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INTRODUCTORY LECTURE,
DELIVERED AT THE
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND  SURGEONS
V
CITY OP NEW YORK,
NOVEMBER 6, 1829.
BY JOHN B. BECK, M. D.
PROFESSOR OF MATERIA MEDICA AND MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE
    IN THE UNIVEBSJ,TY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
fa
: J ^ tJ'f
       NEW YORK:
CHARLES S. FRANCIS, 252 BROADWAY.
1829. 
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        Sleight & Robinson, Printers,
Corner of Exchange Place and William Street. 
NOTICE.
   The following  discourse was prepared  and delivered in
the discharge of an ordinary duty, devolving upon the dif-
ferent Professors of the College of Physicians and Surgeons,
to open their annual courses of lectures with  public intro-
ductories.   The precise  object which  the  author had in
view was to  guard the minds of those who might hear him
against the infection of a  species  of radicalism,  unfortu-
nately too prevalent,  in  this city  at least, the design of
which seems to be to sweep away every existing institution,
whether in the shape of a  medical college,  or of a law to
regulate and control the practice of the profession.   By the
friends of the institution to  which the author is attached, it
has been decided that the discourse might be of more per-
manent utility, and it  is in  entire submission to their judg-
ment that he has consented to its publication.
  New York, November, 1829. 
 
                                     .  New York, November 14, 1829.
Sir,
  The undersigned, having been appointed a committee for that purpose,
take pleasure in communicating to you the wishes of the board of trustees,
contained in the following extract from their minutes:
  "A communication having been received from the students of the college,
unanimously requesting the publication of the introductory lecture of Pro-
fessor J. B. Beck, delivered on the 6th instant, and the trustees believing that
the publication of said lecture would promote the interests of medical educa-
tion—Therefore, Resolved, That a committee of the board be appointed to
solicit of Professor Beck a copy of that lecture for the press."
  We add  our solicitations, individually, for your compliance with the request
of the board of trustees, and are, respectfully, yours.
                       NICOLL H.  DERING,     )     Committee
                       F.  U.  JOHNSTON,        (       of this
                       J. KEARNY RODGERS,  } Board of Trustees .
  Professor J. B. Beck.
                                        New York, November 16, 1829.
Gentlemen,
  The request to furnish for publication a copy of the lecture recently deli-
vered, comes before me in such a shape as to render it, almost a matter of
duty on my part, to comply with it.  In doing so, let me ask you to assure the
board of trustees that I am most deeply sensible of this very flattering testi-
monial of their approbation.
  With sentiments of the highest respect for the board of trustees, as well as
yourselves individually, I am very respectfully, yours, &c.
                                                   JOHN B. BECK.
To Nicoll H. Dering, M. D.    } Committee of the Board of
   Francis U. Johnston, M. D. > Trustees of the College of
   J. Kearny Rodgers, M.  D.   3 Physicians and Surgeons. 
 
LECTURE,
  The occasion of commencing an annual course of medi-
cal  instruction  is  one of interest and importance.  It is
then the pupil enters upon  a series of studies which is to
lay the basis of his future character, and according as  he
improves or neglects  the  advantages  which he  enjoys,
may his name, in after time, be honoured or contemned.
And  it  is  then  the teacher finds  himself assuming  the
high  and impressive responsibility of  guiding the opinions
and directing the practice of those  who hear him, in rela-
tion to subjects which involve, to a certain extent, the lives
and comfort of a large portion of mankind.  In this coun-
try, and in this  city especially, such  occasions  are  sur-
rounded with a peculiar interest.   A little more than  half
a century ago, the  first medical school was established in
this city.   It was then only the second one in our  country.
And now there is scarcely  a state in the Union which does
not boast of one  or more colleges,  supplied with native in-
 structors of talents and learning, annually sending forth a
body of well educated physicians  and surgeons,  devoting
 their powers and attainments to the service of the commu-
 nity.   To analyze the causes which have exerted an agency 
8
 in bringing about results so flattering to our national pride,
 would be a task at once pleasing and instructive.  Such,
 however, is not my purpose at the present time; and I shall
 content myself with making some general observations on
 the subject of education, with the view of illustrating more
 especially the admirable system which  has been  adopted,
 and at  present exists, in  the state of New York, and  of
 which this college forms a part.
