OFFICIAL OPENING 
OF THE 
NBW BUILDINGS 
OF THE 
Medical Faculty of McGill University 
BTH JANUARY, 1805. 
THE VISITOR 
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 
The Fare of Aberdeen 
MONTREAL; 
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Y2l.anXr<zo\. OFFICIAL OPENING 
OF THE 
NEW BUILDINGS 
OF THE 
MEDICAL FACULTY OF MCGILL UNIVERSITY 
THE VISITOR 
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 
THE EARL OF ABERDEEN 
The formal opening of the New Buildings of the Medical 
Faculty of McGill University took place on the Bth of Jan- 
uary, 1895. The Ceremony, which was held in Lecture Room 
No. 3, was presided over by Vice-Royalty. The attendance 
was very large, including a great number of the leading- 
citizens of Montreal and the surrounding country. Many 
Medical Men from the city and different parts were also 
present. At 2.45 p.m. the Governor-General and Lady 
Aberdeen, accompanied by Captain Urquhart, A.D.C., and 
Mr. Hewitt, His Excellency’s Private Secretary, arrived and 
were received by the Vice-Principal, the Dean and Members 
of the Faculty in the Library. From here a move was at 
once made for the large Lecture Room, and the proceedings 
began by His Excellency, who as Visitor to the University 4 
presided, calling upon the Rev. Dr. Cornish to open with 
p ray er. 
THE dean’s ADDRESS. 
Dr. Craik, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, then deliver- 
ed the following Address on the History of the Faculty 
from its beginning in 1824 up to the present time : 
Your Excellencies, Governors, Yice-principal, Fellows of 
Corporation, Professors, Graduates, Undergraduates, Ladies 
and Gentlemen, It is with a feeling of pleasure, amount- 
ing almost to exultation, that I rise as the Representative 
of the Faculty of Medicine of McGill University, to 
welcome you as friends come to rejoice with us, at the com- 
pletion and opening of our new and enlarged Buildings. 
To you, my Lord, and to Her Excellency the Countess of 
Aberdeen, we would beg to offer a special and a grateful 
welcome, inasmuch as you have been graciously pleased to 
honour us by your presence. We recognize in this act of 
kindness, another proof of that large-hearted sympathy, 
which has caused Your Excellencies to interest yourselves 
in so many phases of Canadian life, and which has won for 
you the love and respect of a loyal Canadian people. 
And this is an occasion on which it is fitting that we 
shonld rejoice. It is cause for gladness, that the progress of 
our Faculty has been such as to make enlargement of our 
buildings an absolute necessity ; and it is no less a cause for 
gladness, that, when the necessity for increased accommo- 
dation was actually barring our further advance, the 
barrier has been removed and our onward progress again 
made possible. 
There is much in the history and progress of a School 
or University, which may not inaptly be compared to 
the life of an individual. There is a period of compara- 
tively helpless infancy in both; and if this period be 
survived, it is likely to be followed by one of growth 
and development, leading, uuder- favourable conditions, to 
a more or less vigourous maturity, and to a long career of 
activity and usefulness. But there is also a reverse side 5 
J 
to the picture. The Institution, like the individual, may 
die in its infancy from inherent weakness, from injury or 
from neglect; or it may drag on for a time a feeble exist- 
ence, till it ultimately dies from continued stress of circum- 
stances, or from the habitual neglect or ignorance of the 
laws of life and health, which apply no less to institutions 
than to living men and women. Let us see how far the 
picture will serve to illustrate the history and progress of 
our own School. 
Soon after the opening of the old Montreal General 
Hospital in 1822, more than seventy years ago ; four 
of its attending physicians, Drs. Robertson, Caldwell, 
Holmes and Stephenson, all of them graduates of Edin- 
burgh University, being impressed with the necessity 
for providing medical instruction in this country, for 
students who might find it impossible to seek their edu- 
cation abroad; took steps to establish a Medical School 
in Montreal, after the model of the Medical Department of 
the University of Edinburgh, and bearing the same rela- 
tion to the Montreal General Hospital in its clinical work 
as that of the Edinburgh Medical School to its Royal In- 
firmary. 
After negotiations continued through 1822 and 1823, 
the School was successfully organized under the name of 
the “ Montreal Medical Institution,” and in the autumn of 
1824, it commenced its active work, in a small wooden 
building then standing on Place dA.rm.es, on what is now 
the site of the Bank of Montreal. The number of students 
during- the first session was 25, and the whole of the work 
of teaching was done by the four men whose names I have 
already mentioned ; the departments of Anatomy, Physi- 
ology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Practice of Physic, Midwifery 
and Diseases of Women and Children, Materia Medica, Sur- 
gery and Botany being divided as evenly as possible among 
them. The name of Dr. Loedel was at first associated with 
the others as Lecturer on Materia Medica, succeeded after a 
few years by that of Dr. Lyons, but neither of these 
gentlemen seems to have taken any active part in the work. 6 
But the arduous and responsible work was not only done 
by the other four men, but it was well done ; so well that 
it received official recognition at Edinburgh, two of its 
sessions counting for one, but giving it, nevertheless, a 
status as one of the publicly recognized Medical Schools of 
the day. 
The work of the School thus begun in 1824, was con- 
tinued unil 1828 with scarcely any change ; the estab- 
lishment of a French School of Medicine in the interval, 
having drawn away a number of students and prevented 
the anticipated increase. The average attendance for the 
first five years was barely 26, or only one more than in the 
opening year. This result was disappointing and dis- 
couraging, and, with less resolute men at its head, the 
Montreal Medical Institution would probably have died 
and been forgotten. But it did not die, and it has 
not been forgotten. Not only did it continue to live, 
though under another name, but it was instrumental in 
O ' 
preserving the life of its future foster mother, the Univer- 
sity of McGill College, which was then in imminent danger 
of being strangled, almost at its birth, by adverse litiga- 
tion. 
It had become necessary that the University should 
assume active teaching functions within a certain date, 
then fast approaching, in order to secure its McGill endow- 
ment ; and being unable to provide the necessary staff of 
teachers in the other Faculties, the struggling Medical In- 
stitution was asked, and gladly consented, to join the 
University as its Faculty of Medicine, and the crisis in the 
life of the University was thus successfully tided over. 
The session of 1829-30 was the first under the new condi- 
tions, and it opened with 30 students. Its material 
resources, however, were not in any way increased, and for 
the next ten years its condition was, if anything, worse 
than before; but it was now the Faculty of Medicine of a 
University, acting by authority of a Royal Charter, and its 
battles were afterwards to be fought under its banner. 7 
This was no mean advantage. It gave prestige and 
courage to men who must otherwise have been worn out in 
a hopeless struggle ; and gave distinction to the results of 
their labours by enabling them to procure for their success- 
ful students, the honour of a University Degree. 
The political troubles which culminated in the Rebellion 
of 1837-39, had at that time begun to disturb the com- 
munity, and interfered considerably with the progress of 
the School. It was obliged to close its doors from 1836 to 
1839, until the political storm had blown over; reopening 
its classes in 1839-40 with an attendance of 28, a number 
actually less hy 2, than when its connection with the 
University began ten years before. 
Other changes soon followed the joining of the School to 
the University. Edinburgh at once accepted the Certifi- 
cates of the Faculty on their face value at par, and the 
other British Schools almost immediately followed its lead. 
In 1833 the first break in the ranks of the four veteran 
leaders occurred, by the death of Dr. Caldwell from fever. 
The gap was temporarily filled by the appointment of Dr. 
Racey, and on his removal to Quebec in 1835, the late Drs. 
George W. Campbell and Archibald Hall were added to 
the staff, the former Lecturing on Surgery and Midwifery, 
and the latter on Materia Medica. 
