JL&dJ^ ^:KC4J INTRODUCTORY LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE OPENING OF THE ALBANY MEDICAL COLLEGE, ANATOMICAL THEATRE, JANUARY 2, 1839. \ \ J\'J ^L^-% BY DAVID MEREDITH REESE, A. M., M, D., PROFESSOR OF THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PHY9ICK, AND CLINICAL MEDICINE, IN SAID COLLEGE. Published by request of the Class. ALBANY: PRINTED BY HOFFMAN & WHITE. 1839. / CORRESPONDENCE. ALBANY, January 3d, 1839. SIR— A meeting of the Students of the Albany Medical College, was held on the 3d inst., when we were appointed a Committee to tender you their grate- ful acknowledgments, for your able Introductory Lecture, and request a copy of the same for publication. Very Respectfully, Yours, N. P. MONROE, ROBERT KELLS, T. C. DURANT, Committee. To Prof. REESE. ALBANY, January 5th, 1839. GENTLEMEN— In reply to your communication of the 3d inst., I would express my gra- tification to learn your favorable estimate of my late Introductory Lecture, and if you shall think its publication will subserve the interests of our college, I cannot withhold it from your disposal, although it has been hastily written, amid very urgent professional occupations, with scarcely time for careful revi- sion. Nevertheless, in compliance with the wish of the Class, you will receive the manuscript herewith. With great respect, I am, your obd't servant, D. M. REESE. / LECTURE. GENTLEMEN— You have been invited to honor us with your presence on this occasion, to participate with us in the mutual gratulations, which the time and the circumstances spon- taneously elicit. A new Institution, denominated " The Albany Medical College," is this day ushered into be- ing. By the liberality of the Honorable Corporation of this city, the capital of our " empire state," we are ena- bled to occupy this elegant and spacious building, which by the enterprize and bounty of our Trustees and Pa- trons, has been improved and adapted to our purpose, with a degree of judgment and taste which does them honor. And we have assembled this evening to dedicate this edifice in perpetuity, to the pursuit and cultivation of Medical Science ; and to erect an altar, sacred to a pro- fession which in all ages, has been distinguished by devo- tion to the interests of learning, benevolence and humani- ty ; which has enrolled among its members the wise and the good, from time immemorial; and furnished multi- tudes of the most illustrious examples of patriotism, phi- lanthropy, learning, and religion. By the appointment of the Board of Trustees, I have the honor to occupy one of the departments in the Faculty, which they have constituted for this infant institution. And the kindness of my more able colleagues has assign- ed me the honorable but arduous task of appearing before 6 you first in the order of time, as the pioneer in opening the field of regular medical education in this ancient city. This selection has been made out of courtesy to me as a stranger among you, and the obligation to yield to their wishes, under such circumstances, while it is imperative upon me, will I trust bespeak for me the sympathy and liberality of the audience. The prominence it gives me is one to which relatively I have no claims, not even by seniority; but to their partiality alone, I am indebted for this unmerited distinction. For my own sake as well as your's, I could devoutly wish that our debut before this respectable audience, had been committed to other and abler hands. Of the importance and dignity of the medical profes- sion, it were idle to discourse at any length, before an enlightened audience, since the common consent of man- kind concur in assigning to physicians the very first rank among merely human professions. But this award has been made in view of the legitimate claims of the many master spirits who have adorned our profession, to profound and varied learning, unwavering integrity, honor and vir- tue, together with unbounded benevolence and humanity. These noble and exalted attributes of character have been conspicuous in so many of the distinguished men among the teachers and practitioners of the healing art, that the rehearsal of the names of such would present a catalogue, the length of which would exceed the limits of this Lecture, and weary you in its repetition. Their il- lustrious names are identified with the history of every civilized country, and the recollection of them must crowd upon your memory, for the fame of such men is imper- ishable. It was said justly in those palmy days of our profession, by one whose works have rendered him immortal, 7 " While we yield the palm of honor to the pulpit, and of money to the bar, we claim the learning, the erudition, the scholarship, for the physician." At the time this com- parison was fearlessly made in the presence of the literati of Europe, it not only demanded and received the assent of all, by reason of the living witnesses of its truth fur- nished by contemporaneous physicians; but many of the most distinguished luminaries in the other learned pro- fessions, were then as now, borrowed lights, who had been seduced from the ranks of Medicine which they adorned, by the superior honors, or emoluments, which the bar, the pulpit, and the forum held out to their ac- ceptance. If multitudes of medical men have dishonored their profession by unworthy deficiency and dishonorable deportment, they have been excrescences upon the great body, deforming its proportions, but disowned by the fra- ternity from their fellowship. And if similar distinction be not the meed of physicians now, as at any former pe- riod, while it furnishes another topic of declamation upon the degeneracy of the times, it is to be ascribed to radical defects in the system and requisitions of medical educa- tion, and calls loudly for reform. But happily our science has not yet become superan- nuated, nor is it constrained to bestow all its eulogy upon the vigor of its youth, nor are we to allow ourselves to become merely the encomiasts of former achievements. In our own and other countries at this hour we can point to men whose reputation for learning and virtue is deser- vedly as high as can be found in the whole galaxy of mind in any department of science, men who continue to be brilliant constellations in the literary heavens. That physicians should have distinguished themselves by profound and varied learning, was to have been ex- pected, in view of the intricate and complicated nature of s their profession. The science of Medicine, abstractly considered, as comprising the mere knowledge of the complex structure and mysterious functions of the human body, in health and disease, together with the nature, pre- paration, and curative properties of drugs procured from the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdom, would even then call for the most laborious and patient inquiry, study and investigation, as well as demand the highest reach of intellectual effort. But how inconceivably is the field augmented, when we remember that our science includes also the nature and phenomena of the laws of life;—the continued and reciprocal action of the intellectual and physical organization;—the remote and proximate sym- pathies of the various organs, surfaces, and tissues ;—Pro- phylactic Medicine or the art of Hygeine, or preserving health, including the whole of the materia alimentaria, to- gether with the influence of the non-naturals, as atmos- phere, locality, climate, seasons, food, clothing, bathing, exercise, sleep, corporeal and intellectual pursuits ;—Pa- thology, comprising Nosology, or the classification of dis- eases ;—the department of Etiology, including both cause and causation ;—Semeiology,or the signs, and Symptoma- tology, or the symptoms of diseases;—Therapeutics, or the art of healing, in which the entire Materia Medica, in all its vastness, is comprised;—Physiology, or the science of life, whether vegetable, comparative, or human, with the variegated phenomena of living bodies, whether healthy or morbid;—Chemistry, philosophically and pharmaceutically, as well as the mutual relations of vital and chemical laws;—Natural Philosophy, especially op- tics, acoustics and hydraulics ;—Botany, Mineralogy, Me- teorology, and Geology;—Surgery, or the treatment of external diseases, and the repair of injuries by the hand, instruments or otherwise ; Obstetrics, with which is con- 5 nected the management of the peculiar diseases of wo- men and children, in the most critical periods in their history ; and Medical Jurisprudence, a science in itself, and requiring immense labor and research, both in its study and application; and Clinical medicine embracing the actual adaptation of all the sciences to the emergencies of human being, in the infinite variety of