ry)yvuAu^Ji (ff. RJ
INTRODUCTORY LECTURE
BEFORE THE
MEDICAL CLASS
lUtttucfeg 3tln\ of §|Aine,
THE TRUTH OF MEDICINE AS EVINCED BY ITS ORIGIN, PROGRESS
         AND PRESENT CONDITION.
         2^
   BY N. B. MARSHALL,
PROFESSOR OF MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS.
..t-P-U
       LOUISVILLE:

COURIER STEAM BOOK AND JOB OFFICE, GREEN STREET, SOtJTH SIDE.

           1860.
 
 
INTRODUCTORY  LECTURE.
   Having to appear this evening before an audience composed of those who
 are, as well as those who are not, engaged in the prosecution of the medical
 science, it would be equally  inappropriate in me to dwell upon a subject
 strictly professional, and which would  therefore necessitate the employ-
 ment of technical terms not generally understood, or on one bearing no di-
 rect relation to medicine, and I therefore propose  to consider  briefly the ev-
 idence of the truth of our science, as afforded by its origin,  progress  and
 present condition.
   When we contemplate  any  of those things on  the  earth which men call
 and consider great, and are enabled to follow them back through all the dif-
 ferent phases of  their growth to their origin, we are,  in many instances, as-
 tonished at the siuallness of their beginning;  nor can the most far-seeing
 form any adequate idea of the immensity of the superstructures which may
 arise on apparently the slightest foundations, or estimate the  extent  of the
 influences they may exert on man and the world.   The most powerful king-
 doms of the earth have passed through an infancy of weakness and depend-
 ence, which afforded scarcely the least foreshadowing of their future great-
 ness and importance.  Remus, in derision, stepped over the walls of a city
 destined to be  the mistress of the world, while a region remote from thence,
 and, in  the progress of her arms, fated to become merely one of her con-
 quered provinces, has now attained  the  magnitude of one of the first pow-
 ers of the  earth ; while, stranger still, a little island, yet more remote, and
 then altogether unheard of, now boasts herself, and  with truth, the centre
 of an empire on whose bounds the sun does never set.  Not less true is this
 in regard to the origin of the  arts and sciences,  and the most valuable in-
 ventions and discoveries, which have lent their aid to the progress of man.
 Galileo, after hearing that the Prince Maurice  had been presented by a
 German with  an  optical instrument which  made distant objects  appear
 near, employed himself in ascertaining what that instrument was, and his
 first efforts produced only a leaden tube with a plano-convex spectacle glass
 in the distant and a plano-concave one in the near extremity.  Who could
 have imagined that from such a beginning  would  grow the telescope of the
 present day, with magnifying powers so immense,  that the astronomer is en-
 abled to peer millions of miles into the realms of illimitable space and bring
 within  the sphere of his observation  stars and planets, whose distance from
 the earth  is  so  great as  to  be, although  easily  expressed by  figures, yet
 scarcely appreciated by the human mind ?   But if founded on  the eternal
 principles  of truth, although we may not be able to predict the extent and
 magnitude of the superstructure, we yet may be  assured that it will stand
 the test of ages ;  and if, in addition  to this, it have for its object the good
 and improvement of mankind, and, still more, if the inevitable tendency be
 to accomplish this object, we may be  pretty sure,  nay, almost certain, that
 the dimensions will attain magnificent proportions.  Everything dependent
 on man as  originator, inventor, or discoverer, is progressive, often accumu-
 lating  in its progress  much of error  and wrong,  before attaining its full
 measure of perfection.  This may surely be  predicated of all  things not
 emanating directly from the Supreme Being, whose power alone is sufficient
 at once  for origination and perfection. Thus may we be prepared, in glan-
cing at the rise, progress, and present condition of medicine, to find at its
commencement insignificance,  in its progress error, and in its present con- 
4
dition much of imperfection, without regarding these as evidences of falsity
in the principles of our science; but,  on the contrary, its existence at all lit
the present dav, must be admitted as a high indication'of its truth.
  Now we are'not to confound the principles of medicine with the different
and often conflicting theories which have been entertained  and abandoned
at  various  periods  of  its history.   The principles of medicine  are those
which have been  deduced  from facts that have been  the subjects of obser-
vation and  investigation for  centuries  upon centuries, and therefore have
the authority and sanction of vast  and  extended experience.  By  the side
of such experience, how contemptibly insignificant  appears the boasted ex-
perience of the different isms  and pathies which  from  time to time have
reared their ephemeral heads against the truth of regular practice?
  Medicine, or the administration of remedies for disease, arose as the nat-
ural consequence  of the fall of  man.  Driven from  the garden of Eden, he
was compelled to  till the ground for the sustenance of  his body, and he soon
found himself subject to aches and pains, against which it became as neces-
sary to provide as against the pangs of hunger.  For almost all of the suffer-
ings and afflictions resulting from the fall, an all-wise and merciful God has
seen fit  to give us a remedy, and reason and analogy  alone might have taught
us, without the positive evidence afforded by what medicine has done and is
still accomplishing, that with the bane disease there was also provided an an-
tidote.  Whether  the first efforts towards the mitigation  of the  ravages of
disease by the administration of  medicines arose through direct information
from  the Supreme Being, or were the result of faith in His merciful provision
for such sufferings, we cannot  tell.  To the former idea mythology, the crea-
tion of man's unaided reason and fancy points, attributing the primal ideas
of physic to direct revelation from the gods, touched with pity at beholding
the unchecked ravages of disease, let loose upon the earth  through the ire of
some of their own number.  However this may be, we may well suppose that
the first steps in  this direction were simple and few; but from this begin-
ning, small as it was, has resulted a science, which is  acknowledged wherever
civilization has extended, while  even among the most rude and savage of the
earth we find traces of the efforts of man in this direction.  Now this in itself
is strong presumptive evidence of the truth of regular medicine, for it is
hardly probable, indeed it is utterly impossible to suppose, that anything  de-
void of truth (although  we may readily  admit that such a thing might find
birth and even take powerful hold upon the feelings  and opinions of men in
rude states of society) should grow and increase through age after age, with-
standing from time to time the most violent assaults of the learned and  un-
learned upon it, and now, in spite of time and attack in the nineteenth cen-
tury, should, under the most scrutinizing investigation, stand forth as an ad-
mitted science, and claim among its votaries  and supporters many of the no-
blest and brightest intellects of  the world.  Nor is it necessary for the weight
of this evidence that the ideas and opinions entertained throughout this vast
period of time should have always been identical and the same ; for that would
imply the perfection of a science at its  commencement, full growth at the first
dawn of infancy.   It would be requiring what has not been true with regard
to any discovery or science, and  what is, moreover, totally  at variance with a
state of progress and improvement, the natural, necessary,  and perpetual con-
dition of man.  The original idea was unquestionably to administer medicine
for the relief of suffering, the cure of  disease.  Here evidently was a belief
in the existence of  two forces or powers antagonistic to  each other, disease on
one hand, remedies on the other; and it was the direct object and aim of the
first, and indeed of all subsequent research and investigation, to discover
such powers or influences in medicines and other remedial means as should
overcome and eradicate the causes of disease, as well as disease itself.  This
is the idea which has been acted  upon through all ages,  from  the first concep-
tion of it to the present time, which gave rise to, and  is at the foundation of,
regular medicine, and which I  say could hardly, could not possibly  have main- 
5
tained its hold upon the opinions of men, and now convince enlightened rea-
son, if it were destitute of truth.
