OF THE 
ARTICLE XXVI. 
Eulogium on Valentine Mott, M. D., IrL. D. By Gunning S. Bedford, M. D. 
[Read before the Medical Society of the County of New York, Feb. 1, 1866.] 
Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the New York County Medical Society : 
We have assembled here, to-night, to speak of the illustrious dead, and 
offer our tribute of respect and affection to the memory of a great surgeon, 
an honored citizen, an exemplary Christian, 
Valentine Mott has passed from earth at a ripe old age, and in the fullness 
of'his professional fame, bearing with him the praises, of those who knew 
him best, and the benedictions of the thousands, who had been the reci- 
pients of his kindness and skill. 
He has obeyed the summons which, sooner or later, awaits us all ; he now 
reposes with more than the quietude of sleep in the silent tomb ; but yet 
he is not dead—he will live in the future, and his name will be a “ moon- 
track in the vast ocean of history.” The triumph of death is not always 
complete, for when the good man surrenders his spirit, he leaves in his 
past acts a monument to his memory more enduring than bronze or sculp; 
tured marble ; a monument which will command public appreciation, and 
prove a sweet balm to the grief of surviving relatives and friends. Well 
may we exclaim on this occasion : 
“ Multis ille bonis flebellis ocoidit.” 
“Oh ! Grave, where is thy victory ? Oh ! Death, where is thy sting ?” 
In 1861, Gentlemen of the Medical Society, I had the honor, by your 
appointment, to deliver a eulogium on the late John Wakefield Francis, 
M. D. From that I make the following extract : “Dr. Francis 
was one of the few last links, which'connect the past with the present 
history of the profession in this city. With but rare exceptions, those who 
commenced professional life with him have passed away. Many of them 
attained a good old age, and, like himself, departed full of merited honors,' 
while their graves were consecrated by the tears and grateful recollections 
of those they left behind. One of his earliest friends, an unbroken friend- 
ship of more than half a century—is still with us ; and let us, in the sincerity 
of our hearts, invoke Heaven that ho may be spared, as one whose example 
is not only worthy of imitation, but whose renown, as onP of the great 
surgeons of the age, reflects credit on our city, and exalts the profession 
of which he is so illustrious a member. In the last illness of Dr. Francis, 
it was, indeed, a comfort to him to have at his bedside his old friend and 
companion, Dr. Mott. He not only enjoyed the benefit of his skill, but he 
was refreshed by the fact that, in his critical hour, when sinking nature 
was fast yielding to the universal and inexorable conqueror, be had near 
him one who had grown up with him from boyhood, one who had never 305 
NEW YORK STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
deserted him in life, and when the last struggle was over, one who would 
gently close his eyelids in death. 
“ There yet lives another of the fathers of the profession—one, also, who 
was a contemporary of Dr. Francis. He, too, has added to his country’s 
renown, and the dignity of the profession, by his brilliant achievements, 
and the fostering spirit he has so universally manifested for the progress 
and spread of science. The name of Dr, Alexander H. Stevens will always 
be associated with the dignity of medicine in the city of New York ; and 
may he be long with ns, to enlighten us with his counsels, and cheer us 
by his example.” 
Such, gentlemen, was my language in 1861 ; and as time has rolled on, 
and left its footprints, with unerring progress by day and by night, one 
more of the few remaining links has given way. We are here, this even- 
ing, to lay on the altar of mutual friendship the incense of our homage to 
exalted worth ; and we are here, ! repeat, to speak of Dr. Mott as a great 
surgeon, and of his character as a man and a Christian. This honorable 
duty which you, in yotir kindness, have imposed upon me, I could not 
refuse ; for, in accepting the sacred office of his eulogist, I experienced a 
melancholy pleasure in the conviction that, in recurring to some of the 
more prominent details of his eventful life, memory would irresistibly 
revert to many of the agreeable reminiscences connected with the profes- 
sional history of my honored master, cherished friend, and distinguished 
colleague ; for, gentlemen, he stood towards me in all these relations. 
It would, perhaps, have been better had some more suitable one among 
you been selected for the purpose, and yet I may be permitted to say that 
there is no member of your association who could bring more of earnest 
heart, more of sincere affection to the accomplishment of the task than 
myself. I shall, therefore, to the best of my ability, endeavor faithfully to 
perform the office which your kindness has devolved upon me. 
It cannot be expected that I should do more, on this occasion, than present 
a rapid review of some of the more salient points in his life. The sacred 
office of the biographer, with an elaborate analysis of his labors and writ- 
ings, will occupy the pen of the future historian. 
