3f
VALEDICTORY  ADDRESS
TO THE
CLASS OF GRADUATES
OF THE
fjfissfluri $§fcbiral  College
AT THE
ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT OF THE SESSION OF 1356-7,
BY
E. S, FKAZER,  M.D.,
PROF. OF OBSTETRICS AND DISEASES OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN.
     ST. LOUIS, MO.
PRINTED AT THE REPUBLICAN BOOK AND JOB OFFICE.
         1857. 
 
Prof. E. S. FRAZER,  M. D.:

                  At a meeting of the Graduating Class of the Missouri
Medical College of the Session of 1856-7, Dr. Hutchison being called to
the chair, and Dr. Williams  elected Secretary, the undersigned com-
mittee were instructed to request of you a copy  of your Valedictory
Address for publication.
  St. Louis, February 28th, 1857.
                               A.  M. DAWSON,    J
                               E. A. CASEY,       > Committee.
                               WM. T. STEWART. )
                                    St. Louis, Feb. 28th, 1857.

To A. M. DAWSON, E. A. CASEY and WM. T. STEWART,
                     Committee in behalf of the Graduating Class.

        Gentlemen :
                 In reply to your note, asking for a copy of my Address
for publication,  I  can only say, that,  if it is deemed worthy of such
notoriety by you, it is at your service.   I  am satisfied, however, that you
have made this request  more from personal considerations, than any
intrinsic merit in the address itself.
                  Very respectfully, your obt. servant,
                                                E.  S.  FRAZER. 
 
VALEDICTORY
ADDRESS.
Gentlemen of the Graduating Class ;
                       Ladies and Gentlemen :
  Custom has made it obligatory upon some one of the Faculty,
at each Annual Commencement, to deliver a valedictory, or fare-
well address, to the Graduating Class.  Upon the democratic prin-
ciple of rotation in office, this duty devolves upon me on the present
occasion.
  Inasmuch as this is an occasion of most intense interest to you,
I sincerely wish its duties had been committed to abler hands ; but
upon this, as upon every other occasion in professional life, I do
not seek to avoid the responsibility growing out of a position which
I have voluntarily  assumed.
  Although I may not be able to transport you  by a vivid imagina-
tion above and beyond the stern realities of  life, to revel among the
stars, or send you  with the rapidity of  the  lightning's flash  to the
vergd of the earth's boundaries :  yet, I do suppose, that from an
experience of  more than twenty-five years  in  the active duties of
the profession of your choice, I shall be able to impart some coun-
sel  and advice which will  be of service to you in the discharge of
the  new and responsible  duties  which you are about  to assume.
  Gentlemen, you  have looked forward, some of you for years, to
this period as the consummation of your highest hopes.   You have
toiled and labored  in the office, in the privacy of  your chambers, in
the lecture-room, hour after hour, week  after week, and month after
month; in the dissecting-room, at the risk and  peril of your health
and lives,  you have bent over the dead body, and, with your scalpel,
unfolded tissue after tissue,  developing the beauty, order and ar-
rangement of  the  physical organization, and  demonstrating anew
the  great  truth, that "man is fearfully and wonderfully made." 
6
   In consideration of your perseverance and  unremitted industry
 and zeal in the pursuit of knowledge, and the high appreciation
 which we, as a Faculty, have of your attainments and capabilities
 for the practice of medicine, we have, this night, by virtue of  the
 power vested in us by the laws of our country, conferred on you the
 highest honor known, or recognized  in  the  profession—that  of
 Doctor of Medicine.
   I hope we, as a Faculty, have duly considered the weight of re-
 sponsibility which rests upon us, in thus bestowing on you the high-
 est evidence of  your  qualifications to practice medicine.   We  are
 your endorsers before the world.  Will you let your parchment go to
 protest, and thus dishonor us at the great banking-house of public
 opinion?  Is there a young  gentleman whom  I  address this even-
 ing, who will  prove recreant to his obligations, implied by the re-
 ception of a diploma at our hands, to devote himself  unreservedly
 to the advancement of  his profession by all honorable means ;  or
 who shall so far forget the dignity of  his own  nature and the rela-
 tion which he  sustains to us, to the  profession in general, and to the
world at large, as to become the slave of  his  baser  passions, and
thus bring dishonor  upon the  brotherhood,  into  the  society and
equality of which we have this night introduced him?
  My intercourse with you justifies me in answering this interroga-
tory in the negative.
  It has been the custom,  heretofore, to devote this hour to giving
advice and counsel in reference to your future deportment and your
duties as physicians, as well as the  difficulties and hardships which
will beset your pathway all along your professional career.  I shall
not, upon the present occasion, depart from that custom, and  the
remarks which I shall make will be drawn  entirely from my own
experience and  observation, and not from  the ipse  dixit  of any
man, living or dead.  Hence they  will at  least have  the merit of
 originality.