  If the treatment of disease were a matter with which mankind  at  large
were but little if at all concerned, there would be some better ground for sup-
posing that a stupendous fraud yet undiscovered might have been from time
immemorial imposed upon man's credulity.  But it is, on the contrary, a sub-
ject in which all, the highest and the lowest,  the most learned and the most
ignorant, alike are intimately and anxiously interested, and  as the issue is
life or death for all, the investigators themselves must at  all times, equally
with  the community, have been anxious  to ascertain as nearly as possible
what was truth in regard to this subject.
  The evidences of the existence of a Supreme Being and of the truth of re-
ligion are many and varied, and  among these  the fact that in all times and
among all nations there has prevailed a belief  in a being or beings superior to
man, and to whom worship was accorded, however wild and far from the truth
many of the ideas connected with the subject may have been, is considered
to carry much weight, and with great propriety is urged as an important link
in the argument.   Now we have this evidence to its fullest extent, as to the
truth of some system of practice, for as far back as  we can find any record of
a nation's history, so early do we find traces of medicine.  We have, for in-
stance, the most certain evidence that we can  possibly have in regard to any
transactions of so remote a date, that nearly if not quite two thousand years
before the Christian era, remedies were applied for the relief of disease, or,  in
other words, that a practice of medicine existed in Egypt.  As among all other
nations in their primitive estate, even down to the present day, so among the
ancient Egyptians, the priests were  the first  rude practitioners, from whose
hands this business or profession gradually  passed  to  regular physicians.
Somewhat  later we have record of some of  the medicines they employed,
and of  these one at least is used at  the present  day, namely,  squill or sea
onion, a bulbous plant, which was even worshipped on account of its nu-
merous virtues, and administered for the cure of  a variety of diseases. The
beginning  of medicine, at least the first that we have any knowledge  of
among  this people, destined in after years to take  the lead of the world  in
this as  well as the other sciences and arts, was slight and insignificant in-
deed  as compared with the enlarged knowledge and experience of the  pres-
ent day, but there existed even then and there the germ of that great truth,
the basis and foundation  of our science of physic,  namely, that there ex-
ists in medicines a power antagonistic to, and capable of counteracting and
overcoming, the morbid influences and effects of disease.   They  knew and
thought little no doubt of  the modus operandi of  medicines, being  concerned
with  that which  was the chief if not the only matter of real  interest  to
them, the action itself of medicines,  and the  useful  application of that
action.   All their investigations were directed toward this point, and  their
system of practice was derived  from observation, experience being then  as
now the only proper test of theory.  This same kind of testimony we have
afforded by the history of all nations of whom we can learn anything with
precision.  Probably the most ancient reliable information in regard to the
practice of medicine after that  obtained from the history of the Egyptians,
is derived from the tribes which afterward formed the nation of the Greeks,
among whom, at a very earbjp period, medicine  attained a position of com-
parative importance.  Among this people we have traces, although not en-
tirely authentic and accurate, of medicine long prior to the Trojan wax, and
after  that event,  up to the Christian era, we have tolerably  accurate and
reliable data to sustain the belief that the art was practiced with some de-
gree of success.   At a later  date, as we shall  presently see, yet when the
nations of the earth had  conceived  only the rudiments of other arts and
sciences which have come down to us along with mediciue, this  latter sci-
ence had attained  to a condition of system  and importance incompatible
with absolute falsehood, although, it must  be admitted, something of una- 
6
  voidable error was mixed up with the truth.  The history of the Jews, de-
  rived from writers sacred and profane, may also be appealed to as affording
  conclusive evidence of the existence of, and a thorough belief in, medicine
  All knowledge of this subject, among  them,  as  among all  other  nations,
  was at first  confined to  the priests, and we  therefore find Moses in the
  place of high priest, issuing laws and directions in regard to leprosy, and
  other uncleanness or disease.  The views  among the Jews  at  this period
  were  no doubt similar to those entertained by the  Egyptians, a» all knowl-
  edge on this  subject, exclusive of that afforded  by direct revelation  after
  the departure from Egypt, was no doubt that which had been obtained in
  the land of Egypt, as we can hardly suppose  that the teachings of the pa-
  triarchs in this matter, if  they taught  at  all, could  have survived, as dis-
  tinct notions, the long and oppressive Egyptian bondage.  At the death of
  the patriardi Jacob, his son Joseph employed Egyptians, as we find in sa-
  cred writ that "Joseph commanded his servants,  the physicians, to embalm
1  his father, and  the physicians embalmed  Israel."  [Genesis, c. 1,  ver: 2.]
  These servants were  unquestionably Egyptians, who  would  not have  been
  employed to perform this last office for the deceased patriarch, if among the
  Hebrews there had existed knowledge sufficient for this purpose.  But  later
  in the history of this latter people, as will be  presently referred to, medi-
  cine, as among the Egyptians and Greeks,  instead of dying  out, as fancies
  and traditions  unfounded in  truth ordinarily do, had steadily advanced,
  and at a period when they were better able to discriminate between impos-
  ture and truth, commanded almost universal belief.
    An  examination of the earliest records of the  Hindoos,  Chinese,  Ara-
  bians, and at a later day the Indians of North and  South America, afford
  the same  testimony;  among all we find a belief in medicine, and a system
  of practice.  Is it not beyond all reason to suppose that this  idea in regard
  to the truth of medicine, found to exist as the spontaneous conviction of the
  human mind, should have thus universally prevailed, if there were not truth
  connected with it somewhere?   Had it passed away, as superstitions and
  fallacies ordinarily do, with the advance of civilization, this question could
  not be  before US to-night;  but here it is—medicine  is still  practiced  and
  believed  in all over the world, and that too  by the wisest of our race, the
  beat informed and the most intellectual of mankind being fehe most  decided
  adherents and supporters of regular medicine.  I do not yet advert to the
  evidence afforded by what our  profession is doing, and has already accom-
  plished, for the good and happiness of the human race, that being an argu-
  ment of no little weight as will be seen; but I have simply considered and
  applied one of Uhe forms of evidence which is urged to prove the existence
  of a Supreme Being and the truth of religion.
    I pass on to the consideration of the condition of medicine at a later pe-
  riod in the world's history, when civilization had extended its beneficent
  influences, when states were established on the basis of right, law, and or-
  der, when the records which have come down to us are fuller and more  reli-
  able, and when  medicine had attained a position  and system worthy  of a
  science.  The limits of a lecture  permit me to refer only to facts  and cir-
  cumstances establishing the truth of medicine, without noticing the differ-
  ent attacks which have been met  and defeated, and the heresies which at
  variouB  periods in its history have assailed it,  which  are yet attempting its
  overthrow, and which will no doubt continue  to afflict mankind, so long as
  there shall be found those who are ready to use charlatanry  and imposture
  to gratify insatiate lust for gold, and there exists  in  the human mind  such
  passion  for the marvellous  and absurd, as must ever render man an  eaBy
  victim to impudence  and  assurance.  But this  much at least may be re-
  marked, that none of the different forms of quackery which either hereto-
  fore have attracted, or are at  present gulling the people, possess  the evi-
  dence of truth which I am now considering, and are therefore declared, so
  far as this evidence goes, to be utterly false. 
