IV ROM TICK NASHVILLE JOURNAL OF MKT) TO INF, AND SURGERY.] H E 1‘ E Y TO TDK ST. LOUIS MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL THE EDITOR OF TUK NASHVILLE JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY. : CAMERON & FALL, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS, CORNER COLLEGE AND UNION STREETS. NASHVILLE: 1855. [from THE NASHVILLE JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY.] A REPLY TO THE ST. LOUIS MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL THE EDITOR OF THE NASHVILLE JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY. NASHTILLE: >. CAMERON & PAUL, BOOK AND .JOB PRINTERS, CORNER COLLEGE AND UNION STREETS. 1855. REPLY. ST. LOUIS—DR. McMcELWRATH, AND THE OTHER SIDE OF JORDAN. A distinguished United States Senator, about being very politely instructed out of office by the State Legislature, be- gan his reply to the assembled wisdom by stating that he never suffered any man, or body of men, to surpass him in politeness. Now, as to “captions,” we some time ago de- termined that none should surpass us, but we are not so sure but we shall have to yield the palm to one of the quadruple corps editorial of the St. Louis Medical and Surgical Jour- nal. “Faith, he’ll worry us.” The last number of this ex- cellent periodical contains an editorial headed “Nashville vs. Philadelphia and the best of creation!” A real bugle note, that. In the beginning, soft as the murmur of the wing of the humming bird—swelling and deepening as it length- ens, until it grows so big “it can’t grow any bigger,” and looses its sweetness alone in the unreverberating interspaces of revolving worlds. We despair of equaling that caption, and we desire the one which we have placed at the head of this article shall not be regarded as an effort in that direction. The editor quotes a part of our article headed “fulfilment of prophecy,” in our January number, where we allude to the competition between Nashville and Philadelphia, and com- ments as follows: “Whether we regard the above merely as a specimen of grand and lofty boasting, or as an exquisitely touching ap- peal to sectional prejudice, it is equally inimitable in the one case or the other. It reminds us very much of an anecdote 4 that we remember once to have heard, and which also occur- red in Tennessee. On a certain occasion, during court week, in Sullivaij county, when there was a large crowd collected in and about the court yard, a celebrated braggart, who seem- ed anxious to impress the by-standers with the belief that he was a real fire eater, stepped out in front of the crowd and with a loud voice, exclaimed, wo be to Sullivan county if I stretch my arm in her this day !! And yet, as the story goes, before night he was whipped five times and driven off the ground. “Really, the extravagant pretensions set up by Nashville strikes us in no other light than as supremely ridiculous, but while we thus speak, we certainly have no disposition what- ever to underrate the real merits of Nashville as a point of medical education; on the contrary, we admit that it is well situated for that purpose, and that the gratifying success which has thus far attended the efforts to establish a school there, proves beyond question that a flourishing institution may be built up and sustained at that point. We admit, moreover, that the faculty is composed of men of talents and indomitable energy; (but as for their modesty and good taste, if the article before us is to be regarded as a specimen, we cannot say so much.) But while we cheerfully concede all this and more besides, in reference to Nashville, we are very far from believing that the rays of medical science are all to be conveyed to that point, and that there is to be established the one great National Medical University.” The capitals in the Sullivan county man’s case are the ed- itor’s, not ours. Our friend would intimate by the capitals that he had delivered himself of a capital joke—one re- markably apropos. We knew a good old Judge of this State, who was remarkable for telling very funny anecdotes, as he thought—but his listeners could only tell when he had got through by his own uproarious ha! ha!! which generally set them ail to ha haing at him. Our friend may succeed very well in unadorned, easy writing, but we assure him that anecdote is not his forte. His Sullivan county man, as we shall show, like himself, boasted a priori, and was thrashed soundly. But suppose he had knocked half a hun- dred of the belligerents into the middle of next year, and walked off “cock of the walk,” and afterwards been provok- ed to allude, a posteriori, to his victory, what extraordinary boasting would there have been in that? Our good friend, 5 like most other people given to hunting up the vices of others, becomes singularly oblivious of his own. Should it in any degree contribute to mend his