VALEDICTORY ADDRESS 
TO THE 
jjrRADUATING OF THE JVLedICAE pEPAi\TMENT 
OF THE jJNIYERSITY OF 
BY 
W. F. McNUTT, M.D., L.R. C.P., Ed., Etc: Etc. 
Professor of Principles and Practice of Medicine, Med. Dep. University of California. 
Reprinted from the “Western Lancet,” December, 1879.] VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Members op the 
Graduating Class:—We are here in obedience to a time-hon- 
ored custom. Since the morning of time, the dawn of medical 
education, it has been the custom for medical colleges to hold 
what are called graduating exercises. That is, when the medical 
student has studied the prescribed time, and passed the neces- 
sary and satisfactory examinations, the friends of the college as 
well as those of the professors and students, are invited to see 
the graduates receive their diplomas. The custom is a pleasant 
and a profitable one, and one which we propose to pass on down 
the stream of time to our successors, as we have received it 
from the hands of those who have gone before us. I have said 
that the custom is a pleasant and a profitable one, that is, it is 
pleasant to the student and profitable to the teachers. 
To the student it is simply a pleasing guarantee that his friends 
are interested in the advent of his new birth. He asks no sym- 
pathy, needs no encouragement and wants no moral support. 
To him “ distance lends enchantment.” To him 
‘1 Golden and grand 
The hills of Fame in the dim distance rise 
All spangled o’er with triumphs, and he feels 
That he can mount them with an earnest tread, 
And wreathe a fadeless chaplet for his brow.” 
To him, failure has not yet been dreamt of. “He scorns the 
timid word; ” already he sees his name so fixed on time. “ That 
all the future cannot blot it out.” To us, who are years out on 
our journey towards those alluring, spangled hill-tops, and have 
learned the narrowness and crookedness and steepness and 
roughness of the road, and have learned that 
“The best laid schemes o’ mice aud men 
Gang aft a-gley, 
An’ lea’e ns nought but grief and pain 
For promised joy,” your presence and sympathy are profitable. We thank you, 
ladies and gentlemen, for the interest you manifest in the Uni- 
versity of California; we thank you for the interest you manifest 
in the young men whom we have labored hard to render worthy 
of your sympathy, encouragement and support. We have done 
our duty by them faithfully, honestly and conscientiously. A.nd 
in committing them to your care, let me remind you that the 
quality of the article demanded, in a large measure governs the 
quality of the article supplied. If you demand intelligent, high- 
minded, honorable and conscientious physicians, and will admit 
none other into your families, on behalf of the President and 
Medical Faculty of the University of California, I pledge you 
my word of honor that we will furnish you material in our grad- 
uating classes to supply your demand. If you want ignorant 
pretenders, advertising charlatans and that human scavenger, 
that social cancer of modern society, the abortionist, your de- 
mand will create the supply. A.nd if, perchance, a graduate of 
medicine should fall a victim to your gold, remember that the 
murderer is one of your own making. We disclaim him; he is 
no longer of us; he has sold his birthright. But when you con- 
template the atrociousness of his crime, remember that it is the 
social condition of the times that created him; therefore mix 
your righteous indignation with mercy. 