Valentine Mott, M. D. LL. D., was born at Glen Cove, Oyster Bay, Long 
Island, August 20th, 1185. His father, Dr. Henry Mott, a native of Hemp- 
stead, L. 1., was born in 1157. He entered the office of Dr. Samuel Bard, 
and received his medical education under the supervision of that dis- 
tinguished physician. Dr. Henry Mott, after practicing medicine for many 
years in the city of New York, died at the advanced age of eighty-three. 
His son, Valentine, received his scholastic education in a private seminary 
at Newtown, Long Island, where he remained until 1804, At this time he 
commenced the study of medicine in the office of his relative* Dr. Valentine 
Seaman, and became a pupil of the Medical Faculty of Columbia College, in 
this city. It was originally called King’s College, but at the close of the 
war received the title of Columbia College, and the organization of its 
Medical Faculty was completed in 1792. 
In 1806, our friend graduated with much credit to himself, and had con- 
ferred on him the degree of M. D., by the Trustees of the Medical Faculty 306 
of Columbia College. The subject of his Inaugural Dissertation was an 
Experimental Enquiry into the Chemical and Medicinal Properties of the 
Statice Limonium, of Linnceus. This dissertation, which was most favora- 
bly received, was affectionately dedicated by Dr. Mott to his father, and 
his friends, Dr. Valentine Seaman and Dr. David Hosack. 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE 
Immediately after graduating, anxious to avail himself of the rich 
fountains of European knowledge and experience, Dr. Mott visited London, 
thirsting, as it were, for the instruction of the eminent men who were the 
most prominent at that time in the surgical profession of that great 
Metropolis—among whom may be named the two Clines, Sir Astley Cooper, 
John Abernethy, the two Blizzards, and Sir Everard Home. Soon after his 
arrival in London, he called on Sir Astley Cooper, the surgeon of Guy’s 
Hospital, by whom he was most kindly and courteously received. Dr. 
Mott very soon consummated arrangements by which he became the 
private pupil of that eminent surgeon ; and, gentlemen of the medical pro- 
fession, you can well appreciate how zealously our friend availed himself 
of the inexhaustible stores of knowledge which this connection placed 
within his reach. 
After remaining in London for two years, drinking deep and faithfully 
of the abundant springs of surgical science, which were so inviting to his 
professional taste, he repaired to Edinburgh, at that time the great seat of 
medical learning in Europe. Here he listened to the lessons of those emi- 
nent masters, Gregory, Duncan, Hope, Murray, Playfair, Jamison, and 
John Thompson—names which will be respected and live in all future time 
on the page of Medical History. 
Still solicitous to extend the area of his observation, and imbibe instruc- 
tion from all the great sources of civilization, he was most desirous to 
visit the Continent of Europe. For this purpose, he made “ a fruitless 
attempt to smuggle himself in a fishing boat to Holland, intending to walk 
thence to the Hague, with his pack on his back.”* But at that time, war 
was raging most fiercely between Prance and Great Britain, and the pre- 
cautions adopted by Napoleon to prevent the entrance of foreigners into 
France were so rigid, that, at the suggestion of friends, he abandoned the 
perilous enterprise. 
In the spring of 1809, Dr. Mott returned to New York. He now felt 
that previous study, and the extraordinary opportunities he had enjoyed 
abroad, and of which he had so faithfully availed himself, had prepared 
him for the practical duties of his profession. He, therefore, almost imme- 
diately after his return home, with the consent of the Faculty, obtained 
permission from the Trustees of Columbia College to deliver, in the ana- 
tomical room of the Medical College, a course of lectures and demonstra- 
tions on Operative Surgery. In speaking of this circumstance, in an ad- 
dress on the Reminiscences of Medical Teaching in New York, delivered 
November Ith, 1850, Dr. Mott, with conscious pi'ide, observes : “I may 
justly claim to have been the first person to deliver private lectures on any 
medical subject in the city of New York, and the first to demonstrate to a 
class of students the steps of surgical operations, as then taught and 
* Reminiscences of Medical Teachers in New York, by Valentine Mott, 1850. NEW YORK STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
307 
practiced by the highest professional authorities. I trust,” he continues, 
“ I shall be excused for this allusion to my early essay in teaching, upon 
which, at this remote period, imperfectly as no doubt I performed the duty, 
I confess that I look back with great pleasure'. I owe to it, undoubtedly, 
the subsequent honor of a Professor of Surgery in this College.” 