  First, then, as to the duties  which devolve upon you as  medical
men.
  You have,  this night, by implication, solemnly dedicated your-
 selves to the profession of  medicine, and to the promotion, by every
 means placed within your power, of its highest dignity and advance-
 ment.
   Some of you may have imagined,  that with the reception  of your
 diploma ended your toils and difficulties that from that time onward 
7
your pathway would  be strewed with flowers, and that all would go
as merrily as a marriage bell.   If so, let me tear the delusion from
your mental vision, and inform you, that, if you discharge the duties
necessarily involved in the practice of physic,  your lives must be
characterized by incessant labor, both physical and mental.  I trust,
that no man who bears away with him the broad seal of the Faculty
of the Medical College of Missouri, will ever consent to occupy a
Second or a third rate  position ; yet, if you would attain to the first
ranks in your profession, you must  labor  with the devotion and
zeal of an eastern devotee.  You should surround  yourselves with
a few of the best authors upon the various branches of medicine,
and, when a  case is entrusted to your management, study it indi-
vidually,  its pathology,  its history,  its  therapeutics.   Consult
carefully the best authors on the  subject, and then submit the whole
matter to the crucible  of your own mind.   Never give up your own
individuality, but  bring ycur own judgment and common sense to
bear upon the case.   Never consent to be the  shadow or  echo, in
your practice, of  any  man, living or dead.  You may wade through
whole libraries of musty volumes ; you may  encumber the brain
with the  antiquated theories  and  exploded dogmas  of those who
have sought to hand their names down  to posterity by writing  a
book, and yet, in the practical details which are so necessary to enable
you to pursue your  profession successfully, you may be almost as
ignorant  as  the  horse you ride or drive.  As a general  rule, the
 books are written by men of the closet—not the laboring, practical
 workers in the profession.  I would not be understood as condemn-
 ing a thorough knowledge of the great general principles by which
 you are to be governed in the practice of your profession, and which
 are to be  attained only by a familiar  acquaintance with the stand-
 ard authors, but that  blind subserviency to the opinions of others.
   I have endeavored  to  impress upon your minds, in my  lectures,
 the importance of obeying every professional call with promptness,
 no matter by whom it is made, whether rich or poor,  and especially
 the latter.   Let it be said of  you, wherever your  lot may be cast,
 that,  in you, the suffering and afflicted poor have a sure and never-
 failing friend in the hour of distress.   Let your motto  be, that no
 human being,  male or female, made, as  they  are, in  the  image of
 God himself,  can sink so low in depravity as  to place them out of
 the reach  df your  benevolence,  professionallyand  pecuniarily.
 They may be worthy or. unworthy;  their destitution  may be the 
8
result of  misfortune or of accident, or  it may be from  the indul-
gence of  their own passions and  appetites ; yet, no matter how it
may have come, it should be enough for you to know, that  the
afflicting  hand of God is upon them, to  arouse  the sympathies  of
your nature and prompt you to fly to the rescue.  When they are
stricken down and languishing under disease, it is too late for you to
stop to inquire whether it is the result of their own folly, or otherwise,
or whether you are'to be remunerated for your services, or not.  Go,
and do your  duty; and though  you may not be compensated by
money, yet your reward  shall not be lost.   The approbation of
your own conscience, when you have retired from the busy concerns
of life to the silence of your bed-chamber,  will afford  you more
real comfort and enjoyment than money can  bestow.  The luxury
of doing good will be yours.   God will see that your labor of love
and mercy shall not be lost ;  nor will he defer payment until you
have exchanged worlds, as some have imagined; but you shall have
your reward even in this life.   The poor penniless widow with her
orphan children, by an act of Providence inscrutible to us, is lan-
guishing  upon a sick bed.  You  are called to attend her ;  and as
you go, day after day and night after  night,  and exert all your
skill for  her  relief, a rich neighbor is watching  your  faithfulness
and zeal  in behalf of the poor,  forsaken, afflicted widow, and al-
though his  own  heart may be closed up against  her necessities by
his inordinate love of money, yet he cannot withhold his approba-
tion of your  disinterested bonevolcnce.   He  too, perchance, falls
sick, and, remembering the poor  widow and your faithfulness, you
are sent  for.   Give him also your undivided attention, and when he
has recovered and you make  out your bill, so  arrange it as to make
him remember the poor widow again, or, in other words, make him
pay a reasonable proportion of her  account.
