WHITING 
DEMANDS OF HOUR UPON MEDICAL 
STUDENT DEMANDS OF THE HOUR 
UPON THE 
Medical Student 
A VALEDICTORY ADDRESS 
TO THE 
GRADUATING CLASS, 
AT THE FIFTH ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT 
OF 
Charity Hospital Medical College, 
BY 
L. M. WHITING, M. D. 
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE CLASS AND FACULTY. 
Nevins’ Steam Printing House, log Bank Street, 
CLEVELAND, OHIO: 
1869. LECTURE. 
The occasion which has brought us together here to-day, 
although regarded with indifference, or, perhaps entirely 
unrecognized by the multitude who throng round about, is 
nevertheless one of moment. When a comparatively small 
number of men are prepared, and with an outfit of the 
necessary mathematical and other instruments for scientific 
purposes—of the implements for offense and defense against 
savage beasts and more savage men—of provision against 
starvation, and the destructive influence of climatic changes 
and atmospherically distributed poisons ; when a group 
thus in full panoply, launches forth on a voyage of three, 
five or ten years, to explore the dark and unknown regions 
of a far-off* continent, all the world is alive to the enter- 
prize. Kota heart of the millions in the enlightened por- 
tions of the earth but beats in unison with the laudable 
ambition animating the bold and public spirited adven- 
turers, and a silent response, at least, is given to the hearty 
God-speed ! which rings out in the cheers of all who watch 
the gallant band, so long as sight or sound of it remains. 
And yet, to each individual of our race, who thus partici- 
pates in the spirit and appreciates the objeot of the out- 
ward bound volunteers, there can scarcely, by possibility, 
be so much real, personal interest involved, as in the suc- 
cessful prosecution of the aims and purposes which should, 
and I trust does, inspire the corps of self-sacrificing human- 
itarians which we here and now convene to cheer on into a 
life-long struggle with the foes to human health and human 
happiness. What though the great lords of the Exchange 
in London, of the Bourse in Paris, the creditors of all the 
world in Amsterdam, and the “ Bulls and Bears” of Wall 4 
Street, may see opening up new and vast sources of cent 
pei cent upon the investment of accumulated hoards, in the 
discovery of new thoroughfares to myriads of beings with 
yet undeveloped, silk-adorning, calico-wearing, tobacco 
chewing, opium-eating, whisky-drinking, and trade-depra- 
ving susceptibilities in general! USTot a man of them all but 
would give up all his hopes of gain, and let every swarthy 
son and daughter of Ethiopia swelter in all their naked bar- 
barismunder a tropical sun as they abuse themselves in fe- 
tichism without limit, for one hour of Weber’s science and 
art, to save his own, or the life of a beloved son, when 
threatened by the presence of a cruel calculus; or for the 
deft manipulation of the unerring hand which ministers 
t3 the wisdom of Metz’s brain to give light in other- 
wise inevitable blindness. True, there is glory in the 
discovery of a new range of mountains, navigable river or 
inland sea, a Gorilla, men with tails, extinct species of ani- 
mals belonging to far past periods in the life of this planet, 
but no gorilla ever captured or seen by Du Chaillu in the 
wilds of Africa can ever equal in interest the hundreds, aye 
the thousands of that species, which Plato designated as 
“bipeds without feathers,” I trust you, my young breth- 
ren, may yet discover, and that, too, without being sub- 
jected to so many “hair breadth ’scapes by flood and field,” 
or base suspicions as have befallen the adventurous French- 
man, by being caught so far away from home, on the occur- 
rence of his notorious exploits. We believe that a very 
large share of the wealth of knowledge in all its depart- 
ments, has been attained by and through the labor and zeal 
of men belonging to the profession of medicine, or those 
intimately associated therewith; but whether this is so or 
not, still, outside of the efforts specially directed to the im- 
provement and perfection of the healing art, there hare 
been no discoveries exceeding in importance those belong- 
ing to its exclusive domain. And yet, with what wistful, 
longing eyes are the wisest of our savans gazing into the 5 
misty, aye, dense and dark cdouds that brood like night 
over that vast area, untrodden and unknown, hut on the 
confines of which wre stand even now, in the middle of the 
nineteenth century ! Into this wild, one or more, or all of 
these recruits, or their like, must enter, if entered at all it 
ever is, with such imperfect charts and compass as their su- 
periors and predecessors in the Grand Army of Observa- 
tion can furnish, thence we trust to bring forth treasures in 
comparison with which the burden of Solomon’s heavily 
laden camels from the land of Ophir were as dross. We 
will not attempt, however, at present, to cross the barrier 
which limits the observation of ordinary industry; but 
wander with an abandon inexcusable except for invalidism 
of both body and mind, for a brief space in the field which 
has been biirveyed, sometimes, perchance, peering into some 