In 1811, Dr. Mott, then but 26 years of age, was elected Professor of 
Surgery in the Medical Department of Columbia College; the duties in- 
volved in this appointment he performed with honor to himself, and to the 
entire satisfaction of his colleagues. In 1813, a union was cemented be- 
tween the Medical Faculties of Columbia College and the College of Phy- 
sicians and Surgeons, resulting in the formation of but one school in the 
city of New York—that of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. 
In 1814, Dr. Mott, whose reputation was now gradually but surely pro- 
gressing, comraensurately with his efforts to 'be useful, was nominated by 
that distinguished anatomist and surgeon, Dr. Wright Post, for the chair 
of surgery in the new alliance, and he was unanimously elected. In allud- 
ing to this appointment, in the address to which I have already referred, 
he thus speaks: “Devoted, as I then was, to my favorite pursuit, Surgery, 
and eager for distinction, I leave you, gentlemen, to imagine the delight I 
experienced when, meeting me in the street soon after my appointment, 
Dr. Post got out of his gig and announced to me the gratifying and wholly 
unexpected intelligence.” 
From this time his course was onward, and each succeeding year added 
to his reputation—/ama crescit eundo—and brought him numerous patients, 
who were most anxious to avail themselves of the skill, as his friend Dr. 
Francis described him, of the “well-dressed and handsome young surgeon,” 
when he commenced professional life in this city—alluding, at the same 
time, to the numerous hearts he broke, and the fractured limbs he set. It 
does not, however, appear to me to be a logical sequitur, that setting 
broken limbs for the gentlemen could, in any way, compensate the gentle 
and confiding ladies for the damage done to their hearts. This, it may be 
remarked, is altogether a question of taste, and I submit it to the decision 
of tile ladies themselves. 
Dr. Mott continued his relations with the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, gathering for himself a sound reputation, both by’his lectures 
and the brilliancy of his surgical achievements, until 1.826, when politics, 
a very disturbing element, entered the counsels of the Board of Regents 
at Albany, resulting in the enactment of certain resolutions, so obnoxious 
to the Faculty, that they resigned in a body. The retirement of the 
Faculty was succeeded by a new organization in the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons. 
Unwilling, however, to remain idle, and feeling an earnest interest in 
the profession, determined to maintain its progress and dignity, the retiring 
Faculty became incorporated under the title of Rutger’s Medical College, 
and erected a commodious building for their purposes in Duane street. 
The names of the gentlemen composing this new school were as follows: 
Valentine Mott, M. D.; David Hosack, M. D.; Win. James McNeven, 
M. D.; John W. Francis, M. D.; John Griscorn, M, D.; John D. Godman, 
M. D. 308 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE 
The Rutger’s Medical College, after a prosperous but short-lived ex- 
istence of only five years, was compelled to close its doors in 1831, in con- 
sequence of a defect in its charter, rendering its degrees illegal. 
I trust I may be pardoned, on this occasion, for alluding briefly to one 
of the members of this new Faculty, and be permitted to throw a passing 
flower to his honored memory—l mean the late John D. Godman, M. D. 
He was my first preceptor, my early counsellor, my devoted friend— 
Amicus certus in re incerta facile cernitur. He was a man of dazzling and 
irresistible eloquence; the witchery of his speech made captive his listeners; 
it was his eloquence which changed the whole destiny of my life, and 
whether I should be thankful or otherwise, or whether those who have been 
subjected to my professional ministrations should be content, it is not for 
me to determine. 
From my early boyhood, I had always cherished an ardent desire to 
study law. As soon as I had completed my academic education, and ob- 
tained my degree of A. M., I returned to my native home, the city of Balti- 
more, and in order to carry out my original intention, I was kindty pro- 
vided with a letter of introduction to Daniel Webster, requesting him to 
receive me as his pupil, by General Robert Goodlue Harper, of Baltimore, 
the distinguished lawyer, and son-in-law of the venerated patriot, Charles 
Carroll of Carrolton. 