morbid pheno- mena, to which our flesh is heir. Contemplating this brief summary, which is but a feint and imperfect outline of the collateral departments im- mediately connected with the duties of our profession, we cannot fail to be impressed with the elevated and profound qualifications it demands; nor can we suppress an involuntary shudder at the hardihood of the illiterate empiric, who ventures upon the high responsibilities of the "divine art of healing," without preliminary, and even without thorough education. Indeed it is not the least among the wonders of the age, that intelligent and en- lightened men will commit their own persons, their wives and little ones, their stomachs, lungs and brains, to the terrific experiments of quackery, until they become the self-immolated victims of these murderers of the human race. Let it not be supposed however, that in thus enumer- ating in sober verity, the varied forms of knowledge which our profession imperiously demands, we place before the student impracticable or even discouraging considerations. For however great the variety, or en- larged the extent of attainment in Medicine and its col- lateral sciences, may appear to the novitiate ; yet thanks to the learning, ability, liberality, and aptness to teach, by which our predecessors in the profession have been for ages distinguished, the path to acquirement, success, and even eminence may be confidently essayed by the 2 10 diligent and persevering student. In our science more than in any other, has the work of condensation been undertaken and effected; and our available facilities for imparting and acquiring knowledge are amply prepared to our hands. The wise and good among the honored living and the venerable dead, have furnished a rich and abundant variety of facts, illustrations, and facilities for instruction in every department, and the prolific press has multiplied their volumes of accumulated knowledge, until the student finds himself surrounded in his library with the condensed learning of centuries, compressed by pro- fessional ingenuity and toil into a compass, which no longer repels him by its vast and formidable magnitude. And when to these he has the still greater advantages derived from living teachers who have trod the weari- some path before him, and who consecrate themselves to the work of conducting candidates for professional distinc- tion and usefulness into the temple of the science, at whose altars, their torches have been lighted, and with whose intricacies they are familiar; surely the student has every thing to invite, and nothing to deter his approach. Medical education, especially in our country, it is la- mentable to confess, has sadly deteriorated, and hence the swarms of pretenders who have been able to fatten upon the public credulity. The prevalent error which has received countenance, and in some instances, it is humiliating to confess, from professors of acknowledged merit, that little or no preliminary education is essential, has contributed much to the deterioration we have so much cause to lament. And the still greater error of di- minishing the period of study in the profession proper, and lowering the standard of qualification by conferring the highest honors on uneducated and even incompetent men, is another prominent cause of the evil. But the 11 unwise and uncalled for legislation, by civilians, on the subject of medical education, has done more than all other causes combined to dishonor the profession, and degrade its members. Every attempt to restrict and restrain free competition in the business of teaching our profession, has been in violation of the dictates of en- lightened policy, as well as inconsistent with the genius of our free institutions. The scheme of trammeling the human mind in any department with fetters of human authority, is a remnant of barbarism, which might be pardoned in the dark ages, but is an intolerable enormity among civilized and enlightened men. Hence the at- tempt to grant exclusive monopolies in the business of cultivating a liberal profession like ours, deserves the execration of all, and receives it from all, save those whose conscious merits shrink from the collision of mind, the rivalship of free competition. These sentiments are not the dictate of our present circumstances, as a Faculty and School of Medicine, else they would justly be regard- ed as the evidence of no other motive than a desire to share in the honors or emoluments which legislative patronage has bestowed upon others, and withheld from us. True, on the ground of equal rights and just laws, we might be justified in complaining of a privation from such motives. But nevertheless we would repel the im- putation, for if we should tomorrow be legally invested with the rights and immunities of an incorporated col- lege, and the patronage of the Regents of the University superadded; we would still disclaim any monopoly which fair and honorable rivalship did not bestow, and abjure any exclusive patronage which dignified, and compara- tive merit did not sustain. But though we must ever express our repugnance at the policy, which restricts the progress of knowledge, the 12 free circulation of science, by discriminating duties, as upon silks and calicoes; yet as good citizens it behoves us to submit to the laws while such continues to be the settled policy of our rulers. Hence we again ask for an act of incorporation, by which if successful we shall be participes criminis in the legal relations which we con- demn. Still however we shall be ready then as now, and we here record it for future use, to commend and sustain the justice and expediency of throwing open the business of medical education to free and unrestricted competi- tion. Ignorance and empiricism will then doubtless make splendid attempts and exhibit splendid failures, while all who deserve to succeed will be appreciated and sustained. Students of Medicine have never shown themselves deficient in discernment, for they uniformly flock to those schools, and those only, where the science is taught by able and competent professors. Other schools are languishing, even when sustained by State patronage, and exclusive privileges, and but for these some of them would long since have passed to the " tomb of the Capulets," whither they are tending notwithstand- ing their monopoly. All that we ask, whether incorpo- rated or not, is that we who are authorized by our diplo- mas of the doctorate, from incorporated Universities too, to teach as well as practice our profession, " in toto mun- do," should not be disfranchized of our hard earned rights, by legal enactments, nor our pupils punished by the State, for choosing their preceptors! Let students of Medicine be declared by law to be equally free to culti- vate their profession in Albany, as at New-York, at Fair- field, or at Geneva; and then if our school does not sur- vive the competition, we shall retreat from the position of professors in the departments we have the honor to 13 teach, and the evidence of our incompetency will be " known and read of all men." Such are the considerations, under which we have ventured to unite in the organization of a new Meuical College, and we this day enter the lists, as teachers of the several departments assigned us, and hazard our all of professional reputation, upon this untried experiment. In selecting Albany as the site of our Institution, we have had respect to its central location in the midst of a large and prosperous State, and its proximity to neighboring states. At the same time we have been influenced by our knowledge of the well known disposition of the citi- zens of the capitol to foster literary effort, and encourage the cultivation of science, some evidence of which has al- ready been furnished by the number and character of those citizens who have become patrons of our infancy, as well as by the audience which now honors us with their presence. Candidates for public favor and patronage as we our- selves are, it does not become us to entertain or exhibit any other than kindly feelings towards our elder sisters in our own State. The colleges in New-York, in Fair- field, and in Geneva, have been sufficiently long before the public to be appreciated, and each of them have alumni now employed as teachers and practitioners who are an honor to their Alma Mater. We have before us their experience to guide us, and their disasters to in- struct us; and it becomes us to profit by the lessons taught both by the one and the other. Disclaiming any hostility to either of these kindred institutions, and avow- ing all due respect for the Faculties connected with each of them, we nevertheless claim to exercise only the rights with which we are endowed by God and our common nature ; not in opposition to them, but as fellow laborers 14 in the department of medical education. Their seniority, and state patronage long enjoyed will protect them from our rivalship, at least until we shall have acquired equal character and influence, and they have had the start of us too long to be easily overtaken in the race of compe- tition. At present they are obviously far in advance of us in every aspect, and as, to use a homely phrase, " a stern chase is a long chase," it will be long before we can hope to overhaul them, unless they should " progress backward;" in which event they will deserve to be dis- tanced. Still, however, we think it can easily be shown, that the number of colleges at present existing in New-York, is inadequate to the demand. This might be alleged a priori in view of the vast extent of territory and popula- tion, as well as the prodigious ratio of increase as shown by the census, and which is even now progressive, in this empire state. But we have more palpable and more con- vincing evidence in the many hundreds of young men, who have left their own state for eastern and even south- ern colleges, notwithstanding the well known existence of the Faculties at New-York, at Fairfield and Geneva, and these it will be recollected are in addition to the hun- dreds annually instructed in these three schools of our own State. The fact that students by hundreds annually choose to go to other and distant colleges, is by no means evidence that even they depreciate or undervalue the claims of the colleges already existing in their own state. We would not introduce it as evidence at all conclusive in regard to their comparative merits. But we name this fact as exhibiting the influence of a variety of causes, which operate upon the minds of pupils in the choice of their preceptors, and as shewing that our own State is capable of supplying another Medical College with pu- 15 pils, without abstracting one from the already existing institutions, which it is the public interest and duty to sustain. If, for example, during the present winter we could secure the attendance of all those pupils, who have left this State and are attending Lectures at this hour in distant Medical Colleges, we should have a greater class, than can be found at New-York, at Fairfield or Geneva united, and the number of their pupils would not thereby be diminished. Whether we shall be able to present at- traction enough here, to put an end to this emigration from the State in pursuit of medical knowledge remains to be seen. But as others have failed to do so elsewhere, they at least should not complain of the attempt beino- made by us in Albany. There are, however, we pre- sume to think, a variety of considerations which render this ancient city an eligible site for a Medical College which have not been glanced at, and some of them may by possibility arrest the attention of pupils, and their pa- rents or preceptors, in our own and neighboring states. The objection to large and populous cities, as being un- favorable to the prosperity of literary institutions, is be- coming very general, and increasingly so ; especially in relation to the overgrown Atlantic cities. The inhabit- ants of such cities, accordingly do for the most part, send their own sons to remote and smaller places for Academic education. And in no department do the objections lie so forcibly as in reference to Medical Institutions. The age at which young men ordinarily pursue our science is that when most of all thoy are endangered by the snares and vicious associations which abound in such places. The risk of forming bad habits and acquiring corrupt morals by contact with the profligacy and dissipation to which such cities too often subject the young, is incon- ceivably greater at the time of life in which young gen- 16 tlemen are employed in attending medical lectures. So many fathers and mothers have had their gray hairs brought down to the grave in sorrow, by the ruin of their sons in large cities, during their attendance upon the du- ties of college life, that very many warned by such bea- cons, prefer greatly the inferior advantages of smaller, and even country institutions. And to this circumstance is doubtless to be ascribed in no small degree, the success of literary institutions in all departments, which are lo- cated like Yale, and others, remote from the contamina- ting and corrupting influences of large cities. But in our department, experience and observation have shown what a moment's reflection will suggest as certain, that inferior and country towns are but ill adapted to the acquisition of medical knowledge, by rea- son of the unavoidable lack of opportunities for acquiring practical knowledge. At the same time a medical diplo- ma is increased in value, in the public estimation, by the character and importance of the school where it is issued. And as the name of an obscure village, however able its Faculty, requires centuries before it can lend a charm to its college, and especially as such a village can afford no facilities for practical, Clinical or surgical knowledge, these are regarded as valid objections to a strictly coun- try school. Shall we be justly chargeable with arrogance when we affirm that we have here found the happy medium, and that in Albany we are able to present a School of Medi- cine, combining the advantages of both city and country colleges, without the drawbacks of either. Here we have a city, affording ample opportunities for public and pri- vate practice which may be indefinitely extended, and whose name, as the capitol of this mighty empire is every where and favorably known. And at the same time we are 17 sufficiently remote from the gaudy and gorgeous allure- ments of vice and fashionable dissipation, which so abound in the larger commercial cities, on which account the population presents an entirely different character. Although corrupting influences doubtless exist, yet here they are not arrayed in splendid magnificence, nor are they thronged with the votaries of fashion so as to lend a charm to vice, and offer impunity to crime, by a multi- tude so great as to conceal each other's deformity. Here is a population, whose general character for morality, good order and the decencies of life, can no where be exceeded, and one which is not sufficiently extensive to allow of concealment in a crowd. Here a young man will find himself universally known as a student of the college, and he may by good conduct, secure personal associations which will serve to relax the tediousness of sedentary and studious habits. Self-respect will inspire motives in such a community, to manliness, temperance and virtue, and to secure the favorable regards of that public, under whose eye he will ever find himself, because of the limited extent of the population, will be an incentive to duty and respectability. Such are a few of the considerations which prompt us to this effort in behalf of medical education in this new institution, which we trust will not dishonor the reputa- tion this city has acquired, and to this end we can only promise our best exertions, and unceasing assiduity. Nor need we add that our success, in the event of our pros- perity, cannot fail to add to the influence character and interests of the city. It may be expected of me, however, as the representa- tive of my colleagues on the present occasion to give an exhibit of the grounds on which we rest our claim to pub- lic confidence and support; and in doing this, nothing 3 18 can be more remote from our feelings than to make invi- dious or unworthy comparisons, with other and older in- stitutions of a kindred character. Several of our number have been long and favorably known to the profession, and the public, both as teachers and practitioners. And t would be affectation on the part of either of us to inti- mate that we do not estimate ourselves, and each other, as fully competent in the departments which we profess to teach. If our appointment on the part of the Trustees be no guarantee to this effect, our acceptance, and the public announcement of our readiness to enter upon the duties of our several chairs, is the strongest evidence that we are ready to submit our several pretensions to the or- deal of criticism on the part of our professional brethren and the public. Indeed by this act we virtually invite such criticism, and can not justly shrink from the result, if candid and liberal. Nor can we expect to succeed in our enterprize, unless we are able to endure this ordeal, for upon our individual and collective merits depend our future existence. A few years will decide our fate, and if protected from legal disabilities we are willing to hazard all upon the issue. But whatever may be the reputation possessed