/
American  Institute   of  Jonueop%.
           FESTIVITIES AT  BOSTON.
THE  DINNER  AND  LEVEE
                       AT
    FANEUIL  HALL,  JUNE 2, 1859.
  Tho Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Homoeopathy
held in Boston, Mass., on the 1st and 2d day of June, 1859, was the largest
assemblage of Homoeopathio Physicians ever convened in the United States.
Members of the profession were present from almost every part of the coun-
try, and the most gratifying evidences were received of the continued ad-
vancement of the system, and its increasing favor with the educated and intel-
ligent classes throughout the land.  The hospitality and public spirit of the
friends of Homoeopathy in Boston were abundantly exhibited in all the
arrangements for  the meeting, and  particularly  in the festivities which
marked the termination of the session.
                     THE  DINNER.
  On Thursday, the last day of the meeting, at 4 P. M., the members of the
 Institute, with distinguished guests, in all amounting to about three hundred
 persons, assembled in the banquet room of Faneuil Hall, on the  invitation
 of the Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society, and the Boston Academy
 of Homoeopathic Medicine, to partake of a superb complimentary dinner.
  The hall was tastefully and elegantly decorated, and the entrance bore the
 following cordial greeting to the members of the Institute :
           "AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
                    16th Annual Session.
                WELCOME  TO   BOSTON!"
  Various mottoes adorned the walls, and conspicuous among them was the
favorite  one of our Great Master : " AUDE SAPERE."
  The Germania Band  were present, and at frequent intervals discoursed
their ohoicest music. 
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  Among the invited guests were, His  Honor, Frederick W.  Lincoln, Jr.,
Mayor of Boston; Hon. Albert Currier, Mayor of Newburyport; Hon. Jacob
Sleeper, State Councillor;  Judge Metcalf of the Supreme Court, Judge Rus-
sell of the Superior Court, Judge Maine of  the Police Court; John M. Clark,
High Sheriff; Col. T. Bigelow Lawrence; Aldermen Otis Clapp and Clement
Willis; Prof. Henry W. Longfellow, Rev. Thomas Starr King, Dr. Wins-
low Lewis, William Lloyd Garrison, Esq., Charles B. Hall, Esq., and Joseph
Story, Esq.
  Dr. Charles Wild of Brookline, presided at the table.  Rev. Mr. Hinckley
of Lowell, Mass., invoked the divine blessing; and after an hour spent in
enjoying the luxurious viands with which the  tables  were loaded, the Pre-
sident addressed the company as follows :


                     SPEECH OF  DR.  WILD.

  I feel somewhat reluctant to interrupt the pleasant conversation that seems
to prevail around this table ; but as this appears too limited for our present
purpose, and as we have pretty faithfully regarded ourselves  and our immediate
neighbors, I propose that we extend the sphere of our attention to the whole
assembly.  Accordingly, I hasten to aquit myself of the duty in behalf of the
members of the Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society, and the Boston
Academy of  Homoeopathic Medicine,  of tendering a cordial welcome to our
Homoeopathic brethen from other states to the Metropolis of our old Common-
wealth, and indulging in a little pardonable pride of nativity by reminding them
that they occupy hallowed ground ;  that immediately beneath them is the
veritable cradle of American liberty ;  that within the range of a pistol shot
the pavement was wantonly stained with the blood of its first martyrs; that
within a musket's reach the tea was put to steep, without any regard to culi-
nary precision, in cold salt water, at the great revolutionary tea-party ; that
far within a cannon's range our forefathers on Bunker Hill received their first
grand lesson of self-reliance, and imparted to their oppressors an equally im-
portant one  of respect and caution ; and that then and there burst forth the
smothered flame of freedom, which all the energy of the mightiest power of
earth failed  to  subdue.   [Applause ]   In these  scenes,  doubtless  new to
many of you, we all have a co-inheritance, and in their reminiscences we
may  all take an equal interest and satisfaction.  In  the hall below  you have
had an opportunity to contemplate upon the appearance and characters of the
venerable worthies who have passed away ;  and we now, with pride and plea-
sure, would  invite you to the acquaintance and congeniality of some of the
living magnates of  our city and of the old. Bay  State—our  rulers,  lawgivers,
administrators of justice, clerical teachers, worthy sons of patriotic sires who
have honored our call to meet you and join in our welcome; and  we com-
mend them to you as the enlightened friends of progress in every department
of science, the liberal patrons of Homoeopathy, and well worthy of your re-
spect and confidence.
  On the other hand, from past connection and experience we can assure them,
that  upon you their kindness  and comity  will be fitly bestowed ; that your
acquirements are of the highest order, and that you are fully competent to
distinguish between a "pseudo science"  and a sound system of medical prac-
tice, as any or all of your adversaries [applause], and rather more successful in
your distinction; that you are to the full, as honest in proclaiming your real
convictions  to the world, and quite as devoted to the  cause of genuine hu-
manity.  For ourselves, our greatest boast is, that we have attained to a suf-
ficient influence in the community to bring into contact with the elite of our
profession the distinguished guests  of our vicinity, now present.  And it will 
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be our greatest pleasure to be the humble medium of promoting an agreeable
intercourse between you, upon the basis of  a declared independence of anti-
quated conventionalisms in medicine, upon this soil, ever sacred to unlimited
freedom of sentiment and debate.
   When we remember, that but a few years since, the arbitrary power of the
old school of medicine enlisting in its behalf the political authorities, rendered
it in Germany a penal offence to pursue the truths we have espoused,  but
which proved to be irrepressible  even by European tyranny, we may con-
gratulate ourselves, that in this land of universal liberty, we have had only to
contend with the prestige of the elevated character and position, and the well
earned scientific reputation of our opponents,  rather than with any popular
prejudice in favor of their medical opinions  or practice; and we concede
that  considering the magnitude of our encroachments upon their cherished
fancies and pursuits, they have submitted  with a much more commendable
grace and patience than might have been reasonably anticipated.
   We meet  here  to-day under circumstances  peculiarly favorable to  social
 enjoyment, without an  unkind feeling toward any of our fellow men, but  ani-
 mated by an intense desire to prolong human life and promote human happi-
 ness fortified internally by conscious honesty of purpose, sustained externally
 by the ever-ready aid of the most enlightened portion of society, and encour-
 aged by a progress confessedly as  rapid as  is consistent with stability there
 armears to be no reason why we may not  make this a season of unalloyed
 conviviality ; that it must be too limited in duration, is an unfortunate neces-
 sity of the time ;  but that  mast be compensated by the anticipation of the
 promised presence  of our fair and dear friends and allies,  who will this even-
 ing give you in their smiles, a crowning welcome to this  scene of festivity.
 Assured  then, that the more unconstrained your intercourse may be, the bet-
 ter you Will reciprocally esteem each other ;  I bid  you again thrice welcome
 to this temple of political, religious, and scientific liberty.  [Applause. ]

   J. H. Woodbury, M. D., of  East Boston, the toast-master,  then read the

 first regular sentiment:
   The American Institute of Homceopathy-The first National Medical Associa-
 tion ; as it takes the precedence in age, so may it ever in the pursuit of truth,
 science and wisdom.
   P. P. Wells, M. D., of Brooklyn, N. Y., Chairman of  the Institute, was
 introduced by  the President,  and was received  with  hearty cheers.   He

 said:
                     SPEECH  OF DR. WELLS.

