MVZ \oo \&bO jSgjs iSia plkift^; was« E-SS? i:!SSS ^ft^ &** K2*vs52?"-"' '~J' SinS! =n«iri5J¥v; :-,ft^--^:-ftftftft 11^ KS£i2¥K " 5f • \ ^^fy PROCEEDINGS OF THE General Meeting of the Medical Profession, IN KELATION TO THE DEATHS OF CHARLES PEIOK, M. D. Professor of Materia Mediea and Therapeutics in the University of Maryland; AND BERWICK B. SMITH, M. D. Demonstrator of Anatomy in the University of Maryland: Held Thursday, March 39th, X86O. %*ltimntt. .Irate* H M* WmU * fc . Marble Building, 182 Baltimore street. 1860. PKO CEEDINGS General Meeting of the Medical Profession, IN RELATION TO THE DEATHS OF CH^HLES FEIOK, M.D. Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the University of Maryland; AND BERWICK B. SMITH, M.D. Demonstrator of Anatomy in the University of Maryland: Held Thursday, March 39th, I860. ^Srvj.1'^' iBitimnn. Jrintettrf ofcn W*U * Co. Marble Building, 182 Baltimore street. 1860. )9'! habits—the slave of conventional rules, but one of nature's noblemen,—nobler far than wealth, or rank, or honors could make any man. There was no wonder why men loved him. It would have been a cause for enquiry if he had not been loved. As the diamond will always attract attention and command admiration, though surrounded by countless imi- tations, however perfect, so the good and honest soul ever must shine forth brightly amid the imitations of goodness and honesty by which it is surrounded. To whom indeed could we apply with more truth those rapturous encomiums, which Tennyson uses in his poetic memorial to his friend, than to our departed friend : "He To whom a thousand memories call, Not being less but more than all The gentleness he seemed to be, So wore his outward best, and joined Each office of the social hour To noble manners as the flower And native growth of noble mind; Nor ever narrowness or spite, Or villain fancy floating by, Drew in the expression of an eye, Where God and Nature met in light. And thus he bore without abuse The grand old name of gentleman Defamed by every charlatan And soiled with all ignoble use." As a physician, Dr. Frick's career is one well worthy of imitation by the younger members of his profession. Pos- sessed of natural abilities, he did not disdain the aids which study, investigation and experiment bring to the profes- sional man. Others' views were always examined with a freedom from prejudice and a carefulness of judgment that enabled him to select that which was reliable and trust- 23 worthy, rejecting the chaff and worthless matter with which it was surrounded. Thus his knowledge of a grow- ing science was ever growing with it, and his advance was along side of that of his confreres. He was not a mere nov- elty seeker, but held, with a firm grasp, to all that the experience of ages had stamped with the mark of its approval. With a clearness of intellect granted to few men, and a wonderful command of plain Saxon, he was able, from time to time, to furnish the columns of our jour- nals with contributions that attracted the attention of all by their ability and merit, and won favor even from those who differed with him in theoretical knowledge. These have gained him a reputation by no means local in its char- acter, nor indeed confined to our country, but co-extensive with the spread of medical literature itself. The sorrow which his death has produced is not confined to our city, but will strike sympathetic chords in the hearts of the profession throughout our country. His relations to his patients were such that the most implicit confidence was reposed in his decisions; his words brought comfort to the friends of the sick, while comfort seemed reflected from his very countenance on the sufferer. Few men have had such agreeable professional relations. He was the friend of his patients, and the very confidence his presence brought, aided his remedies in their combats with the disease. He was "the good physician," and the kind friend, at one and the same time, and while his judg- ment contended with the mysteries of disease, his great lov- ing soul poured forth its truest sympathies to the sufferer. Four years since, at the formation of the Maryland Col- lege of Pharmacy, its Trustees wisely placed Dr. Frick in the chair of Materia Medica. His success as a Lecturer from the very first, was marked. Having speedily mastered 24 his subject, it was a source of great delight for him to exhibit its mysteries in the most attractive form to the stu- dents forming the classes in that young College. Clearing away all intricacies and obscurities, he presented in a man- ner at once a model of clearness and accuracy, such facts as were essential to the student. His reward was speedily secured in the earnest and diligent habits of study which marked all his students. They loved to study, because he led them so gently and pleasantly along paths that