7
   It has  been frequently remarked, and is  unquestionably true, that the
 arts and sciences, though cradled in the east, have  yet attained their mag-
 nitude and power in the west.   The Egyptians,  Phenicians  and Chaldeans
 had been, before the Trojan war, at the  head  of existing civilization, sur-
 passing all other nations, except the Jews, in the extent and value of their
 knowledge and discoveries.   Medicine was much further advanced among
 these nations than among the Greeks, who subsequently took  the lead and
 transmitted even to the present age a great  deal that is valuable not only
 in this but other arts and sciences.   Among the Jews arose one whose name
 is almost  synonymous with wisdom, and who attained an amount of knowl-
 edge in regard to medicine,  as well as  other things, far exceeding the men
 of his time.   Solomon, we  are  told, "spake  of  trees, from  the cedar tree
 that is Lebanon even unto  the  hyssop that springeth out of  the wall;  he
 spake  also of beasts and of fowl, and of creeping things and of fishes."*
 That he  was acquainted with  the medicinal Character  of  many of these
 trees and herbs, we cannot doubt, and indeed the most eminent historian of
 antiquity remarks that  "the sagacity and wisdom which God had bestowed
 on Solomon was so great that he exceeded the  ancients, insomuch that he
 was no way inferior to  the  Egyptians, who are said to  have been beyond
 all men in understanding," and that " he spake a parable upon every sort
 of tree, from the hyssop to the cedar; and in like manner also about beasts,
 about all  sorts of living creatures, whether upon the earth,  or in the seas,
 or in  the air; for he was not unacquainted with any of  their natures, nor
 omitted inquiries about them, but described  them all  like a philosopher,
 and demonstrated his exquisite  knowledge, of their several properties;''!
 and he further adds that he availed himself of this knowledge to compound
 remedies, which were extremely useful for various  purposes.  Thus we see
 that at a  time when the Jews  had advanced  in the knowledge of mathe-
 matics, architecture and decoration, sufficiently to build a temple unsur-
 passed in magnificence  and taste by anything that the present age can ex-
 hibit, medicine having outlived  the  superstitions incidental to the infancy
 of a people, was acknowledged and practiced by the wisest prince that ever
 filled a throne.   After this  period,  when the kingdom of Priam had been
 crushed, we must look  to the Greeks, to ascertain the condition  of medi-
 cine, and through them we are enabled to  trace its progress with a great deal
 of certainty.  For a period of about three hundred years after the fall of
 Troy, all  knowledge of medicine; so far as it may then be considered a
 science, was confined to the priests of Esculapius, and  the practice of it
 was exclusively in their hands.   Dark as this period was for  our science,
 it was unquestionably the best arrangement under  existing  circumstances,
 and the popular mind, yet sadly under the thraldom of superstition, was in
 the  fittest state to tolerate the impositions of those  priests,  shrouded  in
 mystery and  clothed with the sanctity of religion.  Temples were  built in
 various places,  but always the most  salubrious localities  were  selected,
 where  the sick might be surrounded by every circumstance most conducive
 to health. To these temples, sacred to  the God of Medicine, flocked  the
 people who were suffering with disease, invariably with offerings of some
 kind, and not unfrequently of great value, without which  the god might
 not be consulted  with  any expectation  of success.  Admitted within  the
 precincts of these sacred dispensaries, the sick found themselves surrounded
 by scenes of  diversion, while carefully  prescribed regimen, pure air, the
 strictest attention to cleanliness, and  especially the strong  hope  of relief,
 and a high degree of faith, kept alive by the remarkable instances of cure
 which  were constantly  sounded in their ears, produced that happy influ-
ence on the mind and  feelings which might naturally  be  expected, very
efficiently to co-operate with the simple medicines which  were  adminis-
tered.  But the cure of  diseases was by no means trusted to  these  assisting

     *lst Kings, chap. 4, ver. 38.    tJ°sePhu8> Antiq. of the Jews, lib. S, chap. 2. 
8
circumstances alone, for the Asclepiadoe employed vomits, purges, frictions
with medicated  substances, sea-bathing, and, according to very good au-
thority, even blood letting also.  As the constitutions of the patients  were
generally more vigorous  than after the introduction of greater refinement
and luxury, and  the diseases therefore simpler and  more amenable to such
remedial means as were employed, the practice of the temples was far  more
successful then than it would be at the present day.  In the vicinity of
some of these temples were found serpents,  which, being easily tamed, and
their  bites innocuous, were employed  by the priests in their miraculous
manifestations, sometimes to personate the god himself, sometimes merely
to impress the minds of their patients.  These serpents, accustomed to the
presence of man, glided naturally about amidst the wondering crowd,  their
movements being supposed to indicate in some way or other the inclination
of the god, or, during the silence of the night, while the patients on their
couches distributed  throughout the chambers, had merely light sufficient to
distinguish vaguely what was enacted around them, approached the altars
loaded with offerings of edibles and other more valuable gifts, and devour-
ing the former, removed the latter to the more secret recesses of the temple.
But the remarkable  gastronomic feats sometimes displayed on these occa-
sions, afford good reason to suppose that these apparitions were frequently
machines,  resembling serpents,  and  containing  within them one or more
men, and not, as the faithful believed, real snakes.   We may be inclined to
wonder at the credulity of any age that could tolerate such absurdities, but
we may hardly  boast of the  intelligence  and enlightenment of our  own,
when  now, late in the nineteenth century, hundreds, yes, and thousands,
repose implicit faith in mesmerism, and spiritualism, andinfinitessimalism,
and there  are found in this city  those claiming the  first position  in society
and refinement, consulting  oracles whose prescriptions  are the blood of a
live weazel for deafness, split cats and chickens for erysipelas, and whose
diagnosis  is  based  upon the  description of a  patient's  complexion  and
physical contour, or even the examination of a lock  of hair transmitted
through a  letter or otherwise.*
  But even through the period referred to medicine  did not retrograde, nor
yet stand still.  The Asclepiadoe were far above the generality  of their  time,
in education and  intelligence, and could  not avoid obtaining some medical
information and acumen from the experience afforded by the vast number
of patients who consulted them; and we  find, therefore, that when public
opinion forced a change  in the system of secresy, which was rigidly ob-
served in regard to  the mysteries pertaining to their religious worship and
practice of physic, that the science had"' made  considerable  progress.  In
the then existing state of the world and  society,  the  confinement of the
practice of medicine to the temples was most propitious for the science, and
greater progress was made there, and less of absurdity and error accumu-
lated upon the fruth, than if it had been open and common to  the public.
  But the  time arrived when philosophy began to dawn upon  the benighted
world—when there  were intellects  capable of appreciating  the  lights of
truth  and science, and when the popular  mind, too, was  beginning to be
better prepared for the reception of instruction.   Chance rules in nothing,
and when  the fitting time had  fully come, men and  circumstances were
found ready  for  the work and  developments appropriate to the age.   A
Pythagoras was  born, and gifted with  a  mind capable  of grappling, in a
great measure successfully, with the highest questions of the day, he was
instrumental, though not intentionally, in  breaking  the bans of secresy
which had  hitherto  veiled  the practices  of the  temples.  His studies and
teachings  were of n varied character, his life pure and even austere, and his
disciples, following  his directions and  imitating his example, acquired an
immense influence among the people, through their communities established
in various locations throughout  greater and lesser  Greece.t   Before being
^'Theae references are entirely true.
fKenouard. 