It has also been customary, at the graduating exercises, for 
one of the Faculty, or one of the graduating class, to deliver a 
short valedictory address, the subject matter of which is left to 
his own choosing. This year that pleasing duty devolves upon 
me. I might occupy the time in advising the graduates as to 
their future; but I believe that they are leaving their lecture- 
rooms and their teachers with but one determination, namely, to 
succeed in their profession, by diligence, perseverence and integ- 
rity. Or I might address the class upon the duties and respon- 
sibilities of the profession they have chosen. lam afraid, how- 
ever, I would mar their pleasures of hope, that “pledge of joy’s 
anticipated hour,” that “charm of life’s bewildering way,” that 
guide “that bids them steer to Glory’s bright career,” in whose 
“ sweet garden grow wreathes for every toil, a charm for every 
woe.” There duties are onerous, their responsibilities sacred; 
but I am sure from an intimate knowledge of them, that they 
will not neglect the one or fail to appreciate the other. 3 
I have chosen as a subject upon which to make a few remarks, 
one that I hope will be as interesting to you, ladies and gentle- 
men, as to the graduating class. It is this: I want to say a few 
words to you on behalf of our little children, on behalf of the 
future men and women of this great republic. I want to tell 
you that about half of all the deaths of this city and of this 
country are of little children under five years of age; that of all 
the deaths that occur in the United States, about twenty-five 
per cent, are due to preventable and unnecessary causes; and 
should and could be prevented—making in all nearly 200,000 un- 
necessary deaths annually. This showing is a terrible commen- 
tary on our much-lauded scientific attainments and modern civ- 
ilization. No physician can practice medicine for any length of 
time, without asking himself whence this terrible and unneces- 
sary destruction of human life, this untold misery and suffering, 
this wail of agony extending over the whole length and breadth 
of our land—mothers weeping for their little ones and refusing 
to be comforted; their homes laid desolate, their hearts torn 
asunder, by an affliction they will carry with their gray hairs in 
sorrow to the grave— 
“ Ye who say we have a child in heaven, 
Who’ve felt that desolate isolation sharp 
Defined in death’s own face; who’ve stood beside 
The silent river, pleading with outstretched hands 
For some sweet babe upon the other bank, 
That went forth where no human hand might lead, 
And left the shut house with no light, no sound, 
No answer, when the mourners wail without 
What we have known, ye know and only you.” 
When he casts about for an answer, the answer is echoed from 
every house, every street, every school, and every pulpit. Igno- 
rance, apathy and avarice; ignorance of anatomy and physiology; 
ignorance of the chemistry of digestion; ignorance of the laws 
of health and of hygienic and sanitary science; ignorance of the 
laws that govern the generation and propagation of contagious 
diseases; ignorance of the laws of political economy. Think of 
the wisdom and policy of a nation allowing thousands of children 
to die annually—children who might grow7 up with all the love of 
country which becomes a citizen to the manor born. And while 
these 200,000 unnecessary deaths occur annually, it spends money 
and forms societies to import foreigners, many of whom are not 
only ignorant of, but inimical to, its institutions. No sooner do 4 
they land upon our shores than they attack the corner-stone of 
our republic and its system of education, with a seeming desire 
to drag the national standard of intelligence to a level with their 
own ignorance. Their riots and lawlessness cost more than 
would be required to save and raise ten times the number of 
educated, intelligent and law-abiding citizens. I do not advo- 
cate a protective tariff on the manufacture of our own citizens. 
I believe that every man has the right to select the climate or 
country that suits his fancy; but I do maintain that if it costs a 
nation less to raise a better article than to import a poorer one, 
it is good policy to raise the better article. How shall we ac- 
count for this ignorance and apathy on these important and vital 
subjects? We answer, false notions of what constitutes educa- 
tion, the diffusion of superstition for knowledge, and the desire 
to accumulate wealth, even at the sacrifice of life and health. 
What are many of the best universities in our land doing? 
Requiring a young man to spend the spring-time of his life in 
learning to translate a few pages of Greek and Latin; teaching 
him that the knowledge of the construction of a Latin sentence 
is of more importance than a knowledge of the construction of 
his own body. Sending him out into the world without the 
knowledge of self-preservation, where he falls a victim to ac- 
quired or preventable diseases long ere the spring-time of his life 
reaches summer. And see our young women, spending the 
morning of their lives in what? In fitting themselves for the 
duties that sooner or later must devolve upon them? Are they 
obtaining knowledge that will enable them to preserve their own 
health and save their offspring from misery, disease and death ? 
They never hear the word offspring from their teachers. They 
do hear, however, much about the necessary preparations re- 
quired for one of the learned professions and universal suffrage. 