were attractive, from the very charms his own manner reflected over them. In the Spring of 1858, he was called to the chair of The- rapeutics in the University of Maryland. The two courses of lecture delivered in that venerable school, during the sessions which have intervened since his appointment, have placed him in the first rank of Lecturers. The fund of knowledge gained from books, and the experience which years of practice by the bedside had given him,—these were so blended that each aided the other in enabling him to deliver lectures unsurpassed for practical utility by those from any other teacher of this branch, in the country. Not only students attended these lectures, but those who had spent years in the practical details of the profession, found them attractive, and of advantage. I am bold to say that no young lecturer, in so short a time, satisfied every one, as to his consummate fitness for his duties, and obtained so general a reputation as a teacher. There was but one opinion with all who heard him,—and that was of perfect and absolute satisfaction. Surely, life never looked brighter to any man. His lovable manners, frankness and sincerity, cultivated intel- lect, thorough knowledge of the theory and practice of his profession, perfect success as a teacher, had gained him ■A 25 friends beyond number; and all seemed bright and fair and attractive. One week since he attended the funeral of a colleague, and then spoke of the untimely end of one whose talents had gained him an enviable professional reputation—of how sad it seemed that death should thus pluck one from his career of opening prosperity. But that death which had aroused all the sad feelings of our nature, was speedily to be followed by another. "Disasters come not singly; But as if they watched and waited, Scanning one another's motions, When the first descends, the'others Follow, follow, gathering flock-wise; ****** First a shadow, then a sorrow, 'Till the air is dark with anguish." The seeds of a singularly fatal and insidious disease, were then undergoing that process of incubation, which developed into its most complete virulence on the morrow. A few days of suffering, born with heroic courage, and death had seized our friend and brother, before the fact of his sickness had been made known to the community in which he lived. He died as he lived, devoted to his profession, and, taking the circumstances of the attack into consideration, we may say, with truth, a martyr to that profession. He fell in the performance of his duty-adding another name to the list of earth's heroes. It needed not the long train of mourning friends, that followed his remains to the tomb, to satisfy us that the community appreciated the loss it had experienced, for sad faces met one everywhere. All knew that a place had been made vacant, which could not be filled. 4 n 26 The truth that he is gone, is painfully manifest, I have said, now that we are collected together. Let not the ex- ample of such a life be lost on those who are left behind. Be it our privilege to treasure up the recollections of our beloved friend, as precious jewels in the storehouse of memory,—and so to live and to act, that if death should find us in the heyday of life and prosperity, we may be able to go to our homes in peace, having placed our trust on a reliance stronger than that of earth. Be it our privilege to pray that the Almighty Father, who never sends burdens beyond the power of his children to bear, if they but claim His assistance, will grant that sustaining strength and com- fort to the afflicted and sorrowing family, which may enable them to see that even " Behind a frowning providence, God hides a smiling face." Dr. Edward H. White then addressed the meeting: Mr. President:—I can but repeat the sentiments that have been already reiterated. Dr. Charles Frick was endowed with a happv union of moral and social attributes, that ennobled his character, and endeared him to his acquaintance. A few days since, he was an active participant in those interests and sympathies, that constituted him one of our- selves. But in the fulness of bodily and mental health, to the hour of his fatal seizure—not yet in the maturity of manhood—young in years—he has been stricken down by the hand of a dire disease! He has fallen, however, in the faithful discharge of duty to his suffering fellow creatures. A befitting and acceptable end—if it were to be! Not more from the inherent beneficence of worthy and generous 27 conduct, than as a testimonial to himself, in the implied possession of qualities, that commended him to the future wants and interests of society. In this relation, then, not less than in the social and moral aspect referred to, the community has sustained a loss, not easily repaired: for among its rising members it would be difficult to point to one