ? Can I do 
otherwise than congratulate you upon the delightful 
task that is in store for you-the rich returns which 
await your zeal and perseverance? Nor are these all 
the sources of pleasure and instruction which lie open 
to you. 
I can briefly allude, only, in this place, to the impor- 
tance of the study of Comparative Anatomy, of the Mi- 
croscope, and the study of Organic Chemistry. " In the 
living body," say the sagacious writers from whom I 
have borrowed, " the most delicate chemical processes 
are unceasingly going on, for the formation of new com- 
pounds, and the destruction or alteration of old ones. 
It is evident that no progress can be made in the in- 
vestigation of these invisible processes, unless wre can 
arrive at an exact knowledge of the chemical compo- 
sition of the various substances which are employed 
in them." " Henceforward," they continue-and the 
remark is one which, I trust, will bias your pursuits 
and control your studies, not only whilst nominally 
students, but when, really students, you enter upon the 
active duties of the study and practice of your profes- 
sion, for which you are now only laying the foundation, 
-" Henceforward, in physiological research, anatomi- 
cal and chemical analysis must go hand in hand-the 17 
former to ascertain the minute mechanism of the vafi> 
ous processes ; the latter, to determine the nature of 
the affinities by which the compositions of the living 
laboratory are effected." 
The textural Anatomist begins his researches with 
the very earliest embryonic trace of existence-the 
formative cell. He notes its wall, its nucleus, and its 
nucleolus. He sees, with wonder and delight, new 
cells developed within the old-(so incalculably mi- 
nute, remember, that the aid of the most perfect and 
powerful lenses alone can enable him to watch their 
progress)-the nucleus dividing into segments, and the 
formation of a cell around each, which then becomes 
the nucleus of a new cell, and each in its turn the pa- 
rent of other nuclei-or, the formation of a granular 
deposit between the cells in which the development of 
new cells takes place. Thus, and by ulterior changes, 
wonderfully and mysteriously, under the fiat of Om- 
nipotence, are formed the elementary parts of tissues,, 
normal and pathological. 
Where fibrous, the cell membranes-(fancy, if you 
can, Gentlemen, their tenuity and their own ultimate 
organization,)-elongate, and become so folded or di- 
vided as to give the appearance of a subdivision into 
minute threads or fibres. In the muscles and nerves, 
the cells are joined end to end, and the partitions at 
each extremity being removed, their cavities communi- 
cate, so that, together, they form a tube or sheath, in 
which the deposit of the proper muscular or nervous 
matter takes place. The smallest or capillary blood 
vessels, also, are formed by the coalescence of the walls 
of the cells, not at one or two, but at several points, 
owing to their elongation, here and there, into pointed 
processes, which unite and form the ramifications of 
the vessels. 18 
From minute organic elements, the cells continue, 
throughout every period of its existence, to perform 
the most important agencies in various functions of 
the body. By them the secretions are separated, and 
most of the organic processes effected, from the sepa- 
ration of the embryo from its parent, to the develop- 
ment, growth and nutrition of the adult individual. 
Such is a mere allusion to one of the multitudinous 
mysteries of animal organization, which the science of 
Anatomy at the present day reveals to us, the further 
investigation of which is replete with interest and im- 
portance, which it will be your pleasing task to pursue, 
and of which it will be your duty to acquire a thorough 
knowledge. 
I might occupy your attention for hours in alluding 
only, with equal brevity, to other equally curious and 
important results of the recent investigations into tex- 
tural and organic Anatomy. The influence of simple 
transudation; the remarkable property first described 
by Dutrochet, endosmose and exosmose, in effecting se- 
cretion and absorption; the singular phenomenon enti- 
tled ciliary motion, in the transmission of fluid particles 
to their proper reservoirs, &c., are among the number. 
But I have said enough, I trust, to convince you, 
not only of the deep interest and value of the study, 
but to show, as I originally intended, the minuteness 
of investigation which is devoted to the study of Anat- 
omy and Physiology at the present day, and the magni- 
tude-imperfect as they yet are-of its results. 
If now, wre turn our attention for a few moments, to 
the present state of the science of Chemistry, we shall 
find that, both as it respects Physiology, Pathology and 
Therapeutics, it has the strongest claim upon our re- 
gard. It has already been remarked that, by the appli- 
cation to it-following the example of Lavoisier-of 19 
weight and measure, it has, in a singularly short period 
reached a high degree of perfection. 