rift or crevice of the wall which divides us from the beyond, 
and hoping, thus, that some suggestion may be made to some 
mind with reference to the method of making progress philo- 
sophically in such knowledge as is requisite for the “ Medi- 
cine man” of the day, not unworthy of the hour. There is 
something of “the forlorn hope” in this, when I know that 
you have not entered upon the work before you, my young 
friends, without all the helps which the nature of the case 
affords. That is, what is known, you have had, or may have 
access to. In such an institution as you have received the 
honors of, and of which you may ever proudly boast as your 
Alma Mater, there is no lack of knowledge, so far as the 
human intellect and human labor has succeeded in develop- 
ing truth and law; no lack of effort to impart that knowl- 
edge, and no failure to do it in the best possible mode that 
time and circumstances will permit, and no failure on your 
part, as your examinations show, to receive, understand, 
and appreciate largely the great truths which have been 
established by the careful, patient toil of generations of 
ceaseless laborers, through centuries of the past. You 
have learned that in some sense, at least, matter is eternal! 6 
The material of the universe once existent, no jot or tittle 
is ever lost. And you have learned that at least co-exist- 
ent with matter is its active principle, or fokce. You have 
learned that the everlasting working of that force upon the 
molecules, or aggregates of particles of matter, has brought 
out of chaos into form, the firm earth-crust upon which we 
tread, over an ocean of fire. That it has fashioned the vast 
continents of our globe, piled masses of rock into colossal 
mountain-ranges throughout their whole extent, through 
whose gorges it pours in tumultuous and ceaseless tide the 
multitudes of waters ever onward to the great receptaculum, 
the ocean. You have learned that above, around, beneath, 
whichever way that wonderfully constructed instrument 
of observation, the eye, turns in its wonderful orbit, there 
is greeting of bodies of all forms and sizes and colors and 
consistence; the glorious arch which spans the earth being 
studded with the brilliant demonstrations of the power and 
ceaseless activity of this omnipresent spirit of creation to 
the profound conviction of every observer. But with no 
more prodigality is this evidence dispensed on high, than in 
the dark caverns below us, where lie buried treasures no 
calculation can estimate the value of, and really no more to 
excite marvel, than in the striking display of gems in the 
cabinet of the naturalist, or the casket of royalty. You 
have learned that this same spirit-power, after forcing the 
molecules of matter to assume certain forms of crystaliza- 
tion and aggregation, proceeds apparently to adorn the 
still, inert, inorganic waste places of space with wonderful 
productions, to which, for your amazement is added to a 
bewildering amount and degree of beauty and grace, some- 
thing very like its own creative power and wisdom, to wit: 
the faculty of reproducing itself. Then you came to see 
and know the miraculous phenomenon of living, sensitive, 
conscious beings,—-the climax of wonders in the sphere of 
this wonderful potency which pervades the universe. And 
in this class you found a genus which is the conservator of all the interests of importance in this world; and it is with 
this group, that yon found it necessary to become familiar, 
in each particular phase of its complicated nature and re- 
lations. The revelations which have been made in refer- 
ence to the general characteristics of tins species of beings, 
the special organic constitution of the various parts, and the 
functions of each, and all together, are the combined re- 
sult of the study, experiment, observation and record of la- 
borers in every department of human knowledge. And to 
the neophyte the achievements of the past seem like gi- 
gantic mountains to a lilliputian dwarf. And the seeming 
is all reality, too. He finds himself confronted by a grave 
philosopher as he makes his first step into the temple of 
mysteries, and from whom he learns that even the mass of 
the planet on which he lives, in comparison with that of 
the sun, is of immense importance to vital existence; as this 
determines the intensity of the force with which all bodies 
tend toward it; that its form gives direction to that force. 
He also learns that there is a fundamental equilibrium and 
regular movement in given directions, to the fluids which 
cover a large proportion of the earth’s surface with which 
the existence of living beings is intimately associated, and 
that the dimensions of our planet limits the indefinite mul- 
tiplication of races, and especially the human. Also, that 
the distance of it from the centre of our solar system de- 
termines chiefly its temperature. The student of medicine 
finds himself compelled, I say, to go away into these appa- 
rently remote regions and considerations, because any sud- 
den change in one or more of these conditions must im- 
mensely modify the phenomena of life with which he 
expects to have constantly the most intimate dealings. 