manners, our labor in hunting up and transcribing evidences of his own indulgence in the villainous virtue of which he complains, will not be without its reward. The annual announcements of the medical de- partment of the University of St. Louis, collected together in a bound volume now before us, we venture to assert with- out the fear of successful contradiction, for parade, boasting, pretension, wireing in and wireing out, are unsurpassed either in the “regular,” “irregular,” or “defective” medical archives of the world, and'to less purpose, or at least with less effect. Containing as they do a history of a Jesuit University attempt- ing the establishment of a medical department in a magnifi- cent city, with a corps of Professors of acknowledged ability, they prove that success, from the very beginning of the en- terprise to the present, bears an inverse proportion to the boasting and braggardism that were madly and pertinacious- ly urged as a means of securing it. Compared with our own' announcements, (to which, under the circumstances, we may be permitted to allude,) where comparatively nothing is promised, and where a page or two suffice for all vve have to say, the rule would seem to hold in medical colleges, which the wise in other pursuits acknowledge and venerate, that “in the long run, honesty is the best policy.” Thus, com- paring the announcement of the University of Nashville for the past session (1854-5) with that of the University of St. Louis for the same year, we find as follows: “Annual Catalogue and Announcement of the Medical De- partment of the St. Louis University.” We find here no Jess than nine closley printed pages, “announcing” what won- derful things they are doing and can do in “this institu- tion,” while two pages and a small fraction suffice for the “catalogue.” “Annual Announcement and Catalogue of the Medical De- partment of the University of Nashville” for the same year. Here two pages are employed in the announcement, while six and a fraction are necessary for the catalogue—and our 6 announcement and catalogue go out this year with one page and a half devoted to the former, and no less than eight are required for the latter. We now come to speak of the mat- ter of these interminable “announcements,” premising that it is our intention to do so in no spirit of fault-finding, and that nothing could have persuaded us to the undertaking, save such an editorial as we have quoted above. It may be curious to the uninitiated, admitting the unadul- terated brass necessary for the undertaking, to know how one Faculty could employ nine mortal pages in self-gratulation, and that, too, in the very teeth of a regular series of defeats and disasters—by what process are they enabled to spin out the web to so interminable a length. We own, with Burn’s Dog, that it is almost past our comprehension, and would ut- terly despair of our ability to unravel the mystery, were we not aware that “Professors,” like ordinary specimens of hu- manity, are not altogether unmindful of passing events out- side their curriculum, or slow to appropriate from the busi- ness world around them whatever might tend to advance “medical science,” “elevate the profession,” or swell the class of “this institution.” Dr. Holmes, in his poem read to the American Medical Association, speaks of men having their “blankets taken off” and “trotted out to show their paces ” It is an illustration drawn from the race course. We pro- pose showing that the University of St. Louis, in its an- nouncements, must have taken many practical hints from the circus. A part of the entertainment at this popular amusement, after the spotted man has exhibited the eques- trian excellencies of his troupe, and the horses have been taken from the ring, consists in “grand and lofty tumbling.” A carpet strip is spread across the ring, from the horse “insti- tution” towards the “public.” The spotted man re-appears at the “institution” end of the strip at the head of his troupe, all dressed to the skin in flesh colored material, and each wearing a breech-cloth to hide his seeming nakedness. The spotted man ‘announces’ them as his family, and in a little speech indicates what wonderful feats his folks are capable of achieving. Pointing to the tall man who heads the family, 7 the tall man ambles forward to mid-way the strip, falls upon his belly, rears up his head and heels till they meet over his back, poises for a moment on his navel, suddenly recoils, springs to his feet, leaps six feet in the air and makes a graceful bow, which says as plain as speech, “didn’t I do it slick?” and walks back to his comrades. The next in order ambles forward, throws a couple of somersets forward, as many backward, springs nine feet up and says by his bow, “what do you think of that?” Then comes a third, walking on his hands, his heels nearly touching his head—now poises on