It was not until the session of 1841-42 that the real 
growth of the School began, when it opened with 39 
students ; and it is gratifying to know that three out of the 
four original founders, had the satisfaction of realizing it; 
for before the beginning of another session, two more of 
O o 7 
them had fallen in the struggle. Dr. Stephenson died in 
1842, and Dr. Robertson’s health gave way to such a degree 
as to necessitate his retirement from active duty, his death 
occurring in 1844. 
The filling of these vacancies in 1842 led to extensive 
changes in the Faculty, with a redistribution of Lecture- 
ships, amounting almost to a reorganization. Dr. Holmes 
took Practice of Physic and Dr, Hall took Chemistry, 8 
while there were brought into the Faculty, Dr. McCul- 
loch in Midwifery, Dr. Bruneau in Anatomy, and Dr. 
Sewell in Physiology and Materia Medica. In 1845 Dr. B. 
L. MacDonnell was brought in, to preside over the new 
department of Institutes of Medicine ; Dr. Fraser to take 
charge of the new department of Medical Jurisprudence; 
and Dr. Crawford to assume the duties of still another new 
department, Clinical Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Papineau 
was also brought in to relieve Dr. Holmes in Botany. In 
or about this year also, Dr. Scott was appointed Demon- 
strator of Practical Anatomy. Further extensions were 
made in 1849, when Clinical Surgery was separated from 
Clinical Medicine, Dr. Crawford retaining the former, while 
Dr. MacDonnell assumed charge of the latter, only to be 
replaced on his removal to Toronto in 1850, by Dr. Sewell. 
I have dwelt somewhat in detail upon these changes, not 
so much on account of the personnel of the appointments ; 
but because they serve to mark the growth and develop- 
ment of the Faculty, in its efforts to keep abreast, and even 
in advance, of the progress of Medical Education on this 
continent. 
But the growth and development of the School, was 
not only in the direction of the increase in the number 
of teachers, or of the subjects taught; but also in the addi- 
tional time devoted to the preparation of the students. 
Almost from the beginning, the sessions were made six 
months’ sessions, instead of sessions of four and a half 
months ; and almost, also, from the beginning, the obligatory 
course of study, was changed to four years instead of three; 
and in this way the Faculty succeeded in establishing a 
reputation for thoroughness, which has stood it in good 
stead up to the present day. 
I have already stated, that at the opening of the Medi- 
cal Institution in 1824, the Lectures were delivered in a 
wooden building on the site of the present Bank of 
Montreal. Some time afterwards, the School was re- 
moved to a brick building, still standing, on St. George 9 
street near the corner of Craig. In or about 1845, the 
Faculty took possession of quarters in the Central Build- 
ing of the University, now occupied by the Faculty of 
Arts, and continued to occupy these premises, until its re- 
moval to Cote street in 1851. Of the precise dates of the 
removals to St. George street and to the University Build- 
ings, I am not as yet, in a position to speak with certainty ; 
for the early records of the School and Faculty, are not as 
complete in detail as they might have been ; but the dates 
of the appointments and other changes, as I have given 
them, are from the records, and may, I think, be relied 
upon. Of the dates and changes after 1850, I can speak 
with confidence from personal knowledge, for my connec- 
with the Faculty began, as a student, in that year, and has 
continued almost without interruption, until the present 
time. 
Up to 1850, the increase in the number of students had 
not been great. Commencing in 1824-25 with 25 students, 
the number, after twenty-five years, in 1849-50, was only 
44, an increase of less than one in each year. From this 
time, however, the reorganized and strengthened depart- 
ments, began to attract more students, and the session of 
1850-51 opened with 53. 
In 1851, the St. Lawrence School of Medicine was started, 
in opposition to our Medical Faculty. It had a strong staff 
of teachers, and its class-rooms were in the heart of the 
city.- As the University Buildings were at that time,—more 
than forty-three years ago,—thought to be rather remote 
from the centre of the city ; it was feared that the more 
central position of the new School, would place our Faculty 
at a disadvantage ; and after careful consideration, it was 
decided to move the classes once more back to the city. As 
no University funds were available to assist in this matter, 
three members of the Faculty, themselves advanced the 
money ; and a substantial brick Building was erected in Cote 
street, in time for the session of 1851-52, where the classes 
opened with 64 students. 10 
This Building, which is still standing in Cote street, 
served the purposes of the Faculty for twenty-one years ; 
and in it occurred many of the changes and much of 
the progress, which have left their mark upon the his- 
tory of the Faculty. It was here that, in 1852, all the 
Lecturers in the Faculty were promoted to the rank of 
Professors, Dr. Holmes alone having previously, I believe 
in 1843, been appointed the sole Professor. It was here 
also that, in 1854, Dr. Holmes was made Dean, the first 
in connection with the Faculty. Here also we had the 
happiness of receiving amongst us, as Professor of Botany 
and Zoology, our much loved and gifted Principal, Sir 
William Dawson, now retired, to whose great ability, zeal 
and untiring industry, the University, in all its departments, 
owes so much. Here in 1854, it was made optional with 
the student, to divide his examinations into Primary and 
Final, and here also, a department of Practical Chemistry 
under Dr. Girdwood, was established in 1870, though it 
' o 
was not for some years later, that a Faculty Chemical 
Laboratory was provided. Here also in 1870, an optional 
Summer Session of three months was established, and in 
1871 an optional course in Hygiene and Public Health, 
under the late Dr. George Ross, which was converted 
into a Professorship under Dr. Godfrey in 1875. During 
the twenty-one years of the occupancy of the Cote street 
Building, the number of students increased from 64 in 
1851-52 to 139 in 1871-72 ; hut the attendance in several 
of the years had been above 170, and in one year, 1866-67, 
it had reached 184. 
But time will not permit me to dwell with as much of 
detail, upon the remaining years of the history of the 
Faculty ; and I must content myself by referring only to the 
more important changes and occurrences of the last twenty- 
two years. 
Owing to the increased number of students and the ex- 
tension of the Curriculum, as well as to the growth of the 
Museum and Library ; the Building on Cote street had for 11 
many years been inconveniently crowded ; and the Faculty 
had been casting about for means of acquiring better 
accommodation. The opposition of the St. Lawrence 
School of Medicine had long since come to an end ; indeed, 
the School itself could scarcely be said to have been born 
before it began to die ; and the last vestiges of it had dis- 
appeared after a few years. Moreover, the city had spread 
greatly in the direction of the University Buildings ; and, 
influenced chiefly by the advice of Sir William Dawson, 
the Faculty, in or about 1870, applied to the Board of Gov- 
ernors to be received again within the precincts of the 
College Grounds. There was at that time no available 
building on the College Grounds, of sufficient size to accom- 
modate our growing Faculty ; but the Governors generously 
offered to erect and place at our disposal, a Building suitable 
to our needs ; and their offer being gladly accepted, the sub- 
stantial Stone Building forming the front portion of the 
present Block,was erected by them in 1871 and 1872, at a cost 
of $27,000, and placed at the disposal of the Faculty. The 
Building was unfurnished, and without equipment of any 
kind ; but, nothing daunted, the members of the Faculty 
proceeded to furnish and equip it, from their own individual 
resources, at an expense of several thousand dollars; and 
our classes were opened in it in the autumn of 1872, with 
an attendance of 154. 
Dr. Fraser, Professor of Institutes of Medicine, died in 
1872, and Professor Drake, who had occupied the Chair of 
Clinical Medicine since 1868, was transferred to the Chair 
of Institutes of Medicine; a position which he filled with 
eminent ability. In 1874, owing to the failure of the 
health of Professor Drake, the position of Lecturer on Insti- 
tutes of Medicine, was conferred upon Dr. William Osier, 
one of our own graduates ; then jnst returned from a two 
years’ sojourn among the great Schools and Laboratories of 
Europe ; and in 1875, on the permanent retirement of Pro- 
fessor Drake, Dr. Osier was promoted to the vacant Chair. 
