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MEDICAL MEN
Medical Mattees
OF 1776. 
 
MEDICAL  MEN
AXD
MEDICAL   MATTEES
1776.
Anniversary Address before the Medical Society of the
                State of New York.
By
THOMAS F.  ROCHESTER,  M.D.,
        PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY.
       ALU A NY, N.Y.:
VAX BLN'TIICVSKX PRINTING HOl'SU
            1S7I5. 
 
ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS.
   The  air is  teeming, and the earth is  vibrant with sights and
sounds  of interest and  of  significance.   A  great nation  is cele-
brating its first centennial,  and pride and patriotism are evoked
and burn in the breast of every citizen.   Whoever can  trace his
pedigree to a revolutionary ancestor, feels twice possessor of his
native soil.  Whoever can bring forth  relies of that  trying and
bloody  era, which vexed the  souls and  wasted the bodies of our
struggling and  long-suffering  progenitors, feels that he  possesses
treasures of greater value than gems or precious stones.    The now
great city, once the modest seat of the first capital of the dawning
republic, opens  wide its broad portals, and invites  the World  to
attend the grand spectacle of a people jubilant and strong, mighty
and influential ;  second  to none  on earth's surface in  power and
intelligence, and all this prominence attained in that unparalleled
brief portion of a nation's being—one hundred years.   The Mecca
of every true and earnest American in 1876, is Philadelphia  ; and
may each  pilgrim, whether such in reality,  or  only in  the heart's
wishes,  be so imbued with the true spirit of brotherly love, that
foes from  without and dissensions within may never  tarnish  or
sever the bond lately so rudely shaken, but  now bright-burnished
and stronger than of yore.  What part was played by the  medi-
cal profession, and how its members bore themselves in the natal
struggle of the now great Republic, and what was their status and
influence, your speaker  hopes in some measure to  portray, and,
therefore, invites your attention to Medical Men and Medical Mat-
ters in 1776.
  The opportunities  and advantages of Medical study at  home,  at
this period, were limited and few.  Of Medical  schools, so-called,
there were but two, and to these reference will be made hereafter. 
4
The President's
 Every student who could go abroad to acquire his profession, did
 so :  London and Edinburgh being chiefly resorted to.  A longer
 novitiate  was required then at present, and  few spent less than
 from three to seven years from home.   As was but natural, attach-
 ments were formed to British institutions, British laws and customs,
 and many friendships were firmly established between individuals.
 All these  bonds and convictions and personal advantages were to be
 sundered, or materially weakened, by engaging in the '• rebellion,"
 yet  few hesitated.   Animated  by  patriotism . and persuasion  of
 right, most  of the returned  Medical  absentees sustained with  all
 their influence and  ardor  the  movement  which at first seemed
 almost a hopeless struggle.   And this was more of a sacrifice than
 is now apparent, for a very large  proportion  of the gentry—the
 wealthiest of their patients—adhered to the  side of the  mother
 country.  The medical roll  will compare favorably with- that of
 any other class of citizens  in the  light of devotion and personal
 exposure.
   Children  catch the salient points of pictures, whether penned  or
 painted.  Bunker Hill fight is, in every schoolboy's mind, the
 most glorious episode of the revolutionary drama.   And  what is
 the central(and engrossing  figure?   It is the death of Warren,
 whether ginned  by Trumbull  or  told  in history—and who will
 dare to doubt that thousands of heroic  souls have been moulded
 by the youthful impression of that noble and  devoted  death.
 Joseph  Warren was a native of Roxbury.  After completing his
 medical education,  he entered  earnestly into practice, and was
.remarkably  successful and popular.  He possessed great eloquence
 and administrative talent, and being full of the patriotic enthusiasm
 that was just fanning into flame, was frequently consulted by the
 political agitators, of whom he soon became one of the  leaders.
 In 1775  he  braved the British  myrmidons of Gage—delivering
 the oration  commemorative of  the  Boston Massacre of 1770__in
 the face of  threats of pointed bayonet and of  pistol leveled at  his
 head, foiling by his  nerve  and coolness the  murderous intent of
 those who were  stung to madness  by his burning words.   He it
 was who started Paul Revere on that ride famed in song  and story.