one hand, now on the other—presto—he is in the air—on his back—on his belly—on his head—on his heels—now a flip-flap—now eels in the mud. The assembly are in raptures, and No. 3 retires amid uproarious applause and joins his com- rades. No. 4is the india rubber man. His feet gradually recede from each other, until he represents an inverted j,— then by aid of his hands he hangs each heel over his neck and leaning forward, lies flat upon his face—now he swells— now he collapses, when suddenly each limb flies to its place, Coautchouc is himself again, and looking to the life the thought, “ain’t I some pumpkins?” A spring board is now introduced at the farther end of the strip, with a horse and stuffed saddled beside it. No. 5 runs forward, jumps upon the spring board, rebounds fifteen feet high, throws two som- ersets in mid air, and lights upon the opposite side of the horse. No. 6 performs a similar feat, with the addition of a third somerset before alighting. No. 7is the flying man. At a single bound he is on the spring board, flies upward, alights upon the horse, ballancing on his big toe, bows to the spectators—is falling from the horse, his heels in the air and his head will certainly be broken against the board—no—his heels touched first—again he is in the air—the spectators grow dizzy with his rapid somersets, and scream, stamp, and clap with delight, until exhausted, the flying man, flush- ed with exertion and triumph, joins the “family.” The horse and spring board are removed. All eyes are turned to No. 8, expecting nothing less than that he is to swallow himself, or at least to turn himself wrong-side-out. Young ladies, in 8 anticipation, with averted faces press the Otto-scented ker- chief to the rouge, to shut out the horrible spectacle of giz- zard, liver and lights, exposed to human view. But nothing is further from the intention of No. 8. He is the plate spin- ner,and bell and ball man. A plate is ballanced on the end of a long pole and set a spinning. The plate end of the pole as- cends higher and higher, and the plate spins faster and faster. Placing the other end of the pole on his chin, the plate spin- ner walks backward and forth on the strip to the admiration of all. Laying aside the polo and plate, the performer drops suddenly on his knees, a basket of hollow brass balls is emptied before him, and instantly they are seen Hying over his head. A half dozen balls are passing from the right hand, high over head, to his left, while a counter current is passing from left to right. Now they represent golden wheels revolving in opposite directions—now ellipses— now a pyramid, until exhaustion compels the plate spin- ning, bell and ball man to rise and bow himself back.— The spotted man now informs the spectators that “the per- formance is concluded for this evening, that something new will come off to-morrow night, when he hopes to see them again, but if providentially hindered they can send half a dollar, which will be considered a satisfactory apology.” The reader will not fail to recognize the reflection of the above picture in the following extracts, which we make from the annual announcement of the St. Louis University for 1854 and ’55. In the first place, we have a circular of nearly four pages signed by the Dean. From this we learn that “since the first organization of the school there has been a steady annual increase in the size of the classes; but during the past session the number of students in attendance was augmented be- yond that of any other period.” One would think if the first part of this sentence was correct, the truth of the latter fol- lows as a matter of course, and there could be no possible ne- cessity for introducing it at all, much less for prefacing it with a “but.” If from the beginning there had been “a stea% annual increase in the size of the classes,” it follows of course 9 that the last class must have been the largest, as much so as that the first class must have been the smallest. The Dean then proceeds to say; “With no desire, therefore, to enter into unbecoming rival- ry with other Institutions, and still less with a disposition to magnify themselves, the Faculty, nevertheless, think it not improper to set forth some of the advantages which St. Louis possesses as a point of Medical instruction. It is centrally situated, has more than 110,000 inhabitants, and is the dis- tributing point for the vast emigration to the Great West. From these sources arise clinical facilities of no inconsidera- ble magnitude. Without such facilities, the student cannot acquire a correct habit of observation, nor that familiar knowledge of disease, which are essential to satisfaction and confidence in the active exercise of his profession, and which give him an unquestionable advantage over those who have no practical acquaintance with disease at the bed-side.” The Dean goes on to enumerate the various hospitals to which the students have access. Ist. The St. Louis Hospital “under the exclusive control of the Faculty during the entire year.” Here we are informed “the page of disease is con- tinually exhibited to the student, to be read in all its phases.” Next we are informed the “City Hospital, during the whole term, is under the management of some one of the Faculty.” 