   The advantages of education are  too well and generally
 appreciated to need  any demonstration.  To nations as well
 as individuals, they are conceded to be the surest basis of
 enduring greatness and permanent glory.   Notwithstanding
 this, it is a fact proved by all experience, that  these advan-
 tages are never justly appreciated unless they have been ac-
 tually enjoyed.  The savage knows  nothing of them, and
 does not feel the want of them.   He accordingly makes no
 effort for their attainment—and history establishes the fact,
 that every nation which has burst the chains of ignorance,
 and made any advance in the career  of knowledge and im-
provement, has done so through the agency of a power ex-
trinsic to itself.   As far as our knowledge extends, we know
of no nation which  ever yet  civilized itself.  On the con-
trary, this result has always been brought about either by
forced attempts  at civilization,  or by accidental  commerce
with nations more enlightened.   In these ways, letters and
the arts have progressively urged their course from nation to
nation, and from clime to clime.  Cradled in Assyria, they
travelled from thence to Egypt.   From  Egypt they were
carried to Greece.  Greece gave them to Rome, and  from 
9
Rome  they spread over  the whole of Europe.   If this be
true of whole nations, it is no less so of portions of nations.
Hence, by the lower and uninformed orders, even of civi-
lized communities, no attempts are ever made to enlighten
themselves beyond the narrow circle which has been marked
out by those who have preceded them; and any great im-
provement which may be made in their intellectual condi-
tion, is always effected by the instrumentality of those who
have already enjoyed, and are therefore capable of duly es-
timating, the blessings of superior knowledge.   As we ad-
vance through the different gradations of society, the influ-
ence of the same general  fact will be observed—and thus, by
the operation of the superior grades upon those below them,
it comes to pass, that the taste for knowledge is progressively
created and  diffused.  Of the truth of this position, illus-
trations are  profusely scattered  around us  in  the  multi-
plied efforts which are making  to improve  the intellectual
condition  of the poorer  classes of society.   In  no one in-
stance have these originated in  any endeavour on the  part
of the  poor themselves, to be  supplied with the means  of
instruction.  On the  contrary, they have  always been  the
result of the benevolence and zeal of the intelligent and in-
structed portions of the community.
  Now the known existence and constant operation of such
a law as the one I have been alluding to, is  a sort of secu-
rity that in all civilized and free countries, knowledge of a
certain kind, and to a certain extent, will be perpetuated.
As  a matter of course, however, it can never go beyond that
which  is  actually  enjoyed  and  appreciated by the  mass
                           2 
                          10
of  community.   It is,  therefore,  limited  in its  agency
to elementary knowledge, or at any rate to such kinds  of
it as  may be rendered immediately  and practically  use-
ful.   So far as the higher departments  of knowledge are
concerned, this law must accordingly be exceedingly inope-
rative.  The lower orders, as  a matter of course, have no
sort of idea of their nature and importance.  The upper
spheres of knowledge are removed  at too great a distance
to be clearly seen by the dim vision of ignorance—and even
of the intelligent and ordinarily well educated portion of
society, very few indeed are capable of estimating their va-
lue.  Unless science and learning are rendered glaring to
the senses, as it were,  by their  practical  utility,  they are
very apt to be scorned even by men  in other respects sen-
sible and intelligent.  Frequent and striking illustrations of
this are met with in the  contempt which is so often expressed
for classical learning—for the higher  branches  of mathe-
matical science—and for that minute, exact,  and  profound
professional knowledge, which it is the peculiar business of
such an institution as this to cultivate and to teach.
   There  being, therefore, no special demand  for the higher
and more  refined kinds of knowledge, either in the immedi-
ate wants  or general taste  of the community at large, and
therefore  no adequate compensation  offered for their cultiva-
tion, it has been  necessary  to  supply this  deficiency by
other aids and  helps;  and these have been found in  the
bounty and patronage of enlightened governments and indi-
viduals, by whom universities, and colleges, and professorships
 have been established and endowed in  such way as to ena- 
                            11
ble, a few at least, of the learned men of a country, to push
their researches into the regions of science, far beyond, what,
under other circumstances, they would be enabled to do.
   Such being the necessary dependence of mankind gene-
rally, upon external aids, for advancement in knowledge, the
business of  education, especially the higher departments of
it, has always been an object of special interest with every go-
vernment that has felt any generous concern for its real glory.
It is to this is owing the existence of those noble universities
in different countries, which for ages have shed so bright and
steady a light over the paths of learning; and if the records
of science be consulted,  it will be found  that  among her
greatest benefactors have been men who have been fostered
by these institutions—men, who, placed in comparative inde-
pendence as teachers or students, have been enabled, under
the influence of a  pure  ambition, to sound the depths of
knowledge,  and, by their  learned labours, not merely to se-
cure renown to themselves and to their country, but to exalt
the character of the race itself.