9
 admitted fully  to  the  companionship of this great master, these disciples
 were obliged to prove their constancy and devotion by a severe and trying
 noviciate of five or six years' duration,  during  which period tl\ey  were re-
 quired to abstain almost entirely from conversation with any one  not con-
 nected with their  community.   When admitted to  full  discipleship, they
 were still compelled to lead a quiet and even  secluded life; and thus, re-
 markable for their abstinence and avoidance of the dissolute manners of
 the day, as well as the  real superiority  of their knowledge, they acquired
 an influence and exercised a wholesome  restraint over  the  morals of the
 people.  But their  success was  itself the cause of their downfall.   Em-
 boldened by the deference  and obedience  accorded their  wisdom and opin-
 ions, some of them, contrary to the express precepts  and example  of their
 illustrious teacher, began to entangle themselves with the  political intrigues
 of the day, and thus lost  the esteem and confidence of all  parties.   Op-
 posed by  the  politicians,   because of their  interfering with and  often
 thwarting their projects of aggrandizement, hated, as well as dreaded by
 the priests, because of their  superiority to the superstitious prejudices of
 the multitude, and rejection of the tyrannical rule of the priesthood, they
 found friends on no side, and soon losing the admiration and support of  a
 fickle populace, urged on by their more powerful and sagacious foes, they
 encountered a storm of hatred and persecution,  which only ended with their
 utter dispersion   But their misfortunes and downfall, by a wise and deter-
 mined  ordering of events, proved only a stepping  stone for the advance-
 ment of the arts and sciences, and more especially of medicine.  Scattered
 in every direction,  and no  longer bound together by the ties  which once  had
 held  them, of which strict  secresy was not the  least influential, the Pytha-
 goreans revealed their knowledge^and doctrines and many of them became
 distinguished followers of  the practice  of medicine.   To them is  due the
 introduction of the plan of visiting patients  at their own places of abode,
 instead of the original custom of the Asclepiadoe, of prescribing for them
 only  in the temples.  That we may form some idea of the medical acumen
 of the  Pythagoreans, and discard utterly the  erroneous impression that
 their practice was simply  a system of jugglery  and old wives' tales, as has
 been  affirmed, I may mention instances of whole communities benefitted
 and thousands of lives  saved by the  medical acumen of one man.  Agri-
 gentum was visited annually by  a pestilential fever—probably of a malig-
 nant bilious type—which swept off multitudes at each return.  Empedocles
 observed that the visits of this  scourge  were simultaneous  with the preva-
 lence of a southeasterly wind—the sirocco—and, concluding that its breath
 was loaded with the causes of this plague,  advised  the  construction of  a
 high  wall across a narrow  gorge, which was its only channel of approach
 to his  native city.   His  advice was followed, and  that annual  scourge
 ceased to be a terror to the inhabitants of  Agrigentum.
   Selinus  was  traversed by  a stream whose waters were  sluggish, and
 therefore exceedingly liable to become stagnant.  Disease  was the conse-
 quence, which, with the system and regularity of a destroying angel, deci-
 mated its inhabitants.  Empedocles,  by having turned  into  the course of
 this stream two  neighboring creeks, imparted rapid motion to its current,
 prevented  stagnation,  and thus  the  formation of unwholesome  vapors,
 and relieved an  apparently doomed  community from a  hitherto dreaded
 and irresistible enemy»  Such acts are more  worthy of crowning  bays
 than  victories in  a thousand fights; such are  some of the monuments
 left behind  them by the founders of our profession, and such the emana-
 tions  from a science yet in its almost earliest  infancy,  which is  still on
 its march of mercy and mitigation of the necessary sufferings of  man-
 kind,  and  which, from the lasting  necessities of humanity, must con-
 tinue  its march of improvement, continually approximating a perfection
 which  is  never  absolutely attained  nor attainable by man.  In view of
such records as these on the pages  of  profane history, we  may  well be 
10
prepared  to  see  a short time  afterward  the ample testimony furnished
by  one of the books  of  the Bible  to  the  great value of medicine, the
truth of the  art,  and  the  great  good  and  benefits  it  is capable,  under
the blessing  of Providence,  of affording our race.  What  can be  more
full, more direct,  and  I may  add,  without,  I hope, being charged with
overweening  pride in  my calling, more appropriate than these words?
  1. "Honor  a physician  with  the  honor  due  unto  him for  the uses
which  ye may have of him,  for the Lord hath created him.
  2. For  of the Most  High  coiueth  healing,  and he shall receive  honor
of the  king.
  3. The  skill of  the physician shall lift up his head; and in the sight
of great men  he shall  be  in  admiration.
  4  The  Lord hath created  medicines  out  of the  earth;  and he that is
wise will not abhor them.
  5. Was not the water made  sweet with wood, that  the virtue thereof
might  be  known?
  0. And he  hath given  men skill, that  he  might be  honored in  his
marvellous works.
  7. With such doth he heal [men] and taketh away their pains.
  8. Of such  doth  the apothecary make a confection;  and of his  works
there is no end;  and from him is peace over all the earth.
  9. My son,  in thy sickness be not negligent,  but pray unto the  Lord,
and  he will make thee whole
  10. Leave off from sin, and  order thine hands aright,  and  cleanse  thy
heart from all wickedness.
  11. Give a  sweet savour,  and  a  memorial  of  fine flour;  and make a
fat  offering, as not being.
  12. Then give place to  the physician, for the Lord hath created him;
let  him not go from thee, for theu hast need of him.
  13. There is a  time  when  in their hands there is good success.
  14. For they shall also  pray  unto the  Lord, that he  would prosper
that which they give for ease  and  remedy to prolong lite."*
  Now this, as well as all that has  been  said, can  only apply  to  medi-
cine at that day,   and  from  which  regular  medicine is descended.  All
that was believed  then is not  believed  now, but many of the principles
then laid  down are  not disputed  to  the present day, while  we have been
steadily advancing,  adding improvement to  improvement, and relinquish-
ing error, according as the sagacity, research and observation of  inves-
tigators could eliminate more and more of  truth.   If,  then, these  obser-
vations apply  to  medicine  at  that day—and who  can deny it?—they
cannot  apply  to  any  of the fancies with  which  crazed  or designing
brains  have attempted to overthrow what  is here  so  emphatically  ad-
mitted,  and by such silence  in regard to  them, as much  as  they  could
by direct  abnegation,  ignore  them  all. But it  will surely be claimed
that these innovations are   improvements  on the  regular system,  and,
being derived from it,  the  above  testimony does apply to them.  It will
apply certainly as  much to one as  to another of them, to Thompsoniau-
isiii, Homeopathy   and  all that ilk.   Are they  all  right?   All  claim to
be so,  and equally condemn  each other and  regular medicine.   There is
and  can be no  common ground between  regular medicine  and any of
these absurdities;  they are at utter variance and antagonism.   There can-
not be  two truths  asserting  entirely opposite  doctrines; either  they, or
some one  of  them is true,  and medicine false, or "vice versa."  They are
opposed to what was then admitted  to  be  true; they  did not exist,  nor
the  semblance of  any  one  of them  at  that  day, and  as  the testimony
above adduced can  only refer to what  then  existed, it  cannot  apply to
any  of the forms   of modern quackery,  but must point to regular  medi-
cine, and  to  that  alone.  They apply  as much, and no more,  to  all of
"Ecclesiasticus, chap, xxxviii, ver. 1 to 14 inclusive. 
11
these different systems,  as  do the  teachings of our Saviour  in regard to
his religion and his  church, to the additions and mummeries of the dark
ages, which, while usurping—as these have done in regard to medicine—
the name and  place  of true religion, almost blotted  it  from the earth.
Yet there were  found believers enough for these as for every species of
quackery and jugglery  that  was  ever  started from the origin of medi-
cine to the days of Hahneman, or Thompson, or the  Black Doctor of Paris.