I immediately bade adieu to my native city, and directed my course 
towards Boston, for the purpose of presenting my letter to the great con- 
stitutional lawyer, the man of colossal intellect, whose name, with that of 
Henry Clay, will always be held in holy veneration by his countrymen. I 
arrived in Philadelphia about two o’clock, and while taking dinner, a gen- 
tleman, a student of medicine from Virginia, asked me if I would not ac- 
company him that afternoon to hear a lecture on Anatomy. The word 
anatomy caused my flesh to quiver, and produced a remarkably strange 
sensation. However, as my iEsculapian friend seemed so solicitous for me 
to accompany him, recovering somewhat from my perturbation, I reluct- 
antly consented, determining to renew my journey early in the morning for 
Boston. We proceeded on our way to the lecture hall; the lecture had 
already commenced. Dr. John D. Godman was the speaker; he had before 
him a cadaver, and was discoursing on the muscles of the shoulder-joint. I 
will not attempt to describe the scene or the feelings I experienced five 
minutes after I had entered that room. The appearance of the lecturer, 
his dark grey eyes, his pallid cheeks, his high and expansive forehead, his 
voice which combined both music and power, his language so beautiful and 
touching, his manner so earnest and yet so classic—in one word, the tout 
ensemble of the man so deeply interested me, that I was enchained, charmed, 
converted. I forgot my day and night dreams about law; I forgot my let- 
ter; and even the lustre of the great name of Webster for the instant waned 
into comparative insignificance. 
As soon as the lecture was over, I approached the gifted speaker, and, 
without a moment’s hesitation, observed to him ; Do you receive private 
pupils? He kindly took my hand, and, with a gentle smile playing on his 
countenance, replied—Do you wish to study medicine, my young friend? ■ I 
have no will on the subject, sir; your eloquence has deprived me of all will; 309 
NEW YORK STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
and if you will receive me as your pupil, I shall take you as my model, and 
will labor with zeal and untiring effort not to dishonor your name. That 
evening, by invitation, I called at his house, taking with me my Boston letter, 
together with others with which I had been provided, all of which were 
submitted to his inspection. Before nine o’clock that evening I was the 
pupil of John D. Godman, M. D. 
I quote with much pleasure the following language of Dr. Mott, in proof 
of the high opinion he entertained of my early preceptor:—“ln the perfec- 
tion of his anatomical knowledge, in eloquence and efficiency as a lecturer, 
Dr. Godman was not surpassed in this, and, perhaps, not in any other 
country. He was one of the meteors whose brightness dazzles for the 
moment ere it fades, and leaves the darkness more visible than before. 
This country, in my opinion, has produced few abler men in the profession 
than the late John D. Godman.” 
If you will pardon me for this digression, I will mention one incident 
connected with the life of Dr. Godman, which I have always regarded with 
very great interest. In early life he was a sailor-boy, and, at one time, his 
mind was rather disposed to infidelity; but he could not long resist the 
eloquent demonstrations of Nature, and he became a most sincere and 
practical Christian. He remarked, on one occasion, that, when an appren- 
tice on board of a vessel, he was ordered to go aloft to perform some duty; 
he had not proceeded far when he suddenly stopped, and the captain, in a 
gruff voice, shouted out—You land-lubber, why don’t you go on? Sir, 
answered young Godman, lam dizzy—l am afraid I shall fall. The cap- 
tain immediately retorted—Look aloft! 
In alluding to this circumstance, I have repeatedly heard him' remark, 
that in subsequent life, when no longer a sailor-boy, but when the cares of 
the world, in feeble health himself, with a young family dependent entirely 
on his own efforts, would occasionally make him dizzy, he could imagine 
that he heard the echo of the gruff voice of the captain, and he would never 
fail to “look aloft,” and in earnest spirit and confident hope, breathe a 
prayer to Heaven. That prayer, he said, was always a comfort, and 
enabled him to sustain himself under the pressure of his tribulations. 
It is not surprising to me that this brilliant man, in the study of the 
medical profession, abandoned his infidel tendencies, and had. his mind 
strengthened and fortified with religious convictions. It has been charged, 
I am aware, by the ignorant and unthinking, that the pursuit of our science 
not only disturbs and weakens the mind in its religious faith, but that-it 
leads to positive infidelity. What, permit me to ask, is the basis of that 
science ? Is it not Anatomy, which discloses the exquisitely beautiful and 
intricate structure of man—a structure full of the evidences of infinite 
power; a structure so complicated, and yet so pei'fect, that it bears, in all 
its parts, the fiat of Divine Wisdom. The study of Medicine, while it forti- 
fies the Christian mind and elevates Christian hope, points out through the 
splendid demonstrations of Anatomy—demonstrations which take a deep 
hold of the human heart—the fallacies of the sophist and the absurd dreams 
of the sceptic. In our daily avocations, while engaged in that most neces- 
sary part of our duties—l mean the dissection of the dead—we have con- 
stantly revealed to us testimony, well suited to the reviler of God’s works;. 310 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE 
he would there find, what all the lessons of the moralist have failed to show 
him, positive and undoubted demonstration. His reason would become 
convinced by the eloquence of nature; her silent yet graphic displays would 
force him, in the pride of his heart, to exclaim—the finger of Omnipotence 
is indeed here ! Our profession not only enables us to dispense the bene- 
fits of a science, intended by the Creator to alleviate the sufferings of the 
human race, but it embodies, at the same time, irresistible evidences of 
His own infinite wisdom; it exhibits the majesty of God, and discloses the 
comparative insignificance of man, reminding him of that great immutable 
truth : 
<f What’shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue.” 