 He it was  who  made the  fight of  Lexington  memorable and
 encouraging.  Honors were heaped upon him by his grateful and 
A NNII 'ERSA RY A DDR ESS.
5
admiring compatriots.   He was made president of the Provincial
Congress and chairman  of the Committee of Public  Safety.  He
was  tendered  the  position of surgeon-general of  the  army, but
declined it to  accept that of major-general, for both of  which
posts he was  well qualified.   He was opposed to the occupation
of Charleston  Heights,  on the ground of insufficient ammunition,
but was overruled by Putnam and  Preseott.   When the fight of
Bunker Hill commenced, his ardent spirit carried him to the con-
test.  Both  Putnam and  Preseott offered him the command, he
being their ranking officer.  To the latter he courteously replied :
" 1 am a volunteer, I come to learn the art of war from a veteran "
—alas ! he learned it on that fatal  day  from a bullet in his brain.
Thus, at the early age of thirty-four years, his mortal career ended,
but  his influence lived on, and still lives.   Never was  man  more
lamented ;  grief and eulogy were universal.  Mrs. Adams, under
date of July 5th, 1775, writes :  " Xot all the havoc and devasta-
tion they have made, has wounded  me like the death of  Warren.
AVe want him  in the Senate.  We want him in his profession.  We
want him in the field.   We mourn for the citizen, the senator, the
physician and the warrior."  There being an impression that he
had relinquished his profession for that of arms,  it is proper to
slate  that such was  in  contemplation, but was not fulfilled.  He
was busily engaged  in  visiting  patients  on the day preceding his
demise, and  many  of  the  wounded,  not knowing  what  had
occurred, sent for him, and waited for his professional aid.   Joseph
Warren was the elder brother and  preceptor of  the  distinguished
and patriotic  John Warren,  M.D.,  who was  the father of the no
less eminent John  Collins Warren, M.D.   Massachusetts boasts no
brighter sons.
   On  the  immortal  roll   attached to the   " Declaration  of
Independence," are the  names of five physicians  : Josiah  Bartlett,
of Massachusetts;  Oliver Wolcott and Lyman Hall, of Connecti-
cut ; Matthew Thornton, of Xew Hampshire, and Benjamin Rush,
of Pennsylvania.   The  latter, in  the language of  his biographer
and enthusiastic admirer, Dr. Samuel Jackson, "did not sign the
tremendous  parchment  because he was a member—he became a
member  that  he might sign it, a fact  that  greatly  enhances the
merit."   Jackson also intimates that Rush was chiefly the author 
6                     The President's

and  framer  of the Declaration itself.   Rush took  his  medical
degree in Edinburgh.   He was a most enthusiastic admirer and
disciple of Cullen,  and until the Brunonian "Theory of Life"
was  enunciated, was an earnest and active propagandist  of the
doctrines of his eloquent teacher.   When, after the lapse  of many
years, he was obliged  to admit that "Cullen was  tottering," and
partially subscribed to the " new light," introduced by Brown, he
still adhered to his respect for Cullen.   He saw much of Franklin
when in London,  and the foundation of their subsequent intimacy
was there laid.  He returned to Philadelphia in 1769, engaged at
once in practice, and was  elected Professor of Chemistry  in the
Medical  college of that  city, of which Benjamin Franklin was the
first  President.  He wrote  and published  largely on scientific,
medical, humanitarian and political subjects.  He rose very rap-
idly  into prominence and  esteem, and was appointed ''physician
general" to the army in 1776.   After  acting in that capacity for
two years, he  resigned,  partly on account of a misunderstanding
with the commander-in-chief,  and partly because he  could not
effect certain reforms in the matter of  hospital stores.   In 1778,
he returned  to private practice, and from that time forward con-
tinued in it, being a most  busy practitioner, teacher and writer,
and yet making opportunity for many political and philanthropic
efforts.   In  1793, yellow  fever  appeared  in Philadelphia;  its
spread was  rapid, the mortality was fearful.   Rush, and all other
physicians were baffled.  At length he remembered a manuscript
on " Yellow Fever in Virginia, in 1741," by Dr. John Mitchell,
an English  resident at  Urbana, on the  Rappahannock, given to
him  in London by Dr. Franklin.  He sought its neglected  leaves,
perused,  thought,  acted.   Mitchell had  been dead over twenty
years, but his soul lived again in Rush, who argued, from the faith-
ful description of the disease given, "that the debility  arose from
oppression of the vitals, and was only apparent."  He combatted it
first  with purgatives, and then with blood-letting.   The new treat-
ment succeeded, and the elated Rush promulgated it to his colleagues
and to the public.  A terrible outcry was raised—opposition was
fierce, and   vehement and  denunciatory.    Parties pro  and con
were formed.  The effect of the strife on  the tempers of  men was
as dire as that of  the epidemic on their bodies :  but Rush and his 
Anniversary Address.