   The march of medicine has been ever onward like the course of time,
each  succeeding generation taking up the work where their  predecessors
left  it,  to add their mite to the  store, to be  handed down  to their suc-
cessors.  While  generally so,  this has not been universally  and absolutely
the case, for there have been several periods when adverse circumstances
for  a while impeded and  stopped its march, if they did  not  actually
force a retrograde movement.  During a considerable time after the dis-
persion of  the  l'ythagorians  its  advance was rapid.   These,  scattered
over  the civilized world, and  forced, for self-preservation, to break the
silence which,  by their vows  and teachings, had been  imposed  upon
them,  at  last  drove  the  Asclepiadoe  themselves,  through jealousy and
dread of the influence which the  public discussions  and teachings and
practice of the   Pythngorians were gaining  for them among the people,
to discard  their time-honored Egypto-Indian plan  of secresy, and bring
to light the  principles and  rules of their practice.  Thus encouraged,
discussions everywhere  increased,  and soon  evolving  the idea  of  sys-
tematically teaching  what could as yet only be obtained  by  fragmentary
gleanings,  they  called into  existence, at  various  places, schools  of  con-
siderable celebrity.   Among  the most renowned of these were  those of
Cos  and Cuidus.  The former was adorned by  that philosopher and phy-
sician whose fame can  never die, whose name  must occupy  one of the
proudest places  in history, while  any history  of  the  past remains, and
who indeed gave a name to medicine, since from his day it ceased to be
called the  art of Esculapius and  became known as the science  of Hip-
pocrates.   This  was  an age of  giants, the  names  of  Plato, Socrates,
Cimon, Pericles, and, a little  later, Aristotle, and  others of like stamp,
all flourishing  about the  same  time, form a galaxy uneclipsed  in  any
age  or  state, and throw an imperishable and  unfading  halo  about that
period.  It was  an age  of  philosophy, when  all questions  worthy of the
consideration  of such intellects,  received a most searching investigation;
and  it  was an  age  of  honesty and  integrity,  when  truth, rather than
temporary  eclat and  popularity, was  the aim  and object of  their efforts.
Surely  a  most  unpropitious  age  it was for falsehood  and  error and a
proportionably happy and genial one  for all that was good and true and
whatever  was  really calculated  to benefit, the  human race.   How did
medicine stand  the test of such a time?  While  other falsely called arts
and  sciences and time-honored  opinions  paled before the bright light of
truth and  philosophy, then blazing upon  them,  medicine came  forth as
gold purified by the  fire, and though  as  yet only the foundations for the
future  edifice  were  laid,  and  the plans  for  the  huge structure to be
raised,  mapped  out, yet through  this period  it advanced with unprece-
dented  rapidity, while  rubbish  was  removed, the mystic  veil  stripped
off, and a condition  attained  for solid and permanent  improvement.
The  questions which   agitated the  public mind,  and engaged the atten-
tion  of the learned, fully attest  the minute observation and scrutinizing
investigation of those ancient philosophers  and physicians.   To this pe-
riod  succeeded the age  of  the  Macedonian conqueror.  Engaged in the
prosecution of such  invasions and victories as the world had never be-
fore  seen,  Alexander yet found means and time to make some contribu-
tions  to science, through his distinguished preceptor.  But  the  lieuten-
ants   of this  great captain  went   further still,  and after  the  division
among themselves of their  master's dominions, two of them, one  at  Per- 
12
 gamos, the other at  Alexandria  in  Egypt, set about  the  collection of
 those libraries,  the  wonder of every age, the glory  of their  own.   These
 libraries exercised  a  great  influence over  the  advancement of civiliza-
 tion by stimulating attention  to the arts and sciences, among which
 medicine received no  little share.  Dissections   soon became not only le-
 galized, but were liberally encouraged;  and thus a knowledge of anat-
 omy was obtained,  the want of  which had hitherto  been a serious  im-
 pediment to the progress of the profession.  Nor was the prosecution of
 these  investigations confined  to the savans  alone,  but princes  of  the
 royal blood were among  the number of those who, with scalpel  in  hand,
 pushed forward their  explorations into the fields of  physiology and anat-
 omy.  The  City of the Ptolemies shone forth as a beacon to the nations
 around, and, under  the enlightened and liberal  patronage  of the Lagidce,
 Alexandria became  the seat of the most distinguished school  of antiquity.
 But mutability  marks all human things,  and Alexandria could  only play
 her single part in  the drama of the world.  Under  the  Roman domin-
 ion, her commercial prosperity  and literary preeminence were for a long
 time undiminished,  and she continued to afford the  finest medical school
 in  the  world, until  near  the  fifth century  of  the  Christian era.  The
 first great   blow that  was inflicted  upon her literary prosperity was  the
 burning of her  immense  library during the siege of  Julius (Vsar, a blow
 lameiittable for Alexandria  and  the  world then, lamentable for  litera-
 ture and science  through  all time to  come.  Only  slowly and partially
 was that  shock recovered  from  through the  subsequent efforts of  the
 friends of learning, among  whom not the  least efficient was  the frail,
 the  beautiful,  but  noble,  Cleopatra.  Through   her  instrumentality  the
 library of  Pergamos was removed to  Alexandria, and still this academy
 was thronged by the votaries of  science, from  every quarter of the civ-
 ilized world, and still she sent  forth the most distinguished philosophers,
 mathematicians,  and physicians  of the age, until that second conflagra-
 tion, by Christian fanaticism, which at  once and entirely swept off that
 great collection of books,  the work of ages*  Then perished  the glory of
 this unfortunate city—then went out the light  from  this source, and left
 a darkness whose  gloom  extended through centuries  afterwards.   But
 medicine was not, could not be extinguished.    I have said that we may
 be certain  that  whatever  contains the elements  of truth, and has for  its
 object  the  benefit of mankind, and, moreover, an  inevitable  tendency to
 accomplish  that object, however  small and insignificant  its beginning,
 and however great the obstacles it may  encounter in its course,  will be
 successful  at last and attain magnificent  proportions.  Certainly,  so  far
 as I have  traced medicine,  this  observation is  verified.   With an  origin
 truly insignificant, with opposition as  bitter as prejudice and supersti-
 tion could  raise,  with  the  blind assistance of friends, whose  zeal effected
 often as much of harm as good,  and with a work to be accomplished as
 difficult as ever tasked the talents and ingenuity of man, the  course of
 our science has  been nevertheless  ever onward,  ever forward, until now,
 when civilization may be considered as  almost  at its  acme—when intel-
 lect, morality and integrity, form the basis of the standard of  excellence__
 when education is so  universally disseminated  among the  masses—and
 when religion has shed its  benign influence over so  great  a portion of
 the  world,  it holds the highest  place  in the estimation and also  in  the
heart of the community.  Where can Ave  find stronger, where better, evi-
dence than  all  this  of the value and truth of any science?  If it be  not
 true, where shall  we find  such  another instance of  falsehood and error
combatting  successfully all opposition, rising to eminence,  then almost
overwhelmed, and again advancing in the face  of the strictest scrutiny
and  investigation,  the dispassionate  examination  of the  learned, and

 *It isa disputed point whether the second burning of the library was as above stated or by
the Arabs. I incline to the former opinion. 
13
gaining the acknowledgment of the world?  Mahommedanism can surely
not  be pointed  to, for it has not  passed  so great  a lapse of time,  and
pales before knowledge  and education;  astrology but shows the depth to
which the untutored credulity of  man  may lead;  while alchemy serves
only  to show the mingled avarice and ignorance of an age in which it
could  flourish.