   The acquisition of wealth  by the practice of medicine is hardly
to be expected, nor, indeed, is  the worship of the  almighty dollar
compatible with its  high and holy behests.   A competency is per-
haps all that you can reasonably  look for ;  and, if you are deter-
mined to be rich, you have mistaken your calling, and  the sooner
you abandon it the  better.  If money is your god, turn your atten-
tion to the money-changer's desk, or to the usurer's cold and heart-
less vocation, the very door lintels of whose office arc made of  case
iron—there is the legitimate field of labor for you, not in the genial
atmosphere of  medicine. 
9
  Next to the minister, the physician  will be  the confidant of his
patrons.  Into his  sympathizing ear  will be  poured, perhaps, all
the griefs and disappointments of the domestic circle.  Your obli-
gation to preserve inviolate all your professional secrets is unques-
tionable.   Aside from interested and selfish  considerations, you
have no right to divulge that which  may implicate other parties,
without their  consent.  You  must necessarily be admitted to the
privacy of the domestic circle, and this fact alone will often cause
you to be  approached by the designing  and inquisitive, eager to
catch every word as it falls from your lips, which they may turn to
the injury of  another.  There is no more perplexing position for a
medical man than when professional honor  requires that he should
preserve inviolate  the secrets which  have been entrusted to him,
while a disposition  to allay all perplexing inquiries demands that he
should  give  a  satisfactory reason for the  peculiar circumstances
which surround  the case.   Upon the fiat of the medical man often
hangs the fairest reputation, and the destiny of inoffending inno-
cence and virtue ;  and as the  thoughtless word, or the dark insinua-
tion, drops from his lips, it is instantly caught up and re-echoed by
a thousand slanderous tongues.
   Wielding  such  a  power, and being the depository of  facts in-
volving  the  peace and happiness  of individuals  and  society, the
medical man, mindful of  his sacred  trust,  should never  abuse the
confidence reposed in him.   And  as  the fair fame of woman is
often in his hands, let him remember that it is  like the delicate, im-
palpable  powder upon  the beautiful wing of the  butterfly  ;  once
brushed off, it can  never return; and the reputation which  his hasty
and inconsiderate verdict has spotted, can never again shine forth in
its pristine brightness and purity.
   Permit me here  to digress, for a few  moments, from  the legiti-
mate objects  of this  address, and press home upon the hearts and
consciences  of  women  their cruelty  towards  an erring  .sister.—
Woman's inhumanity to woman makes countless thousands mourn.
As society is at present  constituted, one false step forever annihi-
late? and blasts the  last  ray of hope, in the bosom of the  erring
one  ever to be restored again to the society and companionship of
friends and relatives.  No matter how many bitter tears may have
been shed  over  her folly—no mattsr that her Father in heaven may
have said to her, "go thy way, daughter, and sin no more," still there
is no mitigation of the unrelenting condemnation and persecution of 
10
her own sex.  Is it any wonder that she seeks to bury the recollection
of her former position in still lower depths of infamy and shame?
How is it, I ask, that  men can steep themselves in the  very pest-
'louses of debauchery  and  licentiousness, and reform  and take an
enviable position in society; be admitted into the most gorgeous
and splendidly furnished parlors ; admitted to the  society of inno-
cence and virtue, and be courted and caressed by the elite and fash-
ionable world?  I answer, by the force of public  opinion, and for
the reason that his brother man does not cast him off, but hails with
joy his return to sobriety and virtue.
   Is there any reason why woman should not have the benefit of a
similar public sentiment ?   How long will women of rank  and in-
fluence, christian women, be chained down by a false public opinion,
and do violence to all the kindlier impulses of  their nature ?  Women
by nature seem peculiarly  fitted to assuage the sorrows and dry up
the tears of  downtrodden  humanity.  How long will they consent
to occupy their present false position ?   Suppose the same facilities,
which men enjoy for returning to the paths  of virtue, were offered
to fallen women ; a thrill of joy would  penetrate the dark dens of
infamy, such as perhaps  never vibrated upon human hearts,  and
thousands would rush back to the arms of an injured  society, and
by every means  in  their  power seek to make  reparation for the
wrong.
   It is said that women never reform, and it is true, simply, because
you will not let them.   Who that has listened to their lamentations,
and witnessed their anguish of heart, as in tears they recounted the
sad story of their wrongs, can believe that a nature so alive to the
nobler impulses of the  heart  cannot  be   reclaimed?  Christian
women, I fear, that, in the day of reckoning, you will have a heavy
account to settle on this score.   The work is peculiarly your own.
Men cannot accomplish it.  You are sure, however, of the co-opera-
tion of every good  man.   Think of this  matter, arid act  as you
expect to answer  at that  tribunal from which there is  no appeal.