7
friends triumphed.  " He published a full history of this epidemic
the following year, which obtained unbounded  praise throughout
the  medical  world.  Dr. Zimmerman  said  that  he  merited  a
statue, not only from Philadelphia, but from all humanity—and
Dr. Letson states, that  all Europe was  astonished at his novelty
and bold decision ;   his unprecedented  sagacity and judgment."
This treatment, inducted by Rush, has not been sustained by long
and repeated modern experience, but it was apparently successful
at the time employed.   Rush was  now at the very zenith  of his
fame.   He was confessedly the foremost medical man in America,
and abroad was regarded as one of the Medical luminaries of the
day.   By his teachings and writings he attracted great numbers
of  students to Philadelphia, and was  in reality its founder  as a
great  centre1  for  medical teaching and  study.  The  limits  and
intent of this paper will not allow of further biographical reference
to this great  man, but perhaps a few remarks and deductions  may
not be inappropriate.  He was very intelligent,  highly educated,
conscientious  and philanthropic.   His  industry was almost un-
paralleled.  He was the spirit of urbanity and courtesy.  He Avas
one of those strong, powerful, positive men, who are always  fell.
He  had many enemies, but he had more friends.  Few there are
who are possessed of intellectual power that do not have both ;  it
is an unfortunate characteristic  of humanity, but it is the  truth.
Rush has been called a Cullenist, a Solidist, a  Brunonist, a mere
theorist.  He was strictly none of these.  He  was a positivist—
he  had  convictions, always  well-grounded,  and he acted upon
them.  He studied human nature, he observed disease, he watched
the effect of treatment, and although he was doubtless  warped by
the errors of the medical atmosphere of the age, he  was no blind
bigot ;  he  was no unreasoning  follower of any man  or system.
He  lived fully up to the lights of  his time,  and in many respects
was in advance of them.  He has written, " that Phthisis is not
essentially a  specific disease, but a product  of  an inflammatory
action."   Are there not many at this very time  advancing that  as
a new  doctrine?  His influence still lives, and if rightly intei-
preted,  lives  for good.  Of how many  of this  present day may
that truthfully be said one hundred years hence ?  Rush is buried
in Christ Church graveyard.   Let no medical man who celebrates 
The President's
 the centennial at its centre, fail to  pay his tribute of respect to
 the spot where repose the remains of the  physician,  patriot and
 philosopher, Benjamin Rush.   To the members of the  Medical
 Society of the  State of New York, it is a matter  of interest and
 pride, that the name of Benjamin Rush stands  first on the roll of
 honorary members—the date of the degree being 1808.
   With the above necessary reference to the two physicians most
 promineutly connected with the birth of republican America, and
 of too  national renown to be limited to any section, pass we now
 to the consideration of some of the medical men of New  York at
 this period.  Of  those immediately connected with the army, the
 number is not large.  From the "Annals  of Medical Progress,"
 by the erudite Dr. Joseph  M. Toner, of  Washington,  D.C., we
 make a few selections.   " Dr. Peter Van der Lynn, a native of
 Holland,  was surgeon in Col.  Paulding's regiment  during the
 Revolution.  In  1777, when Fort Montgomery was attacked, he
 and General Clinton escaped by  swimming across the Hudson."
 " Daniel Menema, a native of New York, served as surgeon in the
 second  New York regiment, to the close of the war.  He was a
 man of extensive  acquirements and of elegant and affable manners.
