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INTRODUCTORY  LECTURE
DELIVERED TO THE
MEDICAL CLASS
BERKSHIRE MEDICAL INSTITUTION
AUGUST 5, 1841
BY PROF.  D E WEY,
     PiTTSPIELB,MASS:
CHA.RLES MONTAGUE......PRINTER.
          1847. 
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                                            Pittsfield, Aug. Gfh, 184'.
Prof. Dewey:
  Sir—At a meeting of the Students of the Berkshire Medical College, held
yesterday, William P. Bemus of New York being in the Chair and Marcellus
M. Frisselle of Mass. acting as Secretary, it was unanimously
   Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to solicit of you a copy of your
excellent Introductory Lecture for publication.  We, "who have the honor to
.constitute the above Committee, take great pleasure in expressing the warm-
est desires of the Class, to which we would add our earnest request, that the
publication of your  eloquent  and able  Address, delivered on Thursday last,
80 grateful to us and so honorable to the Institution, be not withheld.
                     With great respect, we are yours, &c.
  W. P. BEMUS,  N. Y.             G. C. LAWRENCE, Ohio.
  D.  W. HAZELTON, N. H.       H. V. HOLCOMB,  Mass.
   R. R. BRUCE,  Vt.                S. S. FLAGG,  Canada East.
  J.  W. CLYDE,  N.  Y.             JOHN H. HOLLISTER, Mich.
   H. DEWING, Ct.                 E. R. BROWNELL, Flor.
  J. B. EDELEN, D. C.            J. W. SACKET, Pa.
  R.  G. COBB, N. C.               S. W. BUTLER, Cher. Nation.
  H.  J. TURLEY, Ala.              E. W. HARKER, Geo.
  J.  G. BROWN,  Tenn.             S. T. C. WASHBURN, Miss.
   S.  H. BERGEN, N. J.            M. EARHEART, Mo.
                                  M.  M. FRISSELLE,  Secretary.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE MEDICAL CLASS: x> ,.
        Messrs. Bemus, Hazelton, &c.                       ,/"- :.
                 Young  Gentlemen—                              V  *
                         I am happy to comply with your polite request,
to publish the late  Introductory Discourse, in  the hope of your gratification
and of some good to be efifected.  The object of medical education possesses
the deepest interest, and is not the most perfectly understood.  Though not
written for publication, I follow the advice  of a distinguished friend of us*ll,
in thus committing  the discourse to your hands.
                  With the kindest regards to yourselves
                     and for the honor of the Class, your friend,
                                                      C. BEWEY.
  Berkshire Medical Institution,
        Aug. 9th.  1847. 
\ 
INTRODUCTORY  LECTURE.
Gentlemen  of the Medical Class :
   The enthusiasts and the alarmists form two important parts
of society.  True, they are a relatively small  part, for the
great mass of mankind take things as they are, and, occupied
with their pursuits and enjoyments, look  calmly on the passing
scenes.   But, one class of eyes have ever looked on the moral
and civil wastes of the world.  They have described the preva-
lent  vices and  crimes, the increase  of corruption, bribery.
intrigue and  villany, the departure from the good old times,
the alarming sway of fashion and frivolty, luxury and dissipa-
tion, the general deterioration in manners  and morals, the
propensity to excesses of every kind, the seductive tendencies
of the arts and  sciences, of commerce and manufactures, and
the common ruin that impends over the high interests of society.
Such was the description of the times in sober  New England
a century ago ;  such was the picture  of the  times in England
also, drawn by the actors in the scenes  in different periods of
her history ; such was the portraiture of the christian world
in later  and  earlier  centuries  by men that  then lived.  We
may ascend to  Grecian  and Roman  history for the same sad
accounts of their times compared with ages  then past.  Their
o-ohlm age had  lon<? gone by, and they looked back upon it 
6
 with strong yearnings of soul from their  iron period.   Even
 the sweet bard of Mantua only forgot his sad theme when rapt
 by the visions of the evangelical prophet he portrayed the glo-
 rious things of  later  times.  The same pictures  have been
 drawn of modern times, so that one thinks that the same wri-
 ters, by some literary  metamorphosis, have  descended  to
 our days.  From many a tongue  and pen the same language
 flows in unceasing streams.   These have been  severely called
 the alarmists of  the day.
   Another class  of eyes see only the  improvements made  or
 in progress ;  and they glory in  the age in which they live.
 This has been their theme in past ages ;  it is their everflowing
 theme at this day and  on both sides  of the Atlantic.   The
 world never saw such a period  as the present:  the spirit ot
 the times ; the world in motion ;  the elements of happy chan-
 ges working out their great results ; gratitude  for our life in
 this propitious day.   Such are the emotions of their exulting
 souls in view of tlje passing and coming bright scenes.   These
 are the enthusiasts of the age.
  It is  no easy  matter for the present generation to compare
with itself the past.  I object indeed  to the  sombre  picture
sometimes drawn, and may not approve all the glowing de-
scriptions of the  present.   But I love  to look upon the latter
as they spread out their excellences before us.  For reasons
to be yet given, the picture, excepting not even its exaggera-
tions, approaches far nearer the truth.
  In all periods the world has presented a vast  field of inter-
est to the dwellers in it.   This is more  true of the better edu-
cated and more refined,  of the  most active and enterprising
 in any  of  its pursuits, and especially, of the literary, the
 philosophical, and  the professional man.  Standing on an ele-
 vation, these have a wider prospect of the past and  the present,
 and their anticipations of the future crown it with  interest and
 impel them to effort. 
/
   The general course of our race has teen onward and upward, in
 the developement of the powers of intellect, the improvements
 in mechanical contrivances, the extension and importance of
 arts and all the appliances of life, the ascertaining and follow-
 ing out of the laws of nature,  and in the results of philosophy
 in all  its departments  upon the elevation and  refinement of
 the human family, and  in  the  diffusion of the active and be-
 nevolent principles of a benign  and  holy  religion.  1 refer, of
 course, to  those  portions of the world where circumstances
 have favored and advanced all these.
   One of these is our home.  Connected as all these are by the
 printing press and by steam, each soon realizes all the knowl-
 edge and improvements of the others.  Placed too under the
 influence of principles  which give more  scope and energy to
 the  activity and enterprise of the  people, we advance with
 greater rapidity than the rest.   What Sir Humphrey Davy as-
 serted of the English  compared  with continental Europe, as a
 nation " pre-eminently  active,"  and as following their objects
 with more  "force, fire  and constancy,"  is palpably true  of
 Anglo-Americans.