or ac- quired by the Faculty as teachers, and of this it does not become us to say more, there are other and equally im- portant facilities for which the student has a right to look in a Medical College. Among these, one of the most es- sential is the opportunity for acquiring practical knowl- edge, both in Physick and Surgery as already intimated, and as a majority of the professors are resident practi- tioners of the city, it will be alike their interest and duty to afford these, which it is believed they will be able to do to every desirable extent, by the arrangements already made and others in contemplation. And next to these, 19 facilities for the cultivation of anatomical pursuits are all important, and these it is believed will be both conve- nient and ample. The museum of preparations, natural, artificial, and morbid, together with the casts, plates and models in the cabinets of the professors of Anatomy and Surgery, will already challenge a comparison with the collections in some of the oldest colleges in the country, in their number, variety and intrinsic value. In the de- partment of Chemistry, Natural History, and Materia Medica, the apparatus, specimens, and preparations, will be found extensive and ample. Nor in these respects, and the other physical facilities afforded, are we willing to admit any instance of comparative inferiority or defi- ciency, except in the convenience of a Library to the college, which at this early period it is obvious could not be expected, but which immediate measures will be ta- ken to provide on a scale of extent and liberality com- mensurate with our wants. While the convenience and accommodations of our building, we think, cannot fail to afford the class entire satisfaction. In the division of labor, as provided for in the depart- ments, and professorships, announced in our circular, it will be seen that the curriculum includes a greater num- ber than ordinary, without, however, increasing the ex- penses of an entire course ; and the arrangements for the hours of lecturing are such, that it is believed no additional tax will be levied upon the time of the class. This divi- sion of labor will enable each professor to give more un- divided attention to the specific subjects of his depart- ment, and the student will have greater facilities for ac- quiring thorough knowledge in all, not being perplexed as he too often is, by the introduction of different topics in the same lecture, where divers departments are taught by the same chair. The arrangement has been made in 20 view of the interests of our pupils, and, we doubt not, it will be appreciated, when experience has tested its pro- priety and advantages. Having made these general preliminary observations, it will now be expected of me to give the present dis- course a more direct bearing upon the department which, by the appointment of the Trustees, I have the honor to teach. And in doing so, while I magnify my office as is my bounden duty, I must not be understood to do so at the expense of the just claims which each of my able col- leagues may urge, and will doubtless urge in their several introductory lectures. But while all are important and valuable, the subjects legitimately included in the chair assigned me, are eminently so. For while my several as- sociates will introduce you to the knowledge of the struc- ture of the human body, the functions of its several or- gans, the nature and properties of the various curative agencies, and the means provided by our science for re- moving disease, and repairing injuries ; yet all this varied knowledge in its practical application to the purposes of the healing art, is essentially included in the department of the Theory and Practice of Medicine. It is my duty to teach you how all the knowledge derived from the in- structions of my able colleagues is to be made tributary to the accomplishment of the specific objects of our noble profession, and subservient to the actual business of the " divine art of healing." This includes of course both principles and the application of those principles, reason- ing and deduction, facts and inferences, and hence deno- minated—Theory and Practice. There are many who revolt at the bare mention of theory, and there are others who declaim against all theory, because of the mass of nonsensical and absurd hypothe- sis, which has been accumulating for ages, and which 21 has been dignified by this title. And there are those who even stultify themselves, by professing to practise without theory, as though this were not a metaphysical absurdity. • Such men would not immortalize their own stupidity more glaringly, if they were to proclaim that they practise without thinking, for to think is to theorize. In attempting to teach the theory of Physick, therefore, let it not be imagined that any one of the multiplied S3rs- tems of scholastic medicine, whether ancient or modern, venerable or novel, is to be the exclusive theme of our instructions. By theory, we do not mean the dictum or dogma of any one of the sects, or parties, into which our profession has been, and still is, divided. Theory in our profession, as in any other department, may be defined the art of thinking ; and to teach the theory of Medicine, is to teach the art of thinking correctly in Medicine. And no where has the inductive philosophy of Bacon achieved such physical wonders as in our science, for while it has exploded a thousand theories, it has disclosed excellencies in many, and impartially and infallibly detected error, and discovered truth, wherever either has been found. Besides the difference is not between a theory, and no theory, but between a good theory and a bad one ; for there is not an empiric in the nation, whatever he may profess, who has not a theory of some kind or other. No opinion can be formed of the nature of disease, no remedy can be selected, unless under the influence of some theory The prince of American quacks has his theory, which as- cribes disease to the mystical conflict between heat and cold, and his quackery, and that of his disciples, results from the ignorance and unphilosophical nature of his theory. So, also, the German enthusiast builds his sys- tem of Homoeopathic nullification upon a theory which he has ingeniously elaborated, for the sapient purpose of 22 finding the infintesimal fraction of nothing, and by the the profound absurdities of his theory, he has become be- wildered into insanity, and the form of lunacy under which he labors has become contagious in some other countries, as well as our own, and has engendered among his dis- ciples a host of sceptics, both in Medicine and in morals. Every mountebank and charlatan, from the renowned Dr. Solomon, with his Balm of Gilead, at Liverpool, down to the vender of his grandfather's pills at New-York, has his theory. The former, that all diseases arise from de- bility, and are curable by his sovereign cordial; and the latter that "the Constitution is that which constitutes;— the blood is that which constitutes ;"—and, ergo, " all dis- eases are in the blood," a most profound and learned syl- logism, and one which proves that his pills will infallibly cure all incurable diseases, by purifying the blood. And so of all the pill mongers, nostrum venders, and rain wa- ter doctors, and other medical impostors, all, all have their theory ; and their erroneous practice is the necessa- ry result of the erroneous character of their theory. And it will every where be found that the most illiterate pre- tenders to medical knowledge, from ignorance, pride and habit, are. the most obstinately attached to their theories, and the most indignant when they are assailed. We must be permitted to enter our protest, therefore, against the dogma, which has received countenance some- times even among teachers of Medicine, that " all theory becomes useless in practice." Let vain hypotheses, and the monstrous phantoms of the imagination, which abound in Medicine, be abandoned and condemned, but let them not confound these with true theory. Let theory be in our science, what it is in the other departments of human learning, "the result of facts reduced to principles." Let physicians observe accurately, compare skillfully, think 23 closely, and draw just conclusions, and they will con- struct and possess a theory which will never desert them at the bedside of the sick, and one which each of them may contribute to enrich, adorn, and perfect. It is true that the basis of the science of Medicine is fact, hence the science itself should be rigidly one of in- duction. That induction may be more rigorous or less, in accordance with the nature of those facts upon which it is founded; and thus by an accumulation of facts, and a series of inductions from those