  For three centuries and  more  after the  first burning  of the Alexan-
drian library, little was  done to advance the profession in any respect, and
in anatomy absolutely nothing.  Dissection was not only neglected, but pos-
itively interdicted, and the  teachers in  the  institute were satisfied to fol-
low, blindly, the footprints  of Herophilus  and Erisistratus, who had been
chiefly instrumental in   establishing  the celebrity of the  Alexandrian
school.  The theories and teachings of these great masters were carried
to the east and to the west; in the former  throughout China, existing in a
mangled state to the present day, and in the  latter, after passing the alem-
bic  of Galen's genius, they were  transmitted through many generations.
During all the time between the first conflagration and the age of Galen
there were but three or four individuals who really pursued anatomy ; but
still the reputation of the Alexandrian school remained, and still its name
stood foremest in the world. Transferred to  the west, the science of medi-
cine experienced a great impulse, through  the genius and labor of Galen,
Btyled the second, as Hippocrates has been called the first, father of medi-
cine.  Through him mainly is it that we are enabled to judge of the char-
acter of those antique  volumes, which had  been so ruthlessly destroyed,
while he himself has transmitted to posterity voluminous evidence of his
own  sagacity and industry.  From this time  we trace the progress of med-
 icine through the regular channels of history, and can delineate with accu-
 racy  the different phases through which it  has  passed to the present day,
 and, so tracing, we find that it still affords the same evidence of its truth,
 and the same evidence that truth, essential to the comfort and happiness of
 mankind, cannot be obliterated.   If time allowed, it would be easy to show
 that the science of medicine experienced as many and varied attacks during
 the period just considered as it has at any time in its history, or does at the
 present day;  and it requires no great depth of reasoning to prove that the
 incapacity of any and all of these to arrest  its onward  march, but affords
 additional evidence of  its  truth.   My reference to the history of medicine
 from the Christian era to the present times must necessarily be brief.
   At a casual glance, everything  would appear most propitious for the ad-
 vance of medicine, immediately upon and after the advent of our Saviour.
 But a closer examination will satisfactorily explain the condition which we
 find to have gradually prevailed and endured till  the revival of letters. The
 Roman Empire had swallowed up  all minor states; the Barbarians, who had
 been constantly hovering upon, and frequently passing, in hostile array, the
 insufficiently guarded frontiers of the republic and empire, were either re-
 duced to subjection or elevated to a participation in the state; and univer-
 sal peace had ushered in a condition  of affairs that the world had  never
 before witnessed.  Surely it would seem that here was  precisely the  state
 of things, beyond all others, most propitious  for the  advancement of a sci-
 ence  so eminently calculated to benefit mankind.  Why was it otherwise?
 There are two principal reasons, besides other circumstances not essential
 to be mentioned.  First, it was natural, as extremes are apt to follow each
 other, that, upon the introduction of true religion, the minds of the con-
 verts from paganism  and idolatry should  be imbued with a violent abhor-
 rence of all things having any connection or relation with their old system
 of worship.   Thus were they led, in the first enthusiasm of their conversion,
 to undervalue  medicine, which  had been  taught in heathen  temples  by
 heathen philosophers, while, with a misguided faith and trust, they depend-
 ed upon the  direct  assisUnce  of  the Deity in all things,  without availing
 themselves of the aid of his appointed agencies.  Moreover, theological die- 
14
cussions and controversies  engaged so large a share of public attention as
for a time to silence all other investigation, causing neglect of medicine and
other sciences, and, at a later day, leading to those errors and abuses in re-
ligion which gradually overwhelmed the church and introduced an idolatry
scarcely better than the ancient worship of the heathen gods.
  Secondly, the  high  position which medicine had already  attained, and
therefore  the lucrative inducements it  thus held out, had attracted, as it
has in our own day, swarms of traders in the profession, whose only object,
first, last and always, was money.
  These vampires, as we see around us now, threw discredit on a profession
which, above all  others, demands self-denial, honest  effort, and true philan-
thropy.   But the very evil which was thus created, becoming in time entirely
insufferable, worked to some extent its own cure.  At an early period of the
Christian era, certain wholesome restrictions  were  imposd  upon the prac-
tice of medicine, and Antoninus Pius originated a system of protection for
the community, which might most advantageously be imitated at the present
day.  Under this rescript no  one was allowed to practice who  had not, by
examination and otherwise, exhibited capability  and good character.  How
such requisites would now curtail the number of doctors and how the com-
munity would be blessed ! But although during the  early part of the Chris-
tian era there was no rapid extension of medical knowledge and discovery,
there was nevertheless a step toward the  establishment of a broader and
surer foundation for its future growth  and prosperity, while its  passage
through, and revival of, the period extending to the fourteenth or fifteenth
century, and termed very properly its "period of transition,"* go far with
all candid and reflecting minds to establish  the value and truth of  the sci-
ence.  But if medicine suffered through the abnormal application and influ-
ence of Christianity in one direction, in another, and through its natural,
healthy and legitimate tendency, it experienced a  valid and lasting aid,
which gave and gives assistance  to its advance by the  sure  and reliable
light of clinical  observation.  To the proper appreciation and application of
that rarest and most Christian of all virtues,  charity, is due the establish-
ment of hospitals, by which was  gained a systematic observation and treat-
ment of disease,  and an  opportunity  of testing  theories which, instead of
preceding, should always follow, facts, only to explain what experience has
already established; and to the effort of woman, ever more  ready  than the
other sex to sympathize with, and alleviate, the sufferings  of humanity, is
attributable the  origination of that happy idea, the establishment of hos-
pitals.  A noble Roman  lady, led by devotion to religion  to take up her
abode at Jerusalem, was touched with pity at witnessing the sufferings from
untreated disease among the crowds who visited that city for the purpose
of beholding the spot and scenes hallowed by the bodily presence and death
of their crucified Lord, and, to relieve them as far  as possible, she united
with a few others, under the direction of St. Jerome, in the erection and
maintenance of  a hospital for the sick, and another receptacle  for the con-
valescent.  This system was  further  enlarged and  acted upon at a subse-
quent date by Emperors and Kings, and thus that which was the conception
of the purest charity and benevolence resulted in great and lasting benefit
to the science of medicine.
  Among the writers of the  period  extending from the third to  the four-
teenth century there is but little mark  of originality, most of them  being
content with blindly following in  the footsteps  of  their predecessors,  and
especially Galen, the last of  the Latin authors who made contributions of
any extent to our  science.  For several centuries  after the time  of Galen
there were only  three or four authors in  the western empire whose works
have  been deemed worthy of preservation^  Serenus Sammonicus, Theo-
dore Priscian, Marcellus Empiricus  and  Vegetius are the last writers of
note before the second burning of the Alexandrian  libraries, and their con-
*:Renouard.      f Watson's discourse. 
15
 tributions are in no way comparable to those of Galen.  The first of these,
 Serenus Sammonicus, was indeed almost a cotemporary of Galen, being in
 the zenith of his success and  reputation during the reign  of the infamous
 Caracalla.
   Although the Christian  era had already  dawned and  was shedding its
 heavenly light more and more brightly over the world, still idolatry and su-
 perstition were far from having lost their hold upon mankind, and the most
 enlightened physicians, however  skilled in  medicine, yet resorted to the
 fancied  assistance of charms and amulets.  Sammonicus is said to have
 been the author of that celebrated collection of letters, Abracadabra, which
 was arranged in the form of a triangle, and suspended around the necks of
 fever patients, which  has  outlived all the changes and  improvements of
 after years, and is now familiar to thousands to  whom the names of  Sam-
 monicus and Caracalla are utterly unknown.  Such continued to be pretty
 much the condition of medicine during the first  three  or  four centuries of
 the Christian era, while the irreconcilable contest  between paganism and
 Christianity was being waged, and which waned not until  the reign of Con-
 stantine, when the latter became formally the  religion of the State.  During
 this same period the  Greek  schools were gradually elevating themselves,
 and a few celebrated names  from among them have  come down to  us, as
 Oribasius, iEtius, Alexander of Tralles,  a city  of Lydia,  and Paul of the
 isle of  iEgina.  Under the  Christian Emperors, medicine experienced  a
 healthy  stimulus, and the heathen temples were finally closed, the buildings
 converted into hospitals,  and their possessions  devoted  to their support.