Previous to this time, and so long as the investiga- 
tions of its votaries were confined to inorganic Chem- 
istry, but little service was rendered to Physiology and 
Pathology ; but during this period, Physiology has ac- 
quired new ways and methods of investigation within 
her own province. " Useful as is the most exact 
anatomical knowledge of the structure of the tissues, 
it cannot teach us their uses; nor the minutest micro- 
scopical examination, the functions of organs. The 
most beautiful and elevated problem which the human 
intellect can propose to itself-the discovery of the 
laws of vitality-cannot be solved without an accurate 
knowledge of chemical forces; and the qualitative 
method, which Physiology has so long applied to the 
investigation and removal of morbid conditions, brings 
us not a step nearer to a knowledge of the former, nor 
to that of the causes and essence of disease. Useful 
remedies, or modes of treatment, might indeed be 
accidentally discovered; but a rational Physiology 
cannot be founded on mere reactions, and the living 
body cannot be viewed as a chemical laboratory only." 
The great processes of sanguification, respiration and 
nutrition, can only be explained with any semblance of 
probable truth, by the application to the investigation 
of the quantitative method of research, employed by 
the chemists of the present day. " Before the time of 
Lavoisier, Scheele and Priestly," says the pioneer and 
master spirit of the age, the illustrious Liebig, " Chem- 
istry was not more closely related to Physics than she 
now is to Physiology. Equally fused at the present 
day are Chemistry and Physiology; and, in another 
half century, it will be impossible to separate them." 
It cannot be doubted, I think, that by continuing the 20 
researches which have already been commenced, a 
new Physiology, and a rational Pathology, both of 
which have already received very considerable im- 
provements, will be the result. 
It is true that we have as yet but a very unsatisfac- 
tory account of the Chemistry of the healthy and 
morbid structures of the human body, and that our 
ideas are extremely vague with regard to the influence 
of remedies on the chemical compositions of the ani- 
mal tissues, fluids and secretions. Nay more, we have 
but an imperfect knowledge of the changes to which 
remedial agents are subject during their passage 
through the animal economy, and respecting the means 
whereby therapeutic and toxic agents are expelled 
from the human body. But these, if sources of regret, 
are not motives of despair. We must labor on, and 
are, it is to be hoped, now on the true path for the 
recognition of great truths ; and much even has already 
been done. 
The chemical relations of the secretions are found 
to be extremely constant; the blood is found to vary 
in the normal proportions of its component parts in 
many diseases, in a manner to assist diagnosis, and 
suggest both principles and means of thcrapoeia; and 
many of you know how much has been done by chemi- 
cal analysis, in assisting in the diagnosis and treatment 
of that numerous class of cases which depend upon 
disease and derangement of the functions of the organs 
by which the great process of systemic depurations is 
effected-the kidneys. 
But all these interesting subjects, and many others 
connected with them, are in process of investigation, 
and a wide field lies open, which I cannot too strongly 
advise you to assist in cultivating with all the ability 
you may possess. It is a "placer" in which you may 21 
dig both gold and golden opinions, with far more ease, 
safety and satisfaction, to yourselves, than upon the 
borders of the San Sacramento. 
I had intended, Gentlemen, to pass briefly in review 
the state of the other departments of Medical Science, 
but the steadily advancing finger of the silent monitor 
on the table, admonishes me to confine my remarks to 
that one only, of which, for now forty-five years, I 
have been an ardent, and I hope I may without vanity 
say, not an unsuccessful cultivator. 
Of the present state of his art, the surgeon may, 
indeed, be proud, whether he looks to the conscien- 
tiousness and humanity with which it is practised-to 
the science to which it is reduced-to the splendid tri- 
umphs in the relief of suffering humanity which it 
achieves-or, to the perfection of its armamentarium, 
in which, thanks to the combined ingenuity of the 
surgeon and the cutler, the most ingenious instruments 
may be found, to effect and facilitate the performance 
of the most delicate and difficult operations in Surgery. 
When he reflects upon the accurate knowledge now 
possessed of the relative Anatomy of the body, and the 
consequent dexterity, firmness, safety, and success, 
which are imparted to the operator and the operation 
-upon the helps to the attainment of this indispensa- 
ble knowledge which now abound, and of which it may 
not be amiss to mention the great works of the Coopers 
and of Velpeau, the drawings of Quain, of Morton, and, 
lately, of Maclise, which I cannot recommend to your 
notice in terms too flattering, as substitutes for the not 
always present cadaver-and, lastly, upon the men 
who have distinguished themselves in its cultivation, 
and of whom too many, alas I even in our own day, 
have rested from their philanthropic labors, and left 
but the name which we reverence, and the glory which 22 
hallows it-the Coopers, Liston, Key, Colles, Carmi- 
chael, Berard, Deiffenbach, Blandin, and, in our own 
country, the immortal Physick, Post, Parish, and a host 
of other bright particular stars, whom it would be easy 
to enumerate-the heart of the surgeon swells with 
pride, as he contemplates the present position of his 
science. 