   It is yet to be seen  to what extent free  institutions and
 equality of rights  and  privileges are to raise our country.
 Judging from the past, what can be the end of the progress?
 It is illimitable.  What indeed will next come up in the scale
 of advancement, no mind  can  tell.   The month before the
 Steam Engine was employed, by the genius of Fulton, in actu-
 al operation in navigation, would have presented a scene of the
 most intense interest, if it could only have been known to the
 enterprising part of the  world  what  a  mighty instrument was
being applied to produce changes and results which have aston-
ished the world, and the present light of which is only the dawn
of the day to come.  So of the American Telegraph:  if it could
only have been foreseen in its operations and  present attained
consequences, and if it could have been known that Morse was 
passing- his nights sleepless and agitated as  his mind vibrated
on the waves of its mighty effort and swelled with the tumult of
his own thoughts laboring for action, what an excitement would
have shaken the world of mind.  Sleep would have fled  from
the earth, and minds would have groaned together for the stu-
pendous results to be accomplished.  But all was still except m
one heart; and the world of mind rolled on in its easy course.
The thunder soon followed the lightning, and shook the whole
country.  Yet our cold reason could embrace only a tithe of the
consequences, and the wary capitalist doubted whether it would
pay three  per cent, on the investment.   But already have the
lines been doubled and tripled to perform  the  accumulating
business, and adequate capital secured,  and hundreds on hun-
dreds of  miles been  added to the line which is constantly
extending.
   So it ought to be and  must be.  The world cannot be pre-
pared for the results till they are seen and felt.  This is the
noiseless course of that Divine Providence, which sees the end
from the beginning, and adapts the whole  to the reason and
wants of his noblest creation below.
   Even now other minds may be struggling in things destined
yet to astound the world.   For progress is the order of the day ;
because Infinite Wisdom sits on the throne and sends forth his
 moving energy upon minds, and it is his plan of operations to
show forth his greatness and goodness through the instrumen-
talities  which he employs.   For illustration, take the mighty
power of gravitation.  The ancients understood its general in-
 fluence.  The word is of  Latin origin, spoken seven hundred
years before the Christian era, and came to the Romans from the
 wreck  of a language  of far more ancient origin.  They knew
 its power—they felt it—they saw how  matter on the earth and
circling planets obeyed  it—and  they knew how their globose
 form and motions were the result, and how  from  their motions
 elipses were produced and calculations made, so that they tore- 
                             9
told their  appearance, as Cicero states,* for ages  to come.
The true system of astronomy is as old as the age  of Pytha-
goras, more than five centuries before the christian era.  There
was little use for more wisdom on this  subject in those ages.
But when  arts and  commerce began  their expansive career,
there was  need, for their extension, of new and more  accu-
rate investigations  of this  mighty  power, to  promote com-
merce and navigation and discoveries and to increase mechani-
cal energies, and Newton is sent to  unfold the laws and ope-
rations that had been hidden in the  secrets of nature.  Other
planets  and satellites must be discovered  and the  power of
gravitation must be fully unfolded to bless the world.  Little
dreamed the  ancients ; and  as  little dreamed the moderns of
the progress attained, till gravitation  was made to reveal the
existence and place of another planet, and the greatest achieve-
ment of mathematics was effected so that the world of power-
ful minds exulted at the stupendous result.
   Thus, the advancements in science and art and in all philoso-
phy, taJcc place as they are wanted to move on things to more benefi-
cent results.  This  gives  the subject prodigious interest, while
it directs the mind to the great Ruler of the whole.  For  the
common purposes of navigation those astronomical principles
by which a ship's  place  is ascertained and her latitude and
longitude known, are as advantageous  as  ever, and even more
important as the more rapid power of steam is employed.  But
we began to need greater facilities of land communication, and
the Rail Road comes forth to effect the desired end.   Time had
become more  valuable in the business of life, and while space
is  annihilated by the locomotive,  incalculable benefits spring
up in the pursuits of life.  The over-land mail to India, origi-
nated by the same wants of commerce, accomplishes objects in
two months which had required a  year by the  Cape of Good
Hope.  The merchant, the missionary, and their effective agents
know the state of things on the other side of the globe in less
  *De Natura Deorum.                        2 
10
 than one sixth of the  time, and, at a great saving remittances
 can be made with such ease and rapidity.   And over a country
 like ours,  so extensive, with  a people of restless activity, with
 minds of the finest cast for the pursuits of business and aiming
 at important results, with the teeming productions of inventions,
 arts, manufactures, trade and industry, and with the diffusion
 of all the material objects that  minister to  the  happiness of
 men, with liberty and its institutions offering the greatest incen-
 tives to individual effort or  combined action, the  Telegraph
 comes up as by  enchantment to equalize the advantages—to
 aid in diminishing the  evils of monopoly  and craft, to put into
 the hands of millions what  had been controlled by few,  to
 spread  at once  facts  and principles  and bind together more
 closely  the elements which are necessary to union and harmo-
 ny of action,  to  make  man  more emphatically dependent on
 his fellow, and yet more independent, and thus equal to him in
 all important respects.   For  moral and  intellectual good, as
 well as for political and commercial, the  American Telegraph
 is the unrivaled discovery of the  age.  The others are impor-
 tant, indispensable ; but  this  enhances their value beyond all
 calculation.   The chemical world was not prepared for the gal-
 vanic battery till the time of its appearance forty years ago,
 nor for some of its most important results till they were after-
 wards developed, nor  for the  great improvement in its power
 till the Telegraph made it necessary; and all this is done  too
 when the wonders of the Telegraph are beneficial to an extent
 the world had never seen,  and never anticipated,  and never
 before desired, because it was not within the range of supposed
possibility.  This was not playing with the lightnings as was
 once fancifully said of  Franklin, but it  is yoking them to  the
 car of knowledge and business  and happiness, and bidding
 them, with unerring certainty, to  give speed to human thought
 and energy.   Like all human things it may be abused, but how
 little is the exposure.   Who will send his profanity or obsenity or 
11
pollution along the electric wires ?  who will falsify by lightning,
when the next flash will make the correction and  expose the
very name of the scoundrel.  Never have the tales  of Arabian
enchantment approached so near to a reality of existence.
   The " Letheon, or Etherization" is a discovery of this time,
when the advance  of surgery and its immensely  varied and
successful applications, render more important such a means of
alleviating human suffering.  If the discovery shall  prove to be
harmless and safe, it will in the language of Sir  H.  H.  Inglis,
President of the British  Association, at  their  late meeting,
" long place  the name of its author among the benefactors of
our common nature," associating it  with  the inventor of the
Telegraph, the "great discovery" of the  times.