facts, a regular and accurate theory is constructed, which, if it fails to com- mand respect, has at least the merit of deserving it. It is certain that in the discovery and recognition of facts, upon which this logical process is to be based, cautious discrimination is essential, to discern and detect the "false facts," as they have been denominated, by which multitudes have been, and are still imposed upon. In- deed there is too much justice in the expression of a dis- tinguished teacher of our science, that " ninety-nine in an hundred of medical facts, are medical lies." Theories built upon such pretended facts, however carefully con- structed by ratiocination, must end in what logicians call a non sequitur, and that such is the character of many specious and popular medical theories, can not be denied; the reasoning is plausible, and even unexceptionable ; but their premises are unsound and even fictitious. The pathological theory which we maintain to be es- sential to correct practice, may be thus illustrated by ex- ample. An individual presents phenomena which in their ag- gregate constitute disease. We are anxious to learn what that disease really is,—what those phenomena truly represent. Death enables us to do this, for then by dis- section we find certain alterations of the textures of an 24 organ, with the natural state of which we had previously become conversant. One such observation is compared with many others, and the sum of their agreements and their differences, constitutes our knowledge of the disease. All this is a strict and logical process of induction, a pro- cess which has led us to most of what we positively know in physics and in philosophy. Again, we have learned the real nature of that disease. Our next object is to cure it, in any future case. To do this we must ascertain the properties of any substance which exerts an influence upon the organs of the body. We commence a series of inductive observations. We exhibit the drug, if it be a drug that forms the subject of experiment, and note the effect that it produces. To render the observation precise, the operation of the drug on the healthy organ is first ascertained, and subsequently its effect on the diseased one is tested. The one obser- vation is corrected by comparison with others ; and, fi- nally, we obtain as the result of our researches, the ef- fects of the Medicine in health and in disease. Such in- quiries repeated by innumerable persons, and for many years, have led to the construction of our Materia Medica. Pathology then, and the doctrines of our Materia Medi- ca, our knowledge of the nature of disease, and of the means of treating it, are both essentially founded on fact, reared by cumulative observation and processes of induc- tion. That there are errors is not wonderful, for cumu- lative observations must be open to them. But those er- rors are continually diminishing, and fresh experience, aud fresh observations, which confirm the true, are gradu- ally ridding Medicine of much of the false. We say much, for many fallacies there always must be in a science, the subject of whose inquires is not a physical 25 entity which never changes, but the operations of life, continually agitated by disturbing circumstances so nu- merous and so subtle as to baffle positive calculations. And especially are we open to error, in the practical ap- plication of the best theory, when we are obliged from the nature of the case to solve a new problem in every individual instance of formidable and complicated disease, there being essential points of difference, between such examples, which can only be ascertained by the most cautious and accurate discrimination. These facts, how- ever, instead of depreciating theory, demonstrate the indispensable importance of enlightened and correct theory, without which a physician is only a licensed tri- fler with human life, and one of the most dangerous and mischievous marauders upon the community. It is thus that Medicine has been elevated to a science, its most valuable portions are essentially facts, diligently ascertained and accurately discriminated, by men of the most enlightened minds, and enlarged benevolence ; who have expended their lives in these researches in the ser- vice of humanity. Upon these facts amply confirmed by the cumulative observation of centuries, and daily acqui- ring the confirmation of experience, some of the most gifted and highly cultivated minds of successive ages, and in various countries have by induction, strictly and logi- cally conducted, arrived at results which give to their medical theories the highest claim to confidence and re- spect. How great must be the ignorance and temerity of those who continually prate of the " glorious uncertainty " of Medicine, and decry the science as of doubtful utility, be- cause of the crude and visionary theories which have too often disfigured and deformed it. The time has been in the infancy of the world, and in the absence of civiliza- 4 26 tion, when our science, like others, was without any fixed principles; and for many centuries it is true, that medi- cal theorists were blown about by every gale, and thrown into many sects and parties, by every new doctrine, how- ever absurd. But thanks to the genius, learning, and re- seach of ancient and modern physicians, we are permit- ted to claim for Medicine, at this day, a stability of cha- racter, and approximation to truth, which are equivalent in these attributes, to the just pretensions of any other human science. It must be conceded, however, that various, and even opposite theories, continue to divide the profession to a lamentable extent, into adverse and conflicting parties. This, however, is altogether a different question from that of the importance, utility, and necessity of a true theory, in order to judicious practice. So far from it, that this fact proves incontestibly, what might be appa- rent a priori, that the character of the practice pursued in our profession, depends upon the theory to which the practitioner subscribes. The extent to which theory in- fluences the practice may be easily rendered apparent by a single example, as in the case of fever for instance. The prevailing doctrines relative to the nature and seat of fever at present are two, the direct reverse of each other ; one, that it is a general disease, affecting the entire system; that this affection consists of debility which is manifested, first in a loss of energy in the brain, but which rapidly extends to every organ, and every function, and that consequently the absence of any prima- ry local disease ought still to form, as it has so long form- ed an essential part of the definition:—the other that fe- ver is, in the strictest sense, a local disease ; that its pri- mary seat is invariably fixed in some one organ, that the affection itself consists of inflammation, and that that in- 27 flammation is seated according to one opinion in the brain, and according to the other, in the stomach. Accordingly, these opposite theories are found to have the most important influence on the practice recommend- ed by their respective authors, in the treatment of the dis- ease. The advocates of the first deprecate all active treatment or interference, the grand evil to be contended with is debility; the physician can easily weaken, but he can not easily strengthen; he can depress to any extent he desires, but he cannot communicate power as he wishes.. In a malady, therefore, of which the very es- sence consists in loss of energy, the main duty of the phy- sician is to husband the strength of the patient with the most anxious care ; this being the chief means, as Cullen expressively termed it, of obviating the tendency to death. The important inference is, that every kind and every de- gree of depletion that can add to the primary cause of this malady, must be abstained from with the utmost caution. By the clearest and shortest deduction this will necessarily be the result to which every mind must come that really believes that debility is the essence of fever;— while he who a Imits its inflammatory nature must think it criminal to stand idle by, and allow the most ex- tensive derangements in the structure of vital organs to proceed without even an attempt to check them, as long as it is in his power to use the lancet, or to procure leeches. The present, however, is not the time or place to dis- cuss, or refute these opposite theories. They are intro- duced for the sole purpose of showing in a clear light not only the importance of theory in Medicine, but the value of a true theory in relation to every disease, because of the unavoidable influence of medical opinions upon medi- cal practice. And as we advance in our course we hope 28 to introduce you to a rational