But, Gentlemen, there is a higher glory even than 
these, which may be boasted of in connection with 
Surgery at the present day ; and while I rejoice, with 
patriotic pride, that it was the production of the inven- 
tive genius of my countryman, I cannot but blush at 
the mercenary spirit in which it was first attempted to 
be confined within the restrictions of a patent, for the 
benefit of an individual. It is the glory of our Science 
to open its means of relief to suffering humanity, to 
all-and seek only in the proud consciousness of 
having served it, and merited its gratitude, for its 
reward. 
I allude, Gentlemen, of course, to the introduction 
of Anaesthetic agents in the practice of Surgery ; and 
since the discovery of the immortal Jenner, none more 
useful or universally beneficial has, I venture to say, 
rewarded the ceaseless efforts of the votary of Medi- 
cal Science, towards alleviating human suffering. 
They have disarmed Surgery of its greatest horror. 
The patient, wrapped in a gentle slumber, dreams, per- 
haps, the while of the blisses of heaven ; not a fibre 
starts to discompose or embarrass the operator, or to 
divert his knife in its cautious course between life and 
death. The most difficult dissection is effected in 
perfect tranquility ; not a cry escapes to distress the 
sympathizing spectator; and the victim awakes, at 
the close, to the tardy but rapturous consciousness that 
his disease has been removed and his agony spared. 23 
Humanity has no greater triumph than at the moment 
when the patient discovers that all he has dreaded for 
months-all that has made his days wretched, and his 
nights sleepless-has been achieved without his con- 
sciousness, and without a pang ; no greater reward 
than his tearful smile of gratitude and pleasure, at his 
escape from pain amd miser^z Them-then, indped, 
i$5^-Surgeon^pKn^aiifthe'p^ /1 
We cannot, Gentlemen, look unmoved upon this 
crowning glory and mercy of our art-upon the at- 
tainment of this, its long cherished desideratum. I 
have performed upon the persons of the tender young, 
operations of magnitude, which, without the aid of 
Anaesthesia, I dared not to have attempted; and when 
I reflect upon the blood which I have shed, and upon 
the suffering I have inflicted, I fee), in witnessing the 
pain-destroying influence of chloroform, that I have 
lived long enough, and could almost exclaim with the 
prophet-" Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart 
in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." 
I could say more, Gentlemen, but I could not have 
said less upon this subject, which so absorbs my 
thoughts and excites my grateful admiration. Nor 
have I witnessed, in my many applications of Anaesthe- 
sia, the first cause for dread of its consequences. And 
in the consciousness of its happy influences may we 
not at length exclaim: Oh! Surgery! where is thy 
sting ? oh ! Pain ! where is thy victory ? 
Permit me to revert, Gentlemen, only for a moment, 
to two or three features in our present plan of Medi- 
cal Education, to which, in sketching its advantages, I 
only passingly alluded. 
Not the least striking feature in it is the establish- 
ment in the various Medical Schools, of the so called 
Clinic. 24 
Commencing in this city a few years ago, it is now 
in successful operation in both the Colleges, and in 
both has attained to a degree of consequence, as a 
school of practical Medicine and Surgery, worthy of 
your serious attention, it is a novel and most impor- 
tant feature in Medical Education, and has been 
generally adopted throughout the Medical Schools of 
the Union.* 
One clinical lecture, with the patient before you, 
is worth a score of lectures in course, and an atlas of 
delineations. It is the book of Nature, whose pages 
you can peruse for yourselves. Your Professor in- 
terrogates the patient before you-points out to you 
the significance of his replies-investigates his disease, 
and details the results of his investigation-deduces 
his own conclusions as to its nature and treatment, 
and communicates to you the grounds of his deduc- 
tions-describes and explains the symptoms, and points 
out to you the errors into which you may fall, in their 
estimation, and in their comparison with congenerous 
cases. The minor operations of Surgery, too, are 
performed in presence of the class. Of the inestima- 
ble advantages of such a system of truly bedside and 
practical instruction, your own common sense must 
easily persuade you. I hope to find you always atten- 
tive to this department of your studies, which, as it 
devolves upon me in the organization of this Institu- 
tion to attend to, I shall spare no pains to make 
interesting and instructive to you. 
