w■■:■■ JL5^fea^^> Surgeon General's Office JU a If X^ ML 'X X ; $ V 6^ '• PRESENTED BY^^ t)^*^'^^^^5. tQ^C:^ <-u~, Oi. ^4TJQ'0'Ot>OtXQrOC3£iftXO'Dl£yDOO^ \ Ao> '/ ^ IfJp^jC '-e->^- JT G± ^/£~: <<- +"-<- ^*- * tT / --. •^'. ^v The ARGUMENT. ADDRESS—the folly and danger of dijfention—the Or- ator enumerates the enemies of the fraternity—reminds them of a late unfeafonable interruption—a night fcene in the Potter s Field—he laments the want of true zeal in the brotherhood—and boafts of his own—the force of a ruling pajjion—the earth confdered as a great ani- mal—the pajfion of love not the fame in a true fon of Efculapius as in other men—his own amour—a pic- ture oj his mijlrejf in high tafte—-Jhews his learning in the dejcription of her mouthy arm and ha?id—his mis- trejf dies—his grief—and extraordi?tary consolation— his impar a I lei d fidelity—he apologizes for giving this hi/lory of his amour—the great difficulties Anatomijls have to encounter in theprefent times, arijing from falfe delicacy', prejudice and ignorance—a ftrong injlance in proof IV proof that it was not fo formerly—curious argument to prove the inconfijlency of the prefent opinions refpe&ing the praElice—he mentions many obftacles in the road to fcience—and reproaches them for their intefiine broils', at a time when not only popular clamour is loud, but even the powers of government are exerted againfi them—he then encourages his brethren with hopes of better times, founded on the efiablijhment of the College of Phyficians —is infpired with the idea of the future glory of that infiitution—and prophefies great things. AN A N ORATION, WHICH MIGHT HAVE BEEN DELIVERED, &c. 1? RIENDS and affociates! lend a patient ear, Sufpend inteftine broils and reafon hear. Ye followers of F----your wrath forbear— Ye fons of S----your inve&ives fpare; The fierce diffention your high minds purfue Is fport for others—ruinous to you. Surely fome fatal influenza reigns, Some epidemic rabies turns your brains— Is this a time for brethren to engage In public conteft and in party rage? B Fell ( 6 ) Fell difcord triumphs in your doubtful ftrife And, fmiling, whets her anatomic knife; Prepar'd to cut our precious limbs away And leave the bleeding body to decay— Seek ye for foes!—alas, my friends, look round, In ev'ry ftreet, fee num'rous foes abound! Methinks I hear them cry, in varied tones, "Give us our father's—brother's—filler's bones." Methinks I fee a mob of failors rife— Revenge!—revenge! they cry—and damn their eyes— Revenge for comrade Jack, whofe flefh, they fay, You minc'd to morfels and then threw away. Methinks I fee a black infernal train— The genuine offspring of accursed Cain— Fiercely on you their angry looks are bent, They grin and gibber dangerous difcontent And feem to fay— " Is there not meat enough ? "Ah! maffa cannibal, why eat poor Cuff?" Even hoftile watchmen ftand in ftrong array And o'er our heads their threat'ning ftaves display, Howl ( 7 ) Howl hideous difcord thro' the noon of night And fhake their dreadful lanthorns in our fight. Say, are not thefe fufficient to engage Your high wrought fouls eternal war to wage? Combine your ftrength thefe monfters to fubdue No friends of fcience and fworn foes to you; On thefe—on thefe your wordy vengeance pour And ftrive our fading glory to reftore. Ah! think how, late, our mutilated rites And midnight orgies, were by fudden frights And loud alarms profan'd—the facrifice, Stretch'd on a board before our eager eyes, All naked lay—ev'n when our chieftain flood Like a high prieft, prepar'd for fhedding blood; Prepar'd, with wondrous fkill, to cut or flafli The gentle fliver or the deep drawn gafh; Prepar'd to plunge ev'n elbow deep in gore Nature and nature's fecrets to explore---- Then a tumultuous cry— a fudden fear— Proclaim'd the foe— th' enraged foe is near— In ( 8 ) In fome dark hole the hard got corfe was laid And we, in wild confufion, fled difmay'd. Think how, like brethren, we have ftiar'd the toil When in the Potter's Field* we fought for fpoil, Did midnight ghofts and death and horror brave To delve for fcience in the dreary grave— Shall I remind you of that awful night When our compacted band maintain'd the fight Againft an armed hoft? fierce was the fray And yet we bore our fheeted prize away. Firm on a horfe's back the corfe was laid, High blowing winds the winding fheet difplay'd; Swift flew the fteed—but ftill his burthen bore— Fear made him fleet, who ne'er was fleet before; O'er tombs and funken graves he cours'd around, Nor ought refpe&ed confecrated ground. Mean time the battle rag'd—fo loud the ftrife, The dead were almoft frighten'd into life— TW * The Negro burial