3d. The United States Marine Hospital—“ Here, as well as at the two preceding Hospitals, students are at all times admitted free of charge.” 4th. Lying-in Hospital, the physician to which, we learn, will be “glad to extend its practical benefits to all students, upon the payment of a small fee.” sth. The O’Fallen Clinic and Dispensary,” 6th. “Anatomical Material in St. Louis is both cheap and abundant.” Few will be disposed to doubt this, after [earn- ing the Hospital arrangements in St. Louis, and that the Lying-in Hospital is “glad” to extend its practical benefits to all students,“ upon the payment of a small fee” The Dean then alludes to the Museum, and to the fact that most of the col- lections “are from the establishments of Guy Aine and Thi- bert, of Paris.” We have not quoted this to find fault with it, but merely to 10 show that the “points” are by no means neglected. The Dean, after the usual notice in regard to terms, &c., retires for the present. Next, under the head “of synopsis” of Lectures, the Pro- fessors, in regular rotation, are unblanketed and trotted out, each labelled with his name in bold capitals, beneath his pro- fessorship in modest talics. Ist. We have the chair of practice. Its occupant we are told “will devote the first month of the session to the development of the general principles of Pathology, viz: the nature of disease, the clas- sification of its elements, with their causes, symptoms, and curative indications. The subject of special Pathology,” &c., &lc. In other words, the Professor will not teach math- ematics or astronomy. Next, we have the Professor of Chemistry. “The depart- ment of Chemistry will be devoted to the instruction of the student in the more general laws connected with the molecu- lar relations of matter. “The properties of light, heat, and electricity, under its va- rious forms, will be experimentally illustrated by means of a complete, and well selected apparatus, and the various prop- erties and compounds of the different elementary substances will be explained and brought before the student, so as to af- ford him a knowledge of this important branch, which will fully enable him to comprehend, and take an interest in, the invaluable facts with which it is constantly enriching every department of medical science.” From this we learn that Chemistry will be taught from this chair, and not Anatomy. Then the Surgeon is introduced. Here a full page is em- ployed in telling what he will do. “The earlier part of the course is to be devoted to Minor Surgery; the application of bandages and apparatus being systematically made on the living subject.” We are further informed that it is an endea- vor “to remedy a prevailing defect!” “All the operations are given upon the cadaver, in connection with the affections which require them. In this manner the student obtains a clearer idea of the indications for, and methods of, their per- formance, than is done by the ordinary pi any 11 “Ninety unequalled preparations in wax of the diseases of the eye.” “The eye as well as the ear is addressed, as far as possible, and every part of the course is illustrated by con- stant reference to an unequalled collection of magnified paintings and drawings, &c. “The Professor’s extensive pri- vate collection of instruments, apparatus, and preparations, is annually augmented by importations from the Parisian and other European manufactories.” “Extra hours are em- ployed towards the close of the term in accustoming the can- didates for graduation to the use of the knife, in the recapit- ulation upon the dead subject, before the class, of all the va- rious surgical operations. From some experience in this course, it is found to be most advantageous to the student.” “All the late improvements and new operations in Surgery are insisted on,” &c.,&c. The italics and capilals are ours. No. 4—Comes the Obstetrician. He tells us he “will lec- ture on— Ist. The anatomy of the Pelvis and soft parts.” This we think a capital idea, because if he had lectured first on the scull, the rapidity of his progress would have been re- tarded, though the bones which compose the scull not unfre- quently enclose the “soft parts.” No. s—lntroduces5—Introduces Physiology and Medical Jurisprudence. “He divides the subject of inquiry into three great divisions. The first comprehends Comparative or Modified Life. Under this head the terms Life, Physiology, Biology, Zoology, Com- parative Anatomy, are defined and classified in their