Could I take  my stand upon some  mountain peak, and command
the universal  ear of womanhood,  I would  say. burst the  fetters
which have too long pinioned you to the car of a false, cruel and
tyrannical public sentiment.  Assert and maintain your indepen-
dence.  Revolutionize the  usages and   customs ot" societv  in this
matter.  Exercise  the instincts of your nature, and snatch fallen
woman not only from the  fires of  a tom<v->T hdl which, she en- 
11
dures on account of her position, but from the penalty of an  eter-
nal death.
  But  to return from our digression.  In your personal appearance
and dress you should always be neat and genteel.   It is not enough
to clothe the mind, richly, with the great principles of your pro-
fession.   The world looks  somewhat to the external  man; and
indeed there is some propriety in estimating a man's character by
his dress and personal appearance.  Extreme slovenliness indicates
a lazy, laggard, careless and indifferent order of  mind;  while the
other extreme is perhaps equally unfortunate in giving proof  posi-
tive of no mind at  all.   Therefore you will observe a just medium
between the loafer and the soap-lock—avoiding either extreme.
  Your intercourse with your  professional  brethren,  of course,
should be conducted upon the  strictest principles of medical eti-
quette.  Do you ask me where you will  find a complete system  of
medical ethics ?  I answer, in your own  bosom.  If you have not
the innate principles of a gentleman,  it will be very difficult  to
acquire them.  I cannot resist the conviction that we are all gen-
tlemen in the same  way that  Falstaff knew  the  prince—"by
instinct."   A  clear perception of  right, and a  disposition to  do
right, will always protect you from any gross violation of the con-
ventionalities of  the profession.
   Observe strictly  the  golden  rule of  doing unto others  as you
would  have  them  do unto you.   Never seek to  supplant a pro-
fessional brother by insidious detraction, or to damn him with faint
praise.  A  frank,  open and  undisguised deportment towards your
brethren should  characterize all  your  relations  and intercourse
towards them.  Nor do I confine this  course of conduct exclusively
to  those who are  practicing their profession on strict  orthodox
principles.  As a  matter of course,  you will  not be  expected  to
meet those who are practicing  irregularly, or empirically, in con-
sultation ; but there are many allowances to be made in reference'
to those who employ such men.  The generality  of  mankind have
but a very limited conception of the qualifications of medical men..
Unfortunately, there is an amount of ignorance on  the  subject of
medicine, which does not exist in reference to any other subject of
general and universal  importance.  Upon the subject of  govern-
ments, religion, or law, you  will find them  posted up.  In every-
thing which concerns the possession  and title to  their broad  acres,
houses, lots, and  hereditaments, they are  upon  the "qui vive;" 
12
but when it comes to the health and lives of  themselves and fami-
lies they seem content to remain in the most confirmed and unpar-
donable ignorance.   Inasmuch, then, as we  cannot remodel  soci-
ety in this respect, let the  nobler impulses of  your nature predomi-
nate,  and when summoned to the sick  and afflicted, go, and exert
your  skill to  the utmost  for  suffering humanity, no matter  how
many quacks  have  been  in attendance.   Clean  out the Augean
stables.  Send them  and their  nostrums out of the back door,
and by your skill and. success  demonstrate the difference between
science and an ignorant,  presumptuous empiricism.
   I have already intimated that it could not be expected of you to
compromise the dignity of your  profession  and  your self-respect
by meeting these men upon terms of equality, professionally; yet
I know of no reason why this restriction  should extend to social
life.  Take the homoeopathist, for example—and I select that  par-
ticular branch of the great family of medical humbugs, because it
seems tome to be the elite and fashionable one of the present  day,
represeniing,  or arrogating to itself the aristocracy of the entire
brood.  If a gentleman sees  proper to practice upon that  system,
under a full conviction of its  truth, and follows strictly its princi-
ples, there would be no propriety in  your  treating him discourte-
ously in the social circle, however  much you might pity that obli-
quity of  mind which  could adopt a  system  so preposterous  and
absurd.