ground. ( 9 ) Tho' not victorious, yet we fcorn'd to yield, Retook our prize and left the doubtful field. In this degen'rate age, alas! how few The paths of fcience with true zeal purfue? Some trifling conteft, fome delufive joy Foo oft th' unfteady minds of youth employ. For me—whom Esculapius hath infpir'd— I boaft a loul with love of fcience fir'd; By one great objecl: is my heart poffeft— One ruling paflion quite abforbs the reft— In this bright point my hopes and fears unite; And one purfuit alone can give delight. To me things are not as to vulgar eyes, I would all nature's works anatomize— This world a living monfter feems, to me, Rolling and fporting in th' aerial fea; The foil encompaffes her rocks and ftones As flefh in animals encircles bones. I fee vaft ocean, like a heart in play, Pant fyfiole and diafiole ev'ry day, And ( io ) And by unnumber'd venous dreams fupply'd Up her broad rivers force th' arterial tide. [fhew The world's great lungs, monfoons and trade-winds From eaft to weft, from weft to eaft they blow Alternate refpiration---- The hills are pimples which earth's face defile, And burning JEtna, an eruptive boil: On her high mountains hairy forefts grow, And downy grafs o'erfpreads the vales below; From her vaft body perfpirations rife Condenfe in clouds and float beneath the Ikies. Thus fancy, faithful fervant of the heart, Transforms all nature by her magic art. Ev'n mighty love, whofe pow'r all pow'r controuls, Is not, in me, like love in other fouls— Yet I have lov'd—and Cupid's fubtle dart Hath thro' my pericardium pierc'd my heart. Brown Cadavera did my foul enfnare, Was all my thought by night and daily care— I long'd s ( II ) I long'd to clafp, in her tranfcendent charms, A living fkeleton within my arms. Long, lank and lean, my Cadavera flood, Like the tall pine, the glory of the wood— Ofttimes I gaz'd, with learned fkill to trace The fharp edg'd beauties of her bony face— There rofe Os frontis prominent and bold, In deep funk orbits two large eye-balls roll'd, Beneath thofe eye-balls, two arch'd bones were feen Whereon two flabby cheeks hung loofe and lean; Between thofe cheeks, protuberant arofe, In form triangular, her lovely nofe, Like Egypt's pyramid it feem'd to rife, Scorn earth, and bid defiance to the fkies; Thin were her lips, and of a fallow hue, Her open mouth expos'd her teeth to view; Projecting ftrong, protuberant and wide Stood incifores—and on either fide The canine rang'd, with many a beauteous flaw, And laft the grinders, to fill up the jaw— All ( I* ) All in their alveoli fix'd fecure, Articulated by gomphofis fure. Around her mouth, perpetual fmiles had made Wrinkles wherein the loves and graces play'd; There, ftretch'd and rigid by continual ftrain, Appear'd the xygomatic mufcles plain, And broad montanus o'er her peeked chin Extended, to fupport the heav'nly grin. In amorous dalliance oft I ftroak'd her arm, Each rifing mufcle was a rifing charm. O'er the flexores my fond fingers play'd, I found inftruction with delight convey'd— There carpus, cubitus and radius too Were plainly felt and manifeft to view. No mufcles on her lovely hand were feen, But only bones envelop'd by a fldn. Long were her fingers and her knuckles bare, Much like the claw-foot of a walnut chair. So plain was complex matacarpus fhewn It might be fairly counted bone by bone. Her ( i3 ) Her (lender phalanxes were well defin'd And each with each by ginglymus combin'd. Such were the charms that did my fancy fire And love—chafte fcientific love infpire. At length my Cadavera fell beneath The fatal ftroke of all fubduing death— Three days in grief—three nights in tears I fpent, And iighs inceffant gave my forrows vent. Few are th' examples of a love fo true— Ev'n from her death I corifolation drew, And in a fecret hour approach'd her grave Refolv'd her precious corfe from worms to fave; With active hafte remov'd the incumbent clay, Seiz'd the rich prize and bore my love away. Her naked charms now lay before my fight, I gaz'd with rapture and supreme delight, Nor could forbear, in extafy, to cry— Beneath that fhrivell'd ikin what treafures lie! Then feafted to the full my amorous foul, And Jkinn'd and cut and flafli'd without controul. D T was ( 14 ) T was then I faw, what long I 'd wifli'd to fee, That heart which panted oft for love and me— In detail view'd the form I once ador'd, And nature's hidden myfteries explor'd. Alas ! too truly did the wife man fay That flefh is grafs, and subject to decay— Not fo the bones—of fubftance firm and hard Long they remain th' Anatomifts reward. Wife nature, in her providential care, Did, kindly, bones from vile corruption fpare, That fons