relative bearings. Vegetable Physiology is dwelt upon in its connec- tion with life—differences between organic and inorganic matter—elementary parts of animals, plants and inorganic matter—man, position in the scale of animated being—Eth- nology—cessation of this life, called death.” No. 6—Materia Medica. We are happy to learn that “the lectures on this branch embrace the description of remedial agents—the general principles of Therapeutics—the indica- tions which medicines are capable of fulfilling, and the laws governing the application of remedies.” No. 7—General, Descriptive and Surgical Anatomy. “This 12 branch of study is one for the pursuit of which St. Louis ah fords advantages unsurpassed by any other city of the Union. It is the object of the Professor to make the students of his class thoroughly acquainted with every point connected with the structure of the human frame. “By means of demonstrations on the subject, carefully- executed drawings and preparations, every region is fully represented—particular attention being devoted to the rela- tive position and relations of those parts which are more likely to be the seat of disease or of operation. “The great object is to impart to the student the amount of anatomical knowledge which alone can give him confi- dence in himself, when called upon, either to diagnosticate disease, or to remove it.” No. B—Clinical Medicine. “Impressed with the paramount importance of bed-side instruction, and in order to meet the just demands of the profession, as embodied in the recom- mendations of the National Medical Association, the Trus- tees of this Institution, some years ago, established a chair to be devoted exclusively to the important subjects of Clini- cal Medicine and Morbid Anatomy. Regarding the time usu- ally devoted in our schools to these practical branches as far too limited to enable the student to derive the full benefit from the personal observation of disease at the bed-side which all must admit to be essential to a thorough medical education—they saw no other way by which the evil could be obviated than by the creation of this distinct speciality. Having access to the wards of two large and well-regulated Hospitals, the Professor in charge of this department spends an hour every morning, before the regular daily lectures in the College commence, at the bed-side, in giving a thorough course of demonstrative medicine, pointing out how to ob- serve and what to observe in disease, the proper mode of ex- amining patients, as well as the arts of diagnosis and pre- scribing. During these visits, the students are frequently questioned, and called on to state the indications which pre- sent themselves, as well as the best mode of answering ex- isting indications; the object being to afford facilities for ac- 13 quiring an intimate acquaintance with the various phases and phenomena presented by diseasfi. Due attention is also paid to physical exploration as a means of diagnosis, to the use of the stethoscope, urinometer, &c., &c.” No. 9—Practical Anatomy. “The Dissecting rooms are finely lighted by gas.” In the announcement for 1849 and ’5O, the class having risen to 102, and the number of graduates to 22, visions of coming glory take possession of the Faculty, and they de- clare it their intention to spare no effort to “make St. Louis the Medical, as she is the Commercial, metropolis of the west.” In 1852, we, having a better reason for the faith that was in us, declared the same thing of Medicine in regard to Nashville. We have reason to recollect how our declaration was received by the University of St. Louis. After so mor- tifying a failure to make good her boast, one would think she might observe a little modesty towards those who, if they did boast, made good their words. In their announcement for 1843-4, they say in their circu- lar they have “some important intelligence to impart to the friends of the Institution and of medical science.” They were too modest, however, to impart this important intelli- gence themselves “to the friends of the institution and of medical science,” but add that “it will be found in the course of this circular in the announcement of the board of Trus- tees.” What this important information is, we are unable to find in the announcement aforesaid, unless it be the fol- lowing: “The connection of the institution with the City Hospital, furnishing admirable opportunities for clinical in- struction, is one of many facilities it enjoys in a greater de- gree than any of its sister schools in the neighboring States!” There is a specimen of modesty worthy of preservation, and yet those who perpetrate it have the audacious effrontery to charge others with a want of good taste and of modesty! We suppose they claim to be modest for mentioning only one of the many facilities which that particular school in St. Louis “enjoyed in a greater degree than any of its sister schools in the neighboring States. What, pray, were these other facilities 14 over those enjoyed by the Louisviile Institute? It is posi- tively amusing to think that these high sounding words were put into a circular accompanying a catalogue of 31 students, and a graduating class of nine!