  If  the statement which has been made be  founded in
truth, it  would  seem very fairly to meet an  opinion which
has gained  some currency, and which in this  country ap-
pears in such just accordance with the general genius of our
institutions,  as  to meet with  a ready acquiescence in the
minds of a  very large and  influential  portion  of society.
The opinion to which I allude, is,  that education, as well of
the higher order as  elementary, should be left  to regulate
itself, like every other  article which  may be called  for  by
the taste or necessities of the public,   If such were the case, 
                          12
it is urged, that a wider field of competition would be thrown
open, and that  nothing in the shape, of education would be
offered in the market, which did not suit the  popular taste.
Systems and doctrines accordingly unaccommodated to the
public appetite, or opposed to the prevailing fashion of the
day, would not be taught, for the simple reason that they would
not be paid for; and thus education would be brought home
to the business and practical wants of life.
   Such is the argument which is urged by many against all
established institutions, and it is the same argument, which,
under a different guise, is so diligently protruded in favour
of so multiplying them, as, in fact, to do away all the  cha-
racter which they possess as privileged institutions.   It was
by so distinguished a man as Adam Smith, in his Wealth of
Nations, that this doctrine was  first broached;  and it  is to
him, as their leader,  that all the chorus singers of the pre-
sent day, on this subject, are indebted for their music.
   As the  subject is  important, and  the  argument  offers  a
great show  of  plausibility, I shall detain you with a few
brief remarks upon it.
   Specious  and plausible as the argument confessedly  is,  it
requires but little penetration to perceive that it is princi-
pally reared upon a false analogy.  Learning is considered
as a thing perfectly analogous to articles of ordinary traffic.
This is  assumed in the argument, and the reasoning appli-
cable to the latter  is unceremoniously transferred  to the
former.   Now  this is  a great error, and it  is one which  is
fatal to  the whole argument.   There is no just analogy be-
tween articles of trade and learning.  The one is addressed 
13
to our physical wants, while  the other has reference to our
intellectual wants—two classes of wants differing altogether
from  one another, in  the  desire which men experience to
have them supplied.   In the  case of physical wants, instinct
and  the necessities  of our nature compel us to their use.
The more, for instance,  the  physical wants of hunger and
thirst are excited, the greater will be the desire for food and
drink.  In the case of intellectual wants, there is no natural
craving  for supplying them.   On the contrary,  the greater
the want, the  more blunted is the feeling of the want itself,
and  the feebler is the desire  to have  it remedied.   For in-
stance, the more ignorant we are, the  less are we conscious
of the degradation of which it is the badge, and the less do
we desire to be enlightened and instructed.   There is, then,
an essential and a radical dissimilarity between learning and
the commodities  of ordinary traffic.   Any argument, there-
fore, which may be just  and  true in relation to the latter,  is
not necessarily so in relation to the former.
   But it is urged, that if education were left to take its own
course,  without patronage—without endowments—without
privileges—in short,  left  solely  to  individual  enterpilse,
unaided and  unprotected by  authority—the character  of
it would be better accommodated to the prevailing taste  of
the age and community.  Now all this may be granted  at
once—indeed, it seems to be a necessary result of such a sys-
tem.  But it remains to be proved that all this would be ad-
vantageous to  the general interests of learning, or of the com-
munity.   I speak not now  of common elementary educa-
tion—what I  have to say has reference  to the higher de- 
                           14
partments of learning; and so far as these are concerned, if
experience and  history can serve us as guides, it will  be
found proven beyond  a question, that a few well  endowed
and privileged universities and colleges, are infinitely better
calculated to sustain the cause and extend the blessings of
science, than the multitudinous  institutions which may start
into hasty existence under the urgency of the vanity and am-
bition, or even worthier motives of individual projectors.  The
reason is sufficiently  obvious.   Institutions established  by
the proper authorities  of the country in which they are  lo-
cated, from  their very nature are enabled at once to com-
mence, and  afterwards to enforce,  a high and elevated stan-
dard of education which would be perfect ruin to those, which
are dependent solely upon the whim or caprice of the popu-
lar voice.  And this it is not less their duty to do than it is
their interest.   The  permanent  renown  of an  institution
established by law, depends not so much upon her crowded
halls or upon her sounding pretensions, as it does upon  the
high tone of literary and seientific feeling which it inspires
nt the minds of her pupils—the pure ambition which it  en-
courages—and  the industrious  labour which it inculcates.
