VALEDICTORY ADDRESS 
TO THE 
GRADUATING CLASS 
OF 
JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE, 
AT TI1E 
FIFTY-FIRST ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT. 
DELIVERED IN THE 
ACADEMY OF MUSIC 
MARCH 11, 1870. 
BY 
WILLIAM H. PANCOAST, M.D., 
PROFESSOR OF GENERAL, DESCRIPTIVE, AND SURGICAL ANATOMY. 
PUBLISHED BY THE CLASS. 
r II1 L ADELPIIIA: 
P. MADEIRA, SURGICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER, 
115 SOUTH TENTH STREET, BELOW CHESTNUT. 
1876. VALEDICTORY ADDRESS 
TO TIIE 
GRADUATING CLASS 
OP 
JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE, 
AT THE 
FIFTY-FIRST ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT. 
DELIVERED IN THE 
ACADEMY OF MUSIC 
MARCH 11, 1S7H. 
BX 
WILLIAM M.D., 
PROFESSOR OF GENERAL, DESCRIPTIVE, AND SURGICAL ANATOMY. 
PUBLISHED BY THE CLASS 
PHILADELPHIA: 
P. MADEIRA, SURGICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER, 
115 SOUTH TENTH STREET, BELOW CHESTNUT. 
1876. PHILADELPHIA: 
COLLINS, PRINTER, 
705 Jayne Street. CORRESPONDENCE. 
Jefferson Medical College, 
March 10, 1876. 
At a meeting of the Class held this morning, it was— 
Resolved, That a committee, consisting of one from each State and Nationality 
represented, should be appointed to present the compliments of the Class to Professor 
Wm H. Pancoast, and request a copy of his Valedictory Address for publication. 
P. J. RAGAN, President. 
J. A-. Carncross, Secretary. 
Prof. Wm. H. Pancoast— 
Dear Sir : We, the undersigned, a committee appointed by the Graduating Class 
of 1876, take great pleasure in expressing the unanimous desire of the Class for a 
copy of your Valedictory Address for publication. And we earnestly hope, that 
many future students may have the opportunity, of listening to the very clear and 
instructive lectures delivered by you, which we feel to have been of inestimable 
value to us. 
Philadelphia, March 2, 1876. 
Samuel W. Woodruff, Pennsylvania. 
R. Bruce Benham, Ohio.’ 
Enoch T Pritchard, Indiana. 
Willard II Rogers, New York. 
Chas. M Noble, Illinois. 
Wm. A. Johnston, Iowa. 
Enoch Calloivay, Georgia. 
Allen D. Gilmer. North Carolina. 
George W. Marshall, Delaware. 
Ttios. II. Price, West Virginia. 
Theodore A. Keeton, Missouri. 
John J. Kane, Kentucky. 
Stacy B. Collins, California. 
Ttios P. Palmer, Tennessee. 
Henry H. Race, New Jersey. 
Wm. F. Davis, Maryland. 
Yours, most respectfully, 
Jas. G. Stephens, Virginia. 
Guillermo Machado Plana, Cuba. 
T. Erskine Todd, South Carolina. 
J. B. M. Bonnefil, Costa Rica. 
Wm. L. Kelsey, Connecticut. 
Peter Burgi, Idaho. 
Wilhelm Thies, Germany. 
Louis Bazet, France. 
J. J. Harlan, Alabama. 
Frank L. Weir, Rhode Island. 
B. J. Fehrenkamp, Texas. 
J. A. Hamilton, Louisiana. 
B. R. Somerville, New Brunswick. 
Louis Goribar, Mexico. 
Ottocar Kopetsciiny, Bohemia. 
1100 Walnut Street, 
Gentlemen : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of yester- 
day. My address was written for the Class, and I take great pleasure in placing it 
at their disposal. Pray accept for yourselves, and tender to the Class you represent, 
my sincere acknowledgments for the kind expressions which accompany their request. 
With warmest wishes for the future welfare and happiness of yourselves and the 
other members of the Class, 
Philadelphia, March 11, 1876. 
I am, with great regard, faithfully yours, 
To Messrs. Samuel W. Woodruff, R Bruce Benham, Enoch T. Pritchard, Wil- 
lard H. Rogers, Chas. M. Noble, Wm. A. Johnston, Enoch Calloway, 
Allen D Gilmer, and other members of the committee. 
WM H. PANCOAST. VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 
It is my pleasant duty, gentlemen graduates, as the repre- 
sentative of the faculty of Jefferson Medical College, to 
address you on this interesting occasion. 
You have each one of you, on the bestowal of this day’s 
honors, arrived at a brilliant point in your life’s history. 
You have been waiting long, and striven, as we know, 
anxiously to obtain these honors. 
I can readily recall my student days, and I well under- 
stand the nature of the wearying and intricate studies to 
which you have been night and day devoted : and I feel con- 
vinced that you well merit the rewards that follow such 
patient devotion. 
This day the honor you have received and have so fairly 
won, makes you objects of great interest to us all. 
You see the evidence of it, in a measure, in this great 
array of distinguished men and beautiful women, who come 
to do you respect, as the heroes of this hour. 