Having discovered that these stattical data are of so great 
interest in their bearing upon biological study, he finds, on 
further search for causes of perturbation in vital phe- 
nomena, that the dynamical conditions of astronomy have 
a yet more important bearing: and that not only the inter- 8 
mittence of the proper animal life, pointed out by Bichat, 
is subordinate in its periods to the diurnal rotation of our 
planet, but that the same law applies to all the periodical 
phenomena of any organism, in both the normal and pa- 
thological states; allowance being made for secondary and 
transitory influences. In fact, that in every organism, the 
total duration of life, and its chief natural phases, depends 
on the angular velocity proper to our planet: for, other 
things being equal, as the vital phenomena succeed each 
other more rapidly in the animal organism, life must be 
shorter. If the earth were to rotate much faster, the 
course of physiological phenomena would be accelerated in 
proportion: so that the duration of life may be regarded 
as measured by the duration of the day. Again, if there 
were to occur a change in the earth’s orbit, it would inevi- 
tably affect the life of the organism. If the ellipse were 
to become, instead of nearly circular, eccentric, like that cf 
a comet, both the medium in which we “live and move 
and breathe,” and our organism would undergo a change 
fatal to vital existence. The inclination of the plane of the 
orbit of the earth determines the division of the earth into 
climates, and the alternation of seasons produces a great 
impression upon the phases of individual existence in all 
organisms. I take occasion thus to suggest the importance 
of all biologists informing themselves accurately of the 
real elements proper to the astronomical condition of our 
planet; not as an original thought, but because it seems 
to be too little regarded by students of medicine, as a neces- 
sary preliminary of professional education, and because, it 
seems to be the true mode of obtaining positive knowledge 
of the phenomena of life. The solar system should be 
studied first, because the laws of that system determine 
those of man. Between these two, the laws of physics, and 
of chemistry interpose, one the complement of Astronomi- 
cal laws, and the other an immediate preliminary of the 9 
Physiological, Moreover, it is in the knowledge of the re- 
lations which exist between onr solar system and vital phe- 
nomena, that the intelligent physician is able to overthrow 
all those fanciful notions which prevailed in ancient Phi- 
losophy, about the influence of the stars on human destiny, 
and physiology in general, and which have by no means 
been extinguished in this day and generation. That an 
order of primitive celestial conditions affecting biological 
phenomena exists, is unquestionable, And in order to pre- 
vent any vicious or exaggerated notions about the physi- 
ological influence of the stars, it is sufficient to know that 
the astronomical conditions of vital existence are com- 
prised within our own planetary system, and that they 
relate, not directly to the organism, but to its surroundings, 
affecting as they do the constitution of our globe. Of course, 
the acquisition of knowledge in this department, implies 
previous culture in the mathematics and physics ; for it is 
manifest, that a scientific analysis of the grounds of the 
permanence of the laws of the limits of variation of the 
different elements proper to the astronomical constitution 
of our planet, could not be made without use of the gene- 
ral laws of rational mechanics. 
But in moving onward to the study of man, which he 
regards as his proper subject, or attempting to do so, the 
student is quietly informed by his mentor, that in order to 
comprehend the extreme complexity of the phenomena of 
animal life, and especially human life, he must first master 
a knowledge of the external world. And here is a long 
catalogue of "ologies and ’©graphics, involving much pa- 
tient research, to ascertain the most prominent facts in 
their sphere. The geological structure of the earth, the 
materials composing its solid crust, and its vast reservoirs, 
and streams of liquid masses, all bear, in greater or less 
degree, upon the grand object of his pursuit. The physical 
geography of the globe, explaining its great natural divis- 10 
of land and water, the atmosphere which covers them all, 
the great movements, as of oceanic and serial currents, 
the forms of continents, and oceans and their subdivisions, 
the heights and ranges of mountains, the phenomena 
of deserts and plains, and all the varying outlines, from the 
highest mountain peaks to the lowest depths of the sea— 
the meteorological phenomena of rain, fog, dew, hail, frost, 
&c., all, all must be more or less perfectly understood, be- 
fore a near approach is made to the final accomplishment. 
And how is this to be consummated without the aid of 
Chemistry ? That which constitutes a knowledge of the 
elements of bodies, their mutual combinations, the forces 
by which these combinations are brought about, and the 
laws by which these forces act ? And what conceptions can 
any one have of the anatomical elements, either solid or 
fluid, or of the products of the organism, without a chemi- 
cal analysis? After another protracted and pains-taking, 
preparatory effort, the enquirer is brought to the contem- 
plation of a phenomenon for which he soon learns it has 
been found a somewhat difficult matter to express a funda- 
mental idea,—but has the general name, life. Bichat tells 
him, life is a struggle between dead nature, and living na- 
ture. But it would seem that Comte’s criticism upon the 
irrationality of this conception, holds good; to wit: that it 
suppresses one of the two elements whose concurrence is 
necessary to the general idea of life; that this idea sup- 
poses, not only a being so organized as to admit of the vital 
state, but such an arrangement of external influences as 
will also admit of it; that the harmony between the living 
being and the corresponding medium or environment, evi- 
dently characterizes the fundamental condition of life, 
whereas, on Bichat’s supposition, the whole surroundings 
of living beings tend to destroy them. It is not my pur 
pose to attempt an exhibition of all the modes which have 
been adopted to define life. But the student will find 11 
many: and mostly will he find vital phenomena referred 
to the direct agency of a vital principle—not as a mere 
term to denote the unknown cause of vitality, hnt as a real 
and complex existence, though profoundly unintelligible. 