system of Medicine, found- ed on fixed principles, and ascertained facts ; by which a systematized form may be given to the entire subject, the errors of medical theories be detected and avoided, while our pupils may be led to use the art of reasoning for themselves in estimating the theories of others, and in constructing them for themselves. Before men had discarded the subtleties of the Aristo- telian philosophy, and seen in induction, the objects and the scope of knowledge, simplicity and science were con- sidered incompatible. System after system, fanciful and brilliant, rose like a rocket before men's eyes, and just when it seemed at its zenith, broke. It exploded, but another rocket blazed, and some firework was always in the clouds. In the midst of these false lights, inductive reasoning, like the day, was drawing on; and when it fairly dawned, how pale and how dull those artificial fires became. We avow ourselves disciples of the Baconian school, the zealous though humble instruments of dissemi- nating its beneficial truths, and applying them to Medi- cine. We may be regarded, as indeed we are, utilita- rians in Medicine, and would rather confirm one sub- stantial fact, than parade before you the most showy ar- ray of critical or speculative abstractions. But while we would dwell upon facts, substantial and practical facts, we would direct their application by theory, legitimately and rationally deduced from those facts, in accordance with the strict induction of the Baconian philosophy. The outcry against all theory, it is humiliating to con- fess, is not only made by ignorant clowns, with whom quackery is a trade, but is echoed by a class of physicians who make exclusive pretensions to superiority over their contemporaries, by claiming to be practical men, in con- tradistinction to their fellows, whom they opprobriously 29 call theorists. Those persons in our profession, who term themselves practical men, are too often exceedingly shal- low fellows. They are men with little learning, and much prejudice, the alluvies left by the subsidence of the old Hippocratic and empiric systems. They are, as Tristram Shandy has it, for the most part very hobby- horesical. They have great fancies for particular reme- dies, talk much of idiosyncracies, declaim against the mania for morbid anatomy, and are always prepared with some specific remedy to knock some particular complaint upon the head. The true practical man is of a very different calibre. He is one who is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of in- ductive reasoning, by which he becomes a theorist, who sees in anatomy, healthy and morbid, the elements of all the exactness we can give to Medicine, who studies symp- toms in reference to such anatomy, and who is ever testing the powers of remedies by experience. Men of this description are becoming, we are happy to believe, more common. Among the well educated members of our profession they are daily met with. They are the symbols of a new order of things. Such as Iago says we do profess ourselves, and to make more and more men in the profession such, we have worked, and please God we will work still. The distinction between the physician enlightened by correct Pathological theory, and he who boasts of his ex- perience as his sole guide, and claims to be par eminence a practical man without theory, may be thus stated. The former is like a skilful surgeon, who is guided in the per- formance of a difficult and delicate operation, by a knowl- edge of anatomy so intimate that every touch of his scal- pel exposes a tissue with which he is acquainted, and dis- closes the site of a vessel with which he is familiar; the 30 object aimed at by the operator may not be attained, but at least the cause of its failure is not that the operator wounds a structure which he ought to have avoided, or opens an artery of the situation and distribution of which he was ignorant. On the contrary the physician who prescribes without theory, is like a charlatan who plunges his instrument boldly into the chest or the abdomen with- out knowing where it goes, or caring what it wounds. It may possibly open a tumour and let out the disease, but it is far more more likely to pierce some vital organ and let out life. But I forbear to enlarge farther at present on this topic, and will barely add that the reason why medical theorizing has been brought into disrepute, is mainly the blind ad- herence 1o the authority of great names, by that class of physicians, whose indolence prompts them to do all their thinking by proxy. Such men there are who claim merit in being the disciples of Cullen or Brown, Sydenham or Rush, of Clutterbuck or Broussais, and they implicitly follow the opinions of their chosen preceptor. They be- lieve what he believes, and this is the extent of their creed. They remind one of days long past, when the attachment of the pupil to the sage was as reverential and enthusiastic as that ever paid by true knight to lady fair in the brightest days of chivalry. This folly has been severely but justly satirized in the 2nd scene of the 2nd act in one of Moliere's plays, entitled L'Amour Medecin. The following dialogue occurs between the disciple of Hippocrates and the servant maid :— "How is the Coachman ?" " Very well, he is dead." "Dead !" "Yes." " That is impossible." 31 " It may be impossible, but it is so." " He cannot be dead, I say." " I tell you he is dead, and buried." " You are mistaken." " I saw it." "It is impossible. Hippocrates says that such diseases do not terminate till the fourteenth or twenty-first day, and it is only six days since he was taken sick." " Hippocrates may say what he pleases, but the Coach- man is dead." Ludicrous as is such an exhibition, and it was merited at the time, Moliere, if he were living, might have, at the present day, ample reason for a similar satire. A patient suffering with headache would be told by a disciple of Broussais, that he certainly had a Gaslro Enteritis, and must have forty leeches to his stomach; while, should he fall into the hands of a Homceopathist, he would swear that he had the Itch, and must take the five hundred millionth part of a drop of the solution of sulphur, and this, for no other reason, than that Broussais or Hahne- mar have said the one or the other. Such humiliating examples however instead of disparaging theory, prove conclusively that they have a bad theory, and give evi- dence that they have " skulls which cannot think and will not learn," for there is not in nature, a more imita- tive animal than a dunce. Such degrading specimens of servility to authorities, and blind adhesion to names, have given a color of truth to the reproach of D'Alembert who, affirmed as descriptive of the medical profession, the fol- lowing apologue:—" Nature is fighting with a disease, a blind man armed with a club—that is the physician— comes to settle the difference. He first tries to make peace, when he cannot accomplish this, he lifts his club, 32 and strikes at random; if he strikes nature, he kills na- ture." Such is the true character of a physician without theory, or under the influence of an erroneous theory; he is a blind man,—he is armed with a club,—and his blow is death. But it is time that I should direct your attention briefly to the practice, guided by theory, which it will be my busi- ness to teach you. As I have already intimated, our de- partment is the arena upon which the other departments of the science, Anatomy, Physiology, Materia Medica, Chemistry, and Botany, are brought into action. It will be my duty first to state the facts which appear to be as- certained, and the inferences which are fairly deducible from them in regard to the functions of the living human body, in health and disease; and secondly, to arrange those facts as systematically as possible, in the order in which the functions, as existing in the living body, are dependant on one another. In the consideration of par- ticular diseases, the first thing is a definition, next an ex- position of symptoms and causes, then the diagnosis and prognosis, and lastly, the mode of cure. In the course of lectures, which I propose for the present term, I shall begin by acquainting you with the most prominent systems and theories of medicine, whether ancient or modern, which are at present in vogue, that you may know to what school any opinions or practice of which you read or hear properly belong, and in doing so will point out what is erroneous, and what is true in them all. And I shall perform this part of my duty with the more readiness, for the reason that I am not person- ally wedded to any one of the sects in scholastic medi- cine, but will leave my pupils to classify me, if they can, under any banner, when they have listened to the course. 