The assumption by Dr. Osier, of the duties of the depart- 12 
merit of Institutes of Medicine, was immediately followed 
by active Laboratory work in Physiology, Histology and 
Pathology : and it is due to Professor Osier to say, that to 
the contagious influence of his example, together with his 
great ability and enthusiasm, is largely due the greatly in- 
creased proportion of practical work, in all departments of 
the Faculty. 
But the increase of Practical and Laboratory work in 
many departments, though it added greatly to the efficiency 
of the teaching, added also greatly to our expenditure ; 
and we soon began to find ourselves crippled for means 
to carry on the work ; and to add to our embarrassments, 
in 1882, we suffered what seemed to be an irreparable loss, 
by the death of our Dean, the late Dr. George W. Campbell; 
whose great influence and ability, for upwards of forty 
years, had been the mainstay of the Faculty. 
But the darkest hour is often just before the dawn ; and 
while our Chancellor, Sir Donald A Smith, was listening to 
a eulogy on his late friend Dr. Campbell, and a recital of 
our needs, by the late Dr. Howard, he resolved to come to 
our rescue in a most effectual way. He offered to confer 
upon the Faculty no less a sum than $50,000, on con- 
dition that a like sum should be collected from other 
friends of the University. I need not say with what 
alacrity we set about the collection of the stipulated sum, 
nor with what readiness and liberality we were met by 
many of our citizens ; nor need I allude to the liberal con- 
tributions given by nearly every member of the Faculty. 
It is sufficient to say that the amount was soon collected 
and paid ; Sir Donald’s contribution was also paid over, 
and in 1883, the Faculty found itself relieved from its 
embarrassments, by a handsome of $lOO,OOO. 
But our troubles were not ended, if, indeed, in some re- 
spects, they can ever be expected to end. Our session open- 
ed in 1883 with 200 students; and with the increased space 
rendered necessary by the enlargement of our Laboratories, 
our Building was full to overflowing. In 1884 the number 13 
of students increased to 227 ; and it became necessary there- 
fore, to make immediate provision for increased accommo- 
dation. The Governors were, unfortunately, without funds 
to help us, and our only alternative, therefore, was to draw 
upon our Endowment for the enlargement of our buildings. 
This we did, with the consent of the Governors, to the 
extent of $23,000 ; and in the autumn of 188/, we opened 
our session with greatly increased accommodation, and a 
class of 234 students. 
In 1884, we had the misfortune to lose the valuable 
services of Professor Osier ; the University of Pennsylvania 
having offered him the Chair of Clinical Medicine. This 
offer, opened up to him so large a field for advancement in 
his profession in every way, that he was fain to accept it; 
and we parted with him with good wishes, but with very 
great regret. 
In 1889 the Faculty suffered another great loss in the 
death of its Dean, the late Dr. R. Palmer Howard. Dr. 
Howard’s marked ability, untiring industry, unwavering 
integrity and unbounded popularity with all classes, made 
him a man who could ill be spared ; and the loss of his 
strong personal and professional influence for good, will 
be felt in the Faculty and in the community, until his 
generation shall have passed away. 
Two other lamentable deaths in the Faculty, followed 
that of Dr. Howard in quick succession. Dr. Richard L. 
MacDonnell, Professor of Clinical Medicine, died in 1891 ; 
and Dr. -George Ross, Professor of Medicine, and Vice- 
Dean of the Faculty, died in 1892. Of these two, it may 
safely be said : that there have probably never been in the 
Faculty, two men of greater promise or usefulness ; and 
the loss of them, following, as it did, so closely upon that 
of Dr. Howard, was the cause of great grief and anxiety. 
The late Dr. Howard had greatly at heart, the establish- 
ment of a Chair of Pathology, and lost no opportunity of 
pressing its claims upon friends of the University. It was 
not, however, until two or three years after his death, that, 14 
in 1892, the Faculty succeeded in obtaining what had been 
so long desired, by the appointment by the Governors, of 
Dr. Adami, from Cambridge University, England, to the 
newly established Chair of Pathology. With reference to 
this appointment, it is only necessary to say, that it places 
our Faculty, at least on a par with the best Schools of this 
continent, in this important department. 
Other extensions of the Curriculum were made from time 
to time. Dr. Frank Duller was made Lecturer on Ophthal- 
mology and Otology in 1878 , and was promoted to the 
rank of Professor in 1883. A Chair of Gynaecology was 
also established in 1883, with Dr. William Gardner as its 
first occupant ; and a Department of Laryngology under 
Dr. George W. Major, was commenced in 1882, and erected 
into a Chair in 1893, with Dr. Major as its first Professor. 
In 1894, Summer Sessions were abolished, and the Ordi- 
nary Session of six months, was changed to one of Nine 
Calendar Months. 
From 1884 to 1889, the number of students remained 
nearly the same, the number in 1888-89, being 227. In 
1889-90 the number increased to 256 ; in 1890-91 to 261 ; 
in 1891-92 to 291 ; and in 1892-93 the number reached 312. 
We were again face to face with the old difficulty of over- 
flowing buildings, and had again to look for the means of 
providing increased accommodation. Our difficulties in 
this instance, were even greater than in 1885 ; for to afford 
room for additional buildings, it would be necessary to pur- 
chase the land adjoining the college property, and which 
was valued at $25,000. The required new buiidings were 
estimated to cost $30,000, making a total of $55,000 re- 
quired to serve our purpose. We laid our case before the 
Board of Governors, asking them to acquire the necessary 
land ; and to allow us to borrow from our Endowment Fund 
the $30,000 required to erect the necessary buildings. 
What was our surprise and delight, when Mr. John Henry 
Molson, (now our senior Governor), with scarcely a 
moment’s hesitation, asked to be allowed to relieve us of 15 
the whole burden, by placing at our disposal the munificent 
sum of $60,000, a sum greater by $5,000 than the whole 
estimated cost? 
It is difficult to find words fitly to characterize such 
princely generosity. To it we owe the erection of the Build- 
ing in which we are now assembled, and the ground upon 
which it stands; and to it also, we owe the comfortable accom- 
modation of the rapidly increasing number of students ; for 
last year the number was 350, and this year it has already 
reached 400. 
It is matter for regret that Mr. Molson is not with us 
to-day, to receive in person the thanks of the Faculty ; but 
he is well represented by Mrs. Molson,—that part of him 
which he himself is proud to own as his better half ; 
a Lady from whom the University has also in other De- 
partments received rich Benefactions ; and our thanks 
could not possibly be conveyed to Mr. Molson through a 
more welcome channel. 
It remained only for our Chancellor, Sir Donald Smith, at 
the Convocation in 1893, with one of his many acts of mag- 
nificent bounty, to fill our cup full to overflowing, by the 
endowment of the Chairs of Pathology and Hygiene, with 
the sum of $50,000 each; thus placing our Faculty, so far 
as can be foreseen, in a position to carry on and to extend 
its work without financial anxiety. 
I fear that I have wearied my audience, by my long and 
somewhat detailed account of the origin, the struggles, the 
growth and the ultimate triumph of our Faculty ; but I have 
thought that on an occasion such as this, the History should 
be made fairly complete ; and I shall only ask of you, to 
bear with me a minute or two longer, while I endeavour to 
point its moral. 
