AN









     ADDRESS:'








          INTKODUtTOKT TO OTtStUt TH*







SOUTHERN BOTANICO MEDICAL COLLEGE.





          FOR THE SESSION OF 1842—3.
3" A. SSJS. fi'IP

.^'»
,^11637    FORSYTH,  Ga.




       HARRIS & JOHNSON, PRINTERS.
1S*2» 
PRELIMINARY  OftlRESPONDENCK.
!>rof. A. M. Spalding, M. D.
  Sir: The Class having heard with much pleasure the Introductory
Lecture delivered by you at the opening of the present Session, have
appointed  the  undersigned'a  Committee to solicit, in their behalf, •
fcopy of the same for publication.
       With sentiments of esteem, &c
                          L. V.  QUIN,      ^     /
                          D.  S.  JONES,      I -J  ...
                          F. T.  CAPERS,    > committee.
                          W. J  MILFORD,  J
  Southern Botnnico Medical  College, )
     Forsyth, Ga., Nov. loth, 1642.  \

To Messrs. L. C. Quin and others, Committee:
  Gentlemen—The flattering manner in  which you are pleased la
notice the Introductory Lecture which I had  the honor to deliver on
Monday, commends my warmest acknowledgements,  and  if its publi-
cation can afford you the least gratification, it is at your disposal.
           In the highest consideration,
                          Yours respectfully,
  N»v. l«tb, 1843.                        A. M. SPALDING.
1^7   P-  f°n* T' t,end»tfthe Southern Botanieo Medical Colleee
Journal are informed  that the Faculty have engaged Messrs  Harrs &
Johnson to print ... and that  the first n.-mber will be issued, according to
promise, about the 1st of December. Those havinr either our late Pml 
INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS,
0B •yenlng tke Noulhrni B«tnn!co«7fc<Ucat College for Sec>I«* lSlS'S*
Ladies and Gentlemen:
       The occasion which brings us together must be one of exciting
interest to every triend of science ; but particularly so to the honorable
members of the medical profession.   This day's  convocation, afforda
sinking and convincing proof, that a spirit of deep and thoughtful in-
quiry is awakened on the claims of  the Botanic System  o( practice,
and furnishes a multiplied testimony that such investigation,  is not
confined, even by the precincts of this wide extended State?   Under
these circumstances, has not the system, if false, every thing to fear.
and if true,  how w ide, how flattering is the prospect before us .'   Add
to this, the  pleasure which the advocates of the system realize, in the
present  favorable  opportunity,  of voluntarily subjecting themselves
to the scientific scrutinv of an ever jealous public, whose praise-wor-
 thy vigilance is at once a xafe guard of individual property  and life,
 and a touchstone, whose withering  influence  will forever blast the
 pretensions  of ignorance,  and  the claims of Empiricism.  Happy,
 indeed shall we be  if professional criticism may assist us in the  detec-
 tion of those errors which must exist in the infancy of every Institu-
 tion, and aid us in  the further reformation of every thing,- which may
 not be able, to beat the touch, of the wand  of medical  erudition,—
 We aie fully aware that the prevalence of the sentiment, is little les*
 than universal, that every possible theory  has been already invented,
 tried, and  (most of  them)  discarded:  that nothing  new in medical
 science remains to be proposed — that those who renounce the opin-
 ions and principles at present received, are  visionaries  and  enthu-
 siasts, deserving the indignant reprehension ofthe^wise and good.—
 Js this the  spirit of proscription ?  Shall every passing age be char-
 acterized by some noble, and useful  invention,  and the  nineteenth
 century reach its very zenith and hive nothing to mark her  proud,
 her progi^sive career?  Shall it ever be said of  freemen, whose in-
 vestigations and announcements are as untrammelled, as free as the
 air they breathe; that they are so enamored of existing dogmas, and *>
 devoted to avowed principles that they art unwilling to

                  '•Sei«c on  the truth whjrpver f->und,   ( ..
                  On heathen or on C.'iritt  in ground T"-  I ||fy

 Poibidit, Heaven!