Of such a system, the effects are perhaps not so  immediate
and apparent.  The superficial  and empty is always  more
noisy and obtrusive than the solid and the profound.  The
shallow rivulet urges its fretful current into foam and noise,
while the majestic river rolls its deep and  swelling tide in
solemn stillness, bearing on its bosom the labours of indus-
try and the riches of commerce.   It is with learning as with
every thing else.  It is an  ordinance  of nature, that what- 
15
ever is designed to be strong and vigorous shall be slow in
coming to its maturity.   The insect is mature almost at  the
moment of its  birth—while man,  designed eventually to
control all creation, struggles through a helpless infancy  and
a  tedious minority, before he  attains  the  physical powers
suited to his illustrious destiny.   And so with learning.   To
be really good, it must be the result of laborious, protracted,
and reiterated efforts—and this is the true reason why a sound
and exalted system of education does not so immediately flash
upon the public eye.  In the end, however, its results are as
glorious as its progress has been slow.   It is only under such
a system that the bone and muscle of science can be pro-
perly elaborated ; and  if, in the course of a whole genera-
tion, it shall give to the world only one man of surpassing
power like Newton or Bacon, or, in our own profession, like
Haller, or Harvey, or Boerhaave, or Sydenham, it does more
for the real advancement of knowledge, than could be ef-
fected by whole legions of the forced productions of the
literary and scientific hot-houses of the day.
   Notwithstanding  all this, it is very evident that a system
which exacts so much labour, and is of such slow growth, can
never be so immediately popular; and hence it is utterly
impossible for institutions, depending altogether for their very
existence upon the breath of popular favour, to adopt  such
 a system.   On the contrary, they are obliged to cut down
 the stern requisitions of learning to suit  the false taste and
empirical notions of their patrons, for in nothing is there so
much empiricism as  in  the opinions which people entertain
 on the subject of education.   And  hence it will be found 
                            16
 that in institutions of this  sort, there is  always some  com-
 promise between duty and interest.  This is the premium
 which they must pay to secure popularity.   It is only in in-
 stitutions established by authority, and protected by law,
 that a high  system of education can be enforced.  In  the
 sacred  retreats  of  such institutions, the professor feels a
 proud consciousness that  he can devote himself to the no-
 blest of purposes, without being  obliged to barter away the
 rights and honours of science; while the student, knowing
 that all his privileges are secured to him by competent  au-
 thority, is inspired solely with the love of science, and bends
 all his energies  to the acquisition of knowledge.   In such
 an institution, he feels that he  really is  a  student, and  no-
thing else.   On the other hand, in institutions got up unaided
by public law, and  perhaps in direct opposition  to  it, it
is too much  the case that the  student looks  upon himself
as a kind of citizen soldier, one of whose principal businesses
is to stand upon guard and do duty in defence of works in-
cessantly threatened with assault and destruction.
   But it is urged against established institutions, that they
have a tendency to repress competition.  As this  is a very
common place and popular argument against them, and in
the minds of not a few appears to be conclusive, it may not be
inappropriate briefly to  consider it.  The objects  of com-
petition may be  two-fold—either to improve the quality of
an article, or to cheapen the price.   These are its objects in
matters of ordinary traffic, and when both  these are gained
at the same time that the producer of the article makes -his
fair profit,  competition  becomes of the  greatest  benefit 
                           17
to the community.  It encourages  ingenuity and  laudable
enterprize.  Individuals thrive and prosper, and the public
reap substantial advantage.   If, however, competition be
carried so far as to compel the competitors simply to cheapen
the article, without any regard to the quality, it is  very evi-
dent that  the public, instead of being the gainer, may actu-
ally be the loser.  And if it be carried still further, so as to
involve in ruin those engaged, the effect is still more inju-
rious, not only to the individuals themselves, but to the com-
munity at large.  The truth is, there are, and necessarily must
be, certain limits, beyond which competition cannot be pushed
without producing mischief.

                   Certi sunt denique fines
             Q,uos ultra nequit consistere rectum.

   The mass of mankind, however, are too apt, unfortunate-
ly, to consider that the great design of competition is gained
when the article, whatever it may be, is nominally cheapened ;
and hence it is, that this is the mark aimed at whenever
competition becomes  excessive.   Now  this is no less  true
of competition in education, than it is in matters of ordinary
trade.   And whenever it is carried beyond a certain point,
the necessary  result is that  the quality of the article is im-
paired.   Education  is made a matter of traffic, and its tex-
 ture and quality suited accordingly for the market.  Then
 comes the season of  speculators and jobbers.   Colleges are
 got  up by stock  companies, and annual  dividends de-
 clared upon the number of graduates.  Against all  such
 competition, it must be confessed, that institutions established
                             3 
                          18
and protected by the authority of the land are decidedly
hostile.   But so far from  this being  an argument against
them, it is one of the most triumphant which can be brought
in their favour.  During the floods and whirlwinds of such
unholy  competition,  a few institutions of this  kind may
save the general bankruptcy of learning in a country.