We may be asked, what have been the secrets of our suc- 
cess ? There have been no secrets. We have succeeded; 
because we have tried to deserve and to achieve success ; 
and when taxed beyond our powers, well tried friends have 
helped us ; and we have been guided by those principles, 16 
which should always command success in every worthy 
enterprise. We have, with honest purpose, taken advan- 
tage of such circumstances, as were useful and necessary in 
our work. The large field for clinical work and observa- 
tion, which our school has enjoyed since its commencement, 
in the wards of the Montreal General Hospital, has been an 
important factor in our success; and supplemented, as it 
now is, by an equally large field in the wards of the Royal 
Victoria Hospital, our Faculty and Students have at their 
command, resources in this direction which cannot any- 
where be excelled. Moreover ; the interests of the Faculty 
have generally been guarded by practical and far-seeing 
men ; men not merely learned in their profession, but en- 
dowed with sagacity, administrative ability and business 
tact; qualities without which, no enterprise,however highly 
favoured, can long hope to succeed. The Faculty has endea- 
voured also, to supply to the community, that of which it was 
really in need, and which was, therefore, always in demand ; 
and has striven to mane its Graduates, sound, sensible, well- 
trained and well-equipped men ; fit to be entrusted with 
human life and health. It has never allowed itself to 
lower its standard, below that which would test the powers 
of average men ; nor to raise it so high, or to hedge it about 
with such unreasonable requirements, as to keep out those, 
that, with patient and intelligent help, will often from dull 
beginnings, develop into the brightest ornaments of the 
Profession. And, lastly, we have always had faith in our 
Faculty and in our University. When we have met with 
misfortunes, they have not made us unduly despondent; nor 
when success has smiled upon us, has it made us arrogant; 
but we have kept steadily in view, the time when our 
Faculty should leave doubt and uncertainty 'behind, and 
look forward to an assured and prosperous future. We 
hope and trust that that time has arrived ; and we hope also, 
that the future of the Faculty and of the University, shall 
be to the past, as the bright rays of the noonday sun, to the 
feeble and uncertain light of a beclouded moon. 
I have now the honour to present to Your Excellency, 17 
on behalf of Mr. Molson, and on behalf of the Faculty of 
Medicine of McGill University, this key. It is only a 
modest little key, but in a figurative sense, it may do great 
things ; if it shall serve to open our doors to public con- 
fidence and appreciation; and to open them also, in send- 
ing out for generations to come, able and worthy Graduates , 
to carry health and help to suffering humanity, and to be a 
source of pride and honour to their Alma Mater. 
THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL’S ADDRESS. 
His Excellency, who was loudly cheered on rising, then 
spoke as follows : 
The opening remark of the address to which we have just 
listened, reminded me that in order adequately to describe 
the component parts of this distinguished and representa- 
tive audience, quite a considerable category of designations 
would need to be employed. Unfortunately I omitted to 
take a note of the list, and, therefore, I shall adopt the safe 
course of addressing the audience under the time honored 
and comprehensive title of Ladies and Gentlemen. 
To-day we are setting up one of the landmarks of the 
progress and extension of this University, and that, too, in 
a department which in the most eminent and essential 
manner entitles a seat of learning; to the noble desigma- 
O 
tion of University ; because this great Science, this great 
Art which we are celebrating to-day, is emphatically of 
world-wide application, and is limited only by the needs 
of the human race. So wide is its scope, so numer- 
ous are its ramifications, that it is indeed necessary to 
employ a common language, recognized and understood by 
all its members, in order that the application and admin- 
stration of the Science may be duly provided for and 
carried on. 
Well might the Dean say that the occasion is one for 
thankfulness, and I feel that, having the honor of being 
the Official Visitor of the University. I am only voicing 
the thoughts of the unofficial visitors who are here in such 18 
large numbers, when I say that we heartily congratulate 
the University and those on whom the management of its 
affairs especially devolves, upon this interesting and notable 
occasion. Those who belong to the Medical Profession may 
well be proud of it, and we who are outside of the Profes- 
sion—outside, at least, except in the important particular 
of furnishing the material upon which its votaries are 
entitled to perform their experiments, we, too, are proud of 
the Profession, not only because of its fame and utility, but 
because of the help and encouragement which it gives to 
the development of all that is unselfish and noble and 
heroic. That is a theme which might well be enlarged 
upon, but the mention of which is like a truism. On 
such an occasion as this we may at least recall, in passing, 
the grounds for those feelings and expressions of thankful- 
ness and congratulations the occasion itself naturally calls 
for ; and while I am touching upon that aspect of the 
matter I cannot refrain from referring to the contribution 
which has been made in the literature of to-day to this 
particular topic ; I mean the nobility of the Medical Pro- 
fession. I refer to a work which those who have already 
read it, will admit may be counted as a classical contribu- 
tion to English Literature, the book called “ Beside the 
Bonnie Brier Bush,” Characters appear in that book 
which we shall remember and claim as friends, and among 
the most eminently attractive of them is the parish physi- 
cian of the district which the story describes, Dr. William 
Mac Lure. The narrative brings out in his character the 
typical qualities which we look for in the true physician, 
and one of these I cannot help alluding to. The life of a 
poor woman, the wife of a labouring man, is despaired of. 
The husband, who has rarely been known previously to 
open his mouth in speech, is moved by his distress to make 
an earnest and touchingly urgent appeal to the Doctor to 
do something to save his wife. The Doctor dares not give 
him any encouragement ; he knows no means by which 
her life can be saved except by an operation by a famous 
and skilful Surgeon, but that is a matter of a hundred 19 
guineas, and where is the fee to come from ? He finds, 
however, a farmer—a Scottish farmer, too—who is prepared 
to provide the necessary payment. The next morning, in 
answer to a telegram, the Queen’s Surgeon appears, and the 
two doctors drive to the cottage. But a river has to be 
forded ; it is in flood, and in passing through it, the great 
Surgeon, though no coward, is affected by the terrific surg- 
ing, and swirling of the waters over the ford, and protests 
against going further. “We shall be lost,” he cries. His 
companion, the Country Doctor, replies, “ Lost you may be 
sooner or later if you shirk your duty, but cross the river 
this day you shall.” They do cross it, and the operation is 
performed with success. When the doctors parted the 
poor people are delighted by hearing the great Surgeon say 
to the local Doctor : “ I am proud to have met you ; you 
are an honor to our Profession.” The author adds that the 
Surgeon declined to take the fee, but, perhaps, this was an 
instance of mere eccentricity. 
The Dean of the Faculty, in his most interesting and ad- 
mirable resume and description of the various events which 
have culminated in this noble occasion, alluded to the fact 
that troubles will occur, even in connection with the Medi- 
cal Department of a University. I presume that the Dean 
referred, not to medical troubles, but to financial troubles 
in relation to the ever-increasing needs of a great institu- 
tion. We have already had such a splendid illustration of 
noble generosity, especially associated with the names of 
Mr. Molson and Sir Donald Smith, that we can but speak 
in terms of thankful congratulation, and in terms of cordial 
appreciation such as have been so appropriately addressed 
to the lady (Mrs. Molson), who has graced the occasion 
with her presence to-day. But, after all, it may not be out 
of place to remember that the work has not reached 
finality. There may be the need and the opportunity for 
future benefactions. The University is not grasping or 
voracious ;it only asks for what is needed. It indeed 
occupies the attitude which was well expressed by a worthy Scotch woman, who when asked what her requirements for 
a livelihood were, replied that she would be content with 
“ a competency,” and, when the further question was pub 
“ what do you mean by a competency ?” answered, “ just 
always a little more than I have got”—a most reasonable 
and natural desire on the part of any active University. 
We are looking forward, I am sure with great interest, 
to the next phase of these proceedings. I suppose we 
ought not to have grudged Dr. Osier to Baltimore ; as a 
matter of fact probably we do grudge him ; but if within 
the borders of the United States they could not find the 
man required for such a post, it was perfectly natural and 
reasonable that they should come to Canada. That is a 
principle which I think may always be safely adopted,— 
that where a person is required for any particular post, 
you should search not only in the country in which the 
institution exists, but the world over for the right man to 
fill the right place. I am sure that in the case of Dr. 
Osier they have succeeded, and we may at least claim 
the satisfaction of the fact that Dr. Osier, whose career 
we are sure will become more and more brilliant, went 
through the stages of his academical life in the Univer- 
sity of McGill. 