   Mr President:   I could wish that the duty of responding  to  this senti-
 ment" had been entrusted to one more capable than I  am of returning  smt-
 ^We thanks to the members  of  the Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical
 Society and the Boston Academy of Homoeopathic Medicine for such a wel-
 come ll we have just received, to such scenes as these by which we are sur-
 ™ded  Sir  your sentiment states of the American Institute of Homceo-
 Sv that it is the oldest National Medical Association.  I was present at its
 ^InizaUon  m the year 1844, when some forty or fifty  physicians met in a
 Ste office and  after due deliberation, associated themselves together, as-
 V Ztl ?he title which you have named in your sentiment. Since that year
  hTnsUtutehas held annual meetings in eight of the states of the Union; i
 i   il  llv issued a  volume of its proceedings, containing many papers of
 vtriecl iSs and"value; it has brought together from all parts of the coun-
 Trv  members of our profession, and made them acquainted with each other:
  tha^bTen the means  of concentrating  opinion, confirming convictions and
 extending intelligence; it has been the means of  great good to  the  profes- 
4
sion, and through its members, to the  community generally.   I have had
pleasure in noticing, from year to year, in the meetings of the Institute, evi-
dence of increasing intelligence in matters pertaining to the system to which
we are devoted,  and I am happy to say  that it was never so great  as on the
occasion of this session which has just now closed.  I think it is a subject of
honest pride and congratulation on  the part of the  members  of  the Insti-
tute.
  At our organization, I suppose the number of practitioners of Homoeopa-
thy in the United States, might have been about three hundred.  The ori-
ginal membership of the Institute was between forty and fifty.   The present
membership of the Institute is between five and six  hundred ; the mem-
bers of the profession  in the United States between five and six thousand.
Gentlemen, in these facts I recognize a progress whicM calls for our gratitude
and rejoicing.  And, sir,  in this progress I behold encouragement  and hope
for the fulfillment of the wish expressed in your sentiment, that the Ameri-
can Institute may go on to increase in knowledge and in wisdom  until it shall
occupy the first place among associations of its  kind.   I am sure that to the
hope which  you have expressed every member of the Institute  will respond
a hearty amen.  [Applause.]  Sir, on behalf of the  American Institute of
Homoeopathy, I again  return thanks  to the  members  of the Massachusetts
Society, and the Hahnemannian Academy of Boston.  [Warm applause.]

  The next sentiment was :

  America—Her law is progress, her government vindicates  those who dare
to seek truth in untried ways.

  The Band  responded with the soul-stirring strains of  "America."

  Third regular toast:

  Massachusetts—Foremost among Commonwealths in defending Liberty, in
fostering Education, in sustaining Science, and in relieving distress; she wel-
comes every  effort to find a more excellent way  to confer blessings on the
world.

  The toast was received with cheers.

  In the unavoidable absence of His  Excellency, Governor Banks, Hon.
Jacob Sleeper, of the Governor's Council, being called  upon to  reply, spoke
as follows:


             SPEECH  OF HON. JACOB SLEEPER.

  Mr. President: I did not come here with the slightest expectation of being
called  upon this afternoon; least  of all did I  expect to be called upon to
stand in the place of His Excellency,  the Governor.  I have never  aspired to
that honor.  [Laughter.]  I regret, as I am quite  sure that all present will, that
His Excellency is not with us this afternoon, as I am certain he would have
been very happy to have been here, to tender to his  fellow citizens the as-
surance of his kindly regards, and to the strangers who are with  us,  his
welcome.
   I certainly sympathize  with the sentiment that has been offered in behalf of
the Commonwealth.  Massachusetts,  sir, has always been a progressive state ;
its people have always been ready to investigate any new subject and to give
it a hearing, and when they approve of  it they have the courage to  say  so.
[Applause.]   And I regard it  as cause of congratulation that  this new sys-
tem of practice, so recently introduced among us,  is gaining friends  among
the more intelligent  and reflecting  portion of the  community.  To  our
friends who have come from a distance to visit us, we extend a cordial wel- 
come ; and to all engaged  in this benevolent work of relieving hnman suf-
fering and promoting human happiness, we  heartily bid  you God speed.
[Cordial applause.]

   Fourth toast:

   The Legislature—Though not altogether free from the prejudices of the
schools, yet ready to foster all intelligent efforts to develope truth  and im-
prove existing institutions.

   Hon. Charles A. Phelps, President of the  Senate of  Massachusetts, who
was  expected to reply to the toast, being necessarily absent, Charles B. Hall,
Esq., of Boston, President of the Massachusetts Homreopathic Hospital, was
called upon  to  respond.


             SPEECH OF CHARLES B. HALL,  ESQ.

   Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Medical Society :  I always rejoice in
 occasions of  this kind.   I  think, sir, that we have, in this  country, too few
 social gatherings like this.   We are too emphatically a working people.  We
 do not  come together  often enough for social enjoyment  and interchange
 of thought.  I  had understood, .sir,  that a  distinguished gentleman, the
 President of the Senate of this Commonwealth, was to respond to the senti-
 ment which  you have just  given ; and I see about me gentlemen now belong-
 ing to the Legislature, upon whom you might have called, with much greater
 propriety than  upon me.  I am  called upon  to  respond for the Hon. Chas.
 A. Phelps.  I don't know  what that gentleman was going to say ;  I have had
 no conversation with him on that subject, and therefore what I say must be
 for myself.  Having, in former  years, had some  opportunity for observing
 matters about the State House, I can say, what you all know, that our Legisla-
 ture is proverbial for its readiness to give to any object calculated to do good
 to our people, and especially to those whose needs demand that  something
 should be done by others for their benefit and comfort. It has granted to us,
 friends of Homoeopathy, a charter for a  Massachusetts Homreopathic Hospi-
 tal, with the right of holding real estate to the amount of one hundred thou-
 sand dollars, and with all the privileges possessed by any corporation of that
 kind in the Commonwealth.  It has granted a charter to the  Massachusetts
 Homoeopathic Medical Society, with all the privileges granted to any associa-
 tion  of a similar character.  It has granted a charter to the  Homreopathic
 Medical Dispensary, with the privilege of holding real or personal estate to
 the amount of fifty or one hundred thousand dollars.  It may not be recol-
 lected by many gentlemen present, that four years ago last winter, when the
 first  of these charters was granted, a report was made in  favor of  granting to
 the Homoeopathic Hospital the sum of ten thousand dollars.  A bill to that
 effect passed through all the various readings  in  both houses, and was only
 killed  at last by one  vote  in the Senate.   Soon after this we had a financial
 crisis, such as  has not  often been known  in this country; in view of the
 necessity  thus imposed upon  the state,  of  extreme  caution  in  making
 giants, the friends of Homoeopathy did not deem it advisable to repeat then-
 request ; and, the last winter, the crisis had hardly passed  away,  so that the
 time did not yet seem to have arrived for asking the grant;   But, sir, it ap-
 pears to me tiiat from all  we know of the Legislature we  have  a right to
 expect that it will grant us such aid as we need and desire, at some future
 time.  [Applause.]   It has given to the  Massachusetts  Hospital,  I  think,
 seventy thousand dollars in  money, which with  other  grants, would have
 amounted, at this  time, to nearly a quarter of a million of dollars.  Now  I
 don't believe that the Legislature of the Commonwealth  will be'thus liberal
 to that school of practice,  and decline entirely to vote to a very large class of 
6
citizens who believe in another practice, any grant  whatever.   I believe that
at a proper time, if we ask for a grant, we shall  have it;  and I would not
ask for a quarter of a million,—I should be satisfied with  fifty thousand dol-
lars, to begin with.  [Applause.]   It is well known, with regard to the Dis-
pensary, that last winter some gentlemen conceived the project of a fair for
its benefit.   Their  thoughts  were  carried  out by  the ladies, who became,
finally, the principals in the enterprise.  We raised, and have now, a fund of
some fifteen thousand dollars, which can not be spent for -any purpose what-
ever ; the income only can be used, for all time, for the benefit of the poor.
[Applause.]  This, sir.it seems  to me, is a very good beginning.   But this
is not  all  we want;  we want a  Massachusetts Homoeopathic Hospital,  not
simply by its charter and  organization, but it must have funds,  and be  a
working corporation.   [Cheers.]
  Without detaining you by any further remarks,  I will close by giving you
this sentiment:
  The  Massachusetts Legislature—May it be as liberal to  the  Homoeopathic
school  of practitioners as it has been to the Allopathic practitioners  of this
Commonwealth.   [Applause.]