   In  the subject of education in all  its  bearing  on mind and
things, there has been the same onward movement,  as improve-
ments were demanded and made, and as these required higher
and  more  important improvements.  Wlioever looks back to
the state of  the  Colleges  at the beginning of  this nineteenth
century, and the subjects of study and the means provided for
the student, and compares the progress and consequences, wall
realize the mighty change.  All this has led, not to the neglect of
the mind of the great mass of the people, but to its more gene-
ral education, and thus has extended its advantages  with nearly
equal steps and with incalculable and unsurpassed effect.  The
time in which all those results are  attained made them more
necessary than ever before.   The higher Institutions of learn-
ing are essential for the preparation and exaltation of mind for
the superior  influences to be exerted on all sides; and the com-
mon mind must be enlightened more fully, or it can not harmo-
nize  with the superior energies and thus employ its powers in
the higher production of good  and the greater diffusion and
enjoyment of happiness.   Both must move on with nearly equal
velocity where free principles and equal rights are  enjoyed, or
the balance of power will be broken and confusion and everv
evil will ensue. 
    It was a wise and enlarged view of the wants of the people
  and the increase of their advantages, which led to the late no-
  ble donation of Lawrence to the  University of this Common-
  wealth.   His letter announcing the gift,  alike honorable to his
  head  and heart, and  in  advance of many rich men, was the
  simple breathings of the spirit of the  times.  And it is in the
  same wise foresight, that other Colleges and higher institutions
  have been sharing in the liberality of their patriotic benefactors.
 The wisdom thus diffused has  already traced out wants of an
 equally important character, originating in the pursuits of ag-
 riculture and business, for which no effectual provision is made
 and for which the spirit of a Lawrence must make, and in due
 time will  make, the endowment.  The w'ork is only  begun.
 Science and art pour the treasures of wealth to overflowing in-
 to those hands whose minds  understand their own interest,  and
 that of the  community, to require this application of their benefi-
 cence to make more full and free and diffusive the streams of
 prosperity.
   In the capital of these United  States the Smithsonian bene-
 faction, conceived in the  dawnings of the same spirit, is yet,  I
 trust, to be a munificent co-operator in the advancement of sci-
 ence, art, mechanics, and  generally of useful Tinowledge, whose
 course has been so  auspicously begun, and whose object ouoht
 to be beneficently pursued.
   States are moving in this  great work.   Legislators  see  the
 grand end to be attained by  and through  and for the treasures
of a State.   Funds  are wonderfully multiplied and applied.
 The Geological Surveys of  so  many States, wrought  out as
 their importance begins to  be felt and their results can be made
productive  of good, are the index of the spirit of the times.  Ag-
 riculture, the first of arts, and the mother of all others, receives
the benefit.   The popular demand of the greatest good of the
great whole—the very principle of the Divine Goodness and the
end attained in its infinite operations—is  heard on  everv side 
V3
and re-echoed from mountain  and valley, river and lake and
sea ;—and let our response be, " God speed the right."
   Time does not permit the pursuit of this topic, or to give ut-
terance to the heavings of the  heart as the images  of future
progress flit across the pathway before us.   I turn to the great
changes, which the spirit of the times has made in the educa-
tion of the medical profession, and to some of the prospects be-
fore the  medical student.  I  am not  to attempt any extended
history,  but only to glance at  what has been witnessed.  My
own head testifies to every eye, that I may have  some remote
recollections of the past,  and, as I pug'ht not to be ashamed of
that which time has made venerable, I may speak of dates as
well as  facts.
   At  the beginning of the nineteenth century there wTere but
four medical  schools in our country, and at the present time
their number exceeds thirty.*  The  first lectures on  anatomy
in the United  States, formed a single course at Philadelphia,
and were delivered by  Dr.  Shippen to ten students in 1764
(17G2  f)   Little progress was made in medical schools till some
years  after the close of the American Revolution.
   The winter of  1805—6 was spent by me in this village in
teaching the young idea how  to shoot, near the spot where these
medical Lectures are annually delivered.  Our respected Presi-
dent of the Berkshire Medical Institution, who grows younger
 and more powerful as he advances in life, and to whom I gladly
make  the dfeerential salutation to day,  returned that  winter
from the medical school at Dartmouth College, commenced his
career of successful practice and appropriated to it his powers
and life till honors have settled on his brow.  To his efforts in
no small degree this Institution owes high obligations.  In 1822
the first  course of lectures was given,  preparatory to the char-
ter of the Berkshire Medical Institution, whose first commence-
ment was held at the close of the lectures in 1S23.   Its grad-
   * See Note A. 
14
 uates have gone forth annually to honor themselves and the In-
 stitution,  and to do  good and  receive  good in  the  world.
 Another year will complete the first quarter of a century since
 the Berkshire began its prosperous course, and if its allumni
 only desire it, they can nobly commemorate it in the first Med-
 ical celebration.  For, here have choice  spirits been indoctri-
 nated in the principles of sound medical philosophy and prac-
 tice.  Here have been fostered the aspiration for usefulness and
 honor which have made its allumni men among men and phy-
 sicians among their fellows, and borne not a few of them to pla-
 ces of distinguished usefulness in other institutions.
   Medical Students have  ever been scattered,  as they must
 generally be, in the offices  of physicians, and in the early part
 of the century, few advantages were afforded them.  The libra-
 ries of their teachers were  generally small, though much better
 adapted to the known wants of the  profession at that time than
 can now  be  easily  imagined.   The  course of  instruction
 was exceedingly  imperfect.  The  establishment  of Medical
 Schools was therefore  an immense advance on the past; and
 a few months, annually, of such advantages and intense appli-
 cation as they made necessary, with access to larger libraries,
produced  admirable results in  medical education.
  Though the advantages  in the offices of physicians over the
country have greatly increased, there has necessarily been great
deficiency in instruction.   The press  has  indeed  teemed with
medical works; facts mingled  with fallacious reasonings and
ingenious  and  imaginary  hypothesis,  so  that the ordinary
physician  felt obliged  to stand on the conservative ground  of
acquired knowledge.   He knew  not what could  be esteemed
reliable authority when change on  change succeeded in rapid
 succession, and hypothesis  swept away hypothesis like men
 of straw as they were.  The medical world resembled the boil-
ing surges of the ocean, lashed into fury by the tempest, and
 the end to be answered was difficult to be seen.   But  a rela- 
15
 tive calm has succeeded—the true philosophy of medicine has
 been greatly advanced—the elements of confusion have subsi-
 ded  clearer skies and a brighter sun cheer the world, while
 many a dense cloud and lowering fog has been swept  away.