I cannot conclude even these few informal observations, 
addressing as I am among the audience, a band of young 
men to whose career we look forward as one which will be 
a credit to themselves, their University, and their Country, 
without referring to the fact, that we have had brought 
before us during the past few weeks a notable and eminent 
example of all that goes to make up a noble career—a 
stimulus and an incentive, especially to young men 
equipping themselves for the battle of life, to that devotion 
to duty and that sacred ambition, which seeks no mere 
honor and distinction, but the welfare of the human race, 
and of the country in which God has placed us. 21 
PROFESSOR OSLER’S ADDRESS. 
Teaching and Thinking—The Two Functions op a Medical School* 
Many things have been urged against our nineteenth 
century civilization—that political enfranchisement only 
ends in anarchy, that the widespread unrest in matters 
spiritual leads only to unbelief, and that the best commen- 
tary on our boasted enlightenment, is the picture of Europe 
in arms and the nations everywhere gnarring at each other’s 
heels. Of the practical progress in one direction, however, 
there can be no doubt; no one can dispute, viz., the enor- 
mous increase in the comfort of each individual life. Col- 
lectively the human race, or portions of it at any rate, may 
have in the past enjoyed periods of greater repose, and longer 
intervals of freedom from strife and anxiety ; but the day 
has never been when the unit has been of such value, when 
the man, and the man alone, has been so much the measure, 
when the individual as a living organism has seemed 
so sacred, when the obligations to regard his rights have 
seemed so imperative. But these changes are as naught in 
comparison with the remarkable increase in his physical 
well-being. The bitter cry of Isaiah that with the multipli- 
cation of the nations their joys had not been increased, still 
echoes in our ears. The sorrows and troubles of men, it is 
true, may not have been materially diminished, but bodily 
pain and suffering, though not abolished, have been as- 
suaged as never before, and the share of each in the 
Weltschmerz has been enormously lessened. 
Sorrows and griefs are companions sure sooner or later 
to join us on our pilgrimage, and we have become perhaps 
more sensitive to them, and perhaps less amenable to the 
old time remedies of the physicians of the soul ; but the 
pains and woes of the body, to which we doctors minister, 
are decreasing at an extraordinary rate, and in a way that 
makes one fairly gasp in hopeful anticipation. 
In his Grammar of Assent, in a notable passage on 
suffering, John Henry Newman asks, “ Who can weigh and 22 
measure the aggregate of pain which this one generation 
has endured, and will endure, from birth to death ? Then 
add to this all the pain which has fallen and will fall upon 
our race through centuries past and to come.” But take 
the other view of it—think of the Nemesis which has over- 
taken pain during the past fifty years ! Anaesthetics and 
antiseptic surgery have almost manacled the demon, and 
since their introduction, the aggregate of pain which has 
been prevented far outweighs in civilized communities that 
which has been suffered. Even the curse of travail has 
been lifted from the soul of woman. 
The greatest art is in the concealment of art, and I may 
say that we of the Medical Profession excel in this respect. 
You of the public who hear me, go about the duties of the 
day profoundly indifferent to the facts I have just men- 
tioned. You do not know, many of you do not care, that 
for the cross-legged Juno who presided over the arrival of 
your grandparents, there now sits a benign and straight- 
legged goddess. You take it for granted that if a shoulder 
is dislocated, there is chloroform and a delicious Nepenthe, 
instead of the agony of the pulleys and paraphernalia of 
fifty years ago. You accept with a selfish complacency, as 
if you were yourselves to be thanked for it, that the arrows 
of destruction fly not so thickly, and that the pestilence 
now rarely walketh in the darkness; still less do you 
realize that you may now pray the prayer of Hezekiah 
with a reasonable prospect of its fulfillment, since modern 
science has made to almost everyone of you the present of 
a few years. 
I say you do not know these things. You hear of them, 
and the more intelligent among you perhaps ponder them 
in your hearts, but they are among the things which you 
take for granted, like the sunshine, and the flowers, and the 
glorious heavens. 
Tis no idle challenge which we physicians throw out to 
the world, when we claim that our mission is of the highest 
and of the noblest kind, not alone in curing disease, but in 
educating the people in the laws of health, and in prevent- 23 
ing the spread of plagues and pestilences ; nor can it be 
gainsaid that of late years our record as a body, has been 
more encouraging in its practical results than those of the 
other Learned Professions. Not that we all live up to the 
highest ideals, far from it—we are only men. But we have 
ideals, which means much, and they are realizable, which 
means more. Of course there are Gehazis among us who 
serve for shekels, whose ears hear only the lowing of the 
oxen and the jingling of the guineas, but these are excep- 
tions, and the rank and file labour earnestly for your good, 
and self-sacrificing devotion to your interests animates our 
best work. 
The exercises in which we are to-day engaged, form an 
incident in tins beneficent work which is in progress 
everywhere ; an incident which will enable me to dwell 
upon certain aspects of the University, as a factor in the 
promotion of the physical well-being of the race. 
A great University has a dual function, to teach and to 
think. The educational aspects at first absorb all its 
energies, and in the equipment of the various departments 
and in providing salaries, it finds itself hard pressed to 
fulfil even the first of these duties. The Dean has told us 
the story of the progress of the Medical School of this Insti- 
tution, which illustrates the struggles and difficulties, the 
worries and vexations attendant upon the effort to place it 
in the first rank as a teaching body. I know them well, 
since I was in the thick of them for ten years, and see to- 
day the realization of many of my day-dreams. Indeed in 
my wildest flights I never thought to see such a splendid 
Group of Buildings as I have just inspected. We were 
modest in those days, and I remember when Dr. Howard, 
showed me in great confidence the letter of the Chancellor, 
in which he conveyed his first generous bequest to the 
Faculty, it seemed so great t' at in my joy I was almost 
ready to sing my Nunc dimittis. The great advances 
here, at the Montreal General Hospital and at the Royal 
Victoria (both of which Institutions form most essential parts of the Medical Schools of this city) mean increased 
teaching facilities, and of necessity better equipped Gradu- 
ates, better equipped Doctors ! Here is the kernel of the 
whole matter, and it is for this that we ask the aid neces- 
sary to build 'large laboratories and larger hospitals in 
which the student may learn the science and art of Medi- 
cine. Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology give that per- 
spective which enables him to place man and his diseases 
in their proper position in the scheme of life, and afford at 
the same time that essential basis upon which alone a 
trustworthy experience may be built. Each one of these is 
a science in itself, complicated and difficult, demanding 
much time and labour for its acquisition, so that in the few 
years wdiich are given to their study the student can only 
master the principles and certain of the facts upon which 
they are founded. Only so far as they bear upon a due 
understanding of the phenomena of disease do these sub- 
jects form part of the Medical Curriculum, and for us they are 
but means—essential means it is true—to this end. A man 
cannot become a competent surgeon without a full knowl- 
edge of human Anatomy and Physiology, and the physician 
without Physiology and Chemistry flounders along in an 
aimless fashion, never able to gain any accurate conception 
of disease, practising a sort of pop-gun pharmacy, hitting 
now the malady and again the patient, he himself not 
knowing which. 
The primary function of this department of the Univer- 
sity is to teach men Disease, what it is, its manifestations, 
how it may be prevented, and how it may be cured ; and to 
learn these things the four hundred young men who sit on 
these benches have come from all parts ofc‘ the land. But it 
is no light responsibility which a Faculty assumes in this 
matter. The task is not easy, being beset with countless 
difficulties, some inherent in the subject, others inherent in 
the men themselves, and not a few bound up with the 
“ fool multitude ” among which wTe doctors work. 
The processes of Disease are so complex that it is exces- 25 
sively difficult to search out the laws which control them ; 
and although we have seen a complete revolution in our 
ideas, what has been accomplished by the new school of 
Medicine is only an earnest of what the future has in store. 