who had devoted his energies with more untiring constancy, or with brighter promise of success, in the noble endeavor to render to society whatever of advantage the measure of his faculties might enable him to practice. He had steadily devoted his life to the scientific and practical pursuit of medicine, that he might offer the best professional attainments to the amelioration and relief of suffering humanity. So that, viewed in reference to the future wants of our community, whether they pertain to the direct necessities of those who may be sick, or to the no less importunate solicitude which their sufferings exact from near relatives and friends, we are prepared to appre- ciate the loss of his character, and of his proficiency. But our affliction does not end here! Seen in the light of his sincere devotion to science, for the sake of the most appropriate ends to which knowledge can be directed, the medical profession cannot fail to be impressed with a sense of its special bereavement. Dr. Frick possessed, in an eminent degree, a discrimi- nating capacity for the appreciation of the facts of science; as well as the yet more valuable faculty of so comparing, and of so combining these, in their true relations, as to deduce therefrom the best practical results. All who had the privilege of observing the usual accuracy of his conclu- sions will certainly bear testimony to this fact. And, if it be the true teaching of history, in every branch 2tf of knowledge, that these qualities of mind, more than any others, ultimately distinguish their possessor, and render him useful to the cause of learning and humanity—by enabling him to make truer interpretations, better rules for future ascertainment of truth, and improved principles for guidance and action—then Dr. Frick united in his char- acter much that identified him with those whose lives have been recognized as valuable to their fellow-men. Nor did the endowments of mind, that enabled him to observe accurately, and to appreciate justly, the phenomena of nature, stand as isolated and unsupported possessions: but they were happily conjoined with a union of heart, a steadiness of industry, and desire for advancement in useful knowledge, that must unquestionably have secured for him a distinguished degree of efficiency. As a writer, his contributions had been frequent, and it may be said, that his success in medical literature was already established. As a Professor in the University of Maryland, in which he filled the chair of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, the popularity and entire acceptability of his lectures to the class of students affords the truest criterion of his proficiency. As a teacher at the bed-side of his patients, the students who enjoyed the opportunity of his clinical delineations, have proclaimed him most successful in this important department of instruction. Indeed, he so far excelled in this particular branch of his duties, that, it may be justly said of him, he was endowed with a peculiar talent for the task; and that he has left behind him, anywhere, in this relation, but few, who were his superiors. And shall we not, then, conclude, from these outward lineaments of mind and character, that his moral and intel- lectual nature was so fortunately constituted as to have 29 afforded ample security of rare usefulness in the career of his choice? that the memory of his excellence, and the elevated purity of his purposes in life, should not be allowed to pass away as the night of an arctic summer, displaced almost as soon as we are conscious of it, but should offer his character as an example, worthy of all imitation, to cheer and encourage the younger members of our profession to a similar path of duty ? And, that, in expressing our sense of bereavement in his death—and in tendering our smypa- thies to those still more nearly, and more deeply afflicted— we are but obeying the promptings which his assemblage of virtues spontaneously demands ? Dr. C. C. Cox, of Easton, Talbot Co., spoke as follows: Mr. Chairman :—Although here this evening by the merest accident, and with no claim to residence, I feel that in a meeting of professional confreres I am no stranger, and, therefore, that the brief and simple utterances of my sympathy upon this melancholy occasion, will not be re- garded as obtrusive or altogether unacceptable. I am thankful that in the great brotherhood of physic there is no such thing as sectionalism, and was I here from either extreme of the Union, having been benefitted by the labors and a sharer in the good name and growing reputation of the departed, I should feel privileged to express my sorrow at a loss which is not yours only, but the common misfor- tune of the profession, wherever science is regarded or true worth acknowledged. My personal knowledge of Dr. Berwick Smith was