 The temple of medical science has been rearing its walls and
 pillars and turrets, and stands  the more immovable in conse-
 quence of the storms that have beat upon it.
   The  great Bacon said—" Medicine is a  science which hath
 been more professed than labored, and yet more labored than
 advanced; the labor having been rather in a circle than in
 progression."  There was too much of truth  in this severe sen-
 tence, but it  was then equally  true of his own Natural philos-
 ophy.  In the inductive  course  pointed out  by him  for the
 study of philosophy, the medical  world has found the'thread
 to conduct the student from the labarinth in  which he was in-
 volved.  Though many a zealous advocate of medicine has
 made more intricate the passages and stretched his own threads
 in the way and deceived the cautious observer by his false signs
 of coming light, others have with equal zeal  opened the passa-
 ges, cleared away the obstructions, cut asunder the threads of
 error, disenthralled the struggling lover of truth, and led  his feet
 to the glorious light of the sun of science.  The libraries of phy-
 sicians contain, more works that are trustworthy and practical,
 and higher advantages are enjoyed by the student.  Still the
great defect is is  the absence of regular study and recitation
of standard authors on the widely extended subjects of the pro-
 fession, conducted by  minds deeply  imbued  with  the vast
amount of medical knowledge which this age has accumulated
and diffused.  The truth is that no science has  possessed more
zealous cultivators, or has made greater advances in this cen-
tury.  The field of knowledge has been immensely enlarged.
The advantages enjoyed at the Medical Institutions, have  hardly
kept pace with the extended demands ; or rather, medical stu-
dents have not been able to enjoy adequately the facilities which 
                            16
 will bring up their acquisitions to the increasing requirements of
 the public, and especially of those medical men who must give
 the tone in the case, who know  the more perfectly what is
 and can be attained by the student, and what he must obtain
 to hold the standing demanded by  the times and the spirit ol
 the times.
   It has  often been the  subject of discussion in the few past
 years,—in .what way can the profession  be elevated6?  \anous
 expedients have been  proposed.   Certainly  there  is a wide-
 spread conviction that much more must be accomplished, and
 can be effected, and that  the united views of medical men and
 schools will form  and can easily form a public opinion which
 none  can successfully resist or control.  The  reason is, not
 that the present attainments are  low, but that  they  must be
higher;  not that those  entering the  profession are  weak men,
but that they must  be stronger ; not that the profession has not
made great advances, but that the state  of  the world, and
therefore honor and self-respect, have stronger claims than have
yet found a  response.  Being  a vastly  important profession,
its very importance requires elevation.  The  means of doing
this are demanded because the improvement is necessary.*
   To elevate a profession, its  members  must be elevated.   There is
no other way.   If the older cannot, or will not come up to the
point, the younger must.   The  question recms—JVhat shall be
 done ?■
   To answer this question, a convention of medical men was
holden in the city of New York in  May, 1846, consisting of
 about one hundred  and  twenty,  from fourteen  States.   The
chief object accomplished was the appointment of Committees
to report to the Convention the next year on the points involved
in the question.  In May, 1847:  a convention of about three
hundred  delegates, from the  greater portion of the States, and
from many Medical Schools and Societies,  met in Philadelphia.
  *See Note B. 
17
After hearing and discussing the Reports of Committees,  the
Convention resolved itself into the  " American Medical Asso-
ciation," appointed its officers  and  various committees for this
great purpose, or, in their language,  "for  elevating the stan-
dard of medical education ; for promoting the usefulness, honor
and interests of the medical profession ;  for enlightening and
directing public opinion in  regard to the duties,  responsibili-
ties, and requirements  of medical men, for exciting and en-
couraging emulation  and concert of action in the profession,
and for facilitating  and fostering friendly intercourse between
those who are engaged in it."*
   Both Conventions require that the standard of education pre-
liminary to the  study of medicine  should be  raised.  The
facts are said to  be  that few medical students  have received a
collegiate education—that many have only a tolerable academic
education in  preliminary studies—and that many come from
ordinary occupations, with a very defective common education,
to the study of medicine.  It  is admitted on all sides that the
knowledge  of the medical student cannot be  too extensive in
its subjects or amount; which  is equally true in all the learned
professions, and yet no exact  course is designated for and in
the  other professions.   The Committee, however, propose a
" uniform  standard  of  preliminary education for medical  stu-
dents  which  shall be of a moderate character, in the first  in-
stance too  low rather than too high,  and yet of such extent as
shall insure both the knowledge and discipline necessary."  It
is too  obvious for remark, that this is a point of exceeding dif-
ficulty, and that only general advice can be given to the medi-
cal  schools, or  be followed by them;  and that  there must
be wide  room  for  the  exercise of the judgment of those in
whose hands is the right of  receiving medical students into
their  offices, and of those  who have the power to bestow the
 decree of  M. D. or to grant licences.   The sentiment is likely
   * See Note C.                               3 
is
  to find a more  extended influence, that the public will soon
  learn who are qualified physicians and who are not,  without
  any limited and statute-like requisites for preliminary education.*
    Another point before the Convention was, that the power of
  teaching should be separated from that of giving licenses or de-
  grees,  or that degrees should be adjudged by a body specially
  designated for that purpose, and which should not be solely or
  chiefly the  teachers of the medical schools.  This  subject is
  referred to  a committee for a report at the next meeting of the
 " American Medical Association."  Dr. Parrish of Philadelphia,
 however, opposed " a  change in the present system,"  but urged
 " additional checks in conducting it."f  The intrinsic difficul-
 ties of effecting any important change, arising from the  vested
 rights and the duties required by charters of the medical schools
 from the State governments, will probably give to the plan of
 Dr. Parrish a practical operation over the country.   The State
 governments cannot be expected to give a simultaneous change
 to so many charters of medical institutions, or consider the
 proposed change more safe and politic, or more consistent with the
 character of our institutions.  At this Institution  and at Wood-
 stock, a Committee of the State Medical Society is appointed
 and associated with the Professors and Trustees,  in the exami-
 nation of candidates and in deciding- on their merits.
   Another subject acted upon by the Convention was the con-
 ditions of conferring the  degree of M. D.    The  resolutions
 adopted were of the following character :
   Resolution 1. That the Colleges extend the period of medical
 lectures « from four to  six months."  I shall ask your attention
 to this in a few moments.