   I am perhaps more liberal  in my views  in  reference to  Hahne-
mann, the originator of Homoeopathy, than  most of my professional
brethren.  I am inclined to  the opinion that he was an honest man,
and designed  to confer a blessing upon the world by the promulga-
tion of his peculiar views.  He was, in all probability, an infidel
in medicine;  or, looking over the  civilized world,  and  seeing so
many incompetent and ignorant men  in the  practice of medicine
wielding so many potent remedies, which, if  unskilfully used,  must
prove disastrous to the lives of the  people, he concluded that, as a
whole, medicine did  more harm than good,   lh brought his  pow-
erful mind to bear upon its utter annihilation and overthrow, and
not to the correction of  its  abuses, as he should have done.   Pos-
se>smg an intimate knowledge of human nature, he  knew that his
object could not bo  accomplished bV direct and open attack  upon
all remedial  agents,  because  the mind, or the imagination if vou
please, must  and would  have something  to  rest upon, whiU'the 
13
uvis medkatrix nalurse," or the inherent restorative  power of.
the system, accomplished the cure.   Imbued, as he doubtless was*
with the  philosophy of the German schools, he brought forth  and
promulgated to the world just such a system as might be expected
to emanate from such a source ; so etherialized and sublimated as al-
most to bid defiance to mind either to comprehend it, or to combat it«
Many have adopted it, and practice it in all sincerity and honesty-
With such I  have no quarrel.   They are  but  exercising a right
dearer to Americans than life itself.   But there are others, who are
ready and willing to give their patients Homoeopathy, Allopathy,
Hydropathy, No. 6, composition, and steam, or any other imaginable
system which the patient may desire.   Such are knaves and hypo-
crites—no better at heart than the highwayman, or the  stealthy
thief who prowls about your house at midnight and despoils you of
your property.  From such, turn with scorn and contempt, profes-
sionally and socially.
   Your  deportment, gentlemen, in the sick room, and especially
towards your  patients,  should  be characterized by that suavity of
manners, mildness of  temper, kindness and sympathy towards your
patients, which  so eminently distinguish the  true gentleman from
the counterfeit.   Some have sought notoriety by affecting eccen-
tricities,  such as coarse vulgarity, obscene jesting, and even profane
language.   Such things emanate only from illy-balanced minds, or
low and grovelling natures.  However  currently  they may have
passed in the days of Abernathy, the civilization and refinement of
the present age  does not, and ought not, to tolerate such gross vio-
lations of  its  moral sense.
   Temptations, in a thousand forms, will cluster about your path-
way, bedecked in all the  gaudy trappings of vice and folly, so well
calculated to  fascinate and lead  astray the  ardent  and youthful
mind, seeking to seduce  you from a virtuous and upright life.  The
gaming table, the race  course, the intoxicating bowl, and, I  may
add the  muddy pools of party politics, will each, perhaps, in  their
turn seek  to  decoy you into an infraction of the solemn vows which
you have this night taken upon yourselves  to devote body and mind
to the divine art.
   There  is, perhaps, a no more fascinating device of the devil to
lead men to  destruction, to ruin  their business, to undermine and
destroy  their health, to blunt their moral sensibilities, than gaming.
It engenders a morbid appetite for excitement, and totally disquali- 
14
 fies its unfortunate votaries for the sober, legitimate and honorable
 pursuits  of life.   I would therefore warn you  to avoid the gam-
 bler's den as you would the deadly upas.  No matter how respect-
 able its exterior, rottenness and dead men's bones are within.
   So far as its relations to your professional career are concerned,
 I can say but little better of  politics.   Although more respectable,
 yet  it will prove most pernicious to your business and to your ad-
 vancement in the knowledge of your profession, as well as to your
 personal independence.   Nor have I  a very high opinion cf  the
 honesty and  integrity of the professional politician, who pursues
 politics as a trade.  He is driven to the  most abject sycophancy,
 "to  bend the supple knee that thrift may follow fawning," and often
 to sacrifice his own independence,  and consent to be the echo of a
 clamorous and ignorant rabble, or lose his place and his support.
 Can you  consent to barter the dignified and respectable position of
 a physician for such doubtful honors and so precarious a means of
 support?
   Should you, however,  feel  impelled  by patriotism, or a  less
 worthy motive, to enter into the service of the State, abandon medi-
 cine at once.   They are wholly incompatible with each other. Y^our
 Professor of Chemistry, with his admitted ability and learning, would
 find  it  impossible  to  give you  the combining  proportions.  You
 cannot serve  two masters.   It seems to  me that the tremendous
 responsibilities connected  with the practice of medicine are suffi-
 cient to engross the whole  mind and heart.  Few men can contem-
 plate the relations which they sustain to their patients—the un-
 bounded confidence and  reliance upon them in the most critical and
 dangerous maladies—without being overwhelmed with  that respon-
 sibility.  Is it right therefore, in view of  the important trust com-
 mitted  to your hands, to divide and distract your minds with other
 pursuits having no affinity or analogy to your  profession?  My
 advice  to you is to abstain from politics, preaching and speculat-
 ing,  and bend every energy of body and mind to the acquisition of
vocation    m°rC PCrfCCt kn°wledSe of the great principlss  of your

coS1^11  my/JCS  t0Wards  that rock uP°n *hieh  *> ™*J
z:^:^r  Tkodthcir  hopcs  and  prospccts  f«
the J,f  Ti y~?   US° °f intoxicatillg ^inks.  This is one of
 aJu on     ^  d;adl^«s with which  you will ever be
caneu upon to contend. 