The hearts of the older and more experienced are filled, I 
have little doubt, with hopeful anticipations for your suc- 
cess in the future ; and soft and earnest eyes express in 
their kindly beams, deep interest in your behalf. 
It is not improper then that your triumph of this day 
should he adorned with flowers, and ushered in with music 
and rejoicings. 
From the hands of our distinguished president, you have 
just received the diploma of the Jefferson Medical College 
of Philadelphia, stamped with its broad seal, attesting to 
your full qualifications, for the practice of the sacred art of 
medicine. 
By this act you are now elevated, so far as regards titular 
rank, to a level with the highest in the land. I may then 
well congratulate you, gentlemen graduates, on this halcyon 6 
termination to your labors, and, in the name of the faculty 
and trustees of Jefferson Medical College, welcome you— 
warmly welcome you—into the ranks of our honored pro- 
fession. * 
You are now about to leave the hum and hustle of the 
schools, behind you. Like the knights of old, you have 
patiently performed your ordeal at the shrine of science and 
duty, have been dubbed with your rank, and are prepared 
to go forth over this broad land in the search of adventures 
and renown. You go out in a more quiet guise than the 
errant knights of old, hut with even a nobler object, to war 
with the demons of disease and pain ; not to inflict injuries, 
but to relieve the injured, to succor the suffering, and 
strengthen the weak. In this benevolent view of your 
ministrations, it might almost become you to bedeck your- 
selves, with the palmer’s shoon and the scallop shell. 
From the point now reached, you must necessarily have 
your attention turned toward the future path which you 
are about to tread, and which seems, I have no doubt, to 
stretch out vaguely and mistily before you. 
You may regard it anxiously, hut you must not despair- 
ingly. You are in a good measure prepared for the under- 
taking, and are charged, as I well know, with high expecta- 
tions and noble impulses ; for such high qualities are the 
natural fruits of the devoted study of a philanthropic profes- 
sion. 
I wish, gentlemen, that I were only able to peer into the 
sea of the great future before you, as I now look into this 
sea of upturned faces; then I would cast your horoscope, and 
tell when and where and how-you ought to proceed, with 
the more perfect assurance of success. But this cannot he ; 
you must go forth under your own guidance. 
You must he the architect of your own fortunes. 
Youth, I know, must have its dreams, and Hope is a god- 
dess ever ready to bless us on this earth. 
Busy Fancy will be with you, sketching out in her beauti- 
ful rainbow pigments a beau ideale of the brilliant career that 
each one of you would wish to run. 
Mistrust this fairy mistress a little, who, overlooking the 
asperities of the path to be trodden, directs attention only 7 
to the glittering prizes to be attained at the end of the 
struggle. But banish her not altogether. She may lead you 
to undertake higher emprises than you will be able to master. 
But never mind. He who starts in his career, and goes 
persistingly on, with high and noble aims, though he would 
scarcely expect to realize them all, will raise himself highest 
in the estimation of all good men, and leave the idler and 
the sluggard far behind him in the race. 
Be not satisfied, therefore, to rest upon your present 
laurels, lest they wither while you yet caress them. 
Be ever on the alert to qualify yourselves for new under- 
takings; actively endeavoring to improve yourselves day by 
day, in an increasing knowledge of your profession. 
Let few leisure hours be wasted in indolent ease. 
Employ them in the investigation of such medical subjects 
as excite the nearest interests, gathering up knowledge to 
be laid away in the storehouse of memory. Though you may 
not for the moment see, when the occasion will come, that 
you may employ it most advantageously ; yet it will come, 
sooner or later, to increase your usefulness and enhance your 
reputation. 
If each day’s setting sun shows something newly gained 
in your profession, then you may feel satisfied that you are 
doing well in the student’s path of duty. Ho one should be 
so presumptuous as to think, that the time is or will ever 
come, when the necessity of self-improvement is unneeded. 
That time comes truly to none. I want you, and I will repeat 
the wish—now while flushed and gratified with your present 
success, to lay down your plans for future and continuous 
study. Remember that with all our aid, you have been able 
as yet to establish little more than a solid foundation, upon 
which you are to build in the future. 
With minds firmly bent, on fitting yourselves to hold a 
high place, in the estimation of the good and wise, you need 
not be fearful of the future; friends will form around you 
to aid in your advancement, and sooner or later you will be 
greeted with grateful whispers, in the voice of praise, for 
favors that you have bestowed and professional successes that 
you have won. 
Seek in your location no secluded spot, far away from 8 
competition. Honest competition, with able compeers, will 
serve to give point to your energies, and push you on in the 
way of distinction. 
However crowded the profession may seem to be around 
you, despair not on that account. Take but the greater pains 
to fit yourselves, for the treatment of every malady that may 
come before you, and recollect what was said by Webster, 
“ That in every profession, there is always room enough at 
the top.” 
You see that I am urging you, not to cease your efforts at 
mental improvement: for I know that every physician, 
whether young or old, feels its need, and that you will find 
your interest and pleasure in this philosophical pursuit, to 
increase with every step you make in your advancement, for 
“ How charming is divine philosophy, 
Not harsh and crabbed as dull fools suppose, 
But a perpetual feast of nectared sweets, 
Where no crude surfeit reigns.” 