The eloquent and gifted Tully, even in the dark ages of the profession, be- 
fore the sun of our science had made its way above the horizon, character- 
ized it as almost divine in its nature;—“Homines ad JDeos in nulla re se 
propius accedunt quam salutem hominibus dando.” The glorious St, Augus- 
tin, too, one of the pillars of the Christian church, observes :—“ Qui pre- 
cepta Medici non sequitur Ipse se inter emit.” 
After the closing of the doors of Rutger’s Medical College, in 1831, Hr, 
Mott was again appointed Professor of Operative Surgery, with Surgical 
and Pathological Anatomy, in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, 
which position he occupied until 1834, when failing health, the result of 
nearly thirty years of unbroken professional labor, unrelieved by change of 
scene or recreation, compelled him abruptly to suspend his lectures, and 
seek for the restoration of his health in foreign climes. His travels were 
extensive, and with marked benefit to his health, embracing Europe, Asia, 
and Africa. It was during these travels that the great Surgeon, full of 
love for his profession, and nunquam non paratus for a surgical operation, 
tied both the carotids of a noble rooster in the valley of Aesculapius, and 
sacrificed him to the memory of that philosopher. How much more glori- 
ously did that rooster die than many of his kindred, who have their heads 
chopped off in the most unscientific and unsurgical manner, merely for the 
gratification of the animal appetite I 
In 1840, Hr. Mott returned to New York, and was welcomed home by 
numerous friends, and by none more cordially than his professional brethren, 
who knew so well how to appreciate his sterling worth. The day after his 
arrival, I was one of a committee of three to call at his house, and announce 
to him that he had been elected to the Chair of Surgery in the University 
Medical College, which had just been established in connection with the 
Academic Department of the New York University, The Committee, it is 
needless to say, were highly gratified by his acceptance. The following 
gentlemen constituted the newly appointed Faculty : 
Valentine Mott, M. D., Granville Sharpe. Pattison, M. D., John Revere, 
M. D., Martya Paine, M. D., John W. Draper, M. D., Gunning S. Bedford, 
M. D. 
The success of this School was remarkable. We opened our first session 
of lectures in 1841 with IG4 students. It was not long before this Institu- 
tion had inscribed on its catalogue the names of 450 students, the great 
majority of whom came from south of the Potomac river. Nor was this 
unexampled prosperity, checked until the unhappy contest with our South- NEW YORK STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
311 
ern brethren, which has more than crimsoned this fair land of ours with a 
brothers blood! But it has pleased Heaven to throw the mantle of its 
protection over this distracted country, and make us once again a great, 
united, and happy people, and thus secured for our children the most pre- 
cious inheritance which has ever been transmitted from father to son—the 
American Union! Who can forget the glories of the past—who can oblite- 
rate from memory the heroic deeds of our Patriot Fathers, and that un- 
equaled document, the Declaration of Independence—in which, on bended 
knee, first invoking the blessing of Heaven, they swore that they and their 
children should be forever free ! May the sacred ashes which repose on 
the banks of the Potomac, under the venerated shades of Mount Vernon, 
remind us of our duty, and so impress us with the lofty patriotism of the 
Father of our Country as to make us resolve—both North and South—that, 
in all future time, not one solitary stone of the arch, which gives support 
to the National fabric, shall be loosened from its foundation—not one star 
dimmed, nor one stripe rent from the glorious old Flag, which has never 
yet gone down in dishonor in any equal contest with a foreign foe ! 
Dr. Mott, on the organization of the University Medical College, was 
unanimously elected President of the Faculty, and, with the exception of 
the year 1851, continued his relations with the university until the time of 
his death. 