    To us there appears but  one  system of medicine  with which- the
 present could reasonably be  confounded or* which might be made by
 pur conscientious  opponents to dispute with  it,  the  palm of utility.
  \X* allude to the strange, the  deservedly  repudiated theory of lb,* 
«!
 9 hip on i an school.  T5ut, a moments serious reflection will  convince
 tti» most incredulous that the vapour bath, (itself a powerful! agent in
 Se|i.e'io;i) could never be held compatible  with a mode  of piactize,
 *h<'. e avowed and sole indication was stimulation, and in the absence
 of*, very other test, it must be admitted, that those who  for past ages
 h  ve been in the constant habit of classing Lobelia lnflata. among  the
 nio&t deadly <>f vegetable  narcotics, regarding its action, (even under
 the moat judicious administiation) as dangerous in the extreme, would
 never be able to identity their practice with the recent improvement*
 in medicine, nor withhold from  the  Botanic system its  claim at least
 to originality.   Like all other systems, neither its existence nor per-
 petuity  can be established upon mere novelty.   It  must pass the  or-
 deal of medical investigation, and rise by its intrinsic merit  to a place
 in popular esteem ; and if, at length,  it is seen j to  be unequal to  the
 tt&t, it  will certainly  be  time enough  to abandon  it to the fate that
 maybe awarded  it.  And even fhen, it  would but sink a? does  the
 pilot, to perish where numbers are involved in the general catastrophe.
 Ui.blessed how ver (like other systems)  with the  sanction  of high
 soimdmg name*.; un.sustain.ed by those to'whom with the greatest rea-
 s< n, it had appealed, and  from whom the warmest  support  was most
 reasonably and confidently expected   Where are now  those  splen-
 did speculations to which we have butjiut idluded?  The theory of
 tudm  lor ixample, characteiised as it is  by  great ingenuity and still
 gr« atti  professional lose—a system hailed with enlhuusiasm, originat-
 ing a lurm of nosological arrangement, for which none are so reckless
 a^hou to  avow themselves the advocates.  It  exists onl\'  in the  re-
 cords »•! medicine, a lasting memorial of what has been,  an   affecting
 remembrancer  of what may be, a touching  example of the influence
 oi a nome, » beacon to  warn us against the adoption  of opinions,  not
 ha ed (a*,  all our professional principles should  be) on anatomical  de-
 monstrations, and pathological argument.   What is affirmed of Brown
 an.; (Julien, will apply  with equal  force to many others, who  were
juJ-y ea.eemed the luiiiuaiies of the particular age in  which they
 lived.   Ihese incessant changes in  medical  theory,  and the  conse-
 quent diversity of practice to which the\ gave  rise, have produced an
 almost  unconquerable incredulity in the public  mind,  touching  the
 truth of medical science and consequent value of all remedical agents
 and shaken their confidence even in the profession  itself; and every
 age has furnished abundant reason in its turn to establish the populace
 in the conviction that "Doctors disagree."
   ho student in medicine can read, without pain, the productions of
 the master spirits even of modern date, without being driven to the mor-
 t.\ing conviction, that all he haS to expect from books,  as it respects
 T"£ultv -*-ND  practice, is confusion and contradiction,  and  that his
 omy hope must be laid in his own  personal experience  and observa-
 tion.  It may be asked, do we propose to  remedy  these evils?  Do
 we set at  naught the  professions, investigations, the arduous labor of
 paatceuturie*,?  By no means.   We only.ask your  assistance, in car-
 rying out  a system of medicine  wh.ch may appeal constantly and con-
 fidently to reason: and lay before the Student facts, and facts only ;
 upon which relying, he may trust in his future  prescriptions, and on
 utoich he may reflect, and buildmd improve,both for Lis own  advantage
 *ad the genial good.  And who shall say that s.uch an  euterpr!*- 
 impracticable ?  Who shall presume to fix limits to that immortal and
 incomprehensible principle, in, which the  beneficial  changes of the
 past have originated, and whose mighty  exertions must give birth to
 every improvement of the future?
   Of t^e discoveries of former a^es let us be understood as foremost
 in our profession of indebtedness.  The names of Harvey, Sydenham,
 Rush, Jenner and othets, will even  be  associated with  the noblest
 discoveries, and the most valuable  illustrations  which adorn and dis-
 tinguish* our profession ;  by which we are directed in safetv in many
 of.our pathological investigations, and  in the general application of