Such was the archeus of Yan Helrnont, the soul of Stahl, 
the vital principle of Barthez, and even the organic sensi- 
bility of Bichat. For, in attempting to explain the suc- 
cessive flow of different liquids through one canal, he says 
the organic sensibility of the canal was successively in har- 
mony with each fluid, and in antipathy with the rest. 
Yery different is the language of M. de Blainville, in the 
introduction to his treatise on Comparative Anatomy, 
where he characterizes life as the double interior motion, 
general and continuous of composition and decomposition. 
And, however complicated may have been the problems 
heretofore encountered, those presented in this most myste- 
rious process in every organism, are still more complex, and 
many, so far as human perception has yet penetrated, abso- 
lutely insoluble. But the student does learn that the 
organic world has natural divisions—animal and vegetable; 
the naturalness depending upon the fact, that locomotion, 
(partial at least,) and a corresponding degree of general 
sensibility, are the predominating and uniform characters 
of the entire animal series. And he should know each 
individual reason why the animal kingdom is given prece- 
dence in the organic hierarchy, as well as the rational hier- 
archy of the animal kingdom by itself: that the dignity 
of animal life, for example, depends not upon abode, mode 
of nutrition, &c., but upon the greater complexity of or- 
ganism, its relative perfection, speciality and elevation. He 
will need to know also the degree of animality proper to 
the different organs,—the rank of the organs in their rela- 
tion to life. And now, with a proper knowledge of the 
exterior conditions of life, which we know are physical and 
chemical, and involve weight, pressure, motion and rest, 
thermological action, light, electricity, &c., molecular con- ditions, air and water, our candidate for a sound and 
enviable reputation in the ranks of scientific physicians, 
takes a step forward from the vestibule, and begins to sur- 
vey the interior of that temple, whose external grace, 
adornment, and surprising manifestations have so long ex- 
cited to an intense degree his curiosity, and led him to 
regard with profound reverence the power which could in- 
stitute, and keep in constant activity such a marvellous 
creation. But he finds no oracle within the sacred walls to 
open the dark recesses of this complex nature with wmrds of 
talismanicpower; and he carries no lamp of Aladdin, which 
by a gentle brush from the sleeve of his gown, shall light 
up into full and conspicuous view the grand salient points 
of interest, which, when fairly seen, reflect upon the soul 
of the observer flashes of glorious rays, filling it with 
such ecstatic awe as no diamond from Golconda ever sped 
through the darkness and gloom of its pre-historic prison- 
house. Here stands again the same imperturbable but 
kind master, who with gentle firmness assures the bewil- 
dered devotee that steady, patient, unremitting application 
is the only way to reach the hidden treasures. And so he 
learns that the simplest notion of life is characterized by 
the double, continuous motion of absorption and exhalation 
owing to the reciprocal action of the organism and its en- 
vironment, and adapted to sustain during a certain time, 
and within certain limits of variation, the integrity of the 
organization, and that the result of this is, that every instant 
of its existence, every living body must present in its 
structure and decomposition two very different orders of 
principles; absorbed matters, in a state of assimilation, and 
exhaled matters,in a state of separation; and that this is the 
great anatomical distinction between organic elements and 
organic products. This distinction being clearly established, 
he proceeds to the discovery of each anatomical element; 
that these are both fluid and solid. Here he may be 13 
detained more or less, by the same enquiries which in the 
bygone times occupied the whole lives of men with 
eminent name, and who established in their day the 
triumphant reign of the humoral pathology, thus magni- 
fying the dogma of still more ancient authority, that “ in 
the blood is the life.” For instance, the query may arise 
in his mind, which of the eonstituents of the blood is the 
seat of life ? water being its chief part, and such an inert 
vehicle, as to preclude a participation in the life of the 
fluid. The microscopist tells him, it resides in the globules, 
which are both organized and living. But as he watches 
these rolling orbs with unceasing attention, he finds them 
shrinking more and more as the current flows on through 
an inferior order of vessels and approaches its incorporation 
with the tissues; so that at the precise moment of assimila- 
tion there is a complete liquefaction of the globules. Hence 
he is compelled to regard the blood as dying in the very 
accomplishment of its chief act of vitality. As neither he 
nor his teacher is able to dissipate the fogs that still hang 
over the question of the vitality of the fluids, he is carried 
forward into the study of tissues. And he learns there is one 
primitive and essential web of every organism, and the 
only one that is present through the whole range of the 
scale; and its very appearance names it cellular. By a 
close observation of this tissue, it appears as the sole basis 
of vegetable, and perhaps the lowest animal organization, 
it being eminently fitted for absorption and exhalation. 