33 And should they be able at its conclusion to assign me a place in either of the medical sects of the day, they will do what I have been unable to do for myself. Having thus disposed of the general theories of Medicine, we shall be prepared to examine the subject of Nosology, or the classification of diseases, which we shall be able to dis- pose of, we trust, without burdening your minds with the endless terminology, and technicalities of this class of writers. The consideration of individual diseases will then be taken up, in the order we shall find best adapted to our purpose and your improvement; the causes, symp- toms, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of each, will be separately noticed under its appropriate head. The course will conclude with a summary examination of Hygeine or Prophylactic Medicine. If there be peculiarity in the plan and arrangement proposed, you will be better pre- pared to estimate its fitness at the termination of the course. One thing I wish to premise, and take this opportunity to do so; and here I make bold to speak for my col- leagues also. The design of the Faculty is thoroughly to instruct those gentlemen who may become our pupils, into the whole art and mystery of the science of healing. The position we have assumed in this school of Medicine, is, on our part, a loud declaration that we understand the subjects which we profess to teach. Hence if we fail to make ourselves clearly understood, or any of our opinions or instructions are obscure, unintelligible, or du- bious, for want of proof, we invite you at the close of the lecture, to private and personal interviews for expla- nation, elucidation, or if need be discussion. And if then you remain in doubt as to our meaning, or as to the ac- curacy of our instructions, you may safely regard us as deficient either in the science, or that aptness to teach 5 34 which qualifies us for our work. Blame not the science for mysticism and obscurity, for be assured that to a com- petent teacher of any science, there are no mysteries too obscure for elucidation, unless they belong to that class of theories which we have reprobated, and with which we have nothing to do, as they are repudiated by the science, and belong not to the rational system of Medi- cine of which we profess ourselves to be the humble vo- taries. We advise, therefore, that you consider your teachers as your companions in the pursuit and cultivation of knowledge and scientific truth, cultivate a social inter- course with them, and a mutual interchange of sentiment. Ask frequently and freely for explanation of what is difficult, or evidence of what is doubtful, or greater am- plification on topics of interest and importance. Thus without any encroachment on our dignity, or trespass on our rights, teachers and pupils may mutually contribute to the promotion of the science, and to our reciprocal profit. You will always find us easy of access, and ready to communicate freely with you all, if we can thus facili- tate your studies, and encourage you in your toils. The object for which we lecture, is that you may acquire a knowledge of the profession upon which you have enter- ed to fit you for its arduous and responsible duties. To this work we consecrate our time and talents, and ac- quirements, and we labor in vain unless you become worthy of the public confidence, as educated and accom- plished physicians. That you may be such, demands, on your part, great diligence in study, close attention to the instructions of the lecture room, and a vigilant improvement of all the facilities and opportunities which your attendance upon the College affords. It will be the business of your teach- 35 ers to lighten your labors, by collecting and condensing the existing knowledge of the subjects upon which they severally treat, to explain the difficulties which might otherwise obstruct your progress, and to suggest trains of thought and furnish the materials for after reflection. Other professions may be learned from written authori- ties, but ours demands not only oral instructions, but ma- ny facilities which can no where be found but within the walls of a Medical College. The requisite preliminary education may be acquired any where, in the back attic of a private house, as well as in the " academic bowers and learned halls" of a University. Hundreds of indi- viduals have become profound linguists, and mathemati- cians, without any tuition at all, merely by their own ap- plication to books. Many have become profound civilians and barristers, as well as learned divines, in the same way. But professional education in Medicine, can only be learned from those who have previously studied it, and only in certain places where the means of teaching it are amply collected and arranged. From these and the like considerations, we humbly submit to this enlightened audience, whether, according to reason, justice and sound policy, it be not a sad blot on the liberality and intelligence of any state, the legisla- tion of which provides, not for the character and amount of medical knowledge which practitiqners shall possess, but only for the places, at which they shall acquire it, and for the men who are to impart it. Is it worthy of the 19th century, that it should be determined that a thorough knowledge of medical science, if learned at Albany, shall not be considered as good, if of the same amount,—as that which is acquired at New-York City, at Fairfield, or Geneva ? Is it not as clear as the sun at noon-day, that such legislation aims not at the actual possession of pro- 36 fessional education, but at the power of conferring a mo- nopoly on particular schools ? And when the state and the nation have been convulsed to their centre by the real or supposed existence of such monopoly, in the banking interest, and the voice of the country has de- nounced all exclusive privileges in matters of finance,— is it to be endured that medical education shall be still shackled with the fetters of this odious monopoly, and shall students of Medicine alone be singled out as worthy of the pains and penalties of the state law, because they select for themselves their school of instruction, and pre- sume to choose their preceptors ? It cannot be. The time must be at hand when a more enlightened policy, and more liberal legislation shall redeem the character of our state, from the existing deformity in our civil code, a deformity of which New-York is believed to be the exclu- sive proprietor. So much have we relied upon the intelligence, liberali- ty, republican character and public spirit of our rulers that we have ventured into the field under all the disad- vantages of unprotected orphanage, and we have now made our appeal to the constituted authorities for adop- tion into the family of the state, of which it is our boast that we are free citizens. All we ask, and this we shall continue to ask, until our request be granted, is that in common justice, this School of Medicine shall be placed on an equal footing with other and kindred institutions of the state, by investing us with similar corporate powers. These powers may be granted under such restrictions as the wisdom of our rulers may suggest, and so that our diplomas shall empower our pupils to possess the same rights and professional immunities, as are by law secured to the pupils of other schools, we ask no more. Our college building, our museum and cabinet, our lecture 37 rooms, and facilities for imparting knowledge, are this day thrown open to the inspection of all, that our capaci- ties and capabilities may be judged by comparison with other colleges, or otherwise. We intend to exhibit thus our pretensions and claims within sight of the capitol, and under the eye of our legislature, and should they still withhold from us and from our pupils that legal recogni- tion for which we pray, we design that it shall be appa- rent in the sight of all men that our course is just. We shall at least have made an honest effort in behalf of a science to which we are enthusiastically attached, and if we fail to command success, we shall aim to do more, by deserving it. It now only remains to express on behalf of the Faculty, our warmest gratitude to the Trustees and patrons, who have so promptly and honorably seconded our enterprise, by their zeal and liberality ; and our gratification at the audience who have this evening responded to our invita- tion. Most highly do we appreciate the compliment paid us by the ladies of the city, not only by the interest they have manifested in our museum and cabinet, but by the numerous attendance with which they have honored us on the present occasion. In the cultivation of the heal- ing art they cannot fail to feel a lively interest, for