Permit me to recommend to you, also, in the strong- 
est manner, a punctual attendance upon our excellent 
City Hospital, the Bellevue Hospital, and the Eye In- 
* Professor Pattison informs me that he established a Clinic a number 
of years since, when connected with the University of Maryland. 25 
firmary. In the former, with all the advantages of a 
College Clinic, except, perhaps, the copiousness of 
instruction, which neither time nor circumstances will 
permit, you have opportunities of beholding more se- 
rious cases of disease, which cannot be brought before 
you here-of following, and familiarizing yourselves 
with the actual business of the sick room-of watch- 
ing from day to day, the operation of disease and 
medicine-of comparing cases of the same disease-■ 
of witnessing the more serious operations of Surgery, 
and the subsequent treatment of the wounded. 
And the methodus medendi you will find to be con- 
ducted there in all the perfection of modern science, 
by able and skillful men in both its departments, whose 
active exertions in the cause of clinical teaching merit 
your gratitude and respect; and who will be ever ready 
to contribute their uttermost to your instruction and ad- 
vancement. In the Eye Infirmary, you will, to pecu- 
liar advantage, see every variety of disease to which 
that beautiful and delicate-that useful, but alas ! sus- 
ceptible organ, is liable; and the remarks which I 
have just made, relative to the teachers of the Hospi- 
tals, apply with equal justice to the two able and amia- 
ble men and skillful surgeons who attend to its duties. 
One subject yet remains, in relation to which it is 
my duty to offer you, in passing, my most solemn ad- 
vice. I refer to the duties of Necroscopy. He who 
would attain to eminence in his profession, as a diag- 
nostician and practitioner in disease-he, especially, 
who would venture with safety to his own reputation, 
and to the lives of his patients, to encounter living 
parts with the scalpel, and boldly and safely penetrate 
into recesses where the error of a hair's breadth would 
let out life and fame together, on the instant, cannot, 
dare not, neglect this indispensable study. No plates, 26 
however accurate and truthful, are substitutes for the 
actual cadaver. 
And now is the time for study-materiel is ample, 
and demonstrators able. Hereafter, both time and op- 
portunity will fail you, and upon the foundation which 
you carry hence you must hereafter depend. Look 
not to the drudgery-the loathsomeness-the danger of 
the pursuit; but engage in it with the resolute eager- 
ness of a Bichat, a Beclard, or a Godman; and avail 
yourselves of every opportunity, during your sojourn 
here, to perfect yourselves in its minutest details. This 
you will never regret-but bitterly, most bitterly you 
may deplore the loss of time idled, and opportunity 
allowed to pass by unimproved. 
If by chance, anything in the surgical career of him 
who now addresses you-a career now drawing to its 
close-has ever excited your approbation, or stimula- 
ted your ambition, remember that he tells you, that it 
was by this untiring devotion to practical Anatomy that 
his present position has been attained. As a legacy, 
he leaves to you the advice, " go and do likewise." 
Youno Gentlemen, Students of Medicine- 
You are here assembled to pursue your professional 
studies. Many have left happy homes at great dis- 
tances hence; have left the tender care and watchful 
guardianship of affectionate parents and friends, and 
are now in the very midst of the pleasures and tempta- 
tions of the gayest, the greatest-need I add, the wick- 
edest city of the Union. Pleasure will spread her 
every toil-vice offer every allurement to beguile you 
from the paths of virtue and the pursuit of study. 
See, 1 entreat you, that you be not deceived. Lis- 27 
ten not to the voice of the tempter, and beware her 
snares. 
Many of you come hither amply-perhaps too amply 
provided with means of embracing her offers. See 
that you do not become her victims. Others again, 
have trenched largely upon the scanty hoard which 
has been piously husbanded to enable you to pursue 
your studies to a successful issue. Remember, each 
of you, that it was not to lavish it upon vicious indul- 
gences or idle enjoyments, that you were thus liberally 
endowed. It is not, Gentlemen, in the theatre, or the 
billiard room-it is not in vain paradings along our 
principal thoroughfares when you should be imbibing 
from the lips of your teachers the knowledge which 
is to make you useful and honorable in after years-- 
it is not in riotous conviviality with the dissipated and 
the frivolous-far, far less, is it in the pursuit of falsely 
called pleasures, of even a more degrading, dangerous, 
and inexcusable licentiousness, that science is to be 
acquired and her trophies obtained. 