   If,  however, the legitimate object of competition in edu-
cation be not to cheapen the  article, but to improve it—to
elevate its character—to establish  and sustain a high stan-
dard—then institutions such as these,  instead of repressing,
are the  very means of encouraging emulation, and rousing
competition.   In fact, they are the only ones which  can  do
it.   They alone can  create  the highest standards—can
hold  out the  strongest inducements to exertion, by the dis-
tinctions which they confer, and by the high offices of ho-
nour  and emolument in their gift.  In all these ways, they
excite a generous  emulation, and what, perhaps, is  of still
more importance,  reward it  when successful.  All  history
proves the correctness of  this  statement.  In looking over
the literary geography of the world, it is truly gratifying to
find, in all the countries in which such institutions have been
located, how they have  been the fortresses of knowledge,
and  the sanctuaries of  the  learned; and how,  amid   the
anarchy of the times, they have  sustained the honours of
science against the rude shocks of ignorance, and the never
ending revolutions of popular opinion.
   But it is time to bring these  general considerations to a
close;  and I have made them in a brief, and, I fear, some-
what imperfect manner, as preliminary to a very rapid  no- 
19
 tice of the system which has been adopted in this state, more
 especially that department of it which relates to our profes-
 sion.  And I have designed to show that so far as the higher
 departments  of learning, at  least, are concerned, the only
 method of ensuring their proper cultivation is by the estab-
 lishment of a few institutions under the immediate patronage
 and superintendence of the government.
   From  the earliest periods of our independent existence,
 the people of this state seem to have been fully convinced of
 the erroneous nature of the doctrine that education should be
 left to itself.   This conviction had been wrought upon them
 no less by speculative reasoning on the subject than  by
 having witnessed the practical effects of such a system ante-
 rior to our revolution.  During the whole of our colonial
 existence, very little attention had been paid to the subject
 of education ; indeed, it was not until about the middle of
 the  last century that any thing of importance was done in
 the colony in the way of public provision for the instruction
 of youth, and the private schools were but poorly qualified
 to make  amends for  the negligence of the government.
 Smith, in his history of New York, mentions that towards
 the latter  part of the seventeenth century, under the reign of
 James, a Latin school was set up ; the teacher, however, was
 strongly suspected of being a Jesuit.  The  general  disaf-
 fection to the  government of this Prince, and the increasing
jealousy of Catholic influence, probably prevented it from
 being much  encouraged.*  Its fate, however, is not men-
* History of New York, by William Smith, A. M., page 102. 
                          20
tioned.  Under the administration of Governor Cosby, the
subject of education was recommended by the governor to
the consideration of the assembly; and in the year 1732, a
bill was passed for  encouraging a public school to teach
Latin, Greek, arithmetic, aud mathematics,* and certain mo-
nies a >prrpriated for its support.   The children were to be
taught gratuitously.  Whether this school ever went further
than the paper bill which gave it birth, does not appear.  At
any rate, it  can have gained no  character, for at the time
Smith wrote  his history  of the colony, he says:  "Our
schools are in  the lowest order ; the instructors want instruc-
tion,  and through  a long, shameful  neglect of all  the arts
and sciences,  our common speech is  entirely corrupt; and
the evidences of  a  bad taste, both as to thought  and lan-
guage,  are  visible  in all  our  proceedings,  public and pri-
vate."!
    The only effort  to advance the cause of learning which
 was made in the  Colony, was in  the establishment of Kings
 College, now called Columbia College, a few years previous
 to the revolutionary war.
    It,thus appears that with the exception  of the formation
 of this college, nothing  was done by the government either
 local or foreign for supplying the means of instruction ; and
 this  was the true cause of the low condition of learning, so
 lamentably prevalent at that period.   The mass of the  po-
 pulation was in just such a condition  as not to be sensible of
 the  importance  of knowledge, and they required powerful
* Smith, p. 397.           f Ibid. p. 324. 
                           21
artificial aids not merely to furnish the means of education,
but to inspire the taste for it.   Immediately after the revolu-
tion, a  new state of things began to appear.   And one of
the earliest subjects which attracted the attention of the re-
publican government cf our state  was that of education.