  Fifth regular toast:

  Boston—A city where free enquiry always meets the largest encourage-
ment, and truthwins hosts of disciples; our cause could not fail in such an
atmosphere.

  The President introduced Hon. Frederick  W. Lincoln,  Jr., Mayor of the
city of Boston.


                SPEECH  OF  MAYOR LINCOLN.

  Mr. President and Gentlemen :   I can not say as  some of my predecessors
have said this afternoon, that I did not expect to make a  speech.   For one
of the embarrassments which I always feel  in attending such  an occasion as
this, is that I have to make a speech; and I was sure, sir, that I could'nt es-
cape from that little pellet  of yours, which  was certain to bring me down.  I
feel, sir, a little embarrassed.  I am here in an official position ; I am not here
as a Homoeopath or as an Allopath, or as a Thompsonian, or as a Hydropath ; I
am here simply to respond to the courteous invitation which I received from
my friends and fellow citizens, to be  present here, and to welcome, in my
own and the city's behalf, their friends from abroad.  From abroad—from all
over the Union, I understand, delegates are here.   It seems to me  there is a
national ring in the idea of such a gathering in  the top of Faneuil Hall.
And, gentlemen, I welcome you here.   [Cheers.]
  In regard, sir, to the practice of medicine,—I know nothing about it.  I
have  been sick,  as  is the  fortune of most  of us; and I have  got well.
Whether it was nature, or the skill of my  physician, I don't know ; at all
events, I had to pay my physician, and I suppose it must be put down to his
credit.  [Much laughter.]  But, sir, if there is, in civilized life, a profession
which we ought all to respect, no matter what the system, it is that of the
physician.   They come near to us in the most  trying moments; when our
loved ones are on the bed of languishment it is  to them we look, with hope
and with fear.  Sir, there is no person that comes  to us  who  becomes more
endeared to us than the family physician.
  You have called on me,  sir, to  respond to the sentiment,—" Boston, a city
where  free inquiry always meets the largest encouragement."  That, sir, I feel
to be a fact.  "There is here a good conservative element, which  holds that
which it ought to hold, and at the same  time, through  our  whole history
there has been a good sentiment  of progress, which has made Boston what it 
I
is.  In medicine we have done much.  You recollect the old story of the in-
oculation for the small-pox, in the last generation, and more recently of the
use of ether  as  a  preventive of pain in surgical operations.  I  believe in
both those cases we are indebted to Boston for the adoption of these benefi-
cent practices.
  Your sentiment adds,—a city where " truth wins hosts of disciples ; our
cause could not fail to prosper in such an atmosphere."   I have sometimes
heard it said  that Homo'opathists  were mostly among the intellectual classes.
I suppose, sir, they are students of Shakspeare, and say, " Throw physic to the
dogs."  [Laughter and applause.]
  But, sir, I must  bring these random remarks to a close ;  and I will do so
by offering as a sentiment:
   The Good Physician, who in his  practice unites the experience which past
ages have given, with the  discoveries of the  present,  and who,  feeling the
responsibilities of  his position, considers as a sacred charge  the distressed and
suffering ones with whom he is brought in contact.   [Applause.]

  Sixth regular toast:

   The Judiciary—The Doctors of the Law ; the only doctors whose prescrip-
tions must be swallowed, and whose  bills must be paid.   The  world will
need them as long as it does M. D.'s and D. D.'s,—that is as long as  men will
transgress the laws of nature and of  heaven.
            SPEECH  OF HON.  THOMAS  RUSSELL.