Though there are many pathways to distinction in the 
different branches of our profession, there are none of them, 
as you will find, smooth or polished. They are more or less 
rugged and rough, with stones and brambles in the way, and 
crowded with jostling aspirants, emulous of being the first 
to reach the goal. Along these routes you must patiently 
and persistently struggle, trusting not to the chance accidents 
of birth and fortune, but to the powers of the solid acquire- 
ments, that each may gather to himself. For by this means 
you will conquer success. And it is certain that such powers, 
when massed like strong battalions, and well applied, always 
carry the day. Some of you may enter this struggle, with 
the advantages of fine training and unusual native ability; 
others less richly endowed at the start, may find a full com- 
pensation for this seeming want, in greater fervor of zeal, 
and more determined application. Which of the two, the 
native genius, or the plodding and indefatigable inquirer, is 
to become the most successful in the end, the touchstone of 
time only can determine. Could you lift the veil that covers 
the working chambers of men, who are distinguishing them- 
selves in their professions, you would find them in the leisure 
moments of the day, and in the stillness of the night, work- 9 
ing—working—with a diligence beyond ordinary toil, to fit 
themselves for the positions to which they aspire. 
For in truth, as has been before said, nothing valuable can 
be truly gained without industrious application, even by 
those endowed with native genius. 
Was this the case even in the reference so frequently made 
to Napoleon the first, who rose to almost superhuman emi- 
nence, though springing as he did from a very humble origin? 
“A spark, that from a suburb hovel hearth 
Ascending, wrapt the capitals in flames.” 
lie was unquestionably a genius. But think you not that 
the little midnight lamp, that glimmered so constantly from 
his window during his student days at Brienne, had not 
much to do in fitting him, for the great part he was to play 
in the future? Yes, gentlemen, that little flickering mid- 
night gleam, was the embryonic star of his destiny. 
The science of medicine, no\y more than three thousand 
years old, did not come into the world perfect, like Minerva, 
when she sprang from the brain of Jove. It has been slowly 
built up by the successive labors of great men, from the 
time of Hippocrates down to the present day, swelling the 
little original rill of science till it has now become a mighty 
torrent. 
It is curious to trace the great wave of scientific learning 
in its spread from the east to the west: To be returned 
finally, as is possible, with increased fulness and force, in the 
opposite direction, through the efforts of American genius 
and the ingenuity of American inventors. 
The star of empire, as we all know, had its origin in the 
east. 
The intellectual development which had its birth in that 
region, was impressed upon all the nations over which it 
spread, on its march towards the west. In the earliest 
days, Chaldea, Assyria, India, and then Egypt, were the 
great centres of the knowledge and science of the world. 
The Greeks drew much of their knowledge and inspiration, 
from the two latter sources. 
From the time of Alexander the Great, or rather I might 
say, from the time of his great teacher Aristotle, knowledge 10 
began rapidly to be diffused, especially after his conquest 
of the shores of the' Nile. The city which he founded at the 
mouth of that great river soon became under the Ptolemies, 
and especially Ptolemy Philadelphus, whose name should 
sound gratefully to us, the most beautiful one in the ancient 
world. By Greek architects it was tilled with temples and 
monuments, and in its famed Pharos possessed the first 
great lighthouse in the world. It was enriched with libra- 
ries and schools, and became the home of the learned and 
studious. Students flocked to it from all quarters, and to 
the number, it is said, of many thousands. 
But at last came its downfall, and its schools were anni- 
hilated. First it suffered from its Roman conquerors ; and 
finally from the Mahommedan blight which completed its 
ruin. Though its schools were destroyed, their influence was 
not lost. It was extended to the Roman literati. It im- 
pressed most powerfully the better part of the Arab race, 
and thus seems to have conquered its very conquerors; for 
in succeeding years the Saracenic Arabs, translating the 
Greek books, became almost the only learned men, and kept 
burning the lamp of science of the time, which, but for 
them, might have been utterly extinguished. From these 
Arabians the returning crusaders brought back much knowl- 
edge into Europe. 
Schools of science were first established in Europe, at 
Salerno, near Naples, and Arab teachers, it is said, filled some 
of the chairs in that school. From this small city, science 
was rapidly diffused over Europe. Academies of renown 
were established, as at Bologna and Padua, and students from 
nearly all parts of Europe gathered at those shrines. 
Under the influence of this spread of learning, the darkness 
of the superstitious and war-like middle ages gradually 
melted away, like a dense fog before the morning sun. Great 
schools subsequently grew up in Paris, Vienna, London,and 
Edinburgh. To these great centres of clinical instruction 
and hospital experience, went the early students from this 
new and then little known land, our Rushes, Physicks, and 
Chapmans. 
The flame of medical science soon began to burn brightly 
in America. The first important course of scientific medi- 11 
cine in this country was given in a small building in an 
obscure portion of this city. Xow its influence has spread 
broadly ever the land, and is appreciated abroad. 