15
   It is a popular notion that in  sickness there should always be
some  spirits about  the house,  and the custom of presenting the
bottle to the doctor is almost universal.  There are so many exten-
uating circumstances to lull the  conscience to sleep ; so many rea-
sons why you may, and in fact, why you  ought to take a glass.
You have been up all  night, or you have had a  long ride, or you
are very cold, or you are very warm, or you are very wet, or you are
very  dry.  Oh, what a wonderful catholicon!   It warms  and it
cools, it wets and it dries ;  and, according to the views of some, it is
a "cordial for every  fear and a balm  for every wound."  But there
are two things it cannot do—clothe the naked and feed the hungry.
It can and assuredly will, however, make the clothed  and well-fed
both naked and hungry.  It is not however  my object so much to
picture to your  imagination its  terrible consequences, as to guard
against the formation  of habits of intemperance.  As a general
rule, when the habit is once formed, it never releases its hold upon
its victim.  I would therefore warn you, in the most solemn man-
ner, against its formation.  No man was ever a  drunkard by his
own consent, or  choice.   But  it  is   the  occasional  social  glass
against which I would fortify your minds.   I know it  is usual for
men to say and feel, that they  know how far to go,  and where to
stop ;  and if they find  that it is obtaining the mastery over them,
they will  at once  abandon it.
   What,  I ask  you, is  the  experience and observation of the
world  on this  subject ?   Is it not a  notorious fact that  the indi-
vidual himself is the very last one in  making the discovery that he
is indulging to excess, and is in great danger of becoming a drunk-
ard.   After, perhaps, his neighbors  have  given  him up for  lost,
and his  heart-stricken wife has been weeping in secret and in
silence for months over the gloomy prospect of being a drunkard's
wife he wakes up to a consciousness of his terrible  condition.  The
possession of mind,  of station,  of  influence, or of wealth, is no
protection against its insidious approaches.   The  mightiest intel-
lect that  ever  adorned the human form,  the most gifted genius
that ever  sung in poetry, the  most  burning eloquence  that ever
swayed the multitude, or held chain-bound listening senates, or the
loftiest patriotism  that  ever burned upon the altar of  the  human
heart   is  no  security against its fatal tendencies.  All alike have
been its victims, and have been swallowed up in one common grave
of infamy. 
16
  It is one of  the most exacting and  inexorable  appetites, when
once formed, that ever chained a human being to the car of degra-
dation.   I  do  not therefore ask you to reform the habit when it is
once contracted,  for my observation  is  that  when  once  thor-
oughly formed, it is rarely, if ever, corrected.
  In the course of my professional  life,  I have  met with many
victims of intemperance, and, as I have presented to them the high-
est and  holiest considerations that could be brought to bear  upon
the human  heart as inducements to leave off the habit, I have seen
the briny tears roll down the manly cheek, the bosom heave, and the
eyes sparkle, as, in the very intensity of  his nature, he resolved once
more to be  a freeman.  Time and  time again have I extorted  the
pledge of abandoning intoxicating drinks, and believe such pledges
were given  in the sincerity of the soul  and with a determination to
keep them.  Did they do so ?  In looking back  over my experi-
ence, I  can call to mind but a  single  individual who did.   All,
under the influence of temptation, have relapsed into their former
habits, and one by one have been  dragged down by this insatiable
appetite to a dishonored grave.
  Gentlemen,  these are no fancy sketches drawn from a vivid im-
agination.   "I speak of things  which  I  do know, and testify to
that which  I have seen."   There is probably not  an  individual in
this assembly but that has cause to mourn over the desolation which
has been brought  upon their families  or their  friends by this ac-
cursed practice.   This is  not  all, gentlemen.  Its power to destroy
is not confined to the interests of time.   It kills the soul as well as
the body. It is written that "no drunkard shall inherit eternal life."
  On this subject I have suffered much, and therefore I feel much;
and in view of the desolating and blighting influences  of intoxicat-
ing  drinks upon the human family,  I can  say, sincerely, that I
would to God the knowledge of their preparation were lost,  forever
lost, to the world. As you value your own peace of mind and the good
opinion of  the neighborhood  in which you live ; as you respect the
dearest and holiest affections of the human heart in others, I charge
you to live  a life of virtue and sobriety.   Nothing can compensate
you for an infraction of  the  laws of society  in this respect.   Re-
morse and bitter regrets on your  own part, and the utter desolation
perhaps of  the fair hopes  and prospects of others,  will be the pen-
alty  of any gross violation of  any of the  laws  of your  moral
nature. 