their father's fkeletons might have And heav'n born fcience triumph o'er the grave. My true love's bones I boil'd—from fat and lean Thefe hands induftrious fcrap'd them fair and clean, And ev'ry bone did to it's place reftore, As Nature's hand had plac'd them long before; Thefe fingers twifted ev'ry pliant wire With patient flrill, urg'd on by ftrong defire. Now what remains of Cadavera 's mine, Securely hanging in a cafe of pine. Ofttimes ( i5 ) Ofttimes I fit and contemplate her charms, Her nodding fkull and her long dangling arms, 'Till quite inflam'd with paflion for the dead I take her beauteous fkeleton to bed— There ftretch'd, at length, clofe to my faithful fide She lies all night a lovely grinning bride.---- Excuse, my friends, this detail of my love, You mull th' intent, if not the tale approve; By facts exemplary I meant to fhew To what extent a genuine zeal will go. A mind, fo fix'd, will not be drawn afide By vain diffentions or a partial pride; But ev'ry hoftile fentiment fubdue And keep the ruling paffion ftill in view. False delicacy—prejudices ftrong, Which no diftin&ions know 'twixt right and wrong, Againft our noble fcience fpend their rage And mark th' ignorance of this vulgar age. Time was, when men their living flefh would fpare And to the knife their quiv'ring nates bare, That ( 16 ) That fkilful furgeons* nofes might obtain For nofes loft—and cut and come again— But now the living churlifhly refufe To give their dead relations to our ufe; Talk of decorum—and a thoufand whims— Whene'er we hack their wives' or daughters' limbs; And yet their tables daily they fupply With the rich fruits of fad mortality; Will pick, and gut and cook a chicken's corfe, Diffect and eat it up, without remorfe; Devouring fifli, flefh, fowl, whatever comes, Nor fear the ghofts of murder'd hecatombs. Now where's the difference?—to th' impartial eye A leg of mutton and a human thigh Are juft the fame—for furely all muft own Flefh is but flefh, and bone is only bone; And tho' indeed, fome flefh and bone may grow To make a monkey—fome to make a beau, Still the materials are the fame, we know. Nor Taliacotius. ( i7 ) Nor can our anatomic knowledge trace Internal marks diftinclive of our race.— [of foes Whence, then, thefe loud complaints — thefe hofts Combin'd, our ufeful labours to oppofe? How long fhall foolifh prejudices reign? And when fhall reafon her juft empire gain? Ah ! full of danger is the up-hill road, That leads the youth to learning's high abode: His way thick mifts of vulgar errors blind, And fneering fatire follows clofe behind; Sour envy ftrews the rugged path with thorns, And lazy ignorance his labour fcorns. Is this a time, ye brethren of the knife, For civil conteft and internal ftrife? When loud againft us gen'ral clamours cry, And perfecution lifts her lafh on high? When government—that many headed beaft— Againft our practice rears her horrid creft, And, our nocturnal accefs to oppofe, E Around ( i8 ) Around the dead a penal barrier* throws? To crufli our fchools her awful pow'r applies, And ev'n forbids the gibbet's juft fupplies.f Yet in this night of darknefs, ftorms and fears, Behold one bright benignant ftar % appears— Long may it fhine, and, e'er it's courfe is run, Increafe, in fize and fplendour, to a fun!— Methinks I fee this fun of future days, Spread far abroad his diplomatic rays— See life and health fubmit to his controul, And, like a planet, death around him roll. Methinks I fee a ftately fabric rife, Rear'd on the fkulls of thefe our enemies; I fee the bones of our invet'rate foes Hang round it's walls in fcientific rows. There folemn fit the learned of the day Difpenfing death with uncontrouled fway, And * A law pall at New York, making it penal to Ileal bodies from the burial ground. ■j" The wheelbarrow law of Pennfylvania. % The Medical College. ( i9 ) And by prefcription regulate with eafe The fudden crifis or the flow difeafe. Then fhall phyficians their millenium find, And reign the real fov'reigns of mankind: Then fhall the face of this vile world be ehang'd, And nature's healthful laws all new arrang'd— In min'ral powders all her duft fhall rife, And all her infeds fhall be Spanifh flies: In medicated potions ftreams fhall flow, Pills fall in hail-ftorms, and fharp falts in fnow; In ev'ry quagmire boluffes be found, And flimy cataplafms fpread the ground— Nature herfelf affume the chymift's part, And furnifh poifons unfublim'd by art. Then to our fchools fhall wealth in currents flow, Our theatres no want of fubjeclis know; Nor laws nor mobs th' Anatomift fhall dread, For graves fhall freely render up their dead. + 4- % ■X9o i*y <-^ m? vMM\ '. •** »■**.<,*&