I have thus very imperfectly glanced at some of the laborious duties 
performed by our friend. He was more or less constantly engaged in pub- 
lic teaching for a period of fifty-six years, from 1809 to 1865; and asso- 
ciated with the duties of his professorship were those of an extensive 
practice, involving more or less constant anxiety. It is amazing to think 
of the amount of labor that this great surgeon performed. His life was, 
indeed, one of activity and usefulness. He did not live in vain! 
e< 0 vita, stulto longa, sapient! brevis. 
Dr. Mott, as a lecturer, was most interesting. His experience was so 
vast; his observation so acute; his enthusiasm for his favorite pursuit— 
Surgery—so undying, that his lecture hall was always crowded with stu- 
dents and physicians anxious to profit by the prelections of one, in whose 
counsels they had an abiding confidence, and whose record they knew to 
be the record of truth. 
But the reputation of Dr. Mott, which will render his name immortal as 
one of the great surgeons of the nineteenth century, is, in great part, due 
to the original and startling operations emanating from his own unaided 
Judgment, and performed, with a calmness and self-possession, demonstrat- 
ing conclusively that he had all the instincts of a well-grounded conviction 
that he was right, wdiich the result has emphatically proved. 
The following letter, written by Dr. Mott to his young friend, Dr. 
Samuel W. Francis, will explain itself;— 
“ My Dear Friend : 
“New York, May 14th, 1863. 
“ At your kind request I have enclosed a list of most of my original 
operations. They were all performed without my ever having heard or 312 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE 
read of their being done by any one before. This you have from my own 
pen, and I declare it before all men. 
“ Men who have never done anything themselves, have attempted to rob 
me of some of them, but I stand on the firm and immovable rock of truth, 
and none of them make me afraid. 
“Original Operations. 
“ Tying the arteria innominata. 
“ Tying the primitive iliac. 
“Exsection of the clavicle. This is the most important and difficult 
operation that can be performed by man. 
“ Exsection of the lower jaw in different positions, 
“ Immobility of the lower jaw. 
“ Cutting out two inches of the deep jugular vein, inseparably imbedded 
in a tumor, and tying both ends of the vein. 
“ Closing, with a fine ligature, wounds of large veins, of a longitudinal 
or transverse kind, and even when an olive-sliced piece has been cut out. 
These I have seen, and by pinching np the wound with forceps, and 
applying a small ligature, the wound has healed without obliterating the 
canal of the vein.' In this way I treated successfully the great axillary 
and the deep jugular. “ Your attached friend, 
“Y. MOTT/7 
“Dr. S. W. Francis.” 
In addition to these original operations, Dr. Mott has tied the primitive 
carotid artery forty-six times, performed the operation of lithotomy one 
hundred and sixty-five times, and amputated nearly one thousand limbs 
besides other innumerable operations of a minor grade, Txmly it may be 
said of this great surgeon that he made many friends by cutting his acquaint- 
ances. But it is due to his memory that, during his whole pro- 
fessional career, he was eminently conservative. He did not thirst for 
innocent blood, nor would he sacrifice a limb for the mere eclat of an 
operation. How often have I heard him, when attending his lectures a's a 
pupil, speak thus to his class : “ Young gentlemen, allow me to urge you, 
when about to perform an important surgical operation, ask yourselves 
solemnly whether, in the same situation, you would be willing to submit to 
it. If you say yes, then perform it. JSuch, young gentlemen, is my advice 
to you.” What a benevolent, Christian maxim do these words embody— 
‘‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”1 
The following little incident may not be without interest ;—Five and 
thirty years elapsed from the time' Dr. Mott left Sir Astley Cooper in Lon- 
don, until he again had the pleasure of seeing his old preceptor. He called 
at his house on arriving in London, and without announcing his name, 
walked up to Sir Astley, and said, his hand to the eminent 
English surgeon, “Do you recollect me, Sir Astley V’ “Do not tell me 
your ‘name,” he promptly replied, and, in a moment afterwards, 
“You are Dr. Mott, the only man on earth I envy.” This was, indeed, a 
high compliment, and tells in emphatic language the story of our friend’s 
world-renowned fame. NEW YORK STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
313 
Dr. Mott, at an early age, and when a demonstrator of anatomy to Prof. 