 therapputic agents.   But at the same time, we, in common  with oth-
 ers, claim for ourselves the ri^ht to  reject  whatever we deem  un-
 sound in theory, or unsafe in practice,  frankly  awarding to all the
 privilege, ol'judufingand deciding for themselves.
   We now aj proich a point. Gtnllemen, upon   which, as a basis, the
 whole superstiucture of  Botanic medicine is to be  reared—a theme to
 which, if we were capable of doing justice, we shculd flatter ourselves
 that if a signal triumph wer£ not readily gained over the  blindness of
 predjudice, still the way would be successfully  paved for  the  intro-
 duction of future arguments bat little short of irresistible.   Are the re-
 medies, by which it is propose! to combat  dissease in its  almost end-
 less forms, sufficiently potent to answer the indications of cure ]  To
 this mOst important question; let  reason,  sustained by facts,  reply.—
 And first to the  argument:  It is well  known, th.t Lobelia,  since its
 introduction into the catalogue of medicines, has maintained its posi-
 tion, Tatheras a cautionio bold experiments, than as a remedicalagent.
 Text books and  periodicals have been loud in their  denunciations a-
 gainst its use. and the strong arm of civil authority has been  invoked,
 to aid in crushing the daring spirit that would urge  its employment,
 in defiance of the ignorance and prejudice of the people. We stand now
 Bide by side, with a large majority of our professional brethern, on the
 lofty summit of practical  experience, and  look  down with  pity, on
 those false descriptions,  and  with deep  regret  upon that prejudice,
 which proscribes its use; and ask why this hue and cry?  If Lobelia
 be wanting in power, what means this array  ofjlearning,  and  talent,
 and influence, to prohibit its exhibition ?   We are gled for mankind,
 that not only the power,  but the temedial efficacy of -this incomparable
 plant, i-  now being conceded by many of the best writers in our coun-
 try, and I but repeat the opinion of those in high places,  when I  de-
 clare "that if there be a specific in asthma and croup, it is Lobelia In-
 flata. "   Every drug that possesses emetic power, must necessarily be,
 either directly or indirectly, expectorant and diaphoretic.  That Lobe-
 lia proves emetic (whenever properly administered/'  none deny—it is
 therefore a strong and efficient emetic, diaphoretic, and expectorant,
 and  this we shall hereafter prove by facts.   Another sanative agentby
 which the Botanic practice is characterized, is the vapour bath, and
 what argument is needed *o prove the efficacy of a mean upon which
 all rely?   Its power is universally admitted—its employn en , too fre-
 quently neglected.  This is the chief mode jf depletion used by Bo-
 tanic physicians, because it effects at once, the twofold object of de-
 pletion and relaxation.   It is superior in  every point of view  to  the
 water hath, for while the latter chokes the pores, preventing cutaneous
transpiration for the time, the vapour overcomes spasm, always produ- 
s«« depletion, relaxation. *:id pr, «p!'-ation immediately.   With th«*j»
two means then  judiciously applied,  we ran  generally  secure  th«
following c-ffecst: expectoration, diaphoresis, depletion, relaxation  and
perspiration, and by these results alone, every medical gentleman well
knot's, most of the "diseases which scourge our race must by removed
if cured at all.   And wh- re, it is asked, are the substitutes t\n the ano-
dynes and anti-sp.;sr..odics in general use?  We answer, they are lew,
■imple and powerful.   What is the action cf Lobelia  in strangulated
hernia?   The usual  nervine (Cypriped  Lute, or  American  valeri-
an's,)  will seldom fail toanswertho indication in such cases, as we judge
from  experience.  Of its special modus operandi, we know no more
iban  physicians have hitherto learned of the peculiar action of opium
and il< con.pounds.   Two briefcases will sustain my rein,\'!:.".
   1st .Mrs. V. of-------. in a state predisposing to pcrritor.eal  inflama-
tion. imprudently indulged  in eating baked sweet ;)Otatoes-*»throu<jh the
night the  cramp and pain in the b»dy were tormenting. The next day
at°I0 o'clock I saw her—prescribed pulverised cypriped, in a  diffusi-
ble stimulant tea. to be repeated in  le minutes if necessary—after the
lapse of 1--2 an hour found that my patient become easy.   In 10 min-
utes after the first do>e, administered oil, and of course she did  well.
   ±\. Mr. K.-----—,'ca*e of hiccup.  Oxyd bismuth failed. A gom-
pouud of tinct. Lobelia and valerian.   These two cases (selected  from
a largo number,) surely "demanded, in the first instance,    antispas-
modics.  The cypriped tool; eifl-ct in both, and if every  medicine of