Then its characteristic modifications are such as to give 
us the simple and common structures, as well as the more 
special and profound. The dermous tissue, for instance, is 
the basis of the general organic envelope, exterior and 
interior ; and is mere condensation : and by an increasing 
condensation, several tissues proceed from this, the fibrous, 
cartilaginous, and bony; the different degrees of conden- 
sation dependent manifestly upon the deposition in the 14 
cellular net-work of a heterogeneous substance, which can 
be extracted, leaving no doubt as to the nature of the 
tissue. But the observer is astonished to find a more direct 
condensation of the tissue, combining impermeability and 
suppleness, without any foreign substance ; and capable of 
holding fluids, whether circulating or stagnant, besides fur- 
nishing a perfectly lubricated surface between mobile 
organs. From this point of enquiry, there appears a new 
order of transformations; and these distinguish the animal 
organism, viz.: the muscular and nervous tissues, both an 
anatomical combination of the parent tissue, with a special 
organic element eminently vital—with the former fibrine 
—the latter neurine. How these changes are effected, he 
does not learn, for all are alike ignorant of the mode of 
anatomical union of the muscular and nervous tissue with 
the cellular. But he does learn that the general posi- 
tion of these secondary tissues is always related to a modi- 
fication of the structure itself; the organization of the tissue 
becoming more special; and elevated exactly in proportion 
to the deeper position between the exterior and interior 
surfaces of the animal envelope. And here he has a basis 
for anatomical analysis, and goes on enquiring into the laws 
of composition under which the ascent is made from this pri- 
mary contemplation of the tissues, to that of porous substan- 
ces, and thence on to that of the organs, thence to the systems 
of organs, leading on to physiological analysis. In the con- 
sideration of animal life, that is, of the phenomena of irrita- 
bility and sensibility, he finds a wholly different view must 
be taken from that of inorganic phenomena as no basis of 
analogy is offered. The double property then of irritability 
and sensibility is found to be a strictly primitive property of 
the secondary tissues—the muscular and nervous—and as 
inexplicable as any other purely fundamental physical 
property. He has discovered, now, that the animal must 
first live, in order to move and feel; so that organic life first 
serves as the basis of the animal, then as its general end 15 
and object. All the general needs of organic life are sup- 
plied by the phenomena of sensibility and irritability, and, 
humiliating as it may seem, even the intellectual and tnoral 
functions have usually no other primitive office: so that in 
the human species, it is only in a high degree of civiliza- 
tion and culture, that the intellect can acquire such a pre- 
ponderance in the whole organism, as to become the end 
and object of existence. Of sensibility itself, the student 
of the present day, finds the great Bichat to have been 
misled entirely by the limit of explorations in his time : that 
his assertion that sensibility existed where there were no 
nerves has been shown to be erroneous, and that the philo 
sophical axiom is nearly or quite established, that nerves 
are necessary to any degree of sensibility. Of irritability, 
he also learns, that it is necessarily animal, and requires a 
corresponding nervous provision; that we can no longer 
admit that the contractions of the heart, for instance, 
are determined by the flow of blood toward it. He also 
finds while in this region, that a dense fog is rising over 
his sphere of vision, inasmuch as he cannot see anything by 
which he can determine whether any definite movement is 
necessarily voluntary or involuntary. And as he passes 
into a more luminous area, as he thinks, and attempts to 
compass a knowledge of the phenomena of sensibility known 
as exterior sensations—as the universal sense of contact or 
touch, taste, sight and smell—he very soon finds the light 
insufficient to determine the organic conditions upon which 
some of the simplest modifications of the phenomena of 
sight and hearing depend. In regard to sensations which 
relate to the satisfaction of natural wants, which are so 
indispensable to the perfection of organic life, the sum of his 
knowledge must be, that the nervous system is essential to 
them. In fact, he is now fairly in the region of lights and 
shadows. In the attempt to analyze and comprehend the 
mode of action which is common to the phenornenona of 
irritability, he is involved in a maze of theories ; and even 16 
the statements of what purport to be facts by various obser- 
vers, not a little contradictory. The great feature of inter- 
mittence which characterizes every animal faculty, in con- 
trast with the continuance of vegetative phenomena, point- 
ed out by Bichat, applies to all the different degrees of 
sleep—from simple somnolence to the prolonged torpor of 
hybernating animals. But the student, after a careful sur- 
vey of the subject, is pained to learn, that even the organic 
condition upon which it depends have been subject of the 
greatest difference in statement; a very large proportion of 
those making it a special theme, declaring stagnation of 
venous blood in the brain to be an indispensable preliminary 
to all extended and durable lethargic states ; while only a 
few amongst the ancients, but more amongst the moderns, 
seem to believe and justly teach, that no healthy sleep is 
ever produced in this way. There can be no doubt of the 
incompleteness of our knowledge in regard to many of the 
laws in this domain. Still, the thoughtful mind will even- 
tually view it, doubtless, as radically identical with the phe- 
nomena of partial repose offered by all the elementary acts 
of animal life. 