  Mr. President:  You spoke,  a few  minutes since, of pseudo science;  I
know very little about science, but I  do know something about a $udor-ific,
and none can be more powerful than being called upon to speak when yon
have  nothing to say.  I  may say, for once, with  truth, that " I was  called
upon  unexpectedly; " for even after the toast was  announced, I looked to
your right and saw there the venerable presence of one of our Supreme Court
Judges (Metcalf), and I sat here feeling as quiet and safe in his shadow as the
oitizens of Massachusetts sit in the shadow of that court of which he is so
distinguished an ornament.
  I have thought, sometimes, sir, that your profession and ours, though they
profess to  feel a great deal of respect for each other, yet have a little bit of
awe mingled with  that respect.   I have been reminded  sometimes, as a doc-
tor introduced me  to a meeting, in a  kind  of caressing way, of a timid man
approaching  a somewhat doubtful dog, — "Good fellow! good fellow!  lie
still,** — all  the while afraid that the good fellow would bite.  I hasten to re-
lieve you ; for I am just now one of the most innocent and harmless judges you
ever saw.   [Laughter.]   You speak of administering  the  laws; I  am, this
month, " an administrator de bonis non," for which  overhaul  your Revised
Statutes, and when  found make  a  note  of.  But as  to you, I can  not be
quite  so sure.  I have  been slightly  afraid of doctors ;  but, this  week, I
have  special cause for  alarm;  for  only  this morning I read  that it was
voted, at  the Homoeopathic meeting  yesterday, that every member  of the
Bureau should select some medicine, and  for this year experiment with
it on  some one of his friends.   [Great laughter.]  Mr. President, are you a
member of the Bureau?   [Fresh laughter.]   If you  are, who is your friend?
[Renewed merriment.]  And, above  all, what is your  remedy? — or  in the
language of  the lamented Sam. Weller:  What is your particular  wanity ?
[Shouts of laughter.]  Is it hemlock ? or hellebore ? or what is it ?  From one
thing save me,— don't try that poly gonum-punctat urn reported upon yesterday.
[Great merriment.]   There is no need of trying that, for as long  as there are
roguish bovs in the world, they will contrive to  get a leaf of smart-weed in
other  people's mouths.   I speak not wholly without  information on that
point. 
8
    I think the Committee of Arrangements have already tried an experiment
 on our constitution;  and to borrow language from your own  dictionary, I
 think that after such a dinner as  this along speech is " contra-indicated."
 Indeed, seeing who were  around me, I thought it would not be the place to
 make a set  speech ; for a set speech here would be a drug, and this is the
 last place  to bring a drug.  Besides, I hate anything set, except a table — or
 a hen.
    But let me say that  I do admire the consistency of that same Committee of
 Arrangements.  They foresaw that we might feel a little inconvenience after
 our meal, and see how scientifically they have provided a remedy.  For a
 hearty dinner at four  o'clock, take a light supper at nine o'clock.  Similia
 similibus eurantur.  [Laughter.]   Consistency is  a jewel everywhere;  and
 that Homoeopathic remedy, attended, as it will be, with an exhibition of bella-
 donna,  I am sure will prove efficacious.  [Continued merriment.]
   I have been wondering, all the time, by what right I am here at a Homoeo-
 pathic meeting.  Your toast tells us that the prescriptions of judges must be
 swallowed, though I have never heard it said that they were homoeopathic, for,
 I  tell you, in some of their prescriptions one swallow makes a Summer and a
 Winter, too.  It is customary for  speakers on such occasions to show they
 have some right to  be present, and if possible that they have a  better right
 than anybody else to take part in  the festival.   I have searched the family
 records for any facts, which might  give me a right to  be here, and I find that
 it is one of the stories related of my infancy, that  before I had the power of
 speech, at the first production of rhubarb I lifted my inarticulate voice against
 it, and showed, even then, that repugnance  to allopathic treatment which I
 feel now.  I can assure you that the repugnance has never been removed,
 though the rhubarb was.   [Laughter.]
   But let me also, by the way, give you a little  piece of legal advice, gratis.
 Our good Mayor has spoken of throwing physic to the dogs.  Don't you do it I
 Don't you do it!   The very last Legislature of Massachusetts passed a law
 forbidding cruelty to animals.  [Great merriment.]  But, not  satisfied with
 searching my own records, I went  back to see  if I could not find the first
 instance of Homoeopathic  practice.  I think I told some of you, on a former
 occasion, that I had found the first  Homoeopath.  He was the man who said :
 _"  Set a rogue to catch a rogue."  We used to apply it to police officers; but,
 in this enlightened age and city, we have done away with that, years ago.
 But I have found a better instance than this.  You have all read, in that ex-
 cellent work, edited  by Mr. Joseph Miller, the story of that  poor sportsman
 who fired at a deer—the story is generally told at political meetings—and did
 not hit it, and when  the  animal  proved to be a calf, he defended himself
 ingeniously, by saying: " I fired to hit it, if it was a deer, and to miss it if it
 was a calf."  That man was a Homoeopath;  for it is the pride of your theory
 and practice,  that if your pellets do not always do a great deal of good, they
 never can do any harm.  If you don't hit the disease, you don't kill the calf;
 and, therefore, some of us are here.  [Laughter.]   Now just see  how differ-
 ently the Allopaths practice.  It was only the last week, that a good friend of
 mine, who  is  an unconscious imitator of Mrs. Partington, told me of a terrible
 dose of  opium his brother had taken.  "And will you believe it, Judge,"
 said he, " he  lost his conscientiousness for six hours!"  I think  the doctor,
 who administers such doses, loses his conscientiousness before he gives them.
 The old practice of the  Allopaths reminds me of my old dancing master, who
 used to call out every five minutes,  " Dos-a-dos."  That was the motto of the
 Allopaths, dose-a-dose.  [Great merriment.]   If you had done nothing but
 to reform the  practice of those same good friends of ours, and teach  them
 moderation in their doses, you would he worthy of more thanks than I could
give you to-day.  In behalf of men  no longer strained,  as they used to be, by
the violence of pills, powders and  physic;  in  behalf of poor children  no
longer drugged to sleep and drugged to death by laudanum and paregoric, I
thank you even for what you have done with Allopathic physicians   I do
not wish to say anything extravagant in regard  to  Homoeopathy; but this I 
9
am sure I may say in its praise: if to be the greatest ches3 player in the world
is " a new clause in the Declaration of Independence," then the practice of
Homoeopathy  is certainly an amendment to our constitution.   [Great laugh-
ter.]
  One word I meant to say to those who have come here to visit us at home.
I wanted to remind them that it was meet that they should gather here—the
friend on my left says it is meat and drink—that we should not only assem-
ble in this  place to have our feast, but right that you should meet in Boston,
and in the Cradle of Liberty, for nowhere else in the world  is there a spot
where men are more likely to follow truth, in spite of abuse, in spite of attack,
in spite of ridicule, than here in old Boston, and here in Faneuil Hall. [Ap-
plause.]  I meant to say something of this, but it was better said  last week
by one" from whose wisdom I am proud to borrow, though I  should never
dare to contend with him in wit, for I am sure we can not give the Massachu-
setts Medical Society a Roland for their Oliver; but I borrow from his wisdom,
and was glad when he told  us that in Boston it was never a reproach to any
cause or idea that it was called heretical or absurd.  I was glad when I heard
his voice reckoning the triumphs of free thought in this free city, make men-
tion of that faithful physician who dared to practice in  his own family the
then novel and  unpopular discovery of Jenner,  scouted and laughed at once,
universally accepted  now—vaccination,  that  Homoeopathic remedy which
cures in advance by taking a  very little of the same virus which occasions
the disease, only taking it in good  season.  I was glad to  be reminded that
this practice was then despised more thoroughly than your practice has ever
been.  I saw in that a bright omen for the future of Homoeopathy.   When
her festivals are held in  Boston her day of triumph is close at hand.  Liberal
soience, from the three hills of our city, can see no limits to her empire.
   But there is one  field, where you and your Allopathic  brethren stand to-
gether, and know no rivalry, except to see who shall be truest and foremost;
 for, whether he be Allopathic,  or whether he be Homosopathic, I trust there
 Is not a physician in  Boston, or in America, who would be slow to hear the
call of the poorest suffering man or woman.  Professor Parsons  has juat re-
 corded of  his father, the great Chief Justice, that  he never made a charge to
 a clergyman or a widow.  Let it be recorded of our physicians, that the poor-
 est woman in North street, the poorest man in the meanest tenement in Broad
 street, can summon to their bed-side the best medical talent of the land.  I
 give you as a sentiment:
   The Professors of the Healing Art, however divided in opinion, always united
 in their earnest search for  truth;  in their devotion to the good of man;  in
 their countless  charities, and in our affectionate  regard.   [Hearty applause
and cheers. ]

   Seventh regular toast:

   Homoeopathy and Poesy—The praises of our whole science should  be sung
 in verse as well as  declared by advocates in prose.