this class were entirely wanting,  I am inclined  to the opinion,  that
neither patients  nor practitioners would  lose much by the deficiency^
Another particular to which 1  mnst advert, is the  specific action  of
medicine.  That calomel acts on the liver and glandular  system  gen-
 erally is attested by the observation of &ges—that such  an  action in
 many case, is indefensible to  health and life, I frankly admit. •  If the
 indication in such cases cannot be  met by other uirents, 1 ,-hould feel it
 my duty  to administer  calome'.—Another fact to which I invile your
 attention, it is the general use  of sauguinaria in  chronic affections of
 the liver.   It i-s given to sustain the ..ffect produced by mercury; and
 how can it succeed so hi-.ppily,  if it have no specific action on that
 viseus?  If yotf  will try it  you will find, that in this  particular, it will
 seldom disappoint you, and increasing experience v. ill lead you even-
 tually to  adopt it as a substitute  for  that  mineral in Hepatitis,  and
 affections of other visceia. lequiring topical  treatment.   With  refer-
 ence to purgatives.  Think fur a moment on the question  : How  many
  mineral'medicines  are there of this class, after withdrawing calomel?
  to which  (strange as it may seem,) I deny this property.  Have  not
 the.  advocates, for the  use "of Botanic remedies a  < es  to  a large  list of
  purgatives in universal use?  And do they  not  p.escr'ue a  medicine
  of this class, superior to every  other;  and  whose administrations is
  directed  chiefly by themselves?   We say  superior, for contiary to
  every other  aperient, it never  produces tormina, tenesmus or other
  distressing symptoms,  and instead of being succeeded by a state of
  obstipation, "it  leaves  the intestines in a soluble condition for some
  time after.   Who  will avow so much Cor any purgative of all the  cat-
  a'o-Me besides?  The books denv this statement we are aware, but
  this  is not the only instance in which  medical experience is in direct
  contradiction to the '_• ks. L'otai.i■■ physician*  will  pardon mz.  !«•; 
■aymg, that 1 allude  to trie-Podophyllum Tel latum,  tn connectiro
with the last mentioned agent, Enemata, a curative  mean- too much
neglected, forms a material part of every  course,  and if pi y ians of
Botanic schools  are  notorious  for the prescription  of Lobeiia, they
are not  less popular  in  the employmentof this humblest  of means.—
One word more on geneial  remediate  agents.   Sthenic diseases (a«
they have been  classically termed,)  it is well  known, do not require
tonics, as a subsequent treatment, unless the .mode of piactice em-
ployed, produce a state of enervation in the sequel.  In  all  nervous
diseases, so called,  where  the^e remedies <are needed  thioughout,
botany supplies  tiie phy ician with a rich field from  which to cull his
materials; so tftat he may select a simple  toi.ic, or  compound  a dif-
fusible stimulant at pleasure, according to the  state of the case.  And
now, gentlemen, what do we lack yet ?   You answer, thai proof of the
correctness of your theory which practiral experience alone can give.
Now then  for the proof.  We have furnished  aigunient  in  support
of the efficacy and adaptation ol vegetable remedies to di ease.   We,
new briefly present facts and cases, upon  which, faithfully  detailed,
 evry one may pass his o?;n decision,  and we  shall place the treat-
 ment of both schools in juxta-positicn.
   [Here the lecturer re ported several interesting cases in detail.   Aa
 these were given from  rotes, the following synopsis may serve to il-
 lustrate the fact, that physicians of both schools have the same object!
 in  view in the treatment of diseases, and  that  Vegetable  agents  are
 sufficiently powerful to merit our confidence and command respect:]
                             PLEURISY.
          Old Treatment.                  Potanic Trratment.
   Bleed, blister,  diaphoretics,  ex- I   Vapor-hath, stimulating liuiament
 pectorants.                      | composition,  expectorants.
  Note —Every deirritition of iiii'amatory lever, involving ilw  luii;*, requires the abort
 treatment.
                           BILIOUS  FEVER.
  Emetics, pnrgntiyes, blisters, dia-
phoretics ; and in the sequel, tonics
                            !..o' elia,  enemata and  vegetable
                         purgatives, rubefacients, (hut seldom
                         needed,) diaphoretics, touits.
FACirr MeRBUt nervorum cauctans, (Tic Doloreux.)
Mineral  preparations,  division,
                                  Coiup. tinei. myrrh, unti-spasmodie
                                 tinrt.   (TJ* Living  testimony of ihe
                                 success of ibis simple treatment can