   Resolutions 2, 3 and 4 respect the requisites for the exami-
nation of a  candidate  for M. D.   The  Berkshire long  since
adopted their principles, and have acted in  accordance with
them.
* See Note D.    -f See Note E- 
if)
   Resolution 5.  " That the several branches of medical educa-
 tion, already mentioned in the body of this report, be taught
 in all the Colleges; and that the number of Professors be in-
 creased to seven."
   The branches are the  " Theory and Practice of Medicine;
 Principles and Practice of Surgery ; General and Special An-
 atomy ; Physiology and Pathology; Materia Medica,  Thera-
 peutics and  Pharmacy; Midwifery, and Diseases of Women
 and  Children;  Chemistry and Medical Jurisprudence."  All
 these have been taught, with Botany, in the Berkshire Medical
 Institution, by six Professors ;  and, if they continue to be well
 taught, the object of the resolution is effected in our Institution.
 In respect to Pathology and  Botany,  the Berkshire has long
 been in advance of most of the medical colleges,  and appro-
 priated  a whole course to  Pathology alone,  and  adequate
 lectures to practical Botany; and yet, Botany, or Natural His-
 tory, generally are not mentioned among the requisite subjects
 of study given by the Committee.  Our honor is compromitted
 in sustaining the  spirit of the resolution.
   Res. 6. "That it be required of candidates that they shall
 have steadily devoted three months to dissections."  The im-
 portance of  this subject is here maintained, as  well as at
 Woodstock.
   Res.  7 maintains the duty of instructors  to afford clinical
 practice, and of colleges to require of candidates Hospital
practice for one session,  " whenever it can be accomplished"—
 an important resolution for the physician, and carried to all
practical extent in  the schools.   The  generality of  students,
who do not reside in the large  cities, know  what estimate to
place on the  amount of Hospital practice they enjoy during the
lectures in those places.
  Res. 8 urges on  medical schools  "to adopt some efficient
means for ascertaining that their students are actually in at-
tendance upon the lectures."   The attendance at the Berkshire 
20
 may be confidently compared with  that of other institutions.
 The student,  who  intends to be a  candidate for M. D-,  feels
 impelled to close attendance on the lectures.  His examination
 will show his attendance, and that is the great reliance.
   Res. 9. " That it is incumbent upon all schools and colleges
 granting diplomas, fully to carry out the above requisitions."
 The  Berkshire has ever been attentive to the spirit of public
 opinion, however expressed.
   Res. 10. " That  it be considered the duty of preceptors, to
 advise  their students to  attend only such institutions as  shall
 rigidly adhere to  the  recommendations herein contained."
 Many preceptors  over the country have attended lectures at
 two or three Medical Schools, and have a tolerably correct ap-
 prehension of their relative advantages, and are qualified to
 advise their  students on  so  important a matter.  Their judg-
 ment, aided  even by the advice of the resolution,  the Berk-
 shire will rely upon in the future,  as it has in the past.
   To advert,  now,  to the first resolution—a  lecture term of six
 months.
   The Berkshire  Medical Institution  will respond to  all the
 improvements which the most favored institutions shall adopt
and effectually carry out.   From the character of its Trustees
 and Faculty, and from the spirit of its alumni and  students,
 I hazard nothing  in the opinion, though it  is only individual
opinion, that  the  Berkshire  will maintain its  proper place in
the long line of its contemporaries.
   The subject, however,  is too important to be thus  disposed
of.  I ask you to look at its various  aspects.  Connect with  it
the proposed  seven  lecturers, and the several  subjects to be
taught already enumerated,  and their relative  importance.
Now, in the term of four  months, or sixteen weeks, with six
lecturers, and six  lectures a day,  or rather eleven  lectures a
week-and the first week not spent in introductory lectures
alone, and  the last  week not given up to examinations alone- 
                             21
there are delivered eighty-eight lectures.   With even  an addi-
tional lecture and the term of six months, there must be fewer
lectures  a day; as four lectures  daily for  six months, or six
lectures  for four months,  amount to the same number.  The
preference is  to be given  to the shorter term and the greater
number of daily lectures.  Six and seven hours a day can be
given by medical students  to the lectures.   They must learn to
have their minds  in  an active state,  in professional life, for
fourteen hours a day.   There is no difficulty in turning the
mind to the consideration of several subjects in succession.
This is to be learned in forming this habit of study.  If they
cannot do this, they will be ill prepared for the examination of
the various forms of disease, and of the different phases of the
same disease, which must occur to the active practitioner every
day, and be in truth unfitted for a rational connection with life
and its business and responsibilities.  The exercise of mind in
attendance on  many lectures a day is alone an important part
of education.   The number should be as great as proper ac-
tivity of mind will admit.  The students will learn far more in
proportion from six or  seven lectures than  from three or four,
and their minds be in a better state of training; but the time of
the  course must not  be long.   The expense, too, of a six
months'  course, or even of five,  will be a serious  objection
in the large cities,  and prevent many from  attending  there.
The  country schools will  be far  more  able  to  prolong the
course, and increase their numbers.  But the course is already
long enough.
   The truth is, that a course for six months employed, with
effort, is too long ;  without  effort, it is  too short, and should be
continued through the year ;  and a shorter course,  with strong,
energetic effort, is for the same reasons to be preferred.
  It is to be observed, too,  that  a prolonged  course will di-
minish the amount of attendance on the lectures  in the cities,
unless the students reside there.   Many more will  not stay
through the course. 
22
   If the truth  may be told, there  is  already  too  much oral
 instruction—too much of lecturing,  in  proportion to the study
 employed.   There  is more need of actual recitations of the
 first works of the science, in the offices of physicians, and es-
 pecially under  highly qualified physicians,  connected with
 clinical  practice, so far  as  it can be pursued.  It is for this
 reason that a Reading Term, as it has been  called, has been
 established and long  carried on at this Institution  and  some
 others.  The object  has  been, for twelve to twenty weeks  to
 give the  students this very advantage,  with demonstrations  in
 anatomy and dissections for many weeks, with daily recitations,
 and the  writing of medical  theses.   The Summer courses,  at
 some places, have been formed to meet this precise want; but
 they have often too  far followed the course of the lecture term,
 and given far too much oral teaching—too much  of regular lec-
 turing.   The advantages of study and recitations are  in such
 cases too little obtained.*   True, the easier method is taken ;
 for it is a more difficult matter to make preparation for profit-
 able recitations than for regular lectures.  A good lecturer may
 be rare enough,  but a good teacher,  with the tact of teaching,
 is  less common.  Some of this character are found  over the
country—physicians of tact;  and, though their instructions are
brief,  they are pithy, pointed, lucid,  and often recurring.f
  Having been long engaged  in teaching in a college and in
medical schools,  and in various departments, I am fully satisfied,
and distinguished gentlemen in the same employment have the
same opinion, that there is  far too much lecturing for the benefit
of the student.   It is an evil in colleges, as well as in medical
 schools.  The method of  correcting  this  evil  in the European
 Universities is well known.  Regular recitations under qualified
 instructors can alone remove  the evil here.