   To this  toast George W. Pettes, Esq., of Boston, responded with the follow-

ing poem:
27 
10
 POEM BY GEORGE  W. PETTES,  ESQ.

" Once on a time," or " several years ago,"
The waves of progress moved uncommon slow ;
And certain people, faster than their peers,
Talked of great changes in the coming years.
They said, those nervous, discontented folk,
That calomel, by ounces, was no joke.
That they declined, when somewhat out of tune,
Imbibing laudanum from a table spoon ;
And though at times, when sitting down to dine,
Each man consumed three bottles of good wine,
Yet, when his case would undergo review,             •
He thought of castor oil, that one might do.
And they resolved, when next beset by ills,
To use economy in taking pills.


I don't intend their principles to scan ;
Perchance, e'en you, sir, were a  Wild young man ;
But in behalf of all the human race
Who are not present in this cosy place,
I thank the men who formed the triple plan
Of aiding science, benefitting man,
And rendering each prescriptionary mess
Small by degrees, and beautifully less.

Those good old days, when dosed with "number six,"
Snug at our feet, two hot, companion bricks,
Piled on us, comforters of red and blue,
Quilts made of scraps of every size and hue,
Till, like Macbeth, we're forced to cry " enough."
(Our granddams'  remedy for cold or cough,)
Have passed away, and in their stead we own
The hundred arts of our prolific zone.
The allopathist makes us sicker still,
And in the cure displays his wondrous skill,
The homceopathist, reasonably verbose,
Prescribes his gentle, infinitesimal dose.
The hydropathist floods the trouble off,
And sometimes drowns the patient and the cough.
Botanic doctors, weeds and briars give,
Which, if we let alone,  we chance to live.
The man mesmeric, touches sudden springs ;
The man galvanic, fetters us with rings ;
And yon pale seer at Galen's feet who sits,
Though good for nothing else, is death on fits.


A kind divinity 'mong broken bones,
A learned doctress is Miss Julia Jones :
Some of her patients, when she  shows her art,
Experience palpitation of the heart.
Fever 's her forte, if your's has not begun,
Forthwith her presence throws you into one.
Health is a blessing, but a man may  bear,
A little pain, if under Julia's care.
In fact he'd rather be a little worse
Than lose this ministering angel for his nurse. 
11
          Sir, I was asked to make some funny rhyme,
          Of course, with pressing duties, in brief time,
          But now, ere giving way to abler men,
          One serious thought shall claim my honest pen.
          Of this large number congregated here,
          Each shall return to his respective sphere,—
          May each be prospered in attempt to lend
          Aid to the helpless who most need a friend.
          True to his trust, to each the purpose given.
          To win the approval of benignant heaven.

  Eighth regular toast:

  Galen and Hahnemann—The  Mysian, a star in a dark age :  The German
adds brightness to an age of light.

  Ninth toast:

  The  Press—The greatest of all  human agencies for  the improvement of
mankind, the overthrow of error and the indication of truth.

  Dr. William E. Payne, of Bath, Maine, was called upon to respond to the
eighth toast, Col. Schoulerand Hon. Richard Frothingham, Jr., to respond
to the  ninth, but in the absence of these gentlemen no response was made to

either  sentiment.

  Tenth toast:

   The Clergy—Oar fellow laborers in ministering to suffering humanity; if
their ministrations are more welcome and successful than ours we rejoice in
it, since the need is greater, and we will not attempt to restrict their method
or prescribe for them a school of practice.

  Rev. T. Starr King answered this toast, as follows :
         SPEECH  OF  REV. THOMAS  STARR KING.