                                 be had, from tbe highest source.
                            CATARRH.
  Bleed, ludoiifici, e^pectorauis, I   Vapor-batb  and  composition cures
pediiurium.                      | nine cases in ever) ten.
  I hope to be understood as speaking for myself alone,  when I de-
clare my conviction that the remedies in general use for past centuries
are deserving of  all the merit  which is claimed  for them; and yet,
with the same discrimination which  has  secured success in their em-
ployment, the botanic agents would be found equally successful, and
like "the  blessings  of  the  Loid, they would make rich and add no
sorrow therewith."   But,  without such  discriminating powers, the
vapor-bath, with lobelia, would  often become the  means of increasing
debility, or  heightening the pressure of the  circulating fluids on some
delicate  and  sensitive  structure.   Let physicians   of   proper cul-
tivation make trial of the virtue  of these  means, and we  have nothing
■» dread from the charge of exoneration. 
■-T
   i ..eTeTs^ne^d^ect of deep regret f.i \pvery friend of science and
humanity.   I nHude to the great deficiency in medical knowledge on
the part of many who practice under the botanic system.  We neither
wish nor hope to shelter'from public  censure those who, for the tri-
fling consideration of  fifteen or twenty dollars, go forth with every
confidence of  success to the treatment of all diseases.  The correct
and safe practice of physic, whatever means be employed, must spring
from" a proper knowledge of the  various (systems, of which man  is
constituted—the symptons  of the  normal  and abnormal state— such
an  acquaintance with pathology  as  cannot  be regarqVi. a^a naturd
gift, and to which we are indebted for all our powers of discrimination
and prognosis, rnd by which we must be guided in all  our  prescrip-
tions.  And to whathappy circumstance} gentlemen, are we .to attri-
bute the p-eneral success of those  who  are ready  to make the morti-
fying confession of their deficiency on those subjects?   Doublless to
the power, the efficacy, and the harmlessness of the means; but chiefly
to the vapor-bath, which, in  many  instances, I  an  fully convinced,
has been the conservative  principle in lh*ir  practice.   We are advo-
cates for education :  with us the maxim is sacred,  " mind is power,"
and we cannot be made to believe that men can avoid mischievous
errors in the practice of physic, let their systems  be  what they may,
whose judgment, previously trained, is not exercised on the case in
hand.   Nor is it possible lor any  man to know the true state  his pi-
tient is in, when called to his bedside, who  is totally ignorant of pa-
thology.  I may add, it will  never  require  the repulsive efforts of
educated physicians to keep the uninformed practitioner of any school
at a distance.   His own consciousness of inequality will forever pre-
vent that lnendly, social intercourse, which is so desirable and so be-
coming in  members of the same piofession;  and tako my word for it,
that where proper literary advantages  are enjoyed there need be no
fear of collision nor apprehension of  injury,  resulting from the inter-
course of those who have emanated  even from different schools.  By
this means, and this alone, we  expect to see botanic medicines ad-
vanced  and elevated, and  those  who adopt it promoted to the same
rank and distinction  which  have  been enjoyed by the worthy of the
medical profession from the very infancy of the science.
   These very halls admonish me, that the sentiments just announced
 will find a response  in  every breast. 'I his very  edifice  will  carry
 down to succeeding generations the  pleasing conviction, that Georgia
 has never been neglectful of her sons—that with you, an education is
 the best inheritance—that with you,  whatever promises the promotion
 and advancement of the. public weal, will ever meet with yout mo>t
 cordial support. Endow your institutions with the proper prerequisites
 continue to bestow upon them that vigilance and fostering cure which
 have hitherto marked your course, and manifested  your devotion to
 the cause of intellectual cultivation—md, apart from all personal con-
 siderations, you will (at no distant day) reap the reward of your la-
 bors, in seeing all your public seminaries  occupying a distinguished
 position in that brilliant galaxy which already excites the  admiration
 of surrounding nations.   And even  this infant institution (now strug-
 gling for existence) shall acquire for itself a character and reputation*
 which shall only be equalled by the enviable distinction of him wbi
 "plucked his laurels from the vault of Heaven."