The time which is now wasted will never be re- 
gained. Habits of indifference to study, and of sensual 
indulgence, now acquired, will never be eradicated ; 
and upon the right direction of your habits now, de- 
pends your future happiness, eminence, and success, 
"Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined." It 
depends upon yourselves whether you leave these 
halls diligent students, and accomplished gentlemen, 
or idle, ignorant, and dissipated profligates, discredits 
alike to yourselves, your friends, and your profession ; 
-whether you will comfort and rejoice, or break the 
anxious hearts of those who have sent you with so 
many regrets, disquietudes, fears, and forebodings, to 
a distance from home, upon the uncertain voyage of 
life. If, like Ulysses, you stop your ears to the music 
of the Syrens, and glide steadily along, fixing your 28 
eyes only upon the polar star of duty as you steer your 
course, you cannot but arrive safely at the haven of do- 
mestic joy-of personal happiness and professional 
success. 
Pause but to listen to their tempting strains, aban- 
don the helm but for a moment in the delicious 
ecstasy which they excite in your unwary souls, and 
you are lost I Your bark is instantly whirled upon 
the breakers, and yourselves cast captive on their 
shores, whence escape is difficult or impossible. 
Suffer, then, I entreat you, no such influences to al- 
lure you from the steady pursuit of that knowledge 
which it is the object of your coming here to obtain. 
The innocent enjoyments of social intercourse even, 
during the session, must be sparingly indulged, and 
only as far as health and relaxation require. The 
mental ingesta of the day, must be assimilated in the 
evening, interrupted only by the period of sleep, which 
is necessary for the recruiting of the vital and intel- 
lectual forces. It has been beautifully and truly said 
by one who is himself indeed a savant and a student, 
Professor Agassiz, that science and society are not 
compatible, and he who would embrace the one must 
abandon the other. If you would behold the results 
of such constancy, permit me to offer him to you as a 
model. 
The first approaches to knowledge are rough and 
toilsome; but soon the path is smoothed, new objects 
of interest on every side invest it-to advance becomes 
imperative-to retreat impossible; and the distant 
world fades rapidly before the glorious vista which 
opens to the contemplation of the enraptured philoso- 
pher. Press on, then, Gentlemen, eagerly ; do not 
look back, or your Eurydice escapes; and rest assu- 
red, that the gilded saloon, filled with the frivolous and 
the vain, has no charms to compare with the quiet 29 
sanctum of the philosopher, who sits, " the world for- 
getting-by the world forgot," wrapt in the investiga- 
tion of some great mystery of creation. 
The idle pleasures of the world are fleeting and sa- 
tiate. The pleasures of the man of science steadily 
increase. The appetite grows with what it feeds on, 
and its enjoyments are inexhaustible. There is no 
aching of the head and heart upon the morrow; no 
corruption of the mind, no deterioration of the body. 
I speak now of study, prudently and rationally pursued. 
It is my duty to caution you against that too ardent and 
intense pursuit of study, honorable indeed, but danger- 
ous ; which robs the night of the hours which should 
be given to repose, fevers the cheek and emaciates 
the frame. And yet, how venerable the early grave of 
the scholar-how glorious his epitaph ! How vile the 
fate of the sluggard, the libertine, or the sot I 
Gentlemen-Separated as you are from your natural 
guardians and advisers, your professors stand to you in 
loco parentum ; and it is in their names, as the represen- 
tative of the interest they have in your welfare, not less 
than from my own most ardent desire for your escape 
from temptation, and from a misuse of your precious 
time and opportunity, that we offer you our counsel, 
and entreat for it your respectful consideration. Reve- 
rence virtue, and pursue her paths of pleasantness and 
peace ; eschew vice and idleness, surrounded as you 
are on every side by their seductions ; cultivate study 
with assiduity, and your reward is certain. Success, 
fame, competence, the respect and confidence of your 
fellows, domestic happiness, and the esteem of pos- 
terity, await you. These are the rich rewards of your 
exertions-these the fruits of your constancy and self- 
denial. 
Let me commend to you a punctual attendance on 
the lectures of your professors. Never be absent from 30 
them except from illness or some inevitable necessity; 
a careless habit of neglect once engendered, will ren- 
der them useless. Be silent and attentive. Nothing is 
more discouraging and disrespectful to a teacher, than 
to find his instruction unheeded by a noisy, giggling, 
and abstracted class. Be courteous to the Faculty, 
and to one another, and suffer no personal disputes to 
mar the concord of our social and professional inter- 
course. Among a band of brethren, associated in the 
pursuit of a common object, there should be no want of 
harmony. Reflect at night upon what you have heard 
during the day ; revolve it in your memories, and fix it 
there by a reference to your notes and text-books. 