The three great advances of the century have been a 
knowledge of the mode of controlling Epidemic Diseases, 
the introduction of Ansesthetics, and the adoption of Anti- 
septic Methods in Surgery. Beside them all others sink into 
insignificance, as these three contribute so enormously to the 
personal comfort of the individual. The study of the 
causes of so-called Infectious disorders has led directly to 
the discovery of the methods for their control, for example, 
such a scourge as Typhoid Fever becomes almost unknown 
in the presence of perfect drainage and an uncontaminated 
water supply. The outlook, too, for Specific Methods of 
treatment in these affections is most hopeful. The public 
must not be discouraged by a few, or even by many 
failures. The thinkers who are doing the work for you 
are on the right path, and it is no vain fancy that before 
the twentieth century is very old there may be effective 
vaccines against many of the contagious diseases. 
But a shrewd old fellow remarked to me the other day, 
“ Yes, many diseases are less frequent, others have disap- 
peared, but new ones are always cropping up, and I notice 
that with it all there is not only no decrease, but a very 
great increase in the number of doctors.” 
The total abolition of the infectious group we cannot 
expect, and for many years to come there will remain 
hosts of bodily ills, even among preventable maladies, to 
occupy our labours ; but there are two reasons which ex- 
plain the relative numerical increase in the Frofession in 
spite of the great decrease in the number of certain 
diseases. The development of Specialties has given em- 
ployment to many extra men who now do much of the 
work of the old family Practitioner, and again people em- 
ploy doctors more frequently and so give occupation to 
many more than formerly. 26 
It cannot be denied that we have learned more rapidly 
how to prevent than how to cure diseases, but with a 
definite outline of our ignorance we no longer live now in 
a fool’s Paradise, and fondly imagine that in all cases we 
control the issues of life and death with our pills and 
potions. It took the Profession many generations to learn 
that fevers ran their course, influenced very little, if at all, 
by drugs, and the £6O which old Dover complained were 
spent in medicine in a case of ordinary fever about the 
middle of the last century, is now better expended on a 
trained nurse, with infinitely less risk, and with infinitely 
greater comfort to the patient. Of the difficulties inherent 
in the art not one is so serious as this which relates to the 
cure of disease by drugs. There is so much uncertainty 
and discord even among the best authorities (upon non- 
essentials it is true) that I always feel the force of a well- 
known stanza in “ Rabbi Ben Ezra,” which, however, I 
could not quote in the tender ears of students. 
One of the chief reasons for this uncertainty is the in- 
creasing variability in the manifestations of any one dis- 
ease. As no two faces, so no two cases are alike in all 
respects, and unfortunately it is not only the disease itself 
which is so varied, but the subjects themselves have pecu- 
liarities which modify its action. 
With the diminished reliance upon drugs, there has been 
a return with profit to the older measures of diet, exercise, 
baths, and frictions, the remedies with which the Bythenian 
Asclepiades doctored the Romans so successfully in the 
first century. Though used less frequently, medicines are 
now given with infinitely greater skill ; we know better 
their indications and contradictions, and we may safely 
say (reversing the proportion of fifty years ago) that for 
one damaged by dosing, one hundred are saved. 
Many of the difficulties which surround the subject 
relate to the men who practice the art. The commonest 
as well as the saddest mistake is to mistake one’s profession, 
and this we doctors do often enough, some of us without 27 
knowing it. There are men who have never had the 
preliminary education which would enable them to grasp 
the fundamental truths of the Science on which Medicine 
is based. Others have poor teachers, and never receive 
that bent of mind which is the all important factor in 
education ; others again fall early into the error of think- 
ing that they know it all, and benefiting neither by their 
mistakes or their successes, miss the very essence of all 
experience, and die bigger fools, if possible, than when 
they started. There are only two sorts of doctors ; those 
who practice with their brains, and those who practice with 
their tongues. The studious, hard working man who 
wishes to know his profession thoroughly, who lives in the 
hospitals and dispensaries, and who strives to obtain a wide 
and philosophical conception of disease and its processes, 
often has a hard struggle, and it may take years of waiting 
before he becomes successful; but such form the bulwarks 
of our ranks, and outweigh scores of the voluble Cassios who 
talk themselves into, and often out of, practice. 
Now of the difficulties bound up with the “fool multitude” 
in which we doctors work, I hesitate to speak in a 
mixed audience. Common sense in matters medical is 
rare, and is usually in inverse ratio to the degree of educa- 
tion. I suppose as a body, Clergymen are better educated 
than any other, yet they are notorious supporters of all the 
nostrums and humbuggery with which the daily and 
religious papers abound, and I find that the further away 
they have wandered from the decrees of the Council of 
Trent, the more apt are they to be steeped in Thaumaturgic 
and Galenical superstition. But know also, man has an 
inborn craving for medicine. Generations of heroic dosing 
have given his tissues such a thirst that even young infants 
in the higher circles of society have been known to cry for 
certain drugs. As I once before remarked, the desire to 
take medicine is the one feature which distinguishes man, 
the animal, from his fellow creatures. It is really one of 
the most serious difficulties with which we have to contend. 28 
Even in minor ailments, which would yield to dieting or 
to simple home remedies, the doctor’s visit is not thought 
to be complete without the prescription. And now that the 
pharmacists have cloaked even the most nauseous remedies, 
the temptation is to use medicine on every occasion, and 
I fear we may return to that state of polypharmacy, the 
emancipation from which has been the sole gift of Hahne- 
mann and his followers to the race. As the public becomes 
more enlightened, and as we get more sense, dosing will be 
recognized as a very minor function in the practice of 
Medicine in comparison with the old measures of Asclepiades. 
After all, these difficulties—in the subject itself, in us, 
and in you—are lessening gradually, and we have the 
consolation of knowing that year by year the total amount 
of unnecessary suffering is decreasing at a rapid rate. 
In teaching men what Disease is, how it may be pre- 
vented, and how it may be cured, a University is fulfilling 
one of its very noblest functions. The wise instruction 
and the splendid example of such men as Holmes, Suther- 
land, Campbell, Howard, Ross, Macdonnell, and others have 
carried comfort into thousands of homes throughout this 
o 
land. The benefits derived from the increased facilities for 
the teaching of Medicine, which have come with the great 
changes made here and at the Hospitals during the past 
few years, will not be eonfined to the citizens of this town, 
but will be widely diffused and felt in every locality to 
which the Graduates of this school may go ; and every gift 
which promotes Higher Medical Education, and which 
enables the Medical Faculties throughout the country to 
turn out better doctors, means fewer mistakes in diagnosis, 
greater skill in dealing with emergencies, and the saving 
of pain and anxiety to countless sufferers and their friends. 
The Physician needs a clear head and a kind heart ; his 
work is arduous and complex, requiring the exercise of the 
very highest faculties of the mind, while constantly appeal- 
ing to the emotions and finer feelings. At no time has his 
influence been more potent, at no time has he been so 29 
powerful a factor for good, and as it is one of the highest 
possible duties of a great University to fit men for this 
calling, so it will be your highest mission, Students of Medi- 
cine, to carry on the never-ending warfare against disease 
and death, better equipped, abler men than your predeces- 
sors, but animated with their spirit and sustained by their 
hopes, “ for the hope of every creature is the banner that 
we bear.” 
The other Function of a University is to think Teaching 
current knowledge in all departments, teaching the steps 
by which the status proesens has been reached, and teach- 
ing how to teach, form the routine work of the various 
College Faculties, which may be done in a perfunctory 
manner by men who have never gone deeply enough into 
their subjects, to know that really thinking about them is 
in any way important. What I mean by the Thinking 
Function of a University, is that duty which the professional 
corps owes to enlarge the boundaries of human knowledge. 
Work of this sort makes a University great, and alone 
enables it to exercise a wide influence on the minds of men. 
We stand to-day at a critical point in the History of this 
Faculty. The equipment for teaching, to supply which has 
taken years of hard struggle, is approaching completion, 
and with the co-operation of the General and the Royal 
Victoria Hospitals, students can obtain in all branches a 
thorough training. We have now reached a position in 
which the Higher University Work may at any rate be dis- 
cussed, and towards it progress in the future must trend. 