hm- Ued". few orief interviews, the recollect™ of which steals pleasantly over me, now that he ..bo more.There was a retiring gentleness in his d.sposuaon winch won Igard, and amodesty in his general demeanor rare as a „ :;n commendable. It has been well said, that his unquestioned skill as a surgeon was, to a certain extent, an inheritance. He belonged, indeed, to a noble line of professional ances- try. His grandfather was the Sir John Hunter of the North, in his day. Equally skillful as a physician and sur- geon, his practice embraced the entire circle of the New England States, while he found leisure for valuable contri- butions to medical literature, and, by his enterprise, founded some of the most respectable scientific institutions of the East. Among these was the Medical Department of Dart- mouth College, in which he lectured alone for a great num- ber of sessions, upon all the different branches of medicine. Of the father it is needless to speak in the presence of a Baltimore audience. We all remember his first entrance into this city, and the early discouragements which attended him for a series of years. But success, which comes sooner or later to solid worth and unyielding perseverance, rolled in upon him at last like a flood. His progress, at first slow and fitful, has become rapid and certain, until it will not be considered invidious to assert, he stands now, among the profession of the City and State of his adoption, primus inter pares. Although it was never my happiness to enjoy much inti- macy with the late Professor Frick, I could not fail to observe and appreciate in some degree, at least, the various excellencies of character by which he was distinguished, and which have been so amply and eloquently alluded to this evening. There was about him a transparency which revealed the purity of his heart, and the depth and richness of his intellect, almost at a glance. No one who came in contact with him, however casually, failed to admire the genial qualities of his nature, the extensive and varied attainments of his vigorous mind, the fertility of his medi- •il cal resources, and the rare accomplishments which contrib- uted to constitute him—what he really was—the polished professional gentleman. The character of the sad event is pregnant with interest to us as medical men. He died at the post of duty, grap- pling with disease in its most appalling shape. A monu- ment rises above the dust of the soldier who falls battling for his country's honor,—but the physician who sinks on his fearless errand of mercy, before the breath of the con- tagious pestilence, not unfrequently misses a rude stake to mark his resting-place. It is, perhaps, better so. There is often a remembrance of good deeds in the hearts of sur- vivors, more durably inscribed than upon marble or gran- ite. Years after he is gone will the memory of the good physician be cherished by those who were the recipients of his benevolence and skill—wreaths of flowers moistened by tears of gratitude be deposited on his honored turf, and his name crowned with the blessings and remembered in the prayers of many a noble spirit. The sudden dispensation by which we have been deprived of our Brother, should not be without its influ- ence upon us-and while the sound of the falling clod still echoes in our heart-chambers, let us appropriate the great truth his untimely demise so strikingly illustrates: «In the midst of life we are in death." Looking around, two weeks ago, upon the ranks of the young and robust of the Profession, who would have selected Charles Frick as the first victim? But he has gone-gone so suddenly that we are yet scarcely aroused to a full real- tion of the event. He fell, while the tides of health and enterprise were flowing strongly around him-feIVwith all the progressive interests of life full in his path-fell with the hopes of the future clustering about his opening way- 82 fell by the side of his prostrate patient, to remind us that while resisting the advances of disease and death upon others, we ourselves are not invulnerable to the fatal shaft. But the object of these crude remarks is accomplished. I arose, sir, simply to express my individual sense of the sad events of the past fortnight, by which the profession of Baltimore has been deprived of two of its most promising young men, as well as my cordial concurrence in the reso- lutions of respect presented by the respective committees, and so eloquently enforced by the gentlemen who have pre- ceded me. Dr. Geo. C. M. Roberts remarked that the members of the Profession and the friends of Doctors Frick and Smith would like to have these tributes to their memories in pamphlet form, and he accordingly suggested the propriety of having them published. Both series of resolutions were then unanimously adopted and the meeting adjourned. I NLM045868697