  Mr Chairman :  I said, as soon as our friend—I may hope to say my friend-
Judge Russell, had  finished speaking,  I  pity the man that is to follow
him   I did not suppose that the gentleman near me was to entertain us im-
mediately  with his  charming poem, or I should have qualified  the say-
ing • but I find that two gentlemen, who have been called upon since the
poet took his seat, have so far sympathized with me in that feeling as to leave
the room and dodge their duty.  Now I say, I pity the man that was to follow
Judge Russell,  the next  but  one, and I hope you all sympathize with me m
that sentiment; if not, you are very cruel.  Is it^not very proper that our
friend has been promoted to  a Superior Court r  Would it have been proper
at an! to make him  a Judge of the Court of  Common Pleas?  [Applause.]
But I have been trying  to think, gentlemen,  what brought me here, when
there was some danger of being called on to make a speech which I hate above
all mo^l things.  One or two  reasons, serious ones  and perhaps not alto-
gethTdfscrediSble, I may allude to before closing.   Yet I suspect that a pro-
Kent motive was curiosity.  You know how anxious people often are to
 earn how a distinguished man lives-hov, if he be a preacher, he carries out
Ke spirit of his daily career, the principles which he interprets and dnfor-
ces in hS great sermons.   You know, too, what great  interest the chihiren
all feel  if they are going to  a  menagerie, to be carried there about feeding 
12
time.  Now let me confess that I was tempted by your invitation, because I
wanted to go to a meeting  where I could seethe doctors eat.   [Laughter.]
And I have been deeply interested in seeing that you are not homoeopathic in
your treatment on  some occasions.   I queried whether the principal dish
would be sparrows' tongues ;  I did'nt know but that the table would be pro-
vided  with a humming-bird  for six; I  thought it possible that we might
have coffee about as strong as the tea which was  made in the harbor at the
old Boston Tea  Party already alluded to.  I had some suspicion that we might
see a musquito served a la fourchette ,  I imagined it possible  that we might
have one spear of asparagus for a whole table, or that the infinite divisibility
of matter might be illustrated for us by the trituration of a grain of pepper,
or a flake of salt.  And yet, if I had known that  our excellent friend,  Mr.
Smith, was to be the caterer, whatever might be your principles of eating, I
should have been sure that he would have treated you on the allopathic sys-
tem.
  It is always  pleasant, gentlemen, to see  a  gathering of exclusively pro-
fessional men.  Perhaps some of you  have read the remarkable account by
Zschokke, a Swiss clergyman  and. novelist,  of a  peculiar power, which he
says he possessed, but which he could  not explain, which enabled him,
sometimes, when a person  came into his presence, to see not only the bodily
form but the very soul of the man, and also the moral landscape in which he
stood.   He could see at once all his surroundings and influence upon society;
sometimes he was even able to see the whole history and psychology of the
man.  (If there were many such clergymen now in the pulpit, I don't think
they would have very large audiences.)
  Now if we should go to a meeting of clergymen what a vast mass of dreary
paper would be seen by us, if we possessed the power with which Zschokke
was endowed.  At a gathering of lawyers, what piles of briefs would at once
stand out around them, to such insight — thousands of causes which have
produced no effects for their clients!  Could we have gone  to a dinner of
physicians of the old school of practice, a hundred years ago, what horror
would have taken possession of us in seeing each one of those men stand out
the representative of a large  pond of delicately flavored senna and salts, a
trench about as big as that at  Sebastopol filled with blood, and a pile of pills
equal  in bulk to one of the pyramids of cannon balls which we see at the
Navy-yard !  This is scarcely an exaggeration.  I suppose that, in those days,
two doctors, as far as shedding the vital fluid  is concerned, were about as good
as one brigade.   Must we not acknowledge the striking propriety in their old
name of leeches ?  And is it  not well worth the while of any person interested
in the philosophy of progress to come and see a gathering of physicians like
those in this room, each one of whom represents,  in contra-distinction to the
'picture that would have been called up a century since, a little pile of pellets
which an  ant  could probably throw up in one  day, and perhaps about a
pound  of  sugar.  Certainly,  I don't believe  that anything more frightful
would be revealed in the professional  surroundings of the average physician
here, if a man like Zschokke could see the landscape implements of his pro-
fessional life.
   Let us rejoice that it is so.   Let us not be unhappy, either, over the  fact
that, in one respect, this tendency represented by your school of practice, is
beginning to spread to the  clergy.  I believe the Homoeopathic system is  be-
coming frightfully developed in our  oongregations. They clamor for short
sermons, and many of them are troubled if they have anything more than
infinitesimal  doses  of  some more serious services.  A  friend of mine,  a
prominent ornament of the pulpit of  New England, went not long ago to a
neighboring city to preach.  His discourse was  a very  elaborate one.  He
went home with one of the prominent members of the society ; and at dinner
was treated by his host with an essay upon  government, a subject which he
seemed to  have studied quite carefully.  My friend, who is a philosopher in
that line as well as in divinity, said to him,  " Well, sir, you have evidently
examined with care the English and American Constitutions ; which scheme 
13
of government, on the whole, do you think is the better ?"   The old gentle-
man looked up and said,  " I have not entirely made up my mind; hut two
principles would  determine me ; I should prefer the government where they
preach the shortest sermons and hang the most folks."
  Now, Mr. Chairman, the labors of such men as Brother  Spear are leading
us away from the ideal of society in the latter direction;  but we are approach-
ing the Homoeopathic system, more  and more, in the former.  And thus the
tendencies  to barbarism  on  the one side and to  progress on the other are
about balanced.  [Laughter.]
  Yet,  Mr. Chairman, I  came here urged by  motives that must be  more
seriously expressed"  You have complimented the clergy as  the  representa-
tives of Christianity.  We should remember, however,  that there can be no
complete representatives of the Christian system. There  is no single class in the
community which can be called up to answer especially to our broad faith ;
no isolated class of men can dare to stand forward as the peculiar representa-
tive of the Christian religion.  You know it was said  by  one of old, " To
one is  given  by the Spirit, the word ef wisdom; to  another the word  of
knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to an-
other the gifts of healing  by the same Spirit."   Although, sir, the clergy may
stand  out  as a separated body, in our thought, and be classified as distinct in
the community on occasions like these, the real ministers of Christianity can
not be.  Every man who expressed  a great spiritual truth in his life, and
who publishes a generous consecrating sentiment by his  profession, is a Chris-
tian, and a minister of the Gospel  of Christ.  It is glorious to have the
privilege of standing in an assembly like this to  bear  testimony to this old
christian truth, and  to bring a noble text of the  Apostle Paul to back it up.
   And, sir, as I have sat here and thought how  much good these men have
 done in our community in the last few years, it has seemed to me that, after
 all, the two great offices of the Christian religion are divided so that they can
 be, on the whole, represented by the clergy and  the physicians, better than
 any other two classes.  The great aim of Christianity in regard to men, per-
 haps, can be represented  by these two learned bodies.   Very much as two
 complementary colors make  up the clear white light,  so they represent the
 full-orbed offices of the Master ;  for He, you  remember, was not  only  the
 great  Teacher, but the great Physician.  He preached and He  cured.  He
 touched equally the body and the soul with His word  and with His mirac es.
 And if from  His  right hand  has come down the apostolic succession of the
 clergy, let us remember that from His left hand has come down the apostolic
 succession of the physicians.  And the tendency of these two grea  bodies
 to unite in a common point is shown, I think, in the great effort of the min-
 isters of everv Protestant denomination to be accounted   doctor  at last
 [laughter,] which is the highest aim in the outward lines of ambition of
 every one of  us, except the brethren of the Episcopal  body   And I  think
 thaUhis tendency ought  to be balanced by the  wi lingness of the P^ians
 in their medical societies, to  grant to  their leading members the title of

  " AnTcan it bKSble lhat any other man deserves that title more fully,
 ^cZm^^L^JiU^^inM^^^^  title implies
 than  he wholes into the chamber of sickness to publish  rom his presence
 ahealing^Xfncewhile his genius and skill are ministering  to  the  poor
 suffer in? frame   You know, sir, that, very often, the spiritual ills are reached







  ward phy»ic«l "^"^ fSStm * Ml h,»pt my Uurnks to the 
14
of them here.   And in thanking them, also for the privilege of speaking to
such a sentiment as that by which they have called me up, let me condense
all that I wish  to say, in these few words :
  The Physicians of All Sects—the other half of the Christian ministry, often
the better half; their devotion and fidelity should serve at once as example
and stimulant to their clerical brethren, while they form so noble a chapter
in the history of human benevolence and heroism.  [Enthusiastic applause.]

  Eleventh toast:

  The Nestor of Homxopathy in New England—He adopted the Homoeopathio
theory and practice twenty-one years ago.  Being now of  age, he can speak
for himself.

  Samuel Gregg, M. D., of Boston, responded  thus :
                    SPEECH OF  DR. GREGG.

   Gentlemen :  The story of Nestor tells us, that he was preserved from des-
 truction by Hercules on account of his tender age.  It is also said of him,
 that he particularly distinguished himself by his eloquence and wisdom,  all
 of which can not apply to your respondent.  But if the appellation is meant
 to portray his tranquil, virtuous and  useful life, as delineating the greatest
 perfection of which human nature is capable, your respondent has no objec-
 tion.   As to my age, sir,  it is well known how lads rejoice to get  " out of
 their teens ;" and why should I not  rejoice to be  surrounded, at this day,
 with such a host of compeers ?
   In my tyrocinium, I had a hard and lonely time  of it.  For nearly a year
 after I commenced the practice of Homoeopathy, there was no professional ad-
 vocate of the system in all New England with whom I could consult on the
 subject.  At that time the only Homoeopathic literature in English translation,
 was Hahnemann's Organon, an early  and very small edition of " Herrings'
 Domestic Practice," and the text of " Jahr's Materia Medica," the  Repertory
 to which was then in press.
  Such, sir, were my beginnings, and why should I not, at this day  of my
 " majority," feel happy to be thus surrounded by the hoary heads of wisdom,
 and the vivacity of youth and enterprise ?
  Mr. President:  I would  propose to you,
  The  American Institute of Homaopathy—May the efforts of its members
never remit until they have arrived at  the consummation of the hope of its
early founders.   [Cordial applause.]