Steam communication on the Pacific has made, what was 
once the most distant east, the then remote Indies, our 
western neighbor. Our country is now directly intermediate, 
between those east, on the Atlantic side, and west on the 
Pacific, midway between the true Orient and the true Occi- 
dent. Our continent may now be considered the highway 
of the world. When intellectual development reaches here 
ifs full height and keeps on its westward march, may it not 
be possible that it may be the means of rekindling the flame 
of science in the far Indies west of the Pacific? Thus we 
may be able to return the with great and valuable 
additions, to those antique nations, from whom we received 
it by the way of Alexandria; and it may be, possibly to have 
it to commence again the round of our earthly orb. 
Remember that all the fruits of the labors and magnifi- 
cent researches of the generations that have preceded us, 
are now opened out before you, for careful study and investi- 
gation. 
The science as yet, however, is by no means complete or 
perfect. There may be something that you, each one, can 
do to aid in its advancement, and join yourselves to the great 
body of its improvers, that have gone before. 
And if you should be successful, in making some new dis- 
coveries in anatomy or physiology ; find some improved me- 
thods of combating disease; some important virtues in our 
native medical plants; anything indeed, that may remove or 
alleviate the miseries of disease and lengthen out human 
existence; then you will in truth, he able at the close of your 
career, to wrap your cloak about you and sleep your last 
sleep in honor. 
Cicero said that men in no way approached nearer to the 
gods, than in giving health to their fellow men. The great 
and the rich, look to us for aid in their hours of weakness and 
suffering, and receive our behests with respectful considera- 
tion. The poor, who are always with us, will think, for such 
is the common estimate of the philanthropy of our profes- 12 
sion, that they are entitled to receive from it the aid they 
seek. 
To the immortal honor of our profession, it is commonly 
awarded with care and kindness, not only in hospitals and 
dispensaries, but in private practice, without fee or reward. 
A prominent French surgeon of other days, was called to 
give professional assistance to a great man of France. “ Bear 
in mind,” said this proud man to the surgeon, “ that you 
have not a hospital pauper under your hands, but the Prime 
Minister of France.” “Monsignor,” replied the surgeon, 
“in my eyes, every poor patient in the hospital, is a Prime 
Minister of France.” 
He spoke but the common feeling characteristic of our pro- 
fession. 6 
Pray permit me to make you some suggestions, that may 
prove useful in the furtherance of your future prospects. 
First of all things, avoid exclusive sects in medicine, and 
all blind empiricism. Recollect that there is but one science 
of medicine,and that sanctioned by experience; which includes 
all justifiable means of curing disease and alleviating human 
anguish. Should some of you give yourselves most to the pur- 
suit of surgery, you must not at the same time neglect your 
medical studies, for every surgeon has need also to be a good 
physician. Very many of you may be placed in rural dis- 
tricts, remote from clinics and hospitals, and will have to he on 
occasions your own surgeon, ophthalmologist, gynecologist, 
auscultator, percussor, and laryngoscopist. Endeavor to keep 
up your anatomical knowledge, in all its varied relations to 
functions and diseases, such as we have endeavored to teach 
you. 
Keep pace as far as you well can, with the progress of the 
various sciences and the polite literature of the day. But 
let not this be done, to the disadvantage of your proper pro- 
fessional avocations. Though the world at large, is disposed 
to judge of a man in proportion to the excellence of his 
general accomplishments and varied knowledge, yet every 
one’s reliance in sickness, will be in the physician, who shows 
the greatest mastery of his art, and can most quickly relieve 
him when sick or suffering. 
Shall I conjure up a picture, such as I think that many of 13 
you here, who do not settle in large towns, will present, and 
such as I have often had the pleasure to witness—the possessors 
of a pretty cottage in some country village, with a spacious 
and well cultivated garden behind it, with a cheerful porch 
and a neatly kept lawn in front, where you will sit in tine 
weather to read, embowered with woodbine and jessamine. 
Within, a cheerful office and library, containing besides some 
gracious fairy to brighten and bless the place. On the shelves 
arranged around are your books, not numerous at first, but 
well chosen, and lying on the table, one or two medical 
journals and popular magazines. Your books should be of 
the newest and the best; each as far as can be, encyclopedic 
in its character, like the great work of your professor of 
surgery on his branch, so that you may at will, have refer- 
ence at hand in each department of your science. 
In order to make your reading more serviceable to your- 
selves, I would suggest that you always keep a note book at 
your side, in which to jot down the important facts, which, 
you would wish to fix in your memory. 
In important cases that come under your notice, and 
especially if they be malignant or novel ones, make regular 
entries in your medical diary, of the symptoms and changes 
from day to day. Enter the prescriptions which you make; 
the effects that you wish to produce by them; and mark down 
the results. You will keep thus a history of your practice. 
By so doing the physician is all the time giving point and 
value to his personal observations, gains a more thorough 
knowledge of the therapeutic use of medicines, and will soon 
learn to prescribe, with a greater assurance of success. 
In obscure and difficult cases, it will be always well for you 
to consult carefully the different writers that treat on the 
particular subjects in question ; and when you have doubts in 
regard to the proper line of practice to be followed, do not 
hesitate to call in the assistance of the most reliable practi- 
tioners within your reach. 
In plain country physicians, you will often find, as I have 
done, an accumulated fund of rich personal experience and a 
directness in prescribing for familiar diseases, that will excite 
your admiration. 