   The Berkshire Medical Institution has preferred, for  oood
 reasons,  a shorter Lecture Term, with  six lectures daily  and
  *See the close of Note A.    |See Note F 
                            23
a Reading Term,  to accomplish, with practical anatomy and
recitations,  the great end'of Medical Education.   Great ad-
vantages have followed already, and the extension of the plan
will effect the most desirable results.   Let there be two terms
in the year—one for Lectures, and the other for Reading and
Demonstrations ; and let the expenses be  brought within the
reasonable means  of students, and the object of the American
Medical Association will be effected in one  Institution.
   His Excellency, the Governor of the Commonwealth, whose
hand is found in every good wrork, and who honors us with his
presence and smiles to-day, will appreciate the views presented,
and aid the Berkshire,  I  trust, in advancing  the interests of
this noble profession.
   Referred as so  many of the preceding heads are for future
reports, nothing can be considered as definitely settled by the
"American  Medical  Association."    The views presented
clearly show that these subjects require the  careful  re-examina-
tion of the Association.
   The gentlemen of the Medical Class will  see from these facts
and reasons the position of influential members of the profession
on  this great  topic.   The  requirements which in their view
seem to be demanded are—1. Higher preliminary education of
students:  2. A greater  amount  of instruction by  lectures and
other ways, in a wider range and more thorough examination of
subjects of medicine: 3. A more full attendance on the lectures
at the medical schools, and more  clinical practice:  and 4.
More critical examination of those who are to  receive the de-
gree of M. D.  The prosperity and honor  of the  student and
the country is the grand aim.
  It has been thrown out in some  quarter that the  city institu-
tions have been aiming, through the  Conventions and the As-
sociation,  to elevate themselves and  to  destroy  the  country
schools.   I have too high a  consideration of the intelligence and
  triotism 0j- t^e Association to give the least credence to such 
                            24
a suspicion.   I am impelled to discountenance such an insinua
tion, from their  love  of their profession, and  their collection
from all parts of  the land,  as  well as  from their knowledge of
the wants of the  country.  Some few men, who suppose a city
to be a universe and to contain  all things that a universe ought
to contain, and  who  have little knowledge of the means of
medical education in the country, have occasionally shown their
hostility in various ways to country institutions.  But that such
a body of medical men, assembled professedly for a high  and
important object, from various  medical institutions and socie-
ties, from the North and the South,  the East and the West,—
men of high aims and correct principles,—should be engaged
in measures for the extermination of the schools established by
the various State Governments,—the thought is monstrous, and
the supposition preposterous:  this end is utterly unattainable.
  City and country make up the whole community—the former
relatively few  in numbers, the latter constituting the  mass—
each possessing  its peculiar advantages—each dependent upon
the other, and bound to  be  co-laborers in the great cause of
humanity—each requiring medical colleges adapted to the  con-
dition of society.
   The cities concentrate intelligence and wealth,  but not quite
all of either; and they can no more contain all the intelligence
than all the wealth of the  land, or concentrate all the vice and
disease than all the  virtue  and health of the people. Even
many diseases of the cities are widely diffused in the country.
The great body  of physicians must be spread over the  land,
and they need acquaintance with the diseases of the  country,
and preparation suited to the emergencies that must occur.
The expenses, too, of theii education must  be kept within the
means of the  great body of those who engage in the  medical
profession.  Medical schools are. therefore, of the highest im-
portance in the country, and in different sections of the  country.
 Woe betide  the land, when only the rich  and  the educated 
25
sons of cities become the physicians of the whole country S
The wise will have a regard in all this to the character of our
people, our institutions, our enterprise and  activity, and the
manly spirit which freedom infuses as our birthright into the
veins of our countrymen.   The institutions of Europe are un-
fitted to our soil.   Unfettered as we are from the aristocracy of
power and wealth, the people will never yield to the aristocracy
of mere influence, education, or sectional claims.  The con-
trolling spirit must be a public spirit, founded in common sense
and common rights and aiming  at the common general advan-
tage.  Political cliques alone can have any duration ; and all
our  history proves that mene, mene, tekel, are written upon them
from the beginning.
    The " American  Medical Association"  is to  express  the
opinion of the medical profession over the country, and not
of even many distinguished names in the cities alone.  It must
carry the country with it, or it will fail to effect any considera-
ble  good.   In the language of one of the  reports before men-
tioned, " The country practitioners  form the great bulk of the
medical community—they are  the medical public, and  the
popular will  is  expressed through them."  Let  that will be
expressed by them,  and not by a few of the profession as a
clique, but as an  American Medical Association, and, as that
report asserts, I  believe,  " that any  changes in  the existing
order of things which it may propose to the medical colleges
 of the country will meet with  the  most respectful considera-
 tion."   Then the profession, which supplies the students to
 the colleges, will give the tone to the whole.
   The means of hi°-fi medical education are accessible in many
 country institutions.   Every intelligent man of the large cities,
 who understands the history of a barrel of flour, knows that
 the materiel of Anatomy is abundant  and can be transported
 any where and every where—that Railroads, and Steamboats,
 and Transportation Lines, and  Expresses,  and the like, make
                                             4 
26
 the movement of the  materiel, of apparatus and  machinery,
 and all the vis motrix of a  medical school, and all  the  vis
 insita  itself, a matter  of the least difficulty, so long- as the
 country commands  and overflows  with money, the pabulum
 vita, which the great cities  are constantly diffusing over the
 land.   Can the means  and advantages have been  wanting in
 our medical institution, when from it have gone some of the
 most accomplished  lecturers  to the dignified higher schools,
 and when  it has been able  to supply their places with the
 same sort of excellence ?  True, the  cities have also afforded
 to the  country schools some  of their  finest lecturers, whose
 talents would have been buried unless these fields  of  useful-
 ness had been opened before them.  So let the exchange and
 interchange go on, not  in  the spirit of rivalry  or  opposition,
 but of honorable  emulation  and generous fraternity,  which
 ever diffuses good and  happiness among men.