 The nobles, both gentlemen and  ladies,  lent assistance  to the  work, and
 while charity  was thus extended to the suffering, these institutions served
 as admirable  schools for the  rearing of teachers for  the  great number of
 students who were devoting themselves to this science.  The greatest emu-
 lation sprung up between the different teachers and their pupils,  leading to
 the  most extravagant electioneering exertions,  and presenting a picture
 which will  be  readily  appreciated by those  who  have the opportunity and
 misfortune of witnessing the  excellent imitation of the present day.
   Amid  the wreck of empires which soon followed medicine still existed
 and slowly grew.  The empire of the west gradually succumbed to the
 hordes of barbarians which ceaselessly poured upon it from  the forests of
 Germany, and from its  ruins  arose the separate and independent kingdoms
 of the Francs,  the Visigoths, and  the Lombards.   The empire of the east
 still struggled  for existence,  and, though displaying  remarkable heroism
 and vigor, saw her strongholds falling,  and  her frontiers gradually con-
 tracting around her.  The Turks, in one direction, were pressing her sorely,
 and her old enemy, the  Persians, in another, kept up their incessant annoy-
 ance and encroachment,  when a more  remote,  more terrible,  and  most
 unexpected foe from the  deserts  of Arabia  precipitated  his bands with
 resistless impetuosity, first upon  the  more   distant, then, emboldened by
 success,  upon  the nearer  provinces, and finally wrested  from  her  hold
 the fairest possessions  of the  empire.  Egypt, Syria and India, at an early
 day, fell  under the dominion  of  Mahomet and his successors,  while but
 a  century or so more  sufficed for the  extension of  their  arms into the
 European provinces and the  establishment of their sway from the  Indus
 to and over the Spanish peninsular.
   While  we are accustomed to look up this prophet conqueror as an am-
 bitious fanatic and rapacious adventurer, we at  the same time  should re-
 member  that he and his successors  gave great encouragement to the arts
 and  sciences' inviting the  learned of all countries to take up their abode
 among them, and bestowing  such solid  favors  as attracted many men of
 merit and learning to  their dominions.   The  cause, therefore,  of the
 downfall of literature in the  west was  the  occasion  of  its transference
 to  and reestablishment in  the east,  where also  the  science of  medicine
was prosecuted with  a good  deal of  success,  and where soon  appeared 
16
physicians  and writers  who have transmitted valuable  information even
to our own times.  The Arabs made  many useful discoveries in the ma-
teria medica  and chemistry, which seemed to possess especial  attraction
for them, and in literature  and the arts advanced  far beyond all  sur-
rounding nations.
  It is impossible  to conceive  that a science  which was  not essentially
true could  thus  have continued  to progress under  almost every turn of
fortune, and  have commanded  the belief of the ablest and brightest in-
tellects of  every age.  and true  as opposed to  all the different forms of
quackery which either  now, or heretofore, have imposed  on human cre-
dnlity.
  Of all the  names of antiquity, among  all nations, none occupy a higher
place  than  those who have  given their  lives,  labor and  faith to medi-
cine.   Among the  Arabians, Rasis, Haly  Abas,  and, above all others,  the
noble  and gifted Avicenna, Albucasis, and many others, have transmitted
to posterity the  evidences of their ability, and afforded us  a clear insight
into the condition of the medical science.  The  Arabian princes estab-
lished  hospitals  and schools at an early date  in the east, and in Europe,
when  masters there, whatever  havoc in other  respects they committed, in
regard to the arts and  sciences,  they pursued  an  enlightened  policy of
protection.   But when the Turks succeeded in  wresting from them their
hard-earned power, they struck, as they  have  ever  done, a fatal blow at
all  that tended to elevate humanity.   During  all this period, among  the
Greeks and Latins, the  science of medicine, if  it did not actually retro-
grade,  at least made no  perceptible  improvement,  and as  thus both in
the east and  west the  supports of knowledge  and  science were  failing
and fading away, a new agent  became  necessary  to  stir the stagnant
pool of human intelligence.
  That, agent  already existed  and was ready for the task.  As  the prim-
itive church  lost more  and more of her  original purity,  she made more
eager clutches at the acquisition of control over the property, conscience
and education of the people, and as good not unfrequently  grows out of
evil, the means  adopted for her own  aggrandizement proved most effect-
ual for the promotion of the sciences and liberal professions.  About  the
cathedrals  colleges were  established, where  medicine, to  some  extent,
with what  was known  of other sciences, was  taught, and gradually  the
knowledge  and even the  practice of medicine fell  almost entirely into
the hands of  the  clergy.  After the  ninth century, they met  with suc-
cessful rivals in the Jews, who then,  as  now,  being much given  to com-
merce  and traveling,  were  thrown,  by  the   nature  of  their  pursuits,
among the  Saracens, who still stood   foremost  in  civilization,  and from
whom  they acquired more valuable  knowledge, and a better  system of
practice, than yet  prevailed  in  the  west.  But the information  of  the
wisest and best of these practitioners was exceedingly limited,  and their
success indifferent, while  their remuneration was so far disproportionate
to their services, that numbers of quacks, ignorant even of the  little that
was then known, were  attracted to  the  profession  simply  and entirely
for its gains.  The evil became intolerable, and, as  a remedy,  Theodoric,
king of the Visigoths,  established laws  for the protection of the  people'
which  remained in force  for  several  centuries.  These laws are curious'
and some  of  them would  be productive  of good were they  enacted now!
One of them  provided  that,  if any of these irregular practitioners  should
injure a gentleman, he should forfeit a heavy fine; and if, by medicine
or a surgical operation, he  should cause  death, he was to  be handed over
to the tender mercies of the  relatives of the  deceased, who might deal
with him as  they thought proper.  In regard to the relation of the church
to education  and science, whatever may have been the object of the  clergy
it cannot  be  denied that  they were  largely  instrumental  in  preparing
the mind of  Europe for  the  intellectual  movement which followed  the 
17
fourteenth century.  Prior to this time, as  has been  observed, the Sara-
cens were at the head  of civilization, and had established,  not  only in
the east, but also in the  west, colleges  and schools of medicine,  some of
which attained extended  celebrity, and long outlived  the downfall of the
Saracen sway.  Among these none stood higher than the school of Salernus,
established, as is believed, by refugees from  Alexandria after  the final
destruction of the  great libraries.  Patients from all parts of  Europe
flocked to Salernus, to avail themselves of the skill of the faculty there,
and even so late as near the beginning of the twelfth century this school
still stood so preeminent that many of the wounded crusaders of distinc-
tion stopped there to be  treated,  among whom was Robert, Duke of Nor-
mandy,  son of  William  the  Conqueror.  Thus,  amid  all  vicissitudes,
against all foes  within and without, amid the rise and fall of empires,
through  an age  of  darkness, when  almost  everything  not essential for
man  was obliterated,  not only had medicine maintained an existence, but
it had established a conviction of its  truth in the minds of all the most
intelligent and enlightened of Europe, Asia  and Africa.