17
  All men ought  to be  religious.   But this is  especially true of
physicians.   Mingling, as they do continually, in  scenes of  sick-
ness and  distress, they ought to be able, when their art  fails, to
point the dying to the  Great  Physician of  souls, and comfort the
living by assurances that "God will  temper the wind to the shorn
lamb."  If, however, you cannot be  christians according to the
orthodox notions of the day, I entreat you not to adopt the  other
extreme and run into infidelity.   It is  too  cold and heartless for
the peculiar duties of your vocation.   It will cut off the right arm
of  your power in the treatment of diseased action.  Every practi-
cal man is aware of the powerful influence which the mind  exer-
cises over the body, and how much a tranquil mind aids him in
combatting  disease.  How can the mind imbued with infidel senti-
ments be at ease?   There is, perhaps, no more appalling contem-
plation to the human mind than annihilation.  If I could this night
demonstrate, with the  clearness of the sun-beam, the fallacy of the
whole  christian system, I would sooner part with my  right arm than
do it.   No  earthly considerations could induce me to rob so  many
thousands and millions of human beings of every earthly hope and
comfort.   No.   Palsied be the  hand that could write, and stilled
in  death be the  brain that would conceive,  a wrong so monstrous!
   Avoid  bitter  and acrimonious disputes  upon religious subjects.
Do not unnecessarily  attack  the  religious  opinions of your neigh-
bors.   There is no point upon which  men generally are  so  sensi-
tive and vulnerable as their religion.   It is  right upon all suitable
occasions to avow your religious  sentiments  and  maintain them
firmly yet temperately, remembering,  at the same  time, that the
same privilege belongs to your neighbor, and that  we are all highly
blessed in living under a government and  laws which guarantee to
every man  the right to worship God according to the dictates of his
own conscience.
   Punctuality, gentlemen, has been well said to be the key to every
man's  chest. I would therefore impress this duty  upon you.  In
all your  relations in life, whether  professional  or otherwise, be
punctual.   I know of no one quality which so  much commends a
man to the  confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens as punctu-
ality in all  his engagements.   This  is  especially  true in money
matters.   Physicians, by some  means or other, have brought the
fraternity into disrepute by disregarding their pecuniary obligations.
          2 
18
This is  doubtless often the  result of necessity.   But as much as
possible avoid contracting  debts without  some reasonable prospect
of meeting them.
  We have this night, gentlemen, introduced you  into full fellow-
ship and equality with us.   Henceforth we recognize you as equals
and co-laborers in the great field of scientific research.   You have
but just entered upon the threshold of  the temple of medicine.  Its
spacious halls and splendid apartments  are yet to be traversed by
you, and this can only be accomplished by intense labor and appli-
cation.  It is a law of  this temple, that  its  beauties will never bo
unfolded to the sluggard.  You have, during your pupilage with us,
we trust, laid a good foundation ; but it will now devolve upon you
to raise the superstructure.   This can  only be done  by patience
and  labor,  adding each  day something  to your  stock of  general
knowledge.
  A few years ago, the stately public edifices which adorn our city,
were heaps of earth,  sand, stone and  forest-trees.   But, by the
skill and energy of our mechanics, those rude materials have been
moulded into the most beautiful and symmetrical proportions.   So
it must be  with you.  Every  facility is  afforded.   A climate  em-
bracing every variety almost, from the torrid to the frigid zone.  A
soil  adapted to the  growth of almost every vegetable  production,
and mineral resources almost unsurpassed by those of  any  country
upon earth.
  In fact it is almost bewildering to  contemplate  the vastness and
the variety of  the field before you.   Nature yet holds in the  deep
recesses of her bosom thousands of secrets which she will unfold
only to the inquiring mind.
  Let  us, for a moment, contemplate the achievements of science in
the last century.  Some of  the most  wonderful results of the
human intellect have been witnessed in  the  last fifty years.   It is
remarkable  how the  mind of  the  world has  run  into scientific
investigation, and what achievements it has effected  in that  short
period.  Fulton launched tho first steamboat in  1807, now there
are more than  three  thousand  traversing  the waters of America
alone.   In 1825 the first railroad was put in operation in Massa-
chusetts.   In 1800  there was  not a single railroad in  the world.