 He was a member of the Society of Cincinnati.  In 1806, he was
 President of the  Medical Society of Queens county."   " David
.Shepard, a native of New York, raised and commanded a  com-
 pany at the breaking out  of the Revolution.  He resigned the
 captaincy for the position  of surgeon, and was in the battle of
 Bunker Hill.  He died at Amsterdam, Montgomery  county, De-
 cember 12th, 1818, aged  74."   "John Jones, M.D, of Jamaica,
 L. I., studied medicine in Philadelphia with Dr.  Cadwallader, and
 completed his education in Europe.   On his return to ISew York,
 he was appointed Professor  of Surgery  in the Medical Colleo-e|
 and was physician to both Washington and Franklin, in Philadel-
 phia, in 1780."
   Dr. Jones was an old army surgeon, being in the Anglo-Ameri-
 can army as early as 1755.  He was a great favorite  with army
 officers, and was  frequently  consulted  by his old  companions in
arms, both in person and by  letter.  The writer has in his posses-
sion an autograph opinion of his, given to an ancestral relative a
colonel in the army.  The language is choice, the diagnosis clear 
                   Anniversary Address.                 9

the advice and directions are admirable.  Very little is said about
medicine, and a  great deal about hygiene, as to diet, exercise and
clothing.  Probably no physician of his day had, or deserved, a
greater repute  for sterling  sound sense  and  clear perceptions.
"Dr. Ebenezer White was born in Westchester county,  in 1744,
and settled  at Yorktown previous to the commencement of the
Revolution.   He  was much interested in politics and  religion.
He was noted as a patriot;  the British making several ineffectual
attempts to  capture him for the purpose of exchanging him for an
English  surgeon in the hands of the Americans."  One of these
attempts  terminated very tragically for Dr. James Brewer,  also
settled at Yorktown.   Failing to secure White, the enemy seized
Brewer,  and  as they were  hurrying him away,  his  friends, in
attempting  a rescue, fired upon  his captors and mortally wounded
Brewer.   " Ebenezer Crosby, a surgeon in the New York guards
of  the Continental army—a native of Quincy, Massachusetts—
graduated from  Harvard in  1777,  and  finished his medical educa-
tion at the University of Pennsylvania.  After the war he secured
an enviable  reputation in New York, and in  1785 was elected  pro-
fessor in Columbia College."   " Charles  McKnight was born at
Cranbury, N. J.,  in 1750 ;  studied medicine with Dr. Shippen,
and entered the  Continental army as surgeon, but was afterwards
appointed senior surgeon  of the flying hospital,  in the middle de-
partment.   At the close of the war he settled in New York, where
he delivered lectures on anatomy and surgery.  He communicated
a case of  extra uterine abdominal foetus, successfully removed by
an operation.  (See Vol. IV, Mem. Med.  Soc. of London.)   The
Doctor was one of the earliest physicians in New York to use a
carriage as a conveyance  in  his rounds to visit patients.  He died
November  16,  1791, aged  41."  "Dr.  Samuel Adams, of  Mt.
Pleasant, a native of Scotland, came to America about the time of
the  Revolutionary war, and probably served as a surgeon in  the
Continental  army.  After  the  war  he settled in  Westchester
county.  So great was his reputation as a surgeon, that for many-
years no surgical  operation  of moment was  performed in West-
chester, or  the  contiguous  counties,  without his  presence.  He
died in 1828, at  the age of 90 years."  " Isaac Gilbert Graham, a
descendant of  the Duke  of  Montrose, and a son of Dr. Andrew
     [t. f. r.J         2 
10
The President's
Graham, was born in South Parish, Conn., in 1760 ;  studied medi-
cine under his father, a physician of high standing, and  entered
the Revolutionary army as assistant surgeon at an early age.   He
possessed the warm regard of General Washington, and of the offi-
cers of  the General's  staff, for his professional ability and staunch
patriotism.  At the close of the war he  settled at Unionville,
where he practiced for nearly sixty years.   He died  September
1st,  1848, in  his  eighty-eighth year."  It  may  be remarked,  in
passing, that  instances of longevity, like the two last-mentioned, in
ex-medical officers of the Revolutionary army, are extraordinarily
frequent.