From such men you may have much to learn, and it will 14 
be to your decided interest, as it should be your pleasure, to 
treat them with the most respectful attention. 
They may be behind you, perhaps, in a knowledge of the 
novelties of medicine, but they will have gleaned much which 
you have yet to learn, from the most reliable of all teachers, 
long personal experience. 
We are all stirred too much perhaps with the announce- 
ments of new and wonder-working medicines, with strange 
and doubtful theories of practice, and processes of operations 
that are of little value, until they have become sanctioned by 
experience. This is not to be regretted. It but shows the 
wonderful activity of medical teachers of the present day, 
and though it may be pushed to extremes, it is even far better 
so, than that the profession should keep too exclusively in its 
old ruts or settle down upon its lees. 
But you will do well to observe great caution in replacing 
the old and well-sanctioned ways of practice, by any new 
and doubtful measures. You will feel your way gradually 
if you step out of the beaten ways of old experience. In the 
trial of new measures, not fully sanctioned by reliable men, 
always be studiously careful, never to endanger in the least 
by so doing, the interests of your patients. 
But as everything changes around us from time to time, 
the climate, the emanations from the soil, even the constitu- 
tions of the atmosphere, modified by choleraic and other infec- 
tious diseases, so must our views at times undergo correspond- 
ing modifications, in regard to treatment. When you read 
back along the descending records of our science, you will 
observe how the ablest of the old chroniclers of our profession, 
men of great observation and the highest practical wisdom, 
who, if they were living in this day, might make many 
of us droop our heads before them, pursued plans of practice 
in various diseases, very different from those which we now 
uphold. 
But were they wrong? Were not their modes of treat- 
ment well suited to the cases of the time in which they 
lived? We bleed rarely from the arm now, for, since the 
first general spread of Asiatic cholera over this country in 
1832, diseases have been of the lower and typhoid type, and 15 
the supporting, rather than the reducing plans of treatment, 
have been found the most beneficial. 
But were Sydenham, Cullen, Rush, IIartshorne,and Parrish 
wrong when they used phlebotomy so freely, at the times 
they did? We do not see such eases of high inflammatory 
fever now as they did, though there are many yet in prac- 
tice in this city, who in former times have done so. 
But let the time come back, from the operation of nat- 
ural causes to which we have alluded, when, instead of the 
feeble, irritable pulse, and the low tendency of our pre- 
sent fevers, we have again presented to us the florid faces, 
the bursting headaches, the burning skin, the bounding 
pulses, and the turgid veins, we may have again to bleed as 
our ancestors did. 
There are many of the old members of our profession now 
living, who can well recollect what unspeakable relief was 
oft-times afforded in such cases, when a turgid vein was 
opened, and the venous blood, which had been so hurried, 
about the system, burst out at first with a florid’hue almost 
like that of the arterial fluid. To this I allude—to these 
well-known changes of disease, and the modification of the 
plans of treatment—in order that you may preserve a due 
respect for the opinions of the experienced practitioners of 
old; for the observations of men of learning and experience, 
in whatever age, have their own specific value. 
At the close of this ceremonial you will leave, most of 
you, for your homes, to display the honors you have gained, 
and to receive the congratulations of parents and relatives 
who have watched over your youth, and regarded with 
tender solicitude your opening manhood and prospective 
career. But you will leave many endeared to you, remain- 
ing behind, anxious to hear of your future fortunes, to whom 
your own memories will often fondly turn. 
During the succeeding spring and summer our great me- 
tropolis will present unusual attractions to strangers, and 
probably induce many of you to make us another visit. 
You have, during the present winter, witnessed the bustle 
of preparation for this gigantic undertaking, and heard 
faintly, the coming hum of the triumphant jubilation, that 
will attend the celebration of the centennial birth-day of our 16 
glorious Union. Here will be assembled front every zone, 
and almost every land stretched between the equator and 
the poles, all that they can supply that is beautiful in art, 
and wonderful in mechanical construction. There will be, 
in addition, fabrics from the looms of “Ormus and of Ind,” 
the wonderful production of the needle-work of the Persian 
maids, fair representations of the glittering jewels that have 
been won from the mines of Potosi, Brazil, Golconda, and the 
Cape ; specimens of mosques, kiosks, and pagodas, and other 
temples in which the heathen worship. This exhibition will 
probably be the most perfect of the kind that the world has 
yet seen, and may perhaps be the last we shall have dis- 
played before us. Here will be shown evidences of all that 
the brilliant genius and exhaustless ingenuity of the present 
age have developed and placed at man's use and disposal, as 
well as full representations of the beautiful arts of painting 
and sculpture, both ancient and modern ; a fair knowledge 
of which serves ever to embellish and ennoble one’s exist- 
ence. All this, I trust many of you will come to see; and 
if you survey intelligently and well, all the wonders that 
will there be accumulated, it will serve you as another 
liberal education. Come, then, to this feast of knowledge 
and marvel, and we will renew our memories of the past. 
And in parting with you, if it should not seem presump- 
tuous, I would invoke the blessing of Providence, to protect 
you against the storms of life, and to shower down manifold 
blessings on your career. 