Now there  are about  twenty-two thousand miles of  railroad in
America, and in tho United States alone about nineteen thousand 
19
miles,  costing  nearly three hundred  millions of  dollars.    In
1845  the electric telegraph was  discovered,  and as bng as the
livid lightning plays upon the bosom of the portentous cloud will
the name of  Morse live  throughout the civilized  world.  Hoe's
printing press,  capable of printing  twenty thousand copies in an
hour, is a recent discovery.   In 1800 gaslight was unknown; now
every city and town of any pretensions  is lighted with gas.  The
art of  daguerreotyping was  not communicated to  the world  until
1839.   Gun-cotton  was  but lately  discovered, and  chloroform,
which has robbed the surgeon's knife of half  its terrors, was  dis-
covered but a few years ago.   Astronomy has  added a number of
new planets to the solar system.
   The  intellect  of man is evidently awake, and we may look for
still greater  discoveries in the  next  half  century.   Will you then
sit down and fold your arms together, and say, there is nothing for
you to do ;  or will you gird on your armor and work out your des-
tiny under the influences of  the best  government and country  upon
which  the  sun ever shone ?  American genius  and intellect have
out-stripped the world wherever they have been brought in compe-
tition  with  those of other countries.  This results from the very
nature of things.   There is  an adaptation and a harmony pervad-
ing nature's works.   Our country is  made upon the most gigantic
scale.   Our impenetrable  forests, our boundless prairies, vast lakes
and magnificent rivers, are all but so many indications of the high
destiny which awaits our country ; for they all tell  us in prophetie
language that the mind, the intellect of  the country, will be mould-
ed after the same gigantic pattern.
   The young medical men of America, and especially of the Mis-
sissippi Valley,  owe it to themselves  and to their country to trans-
fer the seat of medical education from Paris to  St. Louis.   The
idea may appear preposterous  to some ;  but I look forward con-
fidently to the  time when, instead of Americans going  abroad in
search of medical  education, our own  halls will be crowded  with
foreigners, listening with rapture and amazement to the learning,
eloquence and transcendent genius  of American physicians and
teachers.
   Now, gentlemen, comes the most painful part of my duty—that
of bidding you farewell.  No one that has not experienced it, can
form any estimate of  the  near and endearing relations which spring 
20
up between professor and student.  But the dearest and most sacred
ties and associations of  this life arc destined to be broken.  Change
is written upon every thing in this world, and we too must part.  The
kind and courteous manner in which you have demeaned yourselves
towards me, has made an  impression which  can only be effaced by
death ; and I trust there are those among you who will remember
me kindly after this tongue has been silenced in death.
   Go then to your several fields of labor, of disappointment and
of trial.   Think not that a placid sky will always look down upon
your pathway.  The poisoned tongue of  calumny and detraction
will often be busy with your reputation.  The purest  motives that
ever influenced the  human heart will be  distorted, perverted and
made to appear as the most unworthy.   Often when  you have ex-
erted your utmost skill, spent sleepless nights, and bestowed  every
energy of body  and mind, you will  be censured, and  perhaps ac-
cused of killing your patient.  If  you attend church, you will be
accused  of hypocrisy;  if you  do  not, you  will be hell  up to
the world, if  not as a  deist or atheist, as a publican and sinner.
All these things, and more, will be heaped upon you by mean and
little contemptible minds.
   Well, I have a  recipe for all this, and now, at parting, let mo
impress one more truth upon your minds.  During the whole of our
intercourse, God being my judge and you my witnesses, I have sought
only to engraft high, moral and  scientific truths upon your minds ;
and  now my recipe is this:  in all your relations in  life, whether pro-
fessional, social, political,  or religious, preserve a conscience void of
offence towards God and man.   In this way the poi>oned shafts  of
their venom will fall harmless at your feet.   Y'ou cannot  expect to
escape these  attacks.   He who opened his mouth only to  bless and
save the world, was  accused of having  a devil, and of eating with
publicans and sinners; and if, like (Vsar's wife,your life is  above
suspicion, you will not escape.   So far as I know, it is the common
lot of all who have attained to any distinction in their profession.
If you should enter  a strange orchard in quest of fruit,  I can tell
you how to find  the very  best in it.   Go to the tree in which vou
find the  most clubs and  sticks lodge! in  its branches ;  there you
will find the choice  fruit.   So with the medical man of true worth.
You will find  the clubs  and sticks of inferior minds  lodged in the
branches of his reputation. 
21
  But I must close this already long address.
  In the name, therefore, of the Medical  Faculty, whom I, upon
this occasion represent, 1 bid you farewell.   In doing so, we com-
mend you to the protection oi: that God who is able to  shield  you
from  all harm,  and devoutly pray that each of you may be blessed
with a long  life of usefulness and  honor, and that, finally, in the
ripeness' and maturity of a virtuous old age, you may be translated
by death to  the home of the good and upright in the haven of
eternal repose.