The theory of Habit is brought to the notice of our 
enquirer also ; that is, he discovers that these intermittent 
phenomena can tend to reproduce themselves spontane- 
ously through the influence of a preliminary repetition, 
prolonged at intervals. But, although this is regarded by 
many able minds as the basis, of the gradual perfectibility 
of man, he fails to learn much if anything of the origin of 
habit, albeit much of those once contracted. The need of 
activity, which is awakened upon the very existence of an 
organ is a very important and the most general of the pheno- 
mena common to irritability and sensibility. Yet he finds 
but little to enlighten him as to the analysis of exaggerated 
action, the varied phenomena of pleasure and pain ; phys- 
ical and moral; or of insufficient action which gives rise to 
ennui, or to the intermediate degree which constitutes 17 
health, welfare and happiness. He hears much of sympa- 
thy, in enquiries after the association of the animal func- 
tions, and but little synergy—the one supposing a pertur- 
bation which has to be stopped by the intervention of an 
organ not primarily affected ; the other, the concurrence of 
two organs simultaneously in the regular accomplishment 
of any function. He learns that there is agreement amongst 
the physiologists that the nervous system is the necessary 
agent of all sympathy. More than this is only a great col- 
lection of disjointed facts. As to the mutual association of 
the different motions, the different modes of sensibility, or 
the more complex associations between the phenomena of 
sensibility and irritability, he finds but little that can beset 
down as law. And yet it will probably finally appear 
that the fundamental unity of the animal organism is a 
necessary result of a harmony between its various chief 
functions. 
At last, the consideration of what has been characterized 
the highest kind of living matter, and corresponding force 
with which we are acquainted, viz,: “ Nerve element, and 
nerve force ” carries him into and through the ganglionic 
cells, and afferent and efferent nerves of the spinal cord, 
upward to the sensory ganglia at the top of the column, and 
into the intelligence office of the special senses; from 
whence, he is invited fairly into the head-quarters of intel- 
lectual and moral phenomena, and required to note well 
the instrumentalities at work in the nerve centres of ideas. 
And here, in the midst of an overwhelming display of 
developmental force, if he heeds the still small voices which 
come from the countless myriads of ganglionic cells on 
every side, from every recess and convolution, he loses all 
his preconceived or adopted notions of a wonderful entity? 
denominated and almost worshipped through ages of meta- 
physics as mind, “an independent source of power, and self- 
sustaining cause of causes,” and finds the real process in the 18 
production of mental phenomena is one of organization, 
and conceivable only by the aid of ideas derived from the 
observation of organic development, viz,: the fundamental 
ideas of assimilation and differentiation. 
In fact, he comes to know, if he can trust the most com- 
petent, the most cautious, and the most veracious experi- 
menters, observers, and philosophers of the last two centu- 
ries in the domain of physics, of chemistry, of anatomy and 
physiology, that the entire phenomena of organic life, both 
animal and vegetable, are resolvable into physiological 
physics, and physiological chemistry. That respiration, 
circulation, the development of heat and electricity, diges- 
tion, absorption, and secretion, (?) are due to chemical and 
physical forces. Aye, more: the student of the present 
generation will probably come to know, if indeedit cannot 
already be affirmed, that throughout the whole universe, 
there is one and the same law of development prevailing ; 
that the sun and the stars,—the earth and its minutest 
microscopic inhabitant,—the mountain and the mouse,— 
the Leviathan and the tad-pole,—man and the primordial 
cell from which he springs,—all pass through the same 
stages of existence; the embryonic, or formative ;—the 
stage of growth, or simple organic / the compound organic 
or stage of maturity. And further, that the law of deca- 
dence, is equally inflexible and universal. That from the 
state of perfection, or maturity, every conceivable existence, 
organic or inorganic, there is inevitable decline and death. 
Upon every aspect of everything the human eye or the 
human intellect can reach in their wide scope of instrumen- 
talities is plainly inscribed, the portentous “Change !” and 
as the unnumbered millions of forms crowd the tortuous 
thoroughfares of creation, not one of them but hears and obeys 
through the everlasting cycles the mandate, “Move On !” 
from that undying, ever young and vigorous policeman in the 
domain of matter—force. And he learns, that in each and 19 
all of the countless mutations of form, the agencies that act 
in effecting the processes known as physical, chemical, vital, 
physiological, mental and moral, are also the same every- 
where throughout nature’s vast area—so far as nature is now 
known. That the heat of the sun of our solar system is the 
life of every living being within it we may confidently 
assert now. And are we not equally sure, that the same 
energy, transformed into motion, light, electricity, mag- 
netism, and chemical affinities, is forever and forever active 
as the sole force in the production of each and every change 
in the inorganic world. 