And now Farewell—a word that must be and hath been ; 
A word that makes us linger, yet farewell. GRADUATES 
OF THE 
JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA, 
MARCH, 1876. 
At a Public Commencement, held at the American Academy of Music on the 11th 
of March, 1876, the Degree of Doctor 6f Medicine was conferred on the following 
gentlemen, by E. B. Gardette, M.D., President of the Institution, after 
which a Valedictory Address to the Graduates was delivered by Professor W. 
H. Pancoast. 
NAME. 
STATE OR COUNTRY. SUBJECT OF THESIS. 
Akers, F. P. H. 
Georgia. 
Acute Pneumonia. 
Akers, James W. 
Illinois. 
Scarlatina. 
Ayres, Samuel 
Iowa. 
Idiopathic Epilepsy. 
Bazet, Louis 
France. 
The Physiology and Pathology of 
Three Diatheses, Gout, Diabetes, 
and Obesity. 
Beale, Philip W. 
Pennsylvania. 
Cholera. 
Beaver, Abraham P. 
Pennsylvania. 
Diphtheria. 
Benliam, R. Bruce 
Ohio. 
The Detection of Medicines in the 
Blood. 
Blake, Duncan W. 
New Jersey. 
Descriptive Anatomy and Physiology 
of the Gravid Uterus. 
Bleiler, Peter 0. 
Pennsylvania. 
Diphtheria. 
Bomiefil, J. B. Martin 
Costa Rica. 
Death. 
Brady, John 
Pennsylvania. 
Tight Lacing. 
Bringliurst, William • 
Pennsylvania. 
Etiology. 
Bryan, Thomas A. 
Burgi, Peter 
Missouri. 
Cholera Infantum. 
Idaho. 
Pneumonia. 
Callaway, Enoch 
Georgia. 
Hypodermic Medication. 
Carncross, J. Augustus 
Carr, L. Logan 
Pennsylvania. 
Chronic Cervical Endo metritis. 
West Virginia. 
An Epidemic with which I met in 
Practice. 
Carrell, John B. 
Pennsylvania. 
Chloral Hydrate. 
Churchill, Selden A. 
Iowa. 
Notes of a Successful Case of Ovari- 
otomy. 
Cloak, E. Morris 
Delaware. 
Erysipelas. 
Collins, Stacy B. 
California. 
Pulmonary Consumption. 
Collom, Daniel L. 
Pennsylvania. 
Scarlet Fever. 
Cowden, John W. 
Iowa. 
Specific Treatment of Erysipelas. 
Criswell, Matthew 
Culpepper, B. N. 
Illinois. 
Etiology of General Dropsy. 
North Carolina. 
Cerebritis. 
Davis, William F. 
Maryland. 
Intermittent Fever. 
Dillman, Amos F. 
Pennsylvania. 
Infantile Dentition. 
Essig, Charles J. 
Pennsylvania. 
Typhoid Fever. 2 
NAME. 
STATE OR COUNTRY. SUBJECT OF THESIS. 
Fehrenkamp, B. J. 
Texas. 
Mechanism of Labor. 
Fike, Giles A. 
Pennsylvania. 
Typhoid Fever. 
Follmer, John S. 
Pennsylvania. 
Venesection. 
Foreman, Samuel B. 
Pennsylvania. 
Mental Influence as a Therapeutic 
Agent. 
Fraser, James W. 
England. 
Management of Children during Den- 
tition. 
Freeman, Joseph H. 
Georgia. 
Acnte Articular Rheumatism. 
French, Morris Stroud 
Ohio. 
Wounds. 
Fuchs, Augustus J., Jr., 
Missouri. 
Prostitution. 
Garrett, E. Frank 
Pennsylvania. 
Descriptive and Relative Anatomy 
of the Gravid Uterus. 
Giberson, Nelson S. 
California. 
Electricity as a Therapeutic Agent. 
Gilland, John C. 
Pennsylvania. 
Acu>e Pneumonitis. 
Gilmer, Allen D. 
North Carolina. 
Gonorrhoea. 
Goribar, Louis G. 
Mexico. 
Influence of Nervous Diseases upon 
the Mind. 
Hamilton, James M. 
Penn sylvania. 
Arterial and Venous Hemorrhage. 
Hamilton, John A. 
Louisiana. • 
Intermittent Fever. 
Hammond, Robert A. 
Georgia. 
Diphtheria. 
Heilman, Russell P. 
Pennsylvania. 
Mind a Result of Organized Matter. 
Hill, Frank P. 
Pennsylvania. 
Carcinomata. 
Hindman, Charles C. 
Pennsylvania. 
Gynaecology. 
Hoffa, Jacob P. 
Pennsylvania. 
Typhoid Fever. 
Holland, Daniel J. 
Horwitz, Theodore 
Indiana. 
Vital Statistics. 
Pennsylvania. 
Water considered Medically, Chemi- 
cally, and Physically. 
Hunter Randal R. 
Missouri. 
Alimentary Principles. 
Hunter, Theophilus W. 
Georgia. 
Pneumonia. 
Hyer, Grainger 
California. 
Typhoid Fever. 
Isett, Frederick S. 
Pennsylvania. 
Hygiene. 