—and Louisville Institute the same year having a class of 286 It is but justice to St. Louis University to say, in much of this parade of Professors, and what they were going to do, she had the example of the all absorbing Jefferson Medical School. But, then, Jefferson, while her taste was out of the question, enjoyed the largest classes of any school in Amer- ica, and had some excuse for talking pretty largely, but the imitative croaking of the poor little St. Louis University, from her slough of despond, was the very last phase of the ridic- ulous. We are notin the habit of giving advice gratis, and St. Louis University would find it to her interest to pay us for this, if she would faithfully follow it. Printer’s ink has utterly failed to enable her to get salt for her johnny-cake, She has tried it faithfully. She has bragged, boasted, lum- bered with it. But it was no go. The students were sum- moned from the vasty deep of the wilderness around her, but they wouldn’t come. Brummel found a charm in starch. Now let our St. Louis University friends try chalk! Let each of the Professors chalk his name and vocation on his hat. This done, make a pilgrimage on foot through every village and hamlet in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois. It would not pay expenses to come out this way. If that failed to raise a class we would be willing to forfeit our reputation as a prophet— a reputation, by the way, now well established. What our friend means by “all the rays of medical sci- ence being conveyed to Nashville,” we do not very well com- prehend. From his identifying the friends of the St. Louis University with the friends of medical science, it is not im- possible that he means that we contemplate making a de- scent upon his establishment, as the focus of medical science, kidnaping its devout worshipers, and spiriting them away to Nashville. We assure our friend that nothing is further from our intention. Those rays of science, however luminous we acknowledge them to be, would be as powerless to further 15 our object here, as they are impotent to retard it where they are. During an acquaintance of four years, the mouth-piece of “the institution and of medical science” has sedulously kept concealed from us those high and manly qualities which he certainly possesses; an excess of modesty, which, however estimable, was not over attractive. We have praised his school, praised his magnificent city, praised the introductory lectures in his College. In return, he sneered at our intro- ductory lecture, because of its prophecy, and now sneers again because we show that what occasioned his first sneer is a fixed historic truth—and these sneers constitute his no- tice of us and ours. Still we were perfectly satisfied, for we had ample evidence that our labors were benefitting his rea- ders, and thus contributing to “medical science.” In his Sep- tember number he takes no less than twelve articles from the Nashville Journal, consisting of translations made by our co-editor, condensed extracts, and selections from our ex- changes, foreign and domestic, without even condescending to acknowledge to his readers the source whence he obtained them. We hoped this was an oversight, and never thought of complaining; for we are slow to complain, and wall not, in- deed, unless tumbled intentionally into the gutter; and pray earnestly for the coming of the medical millennium,when bro- ther will cease to give his brother cause for complaint. In his next number he repeats the dose, rather homoeopathically, however, and in his next he fires his blunderbuss. Is there a man who treads the earth, with the feeling yet alive in his bosom that he is a man, and a freeman, who would justify the course of this brother towards us, or say that it merited aught less than we have in this article meted out to it? It is impossible that we can entertain any other feeling to- wards St. Louis, and her struggling medical institutions, than that shaped and softened by the utmost kindness. And no reasonable opportunity has been permitted to pass unim- proved, publicty to express it. We know what St. Louis is, and are at this instant living in her great and mighty future, while she is giving tone and newness of life to the science 16 and civilization of all the Americas and their dependent is- lands of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Look at the young giantess as she laves her sides in that mighty inland sea, which, stretching half across the continent, revels in all the climates of Europe. The old American World