Overleaping with a hound, the great extent and variety 
of special facts and phenomena in bodily alterations, consti- 
tuting pathology, and the modifiers of action with a know- 
ledge of their use, constituting materia medica and thera- 
peutics, to become familiar with all of which, must occupy 
with the closest application a long time ; especially when 
we consider the multiplicity of modern chemical and 
mechanical instrumentalities to be included; we have 
presented a sort of cursory collation of the curriculum to be 
regarded as absolutely essential to a philosophical apprehen- 
sion of the difference between harmony of action in the 
organism and discord, or decide between normal structure, 
and morbid alterations, healthy secretions and vicious 
exhalations. And the intent has been to intimate the 
nature and extent of the demand, not only in regard to the 
quality and quantity of acquisition, but as to the method of 
acquiring, which is made upon the candidate for medical 
honors, by the corps of educators, who are but the exponents 
of the written and the unwritten, but inflexible law gov- 
erning the profession in the present day. And with such 
requirements faithfully persisted in, may we not triumph- 
antly ask, what are the probabilities in regard to the con- 
servation of the interests of the communities of which these 
alumni shall become integers, and to whom the people 20 
amongst whom they move must confide the most sacred 
confidence, and their dearest hopes ! Do not mistake me 
now, as asserting that every man (or woman) who proclaims 
himself (or herself), that physician of whom we read, who 
holds in his beneficent hand from age to age that panacea, 
“the Balm of Gilead,” is possessed of all the knowledge a 
thorough training here indicated will give. True ’tis pity, 
and pity ’tis ’tis true that the experience of us all is full of 
disagreeable and even disgusting exceptions to this rule. 
Nor would we assume that much learning is the unvarying 
index of skill and tact in its application to art. We are 
well aware that in the present state of our knowledge of the 
laws which govern the relations between physiology, 
pathology, and the external wTorld, therapeutics cannot be 
taken out of the rank of an art, and that nothing can be 
decided in regard to the application of curative agents 
without the test of experiment and observation. But it is 
nevertheless true, that as soon as a curative influence upon 
the altered conditions of the healthy bodily action results 
in the establishment of general principles, the great prac- 
tical success of the healing art will depend upon the accu- 
racy with which the precise condition of the organism is 
made out. And notwithstanding the fact that the use of 
remedies is but an enlightened empiricism, it seems to me 
there is a constant approximation toward that period when 
the ars medendi shall be ruled by the ratio medendi, or what 
is equivalent thereto. The accomplishment of this end in 
the future, appears the more probable when we know that 
progress is not likely to be interrupted or materially 
obstructed as heretofore of old, by thedictu of unwarranted 
authority. So long as the consideration of man took pre- 
cedence of the study of the external world, so long the 
phenomena of the universe wTas attributed to will, 
inside and outside of nature. But direct contact with 
the universe primarily, brings out the great idea of the 
laws of nature, which involves the whole of phenomena 21 
including man. The attainment of the knowledge that 
every tissue is organized by the influence of special cells— 
that in the normal states those permanent tenants and super- 
visors possess an independent power to take care of them- 
selves (independent of systemic life;) that they feed, digest, 
assimilate, grow, organize and eliminate in a mode to con- 
struct the cells and other products essential to the physiologi- 
cal tissue when supplied with proper and sufficient aliment, 
haslaid the foundations for the positive discovery of the cau- 
ses of disease: and we can see no reason why the time may not 
come, when with the use of the experimental method, the 
accumulation of facts shall be so great in regard to aliments, 
medicines, and poisons, as to establish a law nearly allied 
to prevision. But there are demands upon the individual 
who institutes a claim to public confidence and favor as a 
physician, growing out of his social relations to the 
“ world’s people.” It has often been suggested, that the 
public being an ass, any one who will condescend to seize 
upon its long ears, and throw himself astride the donkey, 
will, by the administration of the requisite number of tunks 
and thumps and thistles, find himself on the high road to 
fame and fortune. And really, a superficial observation of 
even what is called highly civilized society, would seem to 
go far in sustaining this view. For who does not see every 
day on our streets many a practitioner of this school “going 
it” with such pertinacity, and apparent success, as to meta 
morphose the whole concern into a sort of assinine centaur; 
so that it is extremely difficult to decide where the ass ends 
or the doctor begins. The true state of the case, however, 
seems to be, that great numbers of the people, of this and 
every other land, are yet in what Dr. Draper calls “ the 
age of faith,” where were a sufficient portion of the popu- 
lation of Europe long ago, to govern it for a thousand years : 
when if the proof of a statement was required, it was sup- 
posed to be furnished by an astounding illustration of some- 22 
thing else. The wager of battle deciding the truth or 
falsehood of charges assailing the purity of woman, or the 
honor of men. There is great misconception as to the 
nature of evidence. But there is a large number of the 
people also, in the “Age of inquiry,” while the fewest 
are fairly in the “ Age of reason.” All, however, are so 
situated, in this country at least, relatively with each other, 
as to be readily carried by the proper influences from the 
lower phases upward : so that it would be criminal in the 
extreme, in any well-informed physician, to minister 
in any way or for any purpose to the perpetuity 
of a belief in the miracle cure. For nothing more or less, 
is the pretension of one and all of that vast army of impos- 
tors, who crowd the columns of the daily and periodical 
press with specious but flagrant falsehoods; and who as 
traveling charlatans, like mountebanks, thieves and rob- 
bers, infest every land, where the minions of law do not 
catch and hang, or otherwise disable for their ignoble and 
vicious deed's. 