   In consistency with  the main principle, it is  certain,  that
 changes and advances  will be soon made,  if the spirit of the times
 demands them.  In anatomy,  pathology, and  all the branches,
 many  times the  amount  formerly  exhibited in the medical
 schools of the country, has for years been taught in the Berk-
 shire Institution.   The course is onward.
   The  "American Medical  Association" cannot design to in-
 crease the influence of  the profession by diminishing the num-
 ber who shall enjoy its honors.  I have no sympathy with such
 unworthy suggestions.  It is well known, that in the thirty-three
 or more Medical  Institutions have, been in the last year about
five thousand medical students, and that about thirteen hundred
 and fifty have been  graduated.  Perhaps a hundred of these
will not follow the profession, so that twelve hundred and fifty
may be taken as the supply from the schools.  A considerable
number besides have received license.   Calculation has  shown
that this number is not equal to the demand in our country,  con-
sidering the rapid increase of population.   Instead of dimin- 
27
ishing the number entering the profession, honor and patriotism
demand  an increase  in  such a way as shall not weaken but
strengthen its powers.  The prospect for places and services
is all that those now in the course of instruction can desire.
  I am happy, young gentlemen, thus to present you with the
highest motives for activity, diligence, perseverance, and the
full  employment  of time and powers.   To the ordinary and
personal  considerations,  which  every  noble  and generous
mind must feel, are superadded extraordinary reasons contain-
ed in the opinions of distinguished members of the profession
in the  American  Medical Association, and generally  over the
United States.  Though you may perhaps place some of them
on the  list of the alarmists or croakers of the day, who have for-
gotten what they  once were, very many you will rank among
the rational  enthusiasts  of the age.   These must have an influ-
ence on your teachers as well as on yourselves.   The active
effort  of the former needs no pledge from me ;—youwill see it
and  admit it in the coming  weeks.   Let them have the active
co-operation, the  earnest attention  and efforts of [the students,
and  your advancement will be seen and felt by yourselves and
acknowledged by others, and the golden harvest will  be your
reward.
  "  Chemistry and Anatomy are the fundamental branches of
medical science," and Botany lies  with  no small importance
among the  foundation stones.   Of the three, it may be  said,
" any attempt  to give a medical  education in which they should
be neglected,  would be  like attempting toTerect a superstruc-
ture without a basement."
  Youn^  Gentlemen, the materials and  the work are before
you.  Those materials it is your part to form into that super-
structure, in which you may repose with honor and profit, and
enjoyment.

  Finally.  For honorable  and  gratifying success, goodness of 
28
character is all-important.  Honesty of purpose, unwavering
fidelity, and all the lively sympathies and kindly feelings of our
nature, are required in him who is the physician of our families.
Religion too,  unaffected and pure, adds high grace to such a
man.  At any rate, and in the language of a distinguished lec-
turer,  " The physician must  entertain a respect for the great
truths of the christian religion.  For religion is the fountain of
virtue which is the safeguard of our liberty, and the pledge of
social order.  Free our people from the fear of Bible penalties
and the hope of Bible rewards, and I should tremble for your
free  institutions and your domestic  peace.  The morality of
any nation is either_derived from or sustained by its religion.—
In this view every man who loves his country, every friend of
social order, every moral man, is bound to lend his countenance
and support to the institutions of religion.   My  leading object
in this matter however, is to charge you, whatever may be your
own opinions,  even if you can not aid and elevate the religious
sentiments of your patients,—to charge you, by all thatis dread-
ful in death, by all that is hopeful and cheering in the prospect
of future happiness, to seek neither by word or act to abate
one tittle of the christian faith.  Religion, whatever is its influ-
ence on the sunny days of our existence, presents herself in
mild, divine benignity when darkness gathers on our path.   Is
there a  God that must delight in goodness ?   What standard of
goodness is so high as the scriptures ? or, what class of men so
good as  those who really  live by its precepts ?»  Knowledge
and wisdom you must acquire, but goodness of character is in-
dispensable. 
NOTES,
                          Note A, Page 13.
  A medical department was  established in Philadelphia in 1765, and Di\
Shippen made Professor of Anatomy.  When the College of Philadelphia
was merged in the University of Pennsylvania by  charter in 1791, the distin-
guished Rush was elected Professor of the Institutes and Practice of Medicine.
At  the beginning of the century this Medical School had entered upon that
high career, by which its celebrity was established in the names and eflbrtg of
its learned Professors, so that it numbered in the session of 1801—2 over 130
students, of whom 21 formed the graduating class.   Its advantages were little
enjoyed at that time by the students  of Ne iv England.  It was too remote.
  The College of Physicians and Surgeons of the city of New York was in-
stituted in 1768 in connection  with  Columbia College—some lectures were
given—interrupted by the war  for our independence—re-organized again in
1784, but no degrees conferred till 1793.   In 1807  it received an independent
charter, and urged its onward and distinguished career.
  The Medical Department of Harvard University was established in 1783,
Dr. Warren having given lectures  on Anatomy  and Surgery in 1781  and
1782.  His son has through a long life held and honored the first lectureship in
the School.   The lectures in the beginning of the century were  delivered in
Cambridge.  Though the connection is still preserved with that venerable
University, the School has its own College and lectures in Boston, and has
long ranked  high among the Medical Institutions.
  The Medical Department of Dartmouth  College began its lectures in 1798
and soon numbered classes of 20 to 30 students.   It was for many years the
prominent  institution  in New  England, and well  deserved  the reputation it
attained.  It offered great advantages for that period.
  These four were the only medical institutions in the  United States at the
beginning of the present century.   The following list will show how rapidly
and extensively they have been multiplied.
  1807.  The Medical School of Baltimore received its charter.
  1812.  Western District  Medical School, at Fairfield, N. Y.   Removed
to Geneva College and became the Geneva Medical School in 1835.
  1813.  Medical Institution of Yale College.
  1817.  Medical Department of Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky.
  1818.  Vermont Academy of Medicine, at  Castleton,  in  connection with
Middlebury College, and a few years ago received an  independent charter. 
30
   1818.  Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati.
   1820.  Medical School of Maine, at Bowdoin College.
   1823.  Berkshire  Medical  Institution,  connected with Williams  College
 till its independent charter in 1837.
   1824.  Medical College of South Carolina, at Charleston,  new  organized
 in 1832.
   1825.  University of Virginia,  at Charlottesville.
   1826.  Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, connected with Jefferson
 College at  Cannonsburgh, and made independent by charter in 1838.