  "Richard  Bayley, M.D., born  in  1745,  died in  1801,  was an
eminent physician in  the city of  New York.   He was well quali-
fied, and  of  a philosophic turn  of mind ; studied yellow fever
with great care, and published an essay on yellow fever in 1797,
with letters on yellow  fever in 1798.   He is said to have been one
of the first physicians who  rode to visit their patients."  " Dr.  Att-
wood, according to the historian Watson, was the first physician
in New  York  to devote his time to obstetric  practice, and to an-
nounce himself by advertisement to the public as an obstetrician.
He  was  a contemporary of Dr. Bay ley's."   "Dr. Jacob Ogden, a
native of New Jersey, practiced  his profession for many years  at
Jamaica, L. I.  He wras particularly  noted for his  advocacy  of
innoculation,  and was the  author of a number of papers on malig-
nant sore throat."  Yellow fever, angina trachealis and malignant
sore throat were at these times the themes of numerous papers, and
of many interesting, and—it must be added—of many acrimonious
discussions.  The contagionists and non-contagionists were very bit-
ter against each other.  Among the physicians of this period should
be mentioned  Isaac Dubois, and John and Beekman Van Beuren,
father and son, the latter of whom met with strong opposition for
practicing innoculation for small-pox at the almshouse, in 1770—
all graduates  of Leyden, and  ardent pupils of the  renowned Boer-
haave;  Henry Mott, who  died in 1840, aged 83 years, the father
of the illustrious Valentine Mott.  Eminent  themselves in their
clay and  generation, they  are  represented professionally by those
in our midst,  who more than  honor their  parent stock.
  In this connection we must not forget two Albany physicians, 
                   Anniversary Address.                 11

mentioned  by Dr. Sylvester D. Willard in his semi-centennial ad-
dress of November 11th, 1856. before the Albany County Medical
Society.   Dr. Hunloke Woodruff, the partner  of the successful
and eccentric Dr. Wilhelmus Mancius, espoused the Colonial cause,
and  was surgeon  to  one of the New York regiments  from the
beginning until the close of the Revolutionary war.   He was very
much esteemed, and bore an enviable  reputation for benevolence
and  hospitality.   On  one occasion he and his partner had a dis-
cussion, and Woodruff, being the better  informed, got decidedly
the  advantage in the argument; but Mancius was by no  means
disposed to yield, and closed the debate with the emphatic  and
logical declaration, "The cure is the thing, Hunloke, and I cureP
   Dr. Elias Willard,  although born in Howard, Mass., is justly
claimed as an Albanian.   He was in the battle of Lexington,  as a
common soldier  in the ranks, in company with his father  and
elder brother, but was soon appointed assistant in the military hos-
pital at Roxbury, under Dr. Haywood ;  subsequently he was trans-
ferred to Boston, under Dr. John Warren, and still later was made
regimental surgeon to a Maine regiment,  with which he came to
New York, and  remained with it at White Plains, German Flats,
and  Tieonderoga,  continuing with it through the whole contest,
and  sharing  its  privations and sufferings.   He  made Albany his
residence in 1801, making warm  friends  and  establishing a hand-
some practice.   He was one of the  first  to  be disciplined by the
county  society.   Medical ethics were  not as  well established or
observed then, as now.  He thought he had  a specific for the cure
of cancer ;  he refused  to divulge it, and was consequently expelled
in 1811; but the medical society of Massachusetts, also disregard-
ing ethics, elected him an honorary member in 1814.   He enjoyed
an active practice for  over half a century,  and died iu his seventy-
first  year.
   The revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685, while a great
blow to liberty and progress in France, was to other  nations,  and
especially to colonial America, a source of wealth, power  and
vigor.   No  better material  came  from  any quarter than that
afforded bv the proscribed and fugitive Huguenots.  Scions of this
race  were  John  and'Samuel  Bard.  The former was a native of
Philadelphia.   He removed  to New York in 1746,  when the lat- 
12
The Presidents
ter, his son, was but four years of age.  He immediately took a
leading position, socially and professionally.   He was the origina-
tor of the first Quarantine station in New York, having  procured
for that purpose the purchase of Bedloes Island, and the erection
thereon of suitable hospital buildings.   It  is an historical fact,
that he and Dr. Peter Middleton were among the first in America
to practice dissection of the human  cadaver.   When  the New
York Medical Society was organized,  in  1788, he was  made its
first president by a unanimous vote.   He was the  author of sev-
eral monographs, but was particularly distinguished by his papers
on the origin and importation of yellow fever.  On this  disease
he was esteemed of the highest  authority.  He  died in 1799, in
his eighty-fifth  year.  Distinguished as was  the  father,  his fame
was far eclipsed  by that of his son, so estimable in  his filial rela-
tions, that had he no other virtue or eminence, he would stand on
the tablet of history as one of the  best and purest of mankind.