  Twelfth toast:

  Our Allopathic Brethren—In discussing our differences with  them, we re-
verse our practice, and will try to give them, in exchange for their small pel-
lets of error, large doses of truth.

  Winslow Lewis, M. D.,  Consulting Surgeon of Massachusetts General Hos-
pital, responded: 
15
             SPEECH  OF  DR. WINSLOW LEWIS.

  Gentlemen ; or would it not be in better taste for me to say Brother Prac-
tioners [Cheers] :   Would it  not evince a kindlier  spirit,  the  spirit by
which I have ever been actuated toward your body, to  address you as co-la-
borers engaged in the holy cause of administering to the  best of  God's gifts,
health.   [Renewed applause.]   I  am exceedingly embarrassed,  for  several
reasons.   My reverend friend  on my right  [Mr. King],  implored your pity
because he had to follow two brilliant men on this occasion.  Now he has su-
peradded his own excellence to those who preceded him.  I am left here,
too, certainly, in some respects, a lone and solitary individual.   My other
friend on the right  [Judge Russell], the wit, the scholar, the eloquent man,
the man  of high position, the great exponent of the law, although he is in so
small a space, in respect to whom I may reverse the mathematical axiom and
say of him, pdrvus  in se continet majora, asked  why he was here, and surely
then I may ask it for myself.
  And yet, sir, I stand before you deeply interested in this audience, for  I
allow that you and I are in the  same high pursuit, and I number in this
audience very many warm personal friends.   Some of you, students,  who
have  wandered, perhaps happily wandered, from the paths that I taught you ;
I hope you may have arrived nearer the great truth which we all seek.  I
have  never been one of those who have  vituperated the science which you
teach.  Of that science I confess  my utter  ignorance,  the more shame that I
stand here to say so, but I know that  the benefits which have accrued to
Allopathy from your science have been immense ; that  they have revolution-
ized our therapeutic agencies, and  I am not prepared to say, that it has  not
done more good than was effected by your predecessors.  Still I am not here
to decry Allopathy.  I look back to its antiquity; Hook back to the illustri-
ous names which adorn our science, and  I fear that at  my period of life no
change for the better can ever  happen to me.   But as I said before, do I not
stand in a very  peculiar position ? Perhaps I am the only Allopathic prac-
titioner  present.  If I am, do I not occupy a somewhat perilous  position ?
But I am not afraid  of your therapeutical  agencies.   [Laughter.]  I think
that from an attack of the whole materia medica of your books I should
come out unharmed.  But reverse the position.  Were one of you to stand
in such an assemblage of Allopaths and be thus attacked, how would you feel
under the huge piU or more huge bolus ?  Would you not then succumb and
say that in therapeutic thunder you were no great shakes.  [Great laughter. J
   I have nothing to say on this occasion except that I am glad to be  once
more with  you, for this is not the first time that I have had the pleasure of
an invitation to meet the Homoeopaths of this city.
   This Therapeutics is a curious thing, and this truth alluded to in the senti-
ment which has called me up, is a thing still sought for, still not attained.
Perhaps you have finally attained it.  This is not for me to gainsay.  But the
therapeutics of  truth, are they of necessity small or large ? Do we know the
size of the Goddess, Truth.  Perhaps she is sylph-like and diminutive ; per-
haps she is amazonian in her structure ;  perhaps as she is isupposed to reside
in the depths of a well her therapeutic agency may be exhibited by drawing
her up in a thimble as well  as in a hogshead.  [Laughter  and  applause.]
Brethren : I will give you a sentiment in which we can all cordially join.   I
give you that practice which best carries out the science of medicine.  [Loud
applause and three hearty cheers.]

   Thirteenth toast:

   Homoeopathy.-Let it be judged by its  merits and tried by  its success, for
only so will it consent to wear the laurels it may win.

   Professor Charles J. Hempel, M. D., of Philadelphia, responded: 
16
               SPEECH  OF  PROFESSOR HEMPEL.

    Mr. President:   After the many beautiful sentiments which have been ut-
 tered this evening, I really do not feel prepared to add much, if anything, to
 this torrent of eloquence.  I am not naturally a public speaker ;  I am in the
 habit of addressing my class, and I believe I do it to their satisfaction : but 1
 have never been in the habit of addressing—and, indeed, I have never been
 called upon to address—an audience like this.   The subject of Homoeopathy
 is perfectly familiar to me, sir ; but I find myself entirely overwhelmed by
 the mass of associations which crowd upon me in this sacred hall.  When I
 talk in this way, I want you to understand that I mean what I say ; I don't
 say this  merely as  a figure  of speech, but I  wish you to understand me
 litterally,—I am not only  confounded in my  mind, my  ideas vanish away
 from me, I have hardly been able to  master my emotions.  When I entered
 this building—and this is the first time that I have had the exquisite pleasure
 of seeing Faneuil  Hall—when I entered this building, sir, the tears flowed
 down my cheeks, I felt that I was indeed rocked  in the Cradle of Lib-
 erty.  [Cheers.] Mr. President:  Freedom has ever been my watchword.
 When I was a boy, sir, I was  wedded to freedom.  I never could  brook  re-
 straint, for I was born, as it were, with the impulse of liberty.   I desire free-
 dom, I desire it now, for every human being.  I believe, sir,  that the bat-
 tle of freedom  is our great mission.   I have no respect for any man who is
 not prepared to fight this great battle, not only to-day, not only to-morrow,
 but every moment of his life [cheers], that it is especially incumbent  upon
 Homoeopathic physicians to battle for freedom,  freedom from prejudice, free-
 dom from superstition, freedom from the creeds, freedom from dogmas.  I
 believe, sir, that it should be  the rule of every  Homoeopathic physician to
 place man above mere institutions, and  I  believe that this rule  should be
 lived up to.  And I am a Homoeopathic physician for no other reason under
 heaven than  because I believe Homoceopathy to be the very best  system of
 promoting the great end which every  true physician has in view, to relieve
 human suffering.  [Applause.]   If I  knew  of a system of medicine which
 would accomplish this more speedily, I should  abjure Homocepathy this in-
 stant and adopt the other system.  I  do not know of any better system, and
 I therefore practice by the Homoeopathic law, similia similibus eurantur,- and
 I shall defend this, on every occasion as a divine law, a  heaven-born  law,
 simply because I believe it to be fitter than any  other medical formula to free
 man from disease.
   But, sir, I do not wish to detain you with any extended  remarks, to weak-
 en the impression of the beautiful sentiments you have heard this evening.
 I would merely say that I wish to request of my co-laborers in the good cause
 of medicine here assembled, not to leave this sacred temple without a pledge
 to their inmost consciences, and in the presence of their Maker to promise that
 they will never  let a single day pass  by without  doing something, saying
 something, feeling  or wishing something, to protect the  great interests of
 suffering humanity.  I believe, sir, that Homoeopathy is the law of God, and
 I therefore believe that this humanity is  bound  to gravitate towards it.  I
 believe that Homoeopathy is a higher law, not as universally conjectured by
 human society, nor as yet incorporated upon the great statute-book of medi-
 cine, but still a higher law, which, sooner or later, will be acknowledged by
 every truth-loving physician.   In the meanwhile, I would request all of you
 to work for that time, unitedly, and avoid all unnecessary sparring, all un-
 necessary discussion, and endeavoring to concentrate our efforts in this one
great cause.  Let every man have his own private opinions, let us differ, if
you please, m small matters, as we have  done in our late convention ;  but
when we stand m the presence of our great law, let us all unite,  let us all
feel that we are defending a noble cause,  and let us all be convinced  that
this course will ultimately bear  fruit for the regeneration  of man,  physical,
moral and intellectual, for this is the great mission of Homeopathy, to build 
17
up the human body, free from weakness and disease, and basing upon this
beautiful platform a sound mind and a regenerate heart.
  I would offer this sentiment:
  Homoeopathy—May she end in preparing the day when every man, a being
of reason, shall move with his body in perfect accord with every legitimate
and pure desire, with his mind  in perfect  accord with every beautiful per-
ception of truth, with his soul in perfect accord with every legitimate, pure,
and noble affection.  [Applause.]