It becomes the duty, then, of the man who enters the 
profession of medicine, to impress his image and super- 
scription upon the people with whom he is identified; con- 
vincing them logically and by actual demonstration that 
the malign practices which induce sickness, epidemics 
and plagues, are not to be referred to supernatural agen- 
cies, or as of old, to the anger of some offended God; but that 
under such visitations, instead of looking for relief by pen- 
ance and supplications, the sufferers must expect salvation 
through self-reliant effort,—rigorous personal cleanliness, 
fresh air, light, and such other means as are based upon the 
requirements of a healthy body. But in the struggle for 
existence, which Darwin tells us every living being is ob- 
liged, by the very laws of his being and his surroundings 
to maintain, until it is thoroughly competent to assert its 
independence, (which we know is true so far as doctors are 23 
concerned,) this cannot be effected without untiring in- 
dustry, and many sacrifices. It will not do to trust to the 
f 
faith of the multitude in your words of wisdom alone. 
When some Teutonic household is slowly melting away, 
as one after another is laid beneath the clods of the valley, 
his Celtic neighbor will hardly credit the statement, that 
their stalwart forms have all been carried off by a few 
millions of invisible devils who took possession of them, 
because they indulged in a slice or two of raw ham, or 
heightened their relish for lager, by a few yards, more or 
less, of half-cooked Bologna sausage. But where is such 
a dolt as not to heed the warning a full view of the serried 
hosts of that invading army of trichines through a micro- 
scope would give? Speaking of this wonder-working 
instrument suggests, that it seems really imprudent for any 
one to go out into the world, especially on a healing mis- 
sion, without a good one; for there is even danger in plant- 
ing one’s foot down in any new location, especially here in 
the West, without a sharp lookout for secret foes. And 
without a knowledge of what is transpiring in that region 
which Dr. Chalmers calls the “infinity of minnitude,” by 
the use of the microscope—as the telescope seeks the “in- 
finity of magnitude”—in his morning walk looking for 
malaria the unsuspecting victim would be enveloped in a 
great invisible cloud of poisonous cryptograms at every 
step, and some lynx eyed competitor would soon awake him 
to the consciousness that he has been converted into a vast 
hot-bed of Palmullse shores, and no longer of much use 
but to furnish experiment for the cunning specialist. 
There is a demand upon the physician for integrity. Pure 
and unsullied as the driven snow, must be the record of him 
who ministers at the altar in the sanctum sanctorum of 
humanity. “ Clean hands and a pure heart ” are as essen- 
tial for the blessing of the Lord to-day, as in the days of 
David. It is written, “ resist the devil, and he will flee from thee; ” and whether he appears to us with diabolical 
intent upon the public weal in that most contemptible, 
little, intinitessiraal wisp, Homeopathy, or in that bluster- 
ing, boasting, braggart, bastard Eclecticism, swelling with 
the eminence of bulk, or in any of the hateful or seductive 
forms of sin, let us fight the good fight manfully and acquit 
ourselves like men in the warfare to which we are as if 
conscript and consecrated, and which lies ahead of you, my 
young friends. Consult the eternal oracles, not yet inau- 
dible nor ever to become so, when worthily enquired of; 
and disregard nearly altogether, in comparison, the tempo- 
rary noises and menacings, and deliriums. May you love 
wisdom, as wisdom, if she is to yield her treasures, must 
be loved, piously, valiantly, humbly, beyond life itself, or 
the prizes of life, with all one’s heart and all one’s soul. 
In that case, and not any other case, it shall be well with 
you.