Cultivate the society only of those whose habits of 
study and reflection are congenial with your own, and 
whose morals are unimpeachable. In the privacy of 
your own apartments, avoid frivolous and licentious 
conversation, and let your talk be upon the subject of 
your studies. Upon these you can examine one an- 
other, and hold amicable and profitable discussions, 
which will tend much to your advancement, and to fix 
in your minds the principles and details of the Science. 
Or you may find it even more to your advantage to 
connect yourselves with the office of some respectable 
preceptor, or with some of the several institutions 
which, during the winter, zealously and ably devote 
themselves to the instruction of students. Procure the 
best text-books on each subject, and a few good mono- 
graphs of recent date. These, with a good series of 
anatomical plates, will suffice for your library in the 
commencement of your studies ; and if you read, mark, 
learn and inwardly digest these, your mental diet will 
be sufficiently full. 
I was about to say that these were the only books 
that you should read. But I had forgotten. There is 31 
one which I hope you will read a portion of frequently, 
and which will make you " wise unto salvation." 
Do not study on the Sabbath-six days are enough 
for mental as well as bodily labor. Devote the seventh 
to serious reading and devotional duties, and rest as- 
sured that a sincerely pious spirit is the very best and 
fittest that you can carry either into the preparation 
for, or the prosecution of your sacred and solemn duty 
-I am no advocate for the mingling of religion with 
the duties of the doctor, except under proper restric- 
tions. There is much hypocrisy abroad on this 
subject; but the truly Christian physician will never 
succeed the worse, for silently invoking a blessing on 
the means he employs, and will find many an occasion 
for saying a word in season, to the consolation and 
edification of his patient, and the credit of his profes- 
sion. Medical studies have been thought to lead to 
infidelity. But this, I assure you, is not necessary- 
nay, the very reverse is true, and there have been very 
many truly religious and orthodox physicians, who 
have ably maintained the truths of Christianity, and 
illustrated their happy influence in their own persons. 
Of these, the eminently learned Dr. J. Mason Good 
was one, and our own Godman another. 
In your conversation, habits, pursuits, and manners, 
never forget that you ought to be gentlemen, and men 
of intellect; preparing seriously to exercise creditably, 
a momentous, and most respectable calling. Avoid, 
therefore, all degrading amusements, and in every place 
and action, behave with decency. Avoid, also, all pe- 
culiarities of appearance, especially those external em- 
bellishments, as they are most falsely considered, 
which savor of foppery, and indicate a little mind, more 
apt to be flattered by the notice of the foolish many, 
than gratified by the approbation of the judicious few. 
Be scrupulously neat and clean, and in your outward 32 
attire ape neither the extreme of fashion, nor oppose 
it to singularity. The juste milieu in the cut, and a 
sober gravity in the color of a garment, best become 
the sensible and ingenuous youth, who is about to ex- 
plore the mysteries of Nature's greatest handiwork, 
the living organism, and fit himself for the responsible 
duties of the healing art. Be courteous to all, without 
servility-docile to instruction, and even to merited 
reproof, when kindly intended-respectful to those 
who are placed in temporary authority over you, and 
whose hands and discipline you must strengthen by 
your good conduct and example, if you would desire to 
see the duties of your Alma Mater creditably and 
profitably performed. 
And now, my young friends, after thanking you for 
the patience with which you have listened to my well 
meant, but perhaps somewhat tedious admonitions, per- 
mit me to offer you, in my own name, and that of the 
Faculty whom 1 represent, our congratulations at your 
safe arrival, and to express the pleasure we feel in see- 
ing you again with us. Rest assured that we shall 
spare no pains for your advancement in your studies, 
and that in sickness and adversity, if it should over- 
take you, you will find us faithful friends, nurses and 
physicians. Let us assemble on the appointed day- 
we to teach and you to learn-all resolutely determined 
to do our duty to the utmost; and may the Great Dis- 
poser of events bless our enterprise, give us strength 
and health for the performance of our several duties, 
keep you pure and holy in the midst of temptation, and 
incline your minds to a right disposal of your means 
and time. May He prosper your undertakings, and in 
good time secure for you the fulfillment of all your 
hopes and anticipations of success in your professional 
career.