Deeply impressed with  the importance of it to the general
honour and prosperity, it appears to  have  been  the object
and determination not to legislate partially or imperfectly in
relation to it; but to lay the foundations of a  general  sys-
tem, the influence and effects of which might be extended to
every portion of the  state.  The conception certainly was a
great one, and  altogther worthy of the wise  and patriotic
men with whom it originated.  To  carry this great project
into effect, a general university for the state was created, un-
der the  title of " the University of the State of New York,"
the whole authority of  which was vested in  a Board of Re-
 gents, appointed immediately by the Legislature, and of which
 the  Governor,  Lieutenant Governor, and the  officers of
 state were  members ex  officio.   The powers granted to the
 Board  of Regents over learning and education, were ample
 and supreme.   They were invested with authority to estab-
lish colleges  and schools in every part of the state, to visit
 and inspect them  annually when so  established, and  they
 were required to make an annual report of their condition to
 the Legislature.  In short, they were charged with the ge-
 neral superintendence of the literature of the state.   These
 were extraordinary powers and great responsibilities.   That
 they were  so considered, is evident from the character of the
 men who were selected to discharge this trust.  They were 
                            22
 the conscript fathers of the state—illustrious for their wis-
 dom, virtues, and patriotic services.  It is gratifying to find
 that this character the board of regents has continued to sus-
 tain to the present day, embodying in it a large proportion
 of all that is venerable and talented in our state.  The es-
 tablishment of such a board as this, and invested with such
 powers, was unquestionably one of the most admirable mea-
 sures that could have been devised for the general and per-
 manent advancement of  learning.   Uninfluenced by  sec-
 tional considerations, they were enabled to view the state as
 one and to legislate for it as a whole ; and while they offered
 every suitable encouragement to the multiplication of  lite-
 rary institutions in different parts of the state, keeping pace
 in this respect with our increasing wants and growing popu-
 lation, they were fully sensible  that  competition might be
 carried too far, and  terminate  in  the total  destruction of
 sound learning.   With an honest and manly hand, therefore,
 they checked it when it  showed  a tendency to become ex-
 cessive.  A detailed  account of what they have done for
 education in this state, literary and professional, would occu-
 py too much space at  the present time; but it is due to truth
 and justice to  say,  that  such an account would  furnish the
 most triumphant vindication of that  honoured body,  and
 would cover with confusion some of those who are so loud
 in their denunciations of it.
  To our profession, both the  legislature and  the  regents
have been eminently kind.   All  civilized governments have
thought it proper and necessary to regulate professional edu-
 cation—to establish standards of professional attainments— 
23
and to exact certain requirements from those who offer them-
selves as candidates for its honours and emoluments.  This
is  right  and just.   It is founded upon the  principle, that
every government  is in duty bound to extend its protection
as far as it can over the lives and properties of its citizens.
Now the only way to do this is to make it obligatory upon
every one who enters upon  any of the learned  professions,
to pass through such terms of study, and to be subjected to
such examinations, as shall  give the public some pledge as
to the competency of the persons whom they may be obliged
to employ in a professional way.   It is only among savage
nations,  and  in  rude  and unformed  societies, that  such
regulations do not exist; and the adoption of them may al-
ways be looked  upon  as  one of the  surest indications of
progressing improvement in any community.  It shows  the
birth of liberal sentiments  and a juster appreciation of  the
value of professional knowledge.  Without the existence of
such regulations, it is impossible for a  profession to become
truly respectable.   Knowledge not being an essential requi-
site, other passports to public favour are resorted to.   As-
surance then usurps the place of talent—gravity, of wisdom—
boasting, of knowledge—cunning, of  skill—and the whole
practice becomes  a mere play of knavery upon  the weak-
ness and credulity of mankind.  You see this illustrated in
every community  where laws do not  exist  to regulate  the
profession.  And this country forms no exception.  Before
 the revolution, when no restraints existed, see what a picture
is given of our profession by competent judges.   Douglass,
 who was himself a physician, and wrote an account of the 
                           24
North American Colonies, which was published about 1753,