Jackson, Homer 
Pennsylvania. 
Phthisis Pulmonalis. 
Jefferis, T. Norval 
Pennsylvania. 
Insanity. 
Johnston, Robert W. 
North Carolina. 
Intermittent Fever. 
Johnston, W. A. 
Iowa. 
Sympathetic Vomiting. 
Kane, John J. 
Kentucky. 
Bloodletting. 
Keeton, Theodore A. 
Missouri. 
Diagnosis of Diseases of the Female 
Genital Organs. 
Kelly, M. A. 
Idaho. 
Water. 
Kelsey, William L. 
Connecticut. 
Abortion. 
Kern, Palmer M. 
Pennsylvania. 
Scarlatina. 
Kerr, John W. 
Pennsylvania. 
The Clinical Advantages of Urinary 
Analysis in Disease. 
Kiddoo, S. R. 
Pennsylvania. 
Acute Rheumatism. 
Kopetschny, Ottocar E. 
Bohemia. 
Three Interesting Obstetrical Cases. 
Kynett, L. J. 
Iowa. 
Malaria. 
Linebaugh, Harry W. 
Pennsylvania. 
Pneumonia. 
Longanecker, William A. 
Pennsylvania. 
Infantile Organism. 
Longeneoker, David F. 
Pennsylvania. 
Acute Articular Rheumatism. 
Longstreth, Morris 
Pennsylvania. 
Some of the Symptoms, and some 
Points in the Diagnosis of Tumours 
of the Brain. 
Lopez, Joseph H. 
Pennsylvania. 
The Treatment of Syphilis. 
MacConnell, William G. 
South Carolina. 
Inflammation. 
Madara, James W. 
Madden, W. Scott 
Pennsylvania. 
Crime, Responsibility, and Disease. 
Pennsylvania. 
On the Influence of Diseases of the 
Nervous System on the Mind. 
Malecli, Herman F. 
California. 
Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy. 3 
NAME. 
STATE OR COUNTRY. 
SUBJECT OF THESIS. 
Markel, Isaiali P. 
Ohio. 
Etiology. 
Marshall, D. Samuel 
Pennsylvania. 
Enteric Fever. 
Marshall, George W. 
Delaware. 
Antiseptics,and the Antiseptic Treat- 
ment of Wounds. 
Mattason, Myron J. 
Iowa. 
Malarial Fevers. 
McDowell, Samuel 13. 
Pennsylvania. 
Nature, the Physician of Wounds. 
MoFadden, William, Jr. 
Pennsylvania. 
Scarlet Fever. 
McMillan, John D. 
North Carolina. 
Scarlet Fever. 
Miller, Samuel S. 
Pennsylvania. 
Typhoid Fever. 
Mills, Charles A. 
Pennsylvania. 
Variola. 
Montelius, Ralph W. 
Pennsylvania. 
Typhoid Pneumonia. 
Morgan, D. Porter 
West Virginia. 
Chronic Bright’s Disease. 
Morris, Charles C. 
Indiana. 
Drink in Health and Disease. 
Morris, Florance K. 
Pennsylvania. 
Diphtheria. 
Naugle, William M. 
Pennsylvania. 
Typhoid Fever. 
Nebeker, Henry 
Indiana. 
Pneumonia. 
Nightingale, Henry B. 
Noble, Charles M. 
New Jersey. 
Neuralgia. 
Illinois. 
Descriptive and Relative Anatomy of 
the Gravid Uterus. 
Orwig, George A. 
Ohio. 
Asthma. 
Palmer, Thomas P. 
Tennessee. 
Descriptive and Relative Anatomy of 
the Gravid Uterus. 
Parker, Victor H. 
Illinois. 
Typhoid Fever. 
Pierce, Amos M. 
Pennsylvania. 
Medical Extremes. 
Pillow, Raymond H. 
Pennsylvania. 
Bloodletting. 
Plana, Guillermo Machado Cuba. 
Entero-Mesenteric Fever. 
Price, Thomas H. 
West Virginia. 
Medical Botany. 
Pritchard, Enoch T. 
Indiana. 
Milk Sickness. 
Prowell, William R. 
Purefoy, George W., Jr. 
Pennsylvania. 
Diphtheria. 
North Carolina. 
The True Physician. 
Race, Henry H. 
New Jersey. 
Etiology of Disease. 
Ragan, Patrick J. 
California. 
Erysipelas. 
Rea, James L. 
Pennsylvania. 
Menstruation. 
Reed, H. Allan 
Pennsylvania. 
The Practical Bearing of Medical 
Thermometry. 
Rogers, Willard H. 
New York. 
Ventilation. 
Rowe, Hezekiah J. 
Pennsylvania. 
Inflammation. 
Sampsel, William H. 
Ohio. 
Typhoid Fever. 
Sargent, John H. 
New Hampshire. 
Hypertrophy of the Heart. 
Schmidt, Edgar T. 
Seaman, Louis L. 
Illinois. 
The Nutritive Function. 
New York. 
Auscultatory Percussion. 
Shallenberger, II. M. 
Pennsylvania. 
Etiology of Disease. 
Shuman, Jacob L. 
Pennsylvania. 
Asthma. 
Simpson, George W. 