upon its votaries often depend the health and lives of those most dear to them, as well as their own personal safety. And it is among the most prominent pleasures of the pro- fession to the cultivation of which we are devoted, that by the triumph of Medicine over disease, we are often suc- cessful in restoring some loved one to the embrace of mother, daughter, wife or sister, when hope has well nigh fled, and raven-winged despair has been hovering over some daughter of sorrow. In such a case when the desponding countenance is lighted up with hope, and 38 emotions of joy and thankfulness expand the bosom, the physician is then welcomed by the gratitude of woman's heart, which when manifested by woman's smiles, and woman's tears, presents a scene and inspires emotions which an angel might envy. It is to a profession thus crowned with the smiles of female loveliness, that this temple of science is dedicated, and to which we have con- secrated ourselves, and would fain initiate our pupils. May such be their success, and such.their grateful re- compense. \ / APPENDIX. TRUSTEES. Hon. TEUNIS VAN VECHTEN, Mayor, Ex-Officio, President. Hon. JAMES M'KOWN, Recorder, Ex-Officio, Vice President. JOHN DAVIS, Secretary. GEORGE DEXTER, Treasurer. DANIEL D. BARNARD, JOHN O. COLE, SAMUEL STEVENS, WILLIAM SEYMOUR, JOHN TAYLOR, ISRAEL WILLIAMS, FRIEND HUMPHREY, OLIVER STEELE, JAMES GOOLD, ROBERT H. PRUYN, JOHN I. WENDELL, JOHN GROESBECK, ANDREW KIRK, JOHN TROTTER, CONRAD A. TEN EYCK, CHARLES D. GOULD, IRA HARRIS, ARNOLD NELSON, BRADFORD R. WOOD. THOMAS McELROY, PHILIP S. VAN RENSSELAER. FACULTY. EBENEZER EMMONS, M. D., Frofessor of Chemistry and Natural History. JAMES H. ARMSBY, M. D., Professor of Anatomy and Physiology. DAVID M. REESE, M. D., Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine. ALDEN MARCH, M. D., Professor of Principles and Practice of Surgery. HENRY GREENE, M. D., Professor of Obstetrics and the diseases of Women and Children. DAVID M. M'LACHLAN, M. D., Professor of Materia Medica and Pharmacy. AMOS DEAN, Esq., Professor of Medical Jurisprudence, 6 42 The Lectures in the College continue sixteen weeks. The fee for all the courses is $65; which must be paid on taking out the Tickets, within ten days of the commencement of the term, or it will not be considered a full course. The amount being deposited with the Dean of the Faculty, will entitle the student to the Ticket of each Professor. Each student, before receiving his Tickets, will be expected to record in the Matriculation Book, his name and residence, and the name of his in- structor. The Matriculation fee is $5 ; which must be paid at the commencement of the term. The Anatomical Rooms will be open during the term, under the charge of the Professor of Anatomy, who will superintend, and give instruction to the classes in Practical Anatomy, and furnish every necessary facility for the stu- dents in this department. The Ticket of admission to the Dissecting Rooms during the winter, is $5. An abundant supply of subjects will be furnished for private dissection, for a reasonable additional expense. Candidates for the Degree of M. D., must be 21 years of age; ex- hibit proof of having studied Medicine and Surgery during the term of three years, with a respectable practitioner; and have attended two full cour- ses of lectures, the last which must have been at this College, and pass a satisfactory examination before the Faculty. Each Candidate will be required to prepare a Thesis on some medical subject, and deliver it to the Dean of the Faculty, at least ten days before his examination; which Thesis will be subject to the approval of the Faculty, and the candidate may be called upon by either of the Professors to read and defend it, in the presence of the Faculty and Trustees. The Graduation Fee is $20 ; which must be paid to the Dean of the Facu- ty, before the Degree is conferred. The Graduates of other Institutions, Licentiates, and regular Practitioners, will have free admission to all the Lectures, by paying the Marticulation Fee only. Students who have attended two full courses of lectures at an incorporated Institution, will be required to pay only the Marticulation Fee. Students who have attended two full courses of lectures at this Institution, will have perpetual free admission to all the lectures, by paying the Marticu- lation Fee only. 43 The College Edifice is a large and commodious brick building, situated on Eagle, Jay, and Lancaster streets, near the Capitol, and commands a view of the city and adjacent country. The main building, exclusive of the wings, is one hundred feet in length, fifty feet in width, and three stories high; and no expense has been spared by the Trustees, in finishing and fitting it up in the most convenient and perma- nent style. The Anatomical Theatre is fifty feet square, two stories high, with a dome and sky-light over the centre; and will accommodate four hun- dred persons. The seats are arranged in a circular amphitheatrical form, and so much elevated above each other as to enable students in every part of the room to see distinctly the most minute demonstrations. In the plan of its construction, the beauty, convenience, and excellence of its arrangement, it is believed that this room is not exceeded by any lecture room of the kind in this country. The Museum is fifty feet square, twenty-six feet high, and surrounded by a gallery eight feet wide; each story provided with glass cases, for the Anatomi- cal preparations, and other Cabinets. The Dissecting rooms are spacious and convenient, combining the advanta- ges of abundant light, and at the same time, suitable privacy and seclusion from interruption. The Laboratory and other rooms, are all large and commodious, and well adapted to the purposes for which they arc designed. The extensive collections of anatomical and morbid specimens, together with casts of plaster and wax, drawings, plates, models, &c, belonging to the Professors of Surgery and Anatomy, will be permanently placed in the Mu- seum of the College, to which the students will have free access during the lecture term. The morbid anatomical specimens in this Museum are very numerous and valuable, having been collected principally by the Professor of Surgery, during a practice of many years, and are capable of illustrating a great variety of Surgical diseases. The Cabinets in Materia Medica, Mineralogy, &c, are unusually large and well selected, and the Professor of Chemistry is provided with ample appa- ratus and materials for illustrating his department. Arrangements have been made for securing to the students the advantages of Clinical instruction in Medicine and Surgery, and it is confidently believed that by the aid of our philanthropic Citizens, a public Hospital or Infirmary will soon be established in this City, by which these advantages will be greatly increased. All Surgical operations are performed gratuitously upon the poor, during the term, provided the Class be allowed to witness them; and numerous im- portant Surgical cases and operations are thus presented to the Students. 44 Good boarding is obtained in Albany, near the College, with pleasant and convenient rooms, at from $2.50 to $3.00 per week. The fees for the several courses are as follows* Chemistry and Natural History, : : . ; : $11 00 Anatomy and Physiology, : : : r -:. : . H 00- > Theory and Practice of Medicine, : : i : . : 11 00 . Surgery, : : : : : : : : : 11 00 "" Obstetrics, ::::::::: 8 00 Materia Medica, : : : : : : : : 8 00 Medical Jurisprudence, :::::: 5 00 The Faculty have the pleasure of acknowledging the recent receipt of valuable donations to the Museum of the College, from the following gentje ; Peter P. Staate, M. D., Albany. | Mr. J. R. Ames, Albany. Alex. Van Rensselaer, " K Messrs. A. & J. McClure, " Gharles H. Payn, " it Mr. Robert C. Russell, " John Wilson, " t* " W. R. Ford, Wesley Newcomb, " n David Springstead, M. D., Bethlehem. William O'Donnel, " it Geo. W. Little, M. D., Cherry Valley* V. B. Lockrow, " k A. C. Getty, " Greenbush. Mr. Frederick Fink, << A. Hammond, " West Troy. •*' Henry Rawls, i« A.J. Skilton, " Tfoy*; • ., . '* D. Newcomb, ■ • •*.. Samuel Dixson, " New Scotland. " H. C. Southwick, " Syrus Porter, " Rutland, Vt. Also, the loan of several valuable specimens, by Mr. Henrt Meech of the Albany Museum. And of the skeleton of the Elephant, which has been arti- culated and placed in the Museum of the College, by Mr. John Thomas of the American Hotel. Several donations in books have been received from Frederick P. Put- nam, M. D., New-York City; and from Dr. Alexander Nelson, of this City- ...... All donations to the College win be gratefully received, and duly acknowl ed by the Trustees and Faculty. J. H. ARMSBY, Dean of the Faculty, >