east of the Mississippi is not even equal to that west of the Rocky Mountains, while the vast territory lying between the Missis- sippi River and the Rocky Mountains is fifty per cent larger than either that east or west of these great boundaries. Oh no. Not one, nor a hundred, nor a thousand of her citizens, by any ill usage, can repress the feeling that swells our heart at the mention of St. Louis. She is an American creation, concentrating within her young limbs the power, energy, and progress of her mighty mother. If our friend would forgive us, we would add, that she is like the Nashville School of Medicine, mighty ere its existence was fairly known, and which, while she courts the sisterly feeling of rival schools, DEFIES EITHER THEM OR THEIR JOURNALS. To the winds to the dogs with this nothingness of soul! We had rather be a man in perdition, than a dog in nonentity. Does any one dare ask why the profession in the South- west determined to make their great Medical College at Nash- ville, and that the thing was no sooner determined than done? Here is the answer—The Profession has a heart! Go learn that lesson and be wiser. How did our prophecies come true, how did we know, how could we tell? We will tell you. There is no legerdemain in it. Look at the map—put your finger down—no, not there, that two hundred years hence—“Nashville?” yes, there. Now look at the political horizon. “Well.” Now read this from the London Quarterly Review, “The individual only can dive into himself and bring up out of the deep reservoir of a fertile brain, and reasoning imagination, all the postures, contacts, alliances and relations of a scheme in operation, its situation amid surrounding matter, the points of attrac- tion and repulsion, where things combine and where they jar; can in short be prophetic, call up an unborn future, and set things going before they are.” This is the secret of 17 prophecy in the absence of inspiration. You say it involves much knowledge? It involves intimate knowledge of that subject, of course. With this knowledge, and a long famil iarity with the fact that the profession of medicine had a heart, we could dare prophesy. Deal with a physician as you would with a gentleman and a Christian. He sends his student where he pleases. You may humbug the people with your long winded folly about Hospitals,as the pill gentry do, but the doctors know better. They know all your gasing about them is arrant humbug. They know that Medical Col- leges are devoted to elementary teaching, and that the sub- jects are so long, and the sessions so short, that they cannot do that as it ought to be done. They have been to College themselves, and know all about these things. Students have no tune to attend Hospitals, and a large medical class pour- ing into a Hospital already filled with patients is an absurd- ity. To the graduate before beginning practice, Hospitals are inestimable. We have two Hospitals here that have been always open to us, and in the beginning we did honest- ly believe that we could make them useful. But we soon learned better, and with equal candor taught the students so. We would not, for any advantage to the under-graduate, give five cents to have the Pennsylvania Hospital next door to ua, with the exclusive admission to its wards. If scientific med ical gentlemen, residing in cities with large Hospitals, will open a scientific medical school for medical graduates that shall bear the same relation to the under-graduate medical colleges, that the scientific departments in the great Universi- ties of Europe do to their under-graduate colleges, then could they bring their Hospitals into play, wffien they would re-act gloriously as a lever of professional elevation. At present all know that this much only can be done—to teach thor- oughly the elements of the various departments of medicine in our medical colleges, illustrated with rich surgical and medical cliniques at the College, where to observe, the stu- dent is not required to leave his seat, and then send such aa can afford it to the Hospitals of Europe, and such as cannot. 18 to ride a year, if possible, with their preceptors, and see the application of the principles they have acquired. New Orleans is the point we would indicate as the place forMbis great scientific medical school, open alone to gradu- ates. And to show our willingness to contribute to the true elevation of the profession, in the event our suggestion is acted upon at New Orleans, we bind ourselves to join with any other twenty-four men to contribute $5OO per annum to- wards the support of the Professors, until the fees from their class shall yield them four thousand dollars each per year.