Pennsylvania. 
Pneumonia. 
Sloan, George W. 
Arkansas. 
Influence of Nervous Diseases on the 
Mind. 
Slocum, Charles E. 
Ohio. 
Aphasia as the Result of Malarial 
Action. 
Smith, Albert S. 
Pennsylvania. 
Acute Lobar Pneumonitis. 
Smith, George C. 
New Jersey. 
Diphtheria. 
Smith, Lewis T. 
Pennsylvania. 
Physical Properties of the Air. 
Somerville, Beverly R. 
New Brunswick. 
Diphtheria. 
Spratlin, William M. 
Georgia. 
Smallpox. 
Steans, John C. 
Pennsylvania. 
Diphtheria. 
Stephens, James G. 
Virginia. 
Typhoid Fever. 
Stiles, Oscar 
Pennsylvania. 
Etiology of Disease. 
Swan, John C. 
Swartz, George W. 
Pennsylvania. 
Water as a Therapeutic Agent. 
Pennsylvania. 
The Heart and its Physiology. 
Sweringen, Hiram V. 
Indiana. 
Materia Medica and Therapeutics. 4 
NAME. 
STATE OR COUNTRY. SUBJECT OP THESIS. 
Talmage, Edwin S. 
Pennsylvania. 
Albuminuria. 
Tenbrook, Andrew 
Pennsylvania. 
Scarlatina. 
Todd, T. Erskine 
South Carolina. 
Treatment of Phthisis Pulmonalis. 
Trexler, William 
Pennsylvania. 
Delirium Tremens. 
Umstad, George B. R. 
Pennsylvania. 
Pneumonia. 
Umstad, John R. 
Pennsylvania. 
Management of New-born Infants. 
Van Valzah, William W. 
Pennsylvania. 
Memory in Health, and as Influenced 
by Cerebral Softening. 
Weddell, Oliver S. 
Pennsylvania. 
Epilepsy. 
Weir, Frank L. 
Rhode Island. 
Spontaneous Combustion of the Hu- 
man Body. 
Wesner, Michael A. 
Wharton, Robert S. 
Pennsylvania. 
Pelvic Cellulitis. 
Pennsylvania. 
Hay Fever. 
White, Charles M. 
Indiana. 
Typhoid Fever. 
Whitlock, G. E. 
Illinois. 
Intermittent Fever. 
Wittkamp, Andrew L. V. 
Pennsylvania. 
Nutrition. 
Woodruff, Samuel W. 
Pennsylvania. 
Medicina Mentis. 
Wright, Alfred T. 
Ohio. 
The Propulsive Force of the Blood. 
Young, Oscar H. 
New York. 
Dipsomania. 
Of the above there were from— 
Delaware .... 2 
South Carolina . . 2 
Idaho 2 
Kentucky .... 1 
Tennessee .... 1 
Maryland .... 1 
Virginia 1 
New Hampshire . . 1 
Arkansas .... 1 
Connecticut ... 1 
Rhode Island ... 1 
Texas 1 
Pennsylvania ... 68 
Ohio 7 
Indiana 6 
Illinois 6 
Iowa 6 
Georgia 6 
North Carolina . . 5 
New Jersey .... 4 
New York .... 4 
Missouri 4 
California .... 4 
West Virginia ... 3 
Louisiana . . . 1 
Cuba . . . . 1 
Costa Rica . . . 1 
New Brunswick . 1 
Fiance . . . . 1 
Mexico . . . . 1 
England . . . . 1 
Bohemia ... 1 
Total . . 146 
The following prizes were awarded :— 
1. A prize of $100, by Henry C. Lea, Esq., for the best Thesis, to Robert B. 
Benharn, of Ohio, with honourable mention of the Theses of Daniel J. Holland, of 
Indiana, John B. Carrel], of Pennsylvania, Theodore Horwitz, of Pennsylvania, 
and James W. Madara, of Pennsylvania. 
2. A prize of $100, by Hon. H. M. Phillips, for the best Essay upon the Influ- 
ence of Diseases of the Nervous System upon the Mind, to W. Scott Madden, of 
Pennsylvania. 
3. The Toner Medal, by J. M. Toner, M.D., of Washington, D. C., for the best 
Thesis, based upon original investigation, to Louis L. Seaman, of New York, with 
honourable mention of the Thesis of Thomas H. Price, of West Virginia. 
4. A prize of $50, by the Professor of Obstetrics, for the best paper on the De- 
scriptive and Relative Anatomy of the Gravid Uterus, to E. Frank Garrett, of 
Pennsylvania. 
5. A prize of $50, by the Professor of Practice, for the best Report of Clinical 
Cases, to Louis G. Goribar, of Mexico, with honourable mention of the Report of 
Theodore Horwitz, of Pennsylvania, and of an Essay by Stacy B. Collins, of 
California. 
6. A prize of a Pocket Operating Case, of the value of $25, by the Demonstrator 
of Anatomy, for the best Dissection in the Anatomical Room, to Isaiah F. Markel, 
of Ohio. 
7. A prize of a gold medal, by the Demonstrator of Surgery, for excellence in 
Baudaging, to Samuel W. Woodruff, of Pennsylvania.