It may seem to be discouraging, after so much has been 
done and so much has been so generously given, to say 
that there remains a most important function to foster and 
sustain, but this aspect of the question must be considered 
when a School has reached a certain stage of development. 
In a Progressive Institution the changes come slowly, the 
pace may not be perceived by those most concerned, except 
on such occasions as the present, which serve as land- 
marks in its evolution. The men and methods of the old 30 
Cote street School were better than those with which the 
Faculty started ; we and our ways at the new Building on 
University street were better than those of Cote street j 
and now you of the Present Faculty, teach and work much 
better than we did ten years ago. Everywhere the old 
order changeth, and happy those can change with it. 
Too many, like the defeated gods in Keats’ Hyperion, un- 
able to receive the balm of the truth, resent the wise words 
of Oceanus (which I quoted here with very different feel- 
ings some eighteen years ago in an Introductory Lecture) 
“ Still on our heels a fresh perfection treads, 
born of us, 
Now the fresh perfection which will tread on our heels 
will come with the opportunities for Higher University 
Work. Let me indicate in a few words its scope and aims. 
Fated to excel us.” 
Teachers who teach current knowledge are not necessarily 
investigators; many have not had the needful training; 
others have not the needful time. The very best instructor 
for students may have no conception of the higher lines of 
work in his branch, and contrariwise, how many brilliant 
investigators have been wretched teachers ? In a School 
which has reached this stage, and wishes to do Thinking as 
well as Teaching, men must be selected who are not only 
thoroughly au courant with the best work in their depart- 
ment the world over, but who also have ideas, with 
ambition and energy to put them into force,—men who can 
add, each one in his sphere, to the store of the world’s 
knowledge. Men of this stamp alone confer greatness 
upon a University. They should be sought for far and 
wide; an institution which wraps itself in Strabo’s cloak 
and does not look beyond the College gates in selecting 
professors may get good teachers, but rarely good thinkers. 
One of the chief difficulties in the way of advanced 
work is the stress of routine class and laboratory duties, 
which often saps the energies of men capable of higher 
things. There are two essential provisions, first, to give 31 
the Professors plenty of assistance, so that they will not be 
worn out with teaching; and, second, to give encourage- 
ment to Graduates and others to carry on researches under 
their direction. With a system of Fellowships and Research 
Scholarships a University may have a body of able young 
men, who on the outposts of knowledge are exploring, 
surveying, defining and correcting. Their work is the out- 
ward and visible sign that a University is Thinking. Sur- 
rounded by a group of bright young minds, well trained 
in advanced methods, not only is the Professor himself 
stimulated to do his best work, but he has to keep far 
afield and to know what is stirring in every part of Ins 
own domain. 
With the wise co-operation of the University and the 
Hospital authorities Montreal should become the Edinburgh 
of America, a great Medical Centre to which men will flock 
for sound learning, whose Laboratories will attract the 
ablest students, and whose teaching will co out into all 
7 o o 
lands, universally recognized as of the highest and of the 
best type. 
Nowhere is the outlook more encouraging than at 
McGill. What a guarantee for the future does the pro- 
gress of the past decade afford ! No city on this continent 
has so liberally endowed higher education. There remains 
now to foster that undefinable something which, for want 
of a better term, we call the University Spirit, a something 
which a rich institution may not have, and with which a 
poor one may be saturated, a something which is associated 
with men and not with money, which cannot be purchased 
in the market or crown to order, but which comes insen- 
ci 
sibly with loyal devotion to duty and to high ideals, and 
without which Nchushtan is written on its portals. 
THE TICE-PRINCIPAL’S ADDRESS, 
Professor Johnson, the Acting Principal, being called upon 
by His Excellency, was received with cheers. He said that 
he was there as the Representative of the University and 32 
more especially of the other Faculties, and he could not 
express too fully their congratulations upon the completion 
of the new Building, which is to be occupied by the Medical 
Faculty of McGill. They rejoiced at the completion of a 
Building that did credit to McGill and the University’s 
noble and generous Benefactors. Montreal and, indeed, the 
whole Dominion, he believed, had reason to be proud of 
the McGill School of Medicine. Professor Johnson then 
proceeded to speak of the thoroughness that had at all 
times characterized the operations of the Faculty that was 
being honored to day; and he had no doubt that this high 
standard, both as regards studies and results, would be 
rigidly maintained in the future. The Acting Principal, 
while pleased with what had been done, thought that still 
better things would be done by this Faculty in the years 
to come. He hoped that the day was not distant when the 
two degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Medicine 
o 
could be taken in six years. This could be done, he thought, 
by such an arrangement of courses and lecture hours in the 
Faculties of Arts and Medicine, that there should be no 
duplication of the same or similar subjects. No branch 
of Science has made greater progress than Medicine, the 
advance in which, might fairly be compared with the re- 
markable advances in the Physical Sciences. The Professor 
concluded his address by saying that he would be in favor 
of establishing Prizes, that would entitle clever and worthy 
Graduates to travel and study in foreign lands, and even- 
tually bring back the knowledge thus acquired, placing 
the same at the disposal of Alma Mater and of the country. 
(Cheers.) 
sm william dawson’s address. 
Sir William Dawson being called upon by His Excellency, 
said that for thirty-eight years he had enjoyed the privilege 
of following with interest and pleasure the growth and pro- 
gress' of the Medical Faculty, and of taking a certain share 
in promoting its interests in connection with the Univer- 
sity. He had seen its growth from the time when there 33 
were 50 or 60 students in the old brick Building on Cote 
street to the present, when there were 400, with the mag- 
nificent Class-rooms and Laboratories which were opened 
that day. This great growth appeared to him to have been 
fully merited by the earnestness and the ability of the 
Deans, who had control of the Faculty, and their Colleagues, 
all through that time. He did not think that in any 
educational work with which he had been connected, he had 
ever met a more earnest and devoted body of men than 
those in the McGill Medical Faculty. Another element 
which he thought had contributed very much to the recent 
Benefactions to the Faculty was the character of the 
Graduates it had been sending out. It had produced many 
distinguished professional men, of whom Dr. Osier might 
be taken as a type and a most brilliant example. It had 
also sent out a very large number of men who might be 
termed ordinary and useful Practitioners who, though little 
known to fame beyond their own localities, were of price- 
less value to our country. Those who had lived in Canada 
for any length of time and had visited the outlying dis- 
tricts knew how much of the comfort of the people 
depended on the thoroughly well-trained Medical Men of 
the country. His Excellency had mentioned a touching 
Scottish example, but hundreds of such could be found in 
Canada. In this work of supplying able local Practitioners 
the McGill Medical School, without disparagement to any 
other institution, had, he ventured to say, borne a very 
large share. The Medical Graduates of McGill were to be 
found in all parts of the Dominion and everywhere were 
regarded as trustworthy professional men. The medical 
student of to-day was the medical graduate of to-morrow, 
who was to be the most trusted adviser in the most serious 
crises of life and to spend Ids life in doing all that he could 
to mitigate suffering and to save life. Even if a Medical 
Man’s work were with him a professional work, it was a 
great and glorious mission, in which his heart, as well as 
his interest, had to enter, in order to make it the Profession 
which it ought to be, and to ensure the greatest success. 34 
Sir William then congratulated Dean Craik on the event 
of the day, and on the presence of the Governor-General 
and Lady Aberdeen. He thought that they all had reason 
to congratulate themselves upon having been able to borrow 
their old friend Dr. Osier for a little while, to speak on 
those original investigations in Medical Science which are 
doing so much to alleviate suffering and to prolong life, but 
which are still in their infancy and hold out the most in- 
viting prospects to original research. He hoped that every 
student present would bear in remembrance and carry out 
in his life, the great object of delivering man from being 
the victim and slave of his surroundings, and of making 
him what his Creator intended, their Lord and Master. In 
this connection he need scarcely say that he fully con- 
curred in the suggestions of the Vice-Principal with 
reference to the welding together of the Faculty of Arts 
and Medicine in such a manner that Medical Students and 
Graduates might be better prepared to comprehend the 
Scientific Principles of Medicine and to be leaders in the 
general enlightenment of the community. 