gives the following description in his work of the practice
in this country.   " In general, the physical  practice in  our
Colonies, is so perniciously bad, that, excepting in surgery,
and  some very acute cases, it is better to let nature, under
a proper regimen, take her course, than  to  trust to the  ho-
nesty and sagacity of the practitioner : our American prac-
titioners  are  so  rash and  officious,  the  saying  in  the
Apocrypha, (38.  15.) may with  much  propriety be applied
to them.   ' He that sinneth before his maker, let him fall
into the hands of the physician.''   Frequently there is more
danger from the physician than from  the distemper.  Our
practitioners deal  much in quackery and quackish medicines,
as requiring  no   labour  of  thought  or  composition,  and
highly recommended in the London quack-bills, (in which all
the reading of many of our  practitioners  consists,)  in-
advertently encouraged  by patents  for the benefit of  cer-
tain  fees to some offices, but to the very great  damage of
the subject."   "  In the most trifling cases, they use a rou-
tine  of practice.   When  I  first  arrived in New England,
I asked a noted facetious practitioner, what was their gene-
ral method of practice: he told  me their practice was very
uniform; bleeding, vomiting, blistering, purging, anodyne,
&c.; if the  illness  continued,  there was  repetendi,  and
finally, murderandi; nature  was  never to  be consulted  or
allowed to have any concern in the affair.   What Sydenham
well observes, is  the case with our practitioners:  iEger ni-
mia medici diligentia ad plures migret."*
* A Summary, Historical and Political, of the first planting, pro- 
                           25
   Smith, in his history of this  state before the revolution,
gives a picture, not more flattering, of the profession, and
boldly assigns the cause.   " Few physicians amongst us are
eminent  for their skill.  Quacks  abound  like  locusts in
Egypt, and too many have recommended themselves to a
full practice and profitable subsistence.  This is the less to be
wondered at as the profession is  under no kind of regula-
tion.   Loud as the call is, to our shame be  it  remembered,
we have no law to protect the lives of the king's subjects*
from the malpractice of pretenders.  Any man, at his plea-
sure, sets up for physician, apothecary, and chirurgeon. No
candidates are either examined, or licensed, or even  sworn
to fair practice."*
   It was impossible that a state of things  so disreputable to
the profession and injurious to the public,  could long conti-
nue.   The evil was too great, and came too closely home to
the person  of  every citizen, to  be long unheeded.   It ac-
cordingly no sooner attracted the consideration of the legis-
lature, than efficient measures were adopted to wipe off so
foul a stain from our honour.   These consisted of laws, re-
gulating the  qualifications required of those  who entered
the profession, and the establishment of medical societies in
every county  of  the state, specially charged  with the en-

gressive improvements, and present state, of the British Settlements
in  North America.   By William Douglass,  M. D.   Boston,
Vol. 2. p. 352.
   * History of New York, from the first discovery to the year 1733.
By William Smith, A. M. with a continuation.  Albany, 1814,
p. 325,6.
                            4 
                           26
forcement of these laws.  An organised system, embracing
within the sphere of its operation every portion of the state,
was thus founded by law, which already has been  most sa-
lutary in its influence, and which is  destined hereafter to
confer still greater blessings, both upon the profession and
the public.   Since their first enactment, these laws have been
variously modified;  and as at present ratified, they require
of every candidate for admission into the profession, that he
should have attained the age of twenty-one years, and stu-
died medicine four years.*  They also enact, " that no per-
son shall practice physic or surgery, unless he shall have re-
ceived a license or diploma for that purpose, from one of the
incorporated medical societies in this state, or the degree of
doctor of medicine from the regents of the university."
   From these enactments it appears, that the  only legiti-
mate titles to practice in this state  are the licences of the me-
dical societies, and the degrees of the university, of which
this college is a branch.
   Such are  some of the laws at  present regulating the ad-
mission of persons into our profession.  It is useless to ob-
ject that these regulations are too severe.   The legislature,
being the supreme authority, has  seen fit to enact them, and
whether severe or not, they constitute a part of the existing law
of the state, and as such, must be enforced.  But in reality
  * To obtain the Degree of Doctor of Medicine, it is required that
the candidates should have attained the age of twenty-one years__
have studied medicine three  years—and have attended  two full
courses of lectures. 