Being of delicate  health, at the age of fourteen he was  sent to
spend the  summer at Colclenham,  the seat of  Lieut.-Governor
Cadwallader Colden, who succeeded Lieut.-Governor De Lancey,
and was  the last of the Colonial lieut.-governors.   Colden was
educated as a physician, and was the personal professional friend
of Dr. Bard.  Dr. John B. Beck, in his address before this Society
in 1842, speaks very enthusiastically of Colden, and quotes  Rush
as saying  that Colden was one of the first to give wine  in putrid
and nervous fevers.  He was a very erudite  man, and the author
of many  scientific, historical and  medical  papers.  From  a lono-
list in  the III  Vol. of the  Colonial History  of New York,  we
select the  titles of a few.  "Account of  the climate of New
York; "  " History of the  Five Nations," pronounced  by Ver-
planck " of the highest  authority in everything that  relates to
our North American  Indian history and  antiquity;" "Observa-
tions on Fever in New York, in 1741-42 ; communicated to Dr.
David  Hosaek ; "  " Observations on the Throat Distemper, which
appeared  first in Massachusetts, in 1735 ; communicated  to Dr.
Fothergill,  of  London,  in 1753,"  probably one  of  the  first
authentic  descriptions  of diphtheria;  "An Inquiry  into  the
principles of Vital  Motion ; " " Correspondence  with Dr. Benja-
min  Franklin : "  " Correspondence with  Linnajus ; "  " Corres- 
Anniversary Address                 13
pondence with Gronorius,  of Leyden ; " " Letters to Dr. John
Bard, on the Small-pox."
  Gov. Colden occupied the executive chair of New York until
June 25th, 1775.  Almost his  last official act was to announce
"that  Congress had  appointed George Washington commander-
in-chief of the Americau army."   He  was a staunch loyalist, yet
he did all that he could to avert the struggle that was impending.
He died  in his eighty-eighth year.  With such a Mentor we can
well  understand  how the  foundations of that  elegant taste, that
broad scientific inquiry, and  that tireless industry, characteristic
of Samuel Bard, were laid.  Not the least  pleasing incident  of
his sojourn at Coldenhani, was his devotion to Miss Colden, many
years his senior.  This lady was an accomplished botanist, and a
valued correspondent of  Liumeus.   Young  Bard became her
enthusiastic pupil, and, under her instructions  acquired  much  of
that  knowledge  in  this branch of science,  for which he subse-
quently was celebrated.   Returning to his home, both invigorated
and  instructed, he entered  King's  College—now Columbia—grad-
uated when nineteen, and sailed for Europe, there to study medi-
cine.  It was during the French and English war;  the vessel was
captured, and Bard and his companions were imprisoned in France.
After a captivity of five months, he was released through  the exer-
tions of his father's friend, Benjamin  Franklin, then resident  in
London, and this was  the commencement of an intimacy with
that great man, which was life-enduring and fruitful of advantage,
it is not too much to say, to  both.
   After spending several months in London, listening to the lect-
ures of the eminent  teachers of that  city, and being especially
under the auspices of Dr.  Fothergill, the friend of Dr. Colden,  he
proceeded to Edinburgh, attracted by that great luminary, Cullen,
who seemed to draw all American students to his immediate sphere.