At the conclusion of Sir William Dawson’s speech, His 
Excellency expressed his hearty thanks for the Souvenir in 
the form of the gold Key which had been presented to him. 
It was valuable, not only symbolically, but intrinsically, 
being evidently made of solid Gold ; and the inscription 
would record for the benefit of those who would come after 
him what he was not likely himself to forget, namely, that 
he had the privilege of taking part in the interesting pro- 
ceedings of the day. He then formally declared the Build- 
ing Open. 
Three cheers were then given for the Queen and three 35 
for the University, led by the Governor-General, and, upon 
the call of Mr. John Crawford, three were given for the 
Governor-General, which closed the Ceremony. 
On the conclusion of the Addresses the second part of 
the programme, and that of more interest to the public in 
general was entered upon. The large numbers of the 
guests who were unable to gain admission to the Lecture 
Theatre, where the speeches were delivered, mingled with 
the throng that came from it and rapidly spread themselves 
over the building. All the Laboratories were thoroughly 
investigated, the very large number of ladies present seem- 
ingly taking the keenest interest in all. 
SOCIAL FUNCTION. 
Tea was served in the Faculty Room and in the Labora- 
tory of Hygiene. PTenlduQQs of fr>o 
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l^22.oiolvg^aL APPENDIX. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDINGS. 
In 1885, the building in the University grounds, erected 
by the Governors for the use of the Faculty, was found 
inadequate. A new Building was then added, which, at 
the time, afforded ample facilities for carrying out the 
great aim of the Faculty,—that of making the teaching of 
the primary branches thoroughly practical. 
The Laboratories and Lecture Rooms, then added, have 
now become filled, and so great have been the advances in 
Medicine and in the methods of laboratory teaching, that 
it has been necessary again to increase the number and size 
of the Laboratories. Owing to the timely generosity of 
Mr. John H. R. Molson, who has already done so much for 
the University, the facilities for teaching in the Faculty of 
Medicine have been more than doubled. 
As will be seen on reference to the architect’s plans, 
the new buildings have been erected as an extension 
of the old ones, towards the north-west, partially facing 
Carlton Road, and convenient to the Royal Victoria Hos- 
pital. They connect the Pathological building acquired 
in 1898, with the older buildings, and comprise a large 
modern Lecture Room, capable of accommodating 450 
students, with adjoining preparation-rooms and new suites 
of Laboratories for Physiology, Histology, Pharmacology 
and Sanitary Science. The Laboratories, etc., in the older 
buildings, have been greatly enlarged and improved ; the 
whole of the second floor has been devoted to the Anatomi- 38 
cal department, and will be divided into a dissecting-room, 
anatomical museum, bone-room, preparation rooms, Pro- 
fessors’ and Demonstrators’ rooms, etc. 
On the ground floor the Library and Museum have been 
greatly enlarged ; a room forming part of the Library has 
been set apart as a reading room for the use of students, 
where the extensive Reference Library of the Faculty may 
be consulted. The old chemical laboratories have been 
increased by including the Laboratories formerly used by 
the department of Physiology. 
In the buildings occupied this session, as will be seen by 
reference to diagrams, in addition to the Laboratories, dis- 
secting-room, etc., there are three large Lecture Rooms, 
two capable of comfortably seating about 300 students, 
and one for lectures, examinations, etc., capable of seating 
450 students. 
LECTURE ROOMS. 
ROOMS FOR STUDENTS USE. 
Three cloak rooms are provided in convenient portions 
of the building, and in addition, commodious lockers can 
be procured provided wdth special locks at a nominal rental. 
A large well lighted reading-room containing newspapers; 
magazines and the current medical journals, is provided 
in the new block. The original Library has been refitted 
as a comfortable reading-room for students desiring to 
avail themselves of the reference works in the Library of 
the Faculty. 
DISSECTING ROOM. 
The Dissecting Room, which is situated on the second 
floor, is L shaped, one arm of which is 76 feet in length 
and 31 feet in breadth, and the other arm 45 by 32 feet. 
It is furnished with thirty tables, and is well lighted dur- 
ing the day and night. In procuring appliances for the 
comfort and convenience of the students, no reasonable ex- 
pense has been spared. 
In connection with the dissecting-room, there is a “ Bone 
room,” and Anatomical Museum where students have an 39 
excellent opportunity of studying Osteology. There are 
also rooms for the Demonstrators of Anatomy. 
PHYSIOLOGICAL LABORATORIES. 
The new Physiological Laboratories, which are situated 
on the upper floor of the new building, are supplied with 
modern apparatus for the practical teaching of the most 
important branch of the medical curriculum. They con- 
sist of one large room forty-five by thirty-five feet for 
Undergraduate work and two smaller ones for more ad- 
vanced work and private research. In addition there is a 
room set apart for a consulting Library and for the special 
use of the Professor of this department. The Student’s 
Laboratory is arranged in such a way as to permit of 
Students assisting at, and taking part in demonstrations. 
During the coming session important additions will be 
made to the apparatus of the Physiological Laboratory. 
HISTOLOGICAL LABORATORIES. 
The Histological Laboratory proper, is a large, well 
lighted room on the second floor of the new building. It 
is so arranged that over eighty Students can be present at 
the microscopical demonstrations ; for this purpose it is 
supplied with 50 microscopes. From the large number of 
microscopes employed, students will have special facilities 
in studying and making themselves thoroughly acquainted 
with the specimens that are the subjects of demonstration. 
In addition to this there is a smaller Laboratory for the 
use of the Professors and Demonstrators. 
PHARMACOLOGICAL LABORATORY. 
The Pharmacological Laboratory is a large room 45 by 
35 feet, situated on the second floor of the new building. 
It is now being furnished with the necessary appliances for 
the practical teaching of Pharmacology. 
CHEMICAL LABORATORY. 
The Chemical Laboratory is large, lofty, and well lighted 
and can accommodate comfortably 126 men at one time, 40 
but only a much smaller number are allowed to work at 
one time. Each student, when entering on his course, has 
a numbered table in the Laboratory assigned to him for 
his use during the session. Each table has its own gas 
and water fixtures, and is provided with shelves for its 
corresponding set of reagent-bottles, as well as a drawer 
and locker containing a modern set of chemical apparatus 
especially adapted for the work. This apparatus is pro- 
vided by the Faculty, and supplied to each student without 
extra charge. The Student is only required to pay for 
apparatus broken or destroyed. 
The Laboratory is ventilated by an electric fan and fully 
equipped for the various courses of study, thus giving 
to the Student unsurpassed advantages for acquiring a 
sound and practical knowledge of Medical Chemistry. 
LABORATORY OF PRACTICAL HYGIENE. 
On the Mezzanine floor, between the upper and lower 
stories, and behind the large Lecture Room, is the Labora- 
tory of Practical Hygiene and Public Health. It is a large 
and commodious room with abundance of light, and is 
being fitted up with all the latest models, apparatus and 
appliances for thorough instruction in Sanitary Science. 
PATHOLOGICAL LABORATORY. 
A large building of three stories, 47 by 40 feet, adjoining 
the College, recently acquired by the Faculty, thanks to 
the generosity of Mr. J. H. R. Molson, constitutes the 
Pathological Laboratory ; it has undergone extensive altera- 
tions to fit it for the purpose. The uppermost floor has 
been converted into one large Laboratory for classwork in 
Practical Pathology and Bacteriology ; upon the floor 
beneath are Laboratories for research, a preparation room, 
Professor’s private rooms and Library, and culture rooms ; 
while upon the ground floor are rooms for the attendant, 
for storage and for keeping animals. Work rooms for the 
Curator and Osteologist are provided in the upper story 
of the building.