   1828.  Medical College of Georgia, at Augusta.
   1830.  Vermont Medical College, at Woodstock ; an independent  charter
 in 1835.
   1834.  Washington Medical  College, at Baltimore.
   1834.  Medical College of Louisiana,  at New Orleans.
   1834.  Cincinnati Medical College, Ohio, about this time.
   1837.  Louisville Medical Institution, Ky.
   1838.  Medical Department of the University of the city of New York.
   1838.  Richmond Medical College, Va.
   1838.  Albany Medical College, N. Y.
   1838.  Medical School of Willoughby University at Willoughby, Ohio, re-
moved and new organized at Columbus in 1847.
   1840.  Medical College at Cleveland, O., about this time.
   1843.  Rush Medical College, Chicago, 111.
   1843.  Medical Department  of Illinois College, at Jacksonville.
   1843.  Medical Department  of St. Louis  University.
   1844.  Medical Department  of Missouri  University, at St. Louis.
   1846.  Memphis Medical College, Tenn.
   1846.  Indiana Medical School, at Laporte.
   1847.  Buffalo  Medical College, N. Y.
  1847.  Philadelphia College of Medicine, with the powers of the University
of Pennsylvania, held its first  Commencement in July,  and is to  have two
courses a year.
  Names of three  or four more, I have not been able to obtain.
  The medical schools at Providence, R. I., and at Burlington,  Vt., formerly
flourishing, have not been in operation for several years.
  Besides the foregoing schools, which are  empowered to give the decree of
M. D, there are many others without this  power, which are performing im-
portant services in medical education.  If they were confined solely to dem-
onstrations  in Anatomy  with  dissections,  and recitations with theses  they
would accomplish a far greater amount  of good in medical  education.' The
lectures too far exceed the amount  of study, and twelve to sixteen weeks are 
                                                 ^ H « a  B  v
amply adequate for lectures, and the student would derive vastly greater ad-
vantage from employing the rest of the  year in recitations, and demonstra-
tions in Anatomy.   There is great necessity for reformation on this sub'ect.
                           Note B, Page  16.
  That the requisites for M. D., in this country are inferior to those in France,
and Germany, &c, is very  certain.   It does not mean the same thing, as gen-
eral education is respected.  There are two classes of men who practice med-
icine  over much of Europe, of very  different qualifications.  These  distinc-
tions are unsuited to our situation and institutions.  We are not to be directed
to Europe for models in this particular, as we are not in many others.  Let
M.  D. fully imply  the qualifications which many of our medical  schools are
amply able to impart, and which the Berkshire does impart.
                          Note C,  Page  17.
  "The  Proceedings of  the  National Medical Conventions" of  1846 and
1847, published by order  of  the "American Medical Association," contain
much information  of high interest to the medical student and practitioner.
Various imperfections show that the organization has yet accomplished little
in respect to improvement in medical education.  The publication gives prom-
ise of good to come.  Much more definite labor must be bestowed upon this
Bubject, and more extensive co-operation of the profession secured.
                          Note D, Page  18.
  In their report the  Committee propose that physicians  shall require proof
from their students  on entering the ofiices, that they  possess a " good English
education, a knowledge of Natural Philosophy and the Elementary Mathemati-
cal  Sciences,  including Geometry and Algebra; and such an acquaintance, at
least, with the Latin and Greek languages, as will enable them to appreciate
the technical language of Medicine, and read and write prescriptions.''
  Several of the older Schools, if not all  of them,  have bestowed the degree
of M. D. upon students who were ignorant of  the Latin and Greek languages,
and continue to do  it,  and other schools  have been obliged to follow them.
To  be of any special importance, these languages must be  studied for two  or
three years.   A mere smattering is valueless, and, in one fortnight a  student
can learn to read Latin prescriptions and write them too, without understand-
in<* the construction of the language.   Forms are to be  found in abundance.
Besides in the country and among the  great body of the profession, they
are almost unused.   Much as I love these dead languages  and valuable as is
the knowledge of them to the general student, the medical student who be-
gins his studies in the office at the age of eighteen or twenty can find much
more important studies for his usefulness than  that of the dead languages.
It is true too  that  the  terms  of science  ever  have,  not a strict etymological 
32
meaning, but like all language, one that is conventional, and the conventional
meaning must be learned.  Prescriptions ought to be in the language of the
country.
  What are  the  " Elementary Mathematical  Sciences,''  excluding Algebra
and Geometry ?   It was very  desirable to have  referred this subject to the
Committee on Medical Education for another consideration.
                         Note E,  Page 18.
  In a report on this subject, it is said, that " in perhaps every medical school
in the Union, the requirements are too low."   " The great complaint is that
some colleges do not enforce  rigidly and honestly the existing legal require-
ments, low as they are.  There is reason to believe, that some of the oldest
and most  flourishing schools are  as open  to this charge as the obscure and
comparatively unimportant ones." " It is  not  expedient to recommend that
the granting of licenses and degrees should be restricted to one board in each
State.''  The evil is made obvious, and the association have not applied any
possible remedy.
  The time for placing stringent  restraints  on the business of life, seems to be
passing away.  In the State  of Louisiana any man can practice in the courts
of law, who can so state his case  as to  be understood by the judges ; and, in
New York, only  a good moral character and a satisfactory  examination are
required.  In the State of New  York too,  any man is permitted to practice
medicine,  who pleases, only being held responsible for mal-practice.  Let M.
D. be the  same as a license to be a physician, but  legal responsibility made to
rest upon him who wears the honor in  consequence of a satisfactory examina-
tion, and the profession will be  elevated.  Have not legal  restraints on the
common pursuits of life,  ever proved  disadvantageous ?   Weak is that pro-
fession that must be upheld and supported by law.
                         Note F,  Page 22.
  It is conclusive from these principles, that if the term at the Medical Schools
could be extended to five or six months, not  more than three months should
be appropriated  to lectures at the rate  of six or seven a day;  and that the
rest of the course should  be employed in  study and recitations.   There can
not be a doubt that  candidates for the degree of doctor  in medicine  would
possess far higher qualifications.   Thus the great desideratum  would be se-
cured, and, the easiest, most economical and  effective method  of elevating
the medical  profession, be adopted.   The  shorter lecture term would then
become doubly advantageous.  I can  not but regret, therefore,  the extension
of the medical  lectures  of the  University of Pennsylvania  to five months
and think their success is undesirable.
   A large class has been for weeks attending the recitations and exercises of
our Reading Term. 
 
 
 
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