Or, perhaps, they are destroying their health and laying the 
foundation of disease in the acquisition of accomplishments, while 
they are left to commence the care of their child as ignorant of 
its physical and moral nature as the child itself. I know all about 
it. I have seen the poor, helpless mother grappling with the 
new problem a hundred times, and a hundred times I have seen 
the experiment end in disaster and death; in the death of, to her, 
the most beautiful rosebud that ever blqssomed in the garden 
of the world; and in filling her own heart with a cup of sorrow 
that will retain its freshness for many and many a coming year. 5 
Do not suppose that I am opposed to the higher branches of 
education, or the acquisition of accomplishments and esthetic 
culture. I hope I can at least appreciate the benefits of the one 
and the beauties, pleasures and graces of the other. But Ido 
claim that we should teach the essentials first; that we should 
possess the necessary knowledge to preserve our health and con- 
tend intelligently against the invasion of our homes by those in- 
sidious, terrible and death-dealing enemies, the acquired and 
contagious diseases. lam glad to see that the University of Cali- 
fornia is teaching anatomy and physiology in its collegiate course; 
and I hope it will not be long before some of our wealthy men 
will endow a chair for the teaching of sanitary science and the 
prevention of contagious diseases. This would be an important 
step in the right direction, and one that would soon make its 
influence felt on our coast by saving hundreds of lives and untold 
misery. 
We are not likely soon to forget the last year, when that de- 
stroying angel, yellow fever, held high carnival in our Southern 
States, when the groans of the dying and the wails of the living 
pierced every ear, from the GKilf of Mexico to Maine, and from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific. To set sentiment aside, not to speak 
of the widespread mortality and suffering, it cost the nation some 
$27,000,000. Incredible as it may seem, that reeking cesspool of 
corruption, that death-generating slough of pollution at Memphis, 
has been allowed to remain undisturbed, and the necessary 
atmospheric conditions may give us another carnival of death. 
Probably, if a few thousands of the $27,000,000 had been spent 
in teaching a better knowledge of contagious diseases, it might 
have awakened the survivors of Memphis to a realization of the 
sanitary condition of their city, and have proved an excellent 
investment. 
Let us look at our own city. How many of the annual deaths 
can be prevented by proper sanitary regulations, and a better 
understanding of the physical and moral training of children ! 
How important would be the appointment of a competent sani- 
tary engineer to inspect the erection of all new buildings and 
insure their proper hygienic condition, thus protecting the in- 
mates against the rascality of plumbers and the avarice of land- 
lords! We should have our sewers properly built, well-ventilated 
and an inexpensive method of flushing them out with salt water 
frequently during the summer months. In cases of scarlet fever, how easy a matter for the Board of Health to have a card placed 
upon the house where the disease exists, as in the case of small- 
pox; with a few simple regulations in regard to the care of the 
child before it shall be allowed to mingle with other children or 
admitted into the schools. How vast would be the results in the 
saving of expense, suffering and life. 
Let me invite your attention to the dwellings of the poor. 
The man of all men living who commands my sympathy is the 
poor, honest laborer who strives to give his children a better 
education than his own has been, and to make them honorable 
and useful members of society, but who is compelled from cir- 
cumstances to rear them in crowded, filthy alleys, where the very 
air they breathe is reeking with physical and moral death. Such 
families, and their number is legion, should have a rapid and 
cheap transportation to our beautiful and healthy side-hills, 
where they would have a better opportunity to rear their children 
to fill positions of honor and trust, rather than to raise them to 
fill our prisons and houses of correction. Let me say that I hope 
you will all interest yourselves in that noble work that has already 
been commenced, namely, the free kindergarten schools. Leav- 
ing sentiment out of the question, it will cost less to gather up 
these little waif's and save them from disease and crime, than to 
subsequently provide them with hospitals, and to convict and 
punish them when they have been added to our criminal element. 