Wright Post, and even in subsequent years, frequently engaged in hazard- 
ous enterprises, as the following grave story will show ; I give you the 
facts in his own language : A German, who had been hung, was given to 
the college for dissection, and with the colored porter, I went in a car- 
riage in the evening to procure the body. My other associate was a 
Doctor Buchanan, a Scotch gentleman, residing in the city. On calling at 
his room to take him in the carriage, I found him arranging his pistols, 
and complaining of feeling extremely agueish ; it was with great difficulty 
I persuaded him to accompany me. The night was cold, and on arriving 
on the ground the doctor’s ague increased so rapidly, and his valor oozed, 
like Bob Acres’, in the Rivals, so freely from the tips of his fingers, that he 
decided to return home, begging piteously for the use of the carriage, 
which I peremptorily refused. With great difficulty we exhumed the body, 
but then my colored associate also deserted me, declaring that he could not 
touch the dead man, on account of his having been hung. I had, therefore, 
to lug the body, attired in its white robes, by my own strength to the car- 
riage—for I had great strength in those days—and partly by force, and 
partly by menaces, compelled the man to assist me in getting the body in 
the carriage, and what was still more difficult, to get in along with it, so 
thoroughly was he terrified. Gn arriving at the college, I found my 
valorous associate the doctor, slowly recovering from his ague fit, by the 
aid of a glass of strong brandy toddy.” 
I hope, gentle ladies, you will not be shocked at the recital of this story. 
The public know but little of our pursuits as medical men. Could they but 
look down the dark and dreary vista of our studies, see its terminus—the 
charnel-house—and there contemplate us while engaged in our sickening 
and loathsome investigations—our communion with the dead—they would 
then be better prepared to appreciate the sacrifices of the profession. In 
this silent converse with the dead, often carried on amid impurities which 
a high-toned philanthropy alone enables us to sustain, we contemplate the 
wonderful mechanism of the human frame—a mechanism, above all others, 
the most perfect, because it bears the impress of God himself. We extract 
from the dead, knowledge which enables us to serve the living, and rescue 
them from the ravages of disease. 
Dr. Mott was not idle with his pen, as the following letter to his friend, 
Dr. Samuel W. Francis, will show : 
“New York, May 20th, 1868. 
“ Dear Doctor :—I have enclosed for you most of my little doings in the 
way of writing. No one has had from me such papers (a list of original 
operations and papers), and perhaps they may be of use to some hereafter. 
“ Papers Published. 
“Relative anatomy of the subclavian arteries within the scaleni muscles, 
“ Memoirs on injuries of the skull and brain, illustrated by cases. 
“ Essay on pulsation in epigastric. 
“ Memoir on tying the arteria innorninata. 
“ Several papers on exsection of the lower jaw in various portions, and 
articulation on one side; with plates. 314 
“ Cases illustrating the utility of tying the comipon carotid for the safe 
removal of large tumors, and starving malignant diseases which cannot 
be extirpated. 
“Removal of thyroid body which weighed four pounds, with entire 
success. 
“ Nasal operation, with plates. Original. Successful. 
“ Distal—anticardial or brasdorean operation on the right carotid for 
aneurism of the iunominata. Successful. 
“ Amputation at the hip joint. Successful. Plates. 
“ Papers on ligature of carotids, subclavians, external and internal 
iliacs. 
“Exsection of clavicle for enormous osteo-sarcomar,ulcerated and bleed- 
ing. Successful. 
“ Essay on the treatment of ununited fractures. Illustrated by cases. 
“ Memoirs on a peculiar tumor of the skin, which we have named Pacha- 
dermatocele. Illustrated by drawings and cases. 
“Papers on laceration of the corpus cavernosum, with cases. 
“ Memoirs on the removal of enormous tumors of the neck of small 
children, with cases and drawings. In one of the cases more than two 
inches of the internal jugular were removed, being imbedded in the tumor. 
Vein tied above and below. Recovered. 
“ Papers on tying the left subclavian under the scalenus anticus, attended 
with peculiar circumstances. Recovered. 
“ Letter to Amussat on the effects of admission of air in the veins in 
surgical operations. 
“ Letter to Liston, claiming originality in lower jaw operations. (See 
his last editions.) 
“Paper on the malignant pneumonia which prevailed at Newtown, Long 
Island, more than fifty years since. Dr. Jos. M. Smith quoted it in his 
book on climate. * * * 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE 
“ Truly your friend, 
“ V. MOTT. 
“Dr. S. W. Francis.” 
To this list may be added— 
Case of Diabetes. 
Sketch of the Life of Wright Post, M. D. 
Mott’s Velpeau, 4 vols., Bvo., New York, Illustrated. 
Anniversary Discourse before the Graduates of the University of New 
York (1860). 
Dr. Mott has also written within the past few years, a Discourse before 
the Binghamton (New York) State Inebriate Asylum. 