                            27
 there is no severity at all in them.  All laws are founded on
 the principle of restriction, and from their very nature must
 necessarily be so.  There must, therefore, as a matter of
 course, be some abridgment of individual rights, wherever
 men exist, under the forms and  operations of law.  The
 very object of laws is to prevent individuals, or any number
 of individuals, who may conspire together, from xloing as
 they please.   Now, in the  medical code of this state, there is
 nothing more than this necessary restriction, which runs
 through all other laws, and the very design of it was to re-
 medy that most debased of all conditions into which a pro-
 fession can be sunk, of suffering  every one to do just as he
 pleases.   If the  law, therefore, be severe at  all, it can only
 be so to those who prefer confusion  to order,—anarchy to
 good government—and who  choose voluntarily to expose
 themselves to its penalties,  and  such persons, of  course, have
 no reason to complain.   Its provisions are eminently calcu-
 lated to elevate the character of the profession ;  and as such,
 they have  been sanctioned by the voice of the  profession
 throughout the state.   But I will not dwell  upon this sub-
ject, and I have  merely entered upon these details for the
 purpose of showing how deeply indebted our profession is
 to the  legislature for  the  paternal care which  she has ex-
tended to it.   But her watchful guardianship has not ended
here.   She has not merely passed  laws to regulate the prac-
tice of the profession, but  she  has also, with a munificent
liberality, supplied the  amplest means  of medical  instruc-
tion.   Governed by a just and enlightened policy, she has
 viewed the state as a whole, every part  of which is entitled 
                            2d
to her care and patronage.   She has accordingly established
two medical colleges, as branches of the university—one in
this city, and the other in a  distant part of the state*—thus
affording the advantages and conveniences both  of a  city
and a country institution.
   The college in this city was established twenty-three years
ago by the  regents  of  the  university, in  consequence of
powers delegated to them by a special act of the legislature,
so far back as the year 1791.  Since  then, her fortunes
have been various.   She  has, however, survived not merely,
but gloriously triumphed over foreign aggression and inter-
nal convulsions, and  she  now reposes on a basis more solid
than she  has done at any period since her first  establish-
ment.   Compared with most of the  medical institutions of
our country, she is no less venerable for her duration, than
distinguished for the number and respectability of the sons
whom she has educated.   Upwards of five hundred of her
graduates are found scattered over our wide spread country,
many of whom have already rendered themselves illustrious
by their achievements in  science.  To the pupil, pursuing
his career of study, it is a matter of  honourable boast, that
he is associating himself with all the hereditary honours of
  * The College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western Dis-
trict.  The success of this  College speaks loudly in favour of the
wisdom of the general policy observed by the legislature and the
board of regents, in relation to medical institutions in this state, at
the same time that it exhibits one among a number of proofs of the
learning, ability, and zeal, of its distinguished professors. 
29
such an institution.  It acts as  a stimulus to his  exertions,
urging him on to emulate the bright examples thus set be-
fore him.
   But not merely in this respect does this college challenge
an advantage.   By the constituted  authorities of our state,
she has always been viewed with special regard, and the ho-
nours conferred upon her graduates are of a peculiar value.
Her diplomas emanat'.ng from the regents of the university,
are strictly university honours, and not mere  college ones.
And  in  receiving them,  the name  of every  candidate
is  made known to a body of illustrious men, identified with
the literary and political history of  our country.
   All this, however, would  be of little avail, were not the
honours and privileges emanating from her, of an enduring
character.   History, not very remote, furnishes us with the
melancholy instances of colleges, struggling  through a fe-
verish existence of  a few years, which, either from some de-
fect in their corporate  powers, or some other equally fatal
cause, have been blotted  from existence, leaving not  a sin-
gle memorial behind them.   To the reflections of its alumni,
such a fate cannot be otherwise than distressing.  Every
man of honourable feelings is deeply attached to the alma
mater where  he received his education.  There he first be-
came  conscious of the extent and  power of his capacities.
There his mind was formed to habits of thought and study.
There  he  received the  first  impulses  to high  and  noble
achievement.   There  he formed associations which have
swayed the whole destiny  of his after  life.  Loaded with
honours, he leaves her with regret.  But he can never forget 
                           30
 her.   Amid the busy scenes of life, his purest thoughts are
 directed towards her; and in the wane of manhood, as years
 steal over him, he enjoys a melancholy pleasure in gathering
 up the early recollections of his collegiate career.   How
 embittered must all  these recollections be, should some un-
 toward fortune have prostrated in the  dust, the institution
 with which they are associated.   When  the  Romans  de-
 nounced their  heaviest imprecation  upon the person  who
 should destroy the monument of his  ancestors, they merely
wished that he might outlive all his relatives and friends, sup-
posing this to be the greatest  curse  that could  befal him.
Quisquis   hoc   sustulerit  aut jusserit,  ultimus moriatur.
 Something like this must be the  situation  of one who finds
himself outliving the institution from which he received all
his literary or professional honours.   Such a fate can never
befall the graduate of this college.   She has already stood
the test of time.    Safe in her rights,  every year  but
adds  to her security and multiplies her triumphs.  And
in the successive classes which are annually resorting hither,
distinguished for their  talents, industry, and  enthusiasm, I
witness the evidence and the, pledge of  her present safety
and her future prosperity.
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