Let us inquire what our brethren the clergymen are doing to 
prevent this wholesale destruction of children. Are they using 
their vast influence to assist us in popularizing sound knowledge 
in regard to preventable diseases? I am sorry to say they are 
not. Too often they to assuage the mother’s grief, attribute the 
death of the child to supernatural causes and to divine purposes, 
when the death was one that should have been and could have 
been prevented. The words are spoken in kindness, but a few 
remarks on the unfortunate causes of the death might be the 
means of saving hundreds of other children. To ascribe all 
deaths as necessary to fill a divine purpose would do for a 
hundred years ago, when the lightning’s flash, the peal of thun- 
der, the roar of the cataract, or an epidemic of contagious dis- 
ease, was accepted as evidence of an offended deity; but it will 
not do for 1879. We hope the time is not far distant when the 
schools of divinity will require for their students instruction in 
sanitary science. 7 
It is not enough, then, for us to acquire the necessary knowl- 
edge to protect ourselves and our own children from disease ; 
we must also provide for the children who are left without pro- 
tection and without care. Let me quote 
A MOTHER’S PLEA FOE THE INFANTS’ HOME. 
Pity, help the little children 
Who enjoy no father’s care, 
And o’er whom a tender mother 
Never breathes a loving prayer. 
Who will hear them, who will heed them, 
As they perish one by one, 
In this world of joy and beauty— 
Underneath the blessed sun? 
See ! they perish near God’s temples, 
Where a loving Saviour stands 
Bidding all to help in mercy— 
Will you heed the Lord’s commands? 
Hear the wailing of the children— 
0, it breaks my very heart 
When I see that in your city 
Women do the murderer’s part! 
Ears as deaf and dull as adder’s 
Catch the babies’ famished cries; 
Eyes as pitiless as Herod’s 
Watch their dying agonies. 
Blood is on thy skirts, 0 city! 
Blood of many a little one! 
God in judgment will require it— 
He will make His justice known. 
Are they sinful little children? 
Outcasts to be flung aside— 
Trodden underfoot or tortured— 
Victims of our greed or pride? 
Sleep, yes sleep, in peace, O mothers, 
With your darlings safe in bed; 
Do not dream of those poor infants. 
Outcasts, starving, dying—dead. 
Let not their pinched faces hannt you, 
Nor their forms all bruised and scarred— 
"Why your happiness and comfort 
By such visions grim be marred ? 8 
What to you are starving infants, 
If your own are amply fed? 
What to you are pain and torture 
Falling on another’s head? 
Mothers, sisters (in whose bosom 
God’s great love has found a place), 
Hasten to the rescue—hasten 
As ye prize the Saviour grace. 
Rich men, help ns in your bounty. 
Give us freely of your store; 
Fruit you’ll find most richly, surely, 
When your gold avails no more. 
Again, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your sympathy 
and presence. 
And now, gentlemen of the graduating class, on behalf of the 
President of the University of California, and on behalf of my 
coadjutors, your teachers, I bid you good-bye as medical students, 
and extend to you the right hand of fellowship, welcoming you 
into the ranks of professional life—into the ranks of a profession 
which has ever been foremost in the practice of those virtues 
which the other professions teach ; a profession whose whole 
lifetime is one of unceasing duties and sacred trusts. May the 
duties and the obligations confided to your caie be performed 
with intelligence, with courage, with honor, and in kindness. In 
whatsoever community you may cast your lot, may that commu- 
nity be the wiser and the better for your influence. Never miss 
an opportunity to encourage sound education or to instruct the 
people in the laws that govern the generation and propagation 
of contagious diseases. And, above all things, be kind and con- 
siderate to the poor and to the outcasts of society. Theirs is a 
hard lot. They seldom fail to appreciate your kindness, and too 
often the doctor is the only one to whom they can turn for sym- 
pathy. And, gentlemen, when life’s battle is ended, and you 
have crossed that mysterious sea that divides the two eternities, 
and have landed on the shores of the “ sweet bye-and bye,” may 
the herald of that shining land welcome you home. May the 
herald of that shining land announce your arrival as of men who 
never wavered from the right, as of men who stood in proud 
pre-eminence, high over all, in their sympathy, in their human- 
ity and in their charity for their fellow-men.