— Let those who are really in earnest about elevating the pro- fession, assist us with their pens, or purses,or both,in this only sure method of attaining that great object. We believe we can ourself beg of wealthy physicians enough annually to sup- port two of the Professors in such a school. If New Orleans have not the spirit to seize the opportunity to make herself not only famous in medicine, but to confer untold blessings upon the community, we would next suggest St. Louis. At either of these points it will succeed. Let the editor of the St. Louis Journal, who penned the text for this already too long editorial, and who has the talent and ability to lead in it, think of this suggestion, and remember that he knows us not if he imagines he would not find in us an earnest for- warder of his undertaking. Nor will we quarrel with him if lie seize upon it, like he does our journalistic pudding, with- out furnishing the sauce of acknowledgment. Our friend insinuates that we are unjust to the North, as we appeal to “sectional prejudice.” Our Northern friends are not only abundantly able to take care of themselves, but have, as we have shown elsewhere, and shall again show in this num- ber, heart enough left, to speak kindly of others. And, be- sides, should they desire a Southern champion, we put it to the editor of the St. Louis Journal, whether it be altogether consonant with a correct taste in him to be in such hot haste to offer his services. He may regard it as an idle boast of ours, but he will permit ns to enjoy the belief, that even for that post, were each of us candidates, we should beat him six to one. 19 And now, our dear readers, let us apologize to you for ta- king up so much of your space. Our older readers know how liberal we have been to all the schools, editors and Pro- fessors of the West and South. We have not counted them, but believe we are below the whole truth in stating that in our short editorial career, we have devoted a hundred pages to favorable reviews and eulogistic notices of Southern and Western schools and their teachers, while we have never first said a harmful word of one, and, as we shall be judged in the coming world, rejoiced to find that we could go up without in- volving a diminution of their classes. Our overtures of fra- ternal regard have, in every instance, been met by either con- temptuous silence or open rebuke! Now, we know that this procedure is not incompatible with sheer justice, for they might have been entitled to our respect and eulogy, while we remained beneath their consideration and regard. And to this conclusion would the unanimity of their action long since have forced us, but for the fact that disinterested journalists, both in Europe and America, the latchet of whose editorial shoes our contemptuous confreres were not worthy to stoop down and unloose, sustained and supported us with a tongue that permeated all quarters, as a man not void offeree, genius or learning. Not a Journal South or West has noticed us but to abuse, save one, and that one was independent of colleges. One even refused to advertise our college on its cover, and while using the motto, “I take good where I find it,” has never, during the four years that we have exchanged with it, found the first line of good in our columns, yet we publish in this very number an article from the editor of that very Journal, because we believe it to be a good one, and will be of service to our readers. Can you blame us if, after a great success under all this opposition and detraction, we allude to it in a pretty tall style? God knows, individually we have nothing to boast of, and we have always attributed the extraordinary success of the school with which we are connected, to a combination of circumstances essentially foreign to ourself. And had we been the greatest of boasters by nature, we hope we had too 20 much policy, not to say common sense, to try that after it had so signally failed with the conductors of the St. Louis Univer- sity. Does our friend imagine himself entitled to a monopoly of gasconade, that he is so peculiarly sensitive to the big talk of others? Having been surpassed in all things else, does he hug the closer this last feather of his tattered plume? In our public circulars we have ever endeavored to avoid large promises, and we defy our maligners, singular and in the aggregate, to point to a single expression, which, by the most interested, and therefore the most vulgar criticism, can be so tortured as to imply that the student would consult his own interest by attending our college. We dare to assert that we have taken full as lofty ground in this respect as any American medical college. These circulars are scattered everywhere, and we have always contended should be freer from parade and promises, than such publications as are directed exclu- sively to physicians. In our Journal we acknowledge we occasionally make large predictions—and so far, history has endorsed them. If it is contended that it is boasting notwithstanding, then our reply is, WE HAVE A RIGHT TO BOAST.