Eulogy on John W. Francis, M. D., before New York Academy of 
Medicine. 
Pain and Anoesthesia. Printed by the Sanitary Commission. 
Dr. Mott received, as an evidence of his great merit, many honorary 
titles. They are as follows: 
LL. D. University of the State of New York; Emeritus Professor of 
Operative Surgery in the University of New York ; ex-President of the NEW YORK STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
Faculty,—ex-President of the New York Academy of Medicine; Fellow of 
the Medical Societies of Louisiana, New York, Connecticut, and Bhode 
Island, and President of the New York State Inebriate Asylum; Fellow of 
the Imperial Academy of Medicine; of the Chirurgical Society of Paris; 
Fellow of the Medical and Chirurgical Societies of London and Brussels; 
Honorary Fellow of King’s and Queen’s College of Physicians of Ireland, 
&c., &c. 
Gentlemen of the' New York County Medical Society—Thei'e is one fact, 
which may not be familiar to many of your junior members, and which, I 
think, confers distinguished honor on your ancient association. You have 
now been in existence for a period of sixty years, and the first candidate 
who applied for examination before your learned body, and received his 
license, was Dr. Valentine Mott; and on the Bth day of July, 1813, he was 
elected censor of your Society. This is, indeed, a noble prestige. 
Dr. Mott, distinguished as a great surgeon, was eminently so as a man, 
and a consistent and conscientious Christian. His heart was always in 
the right place; he was not only philanthropic, but was imbued in a re- 
markable degree with some of the finest attributes which impart dignity 
and value to human character. To the poor he was a consistent friend; 
he assuaged their sufferings, and mitigated their afflictions by no mean 
liberality. Who can forget his gentle smile, and that cordial pressure of 
the hand, which seemed always warm with his heart’s blood! His presence 
in the sick room, so delightful and gentle was his manner, was oftentimes 
the very balm of Gilead to the unhappy sufferer. Dr. Motl, too, was a 
patriot. He loved his whole country, and gloried in the Union. In one 
word, he was a good and loyal citizen. As an example of the sympathies 
which always found shelter around the great surgeon’s heart, it may be 
mentioned that he never recovered from the sudden shock of President 
Lincoln’s assassination. The sad intelligence was communicated to him 
on the morning of the 15th of April; he immediately sought his wife in an 
adjoining room, exclaiming: “My dear, I have received such a shock—- 
President Lincoln has been murdered;” and resuming his seat, his counte- 
nance with the pallor of death, he looked up in great pain, and feebly said, 
“ Oh! my back!” It is the conviction of Dr. Mott’s family that this event 
contributed to his last illness, which commenced on the 22d of April, 
During that illness, the duration of which was four days and eight hours, 
he received from the attending and consulting physicians, whose aid was 
invoked, the most unremitting attention, accompanied by an earnest desire 
to do all in their power to mitigate his sufferings in the hour of his anguish. 
The attending physicians were Drs. Flint and Yanderpoel—and subse- 
quently, Drs. Alexander H. Stevens, Joseph M. Smith, and Metcalfe saw 
him in counsel. But death had selected his victim, and science stood ap- 
palled. 
It was not until the 25th of April that his son, Dr. Alexander B. Mott, 
returned home from the army. The instant of his arrival found him at the 
bedside of his father, which he never left until that parent had surrendered 
his spirit, which occurred April 26th, 1865, at 1 p. m., in the 80th year of 
his age. Let the son remember the example of the father ; let him not 316 
forget that he has a sacred duty to perform in sustaining his great name; 
and may Heaven give him strength to wear gracefully the mantle which 
has fallen upon him! 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE 
Dr. Mott died a Christian—he was prepared for the summons. He knew 
his duty to the world—he had not forgotten his obligations to his God; 
££ Nothing in his life 
Became him like the leaving it. He died. 
As one that had been studied in his death. 
To throw away the dearest thing he own’d, 
As ’twere a careless trifle.” 
He died amid the surroundings of his family, and it must have been sweet 
for him to have around him, at his critical moment, those who loved him— 
those who were the treasures of his heart! The last words to which he 
gave utterance were—My daughter,” in recognition of an attempt to 
moisten his parched lips. Ohl .what a precious memento! Will not these 
words form a link which will forever bind in memory the child to the 
parent! 
He lisped “ my daughter,” 
(£Then closed Ms eyes, and sank to endless sleep!” 
Honor to the great Surgeon’s memory! Peace to his manes I