Bard was not less enthusiastic than the  others, and in a letter home
spoke of him as " that accurate professor."  His private instructor
was Dr. John Brown,  the subsequently celebrated originator of
the Brunonian Theory.   While  a student, he  obtained   the first
prize in botany, given by the distinguished Dr.  Hope.  The dried
specimens which he  presented with his essay, were pronounced  by
Dr. Pultney superior to any in the British  Museum—a pleasing 
14
The President's
 commentary  on the  rambles  with Miss Colden.  He  preferred
 Edinborough to London, and  Monro to Hunter, as an anatomist:
 his only regret as to the change was,  "here I cannot  dissect; to
 possess a subject would be  at  the  risk of banishment, or even of
 life."   Referring to the expense entailed upon his father by his
 foreign education, he writes :  " I  ain  laying  it out to  the best
 advantage now. to return double when we  come to a reckoning,"
 a promise  much more than literally  fulfilled.   During  his resi-
 dence abroad he spent some time at Ley den, where he became an
 enthusiastic admirer of Boerhave;  Cullen still,  however,  holding
 the first place in his  respect  and esteem.   After  an  absence of
 five years he returned  to New York, and immediately entered into
 partnership with his father, and for three years devoted his time
 and his talents to the payment of the debt incurred for his educa-
 tion,  reserving nothing but a mere living fov himself.  At the end
 of this period he married his cousin, Miss Alary Bard, and started
 out, "on faith and £100," in an independent career.  Almost his
 first effort was to organize a  medical school in connection with
 King's College.  This was soon accomplished, and this institution he
 most  faithfully served  in various capacities, under its several names
 and connections, for the long period of forty years.   Degrees were
 first conferred by it in  1769, and the public address on the occasion
 was delivered by Dr.  Bard.  It is  described as singularly and  im-
 pressively eloquent.  The establishment of a city hospital was the
 next project of this philanthropist.  He accomplished it chiefly by an
 address on the Duties  of the Physician ;  interesting the  Colonial
 authorities to such an  extent, that  they subscribed very liberally.
 Sir Henry  Moore, Governor of the Province, who was one  of the
 audience, leading off with £200, and otherwise lending his efficient
 aid.   The  building was constructed, but  unfortunately destroyed
 by fire just on the eve  of its completion.  It was not rebuilt until
 1791.   Bard was one of its most faithful visiting physicians durino-
 the remainder of his professional career.  He instituted in it clini-
 cal  lectures, which  were models of care and precision.   In the
 aforesaid lecture on the " Duties of the Physician," he led the way
 by pointing out its abuses and  pernicious tendencies to  the separa-
tion of the  functions of physician and apothecary—confessedly in
 all intelligent professional minds a most hurtful association :  yet 
Anniversary Address.
15
even at this day cherished  by a few, and which that sterling  old
Knickerbocker, the  learned  Dr. John W. Francis, would  never
entirely  abandon.  When the Revolutionary  crisis arrived, Bard
left  New York on the eve of its occupation-by the British.   He,
however, was soon forced by the exigencies of the times to return.
He found his house  in  the possession of the enemy, himself re-
garded with distrust  by  his former (loyalist) friends,  without
occupation, and  indeed in danger  of arrest as a spy.  From  this
last he was saved by  Matthews, the mayor of the city, who hearing
what was in contemplation, rushed  to his rescue, claimed  him as
his family  physician, and pledged his honor as a loyalist that Bard
was guiltless.  This  turned the tide, and Bard was soon again in
great demand.   When  peace was  declared,  and New York  was
evacuated  by the British, Bard was again, in turn, the object ot
suspicion and animosity to the Republicans ;  but fioni this position
he was relieved by the action of Washington,  who, when Congress
assembled in New York, sent for Bard, and  placed himself under
his care.  Washington was seriously ill, and attributed  his  re-
covery  to  the  attention  he received.   Bard  formed  an nigh
opinion of his personal character, and was proud of the intimacy
thus established.
   In 1788, the noted "Doctor's Mob " occurred.  It arose from
suspicion of desecrated  graveyards, and the  populace  became so
excited, that both civil and military authorities were set at  de-
fiance.   Nearly every  physician was obliged to fly  or to  conceal
himself.  Bard was especially an object of ephemeral rage, partly
from his well-known zeal for post-mortem examinations, and partly
from the intrigues of  a cabal who  revived the charge of toryism.
He,  however, refused to conceal himself, and when the enraged
crowd rushed to his house, he caused  the doors and windows to
be wide  opened, and coolly stood at the door with uncovered head
and  fearless glance.   The  imprecations were  changed to plaudits
by this  undaunted bearing.   President  Duer relates an amusing
anecdote in this connection.  He says : " 'The Doctor's Mob '  was
produced by the careless exposure of a subject from the dissecting
room of the hospital.    It became necessary to call out the