   Fourteenth toast:
   The  Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania—Pleased with  its  past
 Buccess, proud of its present position, we  have the highest assurance for its
 future.

   William A. Reed, M. D., Professor in  the Homoeopathic Medical College of
 Pennsylvania, on rising to respond, was  greeted with warm applause.  He

 spoke as follows:

                 SPEECH OF  PROFESSOR  REED.
    Mr  President: Instead of apologizing for the lameness of the speech which
 I am expected to make, I choose rather to have you discover that yourselves,
 feeling sure of your charity.
    On behalf of the College, I return sincere thanks for the highly compliment-
 ary manner in which you have  been pleased to notice it.
    I can not declare  that we have deserved your commendation, but, I can say
 that we are grateful for it.   We are glad  to receive the  approbation of our
 colleagues throughout the  land.   We rejoice when we are assured that we
 mavexpectthe"?cooperation ; and we thank you, Sir and  we thank many
 S [hose present, notonly for their professions of:  good will  but also, for the
  evidence of this which they have so often given by heir actions
    At this late hour I may but allude to the history of our College. That there
  have been errosTn the  past we are not slow  to admit: that there have been
  S^„ the history of our institution when we could have wished for  better








  have cost the health «J »«»* « JJe"of Matthews  and Loomis are revered by
  most distinguished.  The memories 01 m                           be re_
  all.   There are those aromid :me  here,^^^^^7^ teachers like  these.
  cognized  as  Alumni of the Ins  tut^J^ tghe things of both of those
  There also  are my cla8sm,a^.^^Sihne7ffSt7which  robbed them of their
  who have passed away, and ™to^t****o           lives were the cost.
   strength.   They achieved success:in^™£'Xrd the  best proof of the
     The results of the efforts of  u ^PJ^ecessor^        ^ entel   ise.   We
   success or  the failure  of tbe  ™"*™? ™  nt convention, where fully one-
   have good evidence of its succe ss, :m^ourpr esentw n      ,        ^ ^

   thwV^PHf^J^i™  rknAowteSge°them our colleagues; we
   we point with  pride,    we ares gi«i         d .   th ■ several posiUons.


   simple sentiment.                 _      .
     On behalf of the College I would offer you .
     Un benaii 01         5                            them honored „Q
     The Alumni of our  Institution— We  are  gi«i
   beloved physicians.  [Cheers.]
                             3 
18
  Letters had been  received from many noted Homoeopathic  physicians of
this country and Europe, and from distinguished public men who could not
be present; but there was not time to read these, as the President here an-
nounced that the hour for separation had arrived, and the company dispersed
to meet again later in the evening.
                          THE  LEVEE.
   At 9 P. M., the same company, with their ladies, a large number" of invited
 guests, and the ladies who had taken a prominent part in the Fair, recently held
 in Boston, in aid of the Homoeopathic  Dispensary, about fifteen hundred per-
 sons, in all, assembled in Faheuil Hall, which had been gorgeously decorated
 for the occasion.  The entrance to the hall was through an arch of flags, and
 the entry and stairs to the upper hall, were tastefully draped with flags and
 bunting.  In the main hall various colored buntings radiated from the ceil-
 ing to the gallery cornices, and drooping from the centre was a cluster of stars
 on a blue field, surrounded by American flags on staves with gilt ornaments ;
 above and below the galleries were  heavy festoons of bunting, extending the
 entire length of  the hall.   On the front of the  gallery, opposite the rostrum,
 were the words: "A Cordial Welcome to the Fair Benefactors of the Fair."
 On one of the side gallery fronts, the words: " The Dispensary Acquired,"
 and on the opposite side :  " The Hospital Required,"  briefly expressed what
 has been, and what will be done for Homoeopathy in Boston.  The eagle was
 appropriately dressed with bunting, and in rear of the same a glory of flags.
 The windows of the galleries were draped with flags of different nations, and
 the windows on the lower  floor with American flags,  interspersed with elegant
 mirrors.   In the recess of  the centre door was a mirror draped with flags;  on
 the rostrum, a large  and splendid bronze bust of Hahnemann, with this
 motto: "Die Milde  Macht istgross; "  underneath and twining  around the
 pedestal  was the highly appropriate motto of the Massachusetts Homoeo-
 pathic Medical Society : " Certiarem medendi usum maluit." Suspended from
 the galleries was a number of beautiful bannerols which added much to the
 effect, and the whole reduplicated  by the mirrors on every side  gave a bril-
 liancy and almost magic beauty to the scene.  The Germania Band occupied
 the rostrum, and sent forth their sweetest melody.   The music at once intro-
 duced the company into a social and enjoyable atmosphere.  The hall, though
 well filled, was not crowded, and promenade  and conversation were  freely
indulged in.  Never before were so  many Homoeopathic Physicians gathered
together,  and all seemed to show in their demeanor that if they give  their
patients  small doses of medicine, they themselves can take large doses of
enjoyment.  The ladies were in  full dress, and by their graces  and smiles,
gave^life  and animation to  the scene.   It was the frequent remark of gentle- 
19
men from other cities, that such an assemblage'of intelligence, refinement,
wit and beauty was unsurpassed by their former experiences, and none were
surprised that the Fair, in such hands, should have  proved such a signal
success.  At 11 o'clock supper was announced, and the  company was ushered
into a large and finely decorated hall, with numerous anterooms.  The tables
were laden with the  choicest delicacies of  the season  and adorned  with
the  rarest and most beautiful flowers.   An hour was here spent, and ample
justice  done to the exceedingly liberal provision, when all returned to the
main hall where conversation continued, while some of the company formed
quadrilles to the music of the band.   Gradually adieus were  spoken, and
the numbers who  left Old Faneuil Hall on that night will not soon forget
the pleasant termination of the Sixteenth Annual  Session of the American
Institute of Homoeopathy.