   My time does  not  allow me  to  dwell  minutely upon  its history,  to
 speak at large of the temporary and changing circumstances which ex-
 ercised an influence over its progress and condition at different periods,
 to explain the causes  which led to a separation of medicine  and surgery,
 or even  to mention the  character  of  the  latter,  which indeed would be
 more  amusing than  instructive;  nor is all this essential to my purpose.
 I proceed to a brief consideration  of the subject  after the commencement
 of that  intellectual dawn, appearing  about the fourteenth century, wax-
 ing brighter and brighter through age after age, and in our time shed-
 ding  its noonday blaze  over  the world.  The  crusades were past which
 had  given so  vast an impulse to civilization, and the fruits  of them were
 seen  in  the establishment of new and enlargement  of  the  existing uni-
 versities  and schools.  In Germany, in  France, in  Spain,  and  m  Eng-
 land, universities were  established which exist to the present  day, and
 which will no doubt continue through all time to come.   The telescope,
 the microscope, the compass, and, above all else, the art  of printing had
 been  invented, and, what more directly concerned the  study of medicine,
 the superstitious dread  of interfering with the dead human body, which
 had been an impassable barrier  to the prosecution of  anatomy,  had been
 dissipated, and dissection  was  soon licensed, or at least  permitted, by
 the removal of the interdict of  the Church of Rome.  Poetry again re-
 vived, and a  Dante, a Petrarch, a  Boccacio,  and a Chaucer were born to
 rekindle a taste which  had been smouldering  for ages.  Let me, at this
 point of the world's history, again ask, what would have  been  the nat-
 ural  influence of this intellectual  revolution upon the progress of medi-
 cine  if it were  not  a  science  of  truth?   Old  superstitions were  aban-
 doned  old theories reviewed and remodeled, and old ideas, which could
 not  stand the test of scientific  investigation, quietly  sunk into  oblivion,
 while medicine did and does live,  because it can stand this test.  As we
 follow the course of medicine for the last four or five hundred years we
 find  the  same kind of record  that characterizes the history of  all other
 sciences, namely, gradual  correction of error and  improvement in  the
 practice.  We find  men of the  highest order of talents  devoting those
 talents to honest investigation  in our  science,  and giving to the  worm
  the  benefits  of their discoveries  and experience;  we find at  the same
  time barriers  to  the  advance of  the profession, similar in kind,  it not
  equal in degree,  to those that  clog its progress now; we  find,  in short,
  at all times quacks and  mountebanks ever ready to  avail themselves of
  the  credulity of the people.  It  is true that as the  world advances there
  must be new methods of humbuggery invented; for the  public taste, be-
  coming  more and more morbid  in  this aspect, requires more stimulating
  frauds   and the new  species of quackery  that  are constantly springing 
18
up, for any hope of success, must each in its turn outstrip its  predeces-
sor in audacity  and absurdity.
  Humbuggery,  to succeed at the  present  day, must  be monstrous in-
deed; the public taste demands  it,  and there  are  always ready  those to
furnish it.  But the same kind  of thing,  though not equal in degree, has
always existed;  and is this the ground on which  is  rested the question
of the truth of regular medicine?  Are these the witnesses to be appealed
to or to be opposed  as rivals  to the science  of medicine?  The  evil will
no doubt  continue  to increase  in magnitude, until it becomes intolera-
ble;  but  when this point is reached the people must  find out for them-
selves.  In the meantime the  members  of the  medical profession can only
prosecute honestly and honorably their calling, for any effort  on  their
part to arrest these evils will at  once  be met with the cry of  persecu-
tion  and  self-interest.  The good, however, which has been and is  being ac-
complished stands forth as incontestible evidence of  the value and truth of
medicine.                                                        . .
  In the cause of humanity, we may point to  the examples of physicians
as in the highest degree noble and glorious.   To go  no further back than
our own times, and in our own country, instances, and  those not a few, of
the most admirable heroism  have been exhibited—heroism not excited by
desire or expectation of human applause, but prompted by the highest be-
nevolence and philanthropy.   In  New Orleans,* in Philadelphia,* in Nor-
folk * in  our near neighbor, Cincinnati,! and inSandusky,t when all others
were flying before the march of  death, in the hour of gloom and despair, in
the face of danger,before "the terror by night, the arrow thatfliethby day,
the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and the destruction that wasteth
at noonday," have these devoted members of our profession stood to oppose
all their  energy  and power to the progress of the destroying angel, to soothe
the sufferings  of the sick, to  moderate  the agony of the dying,  and alas!
too often to sacrifice their own lives  in the defence of others.J  The atten-
tion of the profession  has also been directed  to  the  prevention as well as
the cure  of disease; and their success in this respect fully attests the value
of their services.  The plague has disappeared, small  pox has been dis-
armed of its virulence and terror, while the mortality in large cities and
in hospitals has relatively diminished, as is proven by the statistics of Eu-
rope and  America, and longevity has increased.  The field of battle, too,
has  participated in  the benign  influence of the  medical science; wounds,
formerly mortal, are cured,  and the  dangers of a campaign, both from en-
gagements and the sickness  incidental to camp  life, are greatly diminished.
Boards of health have been established,  and, under their  direction, sanitary
regulations have been  adopted, which have abated the frequency and fatal-
ity of pestilences.  All this, and vastly  more, has been the work of medi-
cine—of regular medicine—of a science which  arose from the necessity of
man, which continues because that necessity  continues, and which must
continue  until that necessity ceases to exist; which has been handed down
from the remotest  periods  of antiquity,  relinquishing  error as error  is
proven, advancing as light is added to light,  and which is opposed to char-
latanry and quackery of every sort and description.  The good—the great
good that it has accomplished, and is accomplishing, is  undenied and un-
deniable;  while in its  pursuit  are engaged vast  numbers of  the most
intelligent, the  most scientific,  as well as the most  honest of men, all of
whom are either deceived and  wrong,  while  the  followers  of the differ-
ent  seisms, the  growth of yesterday, or of some one of them, are right;
or these same men, intelligent  in  every  other respect,  afe duped in this;
or, honest in  all else, are here practicing a fraud upon their fellow-men,
if medicine be  not a science true, and worthy of belief.
   It  is very much  the fashion  of the present day to underrate the great
value to our profession of the experience of ages; and well may the en-

         :|,Yellow  fever.    f^-holera.     JMarny physicians  died at Norfolk. 
19
emies of  that profession  foster and encourage such  a  fashion;  but cer-
tainly any intelligent mind that  will reflect  upon the subject must  see,
and every honest one admit, the  necessity of this experience in  our call-
ing  far more than in any other business  or profession.   In any and  al-
most every  other  science,  experiments of the  same kind exactly,  and
under precisely similar circumstances,  may  be  indefinitely repeated  for
the  establishment of certain and  constant laws, but in  medicine  it is  far
otherwise.  Our  agents, subjects  and circumstances  are  continually  va-
rying, so that the lapse  of generation after generation  is requisite  for
the  repetition of experiment and  observation, under  circumstances suffi-
ciently identical,  to  elucidate  and  establish  a  single  therapeutic  rule.
Thus, as  has been aptly  remarked, the past is a giant upon whose should-
ders each succeeding  generation  may  mount and gain  a view which,
without such aid, would  be impossible; and thus is  it evident how pre-
posterous and presumptuous are  the pretensions of  him  who  would un-
dertake in medicine, by  the  experience of one or even a hundred indi-
viduals,  to establish  a system of  practice  in  opposition to the experience
of the past.  But that this has been repeatedly  attempted the  history of
the  past  informs us;  at  which we surely should not be  surprised, since
even the  religion ordained and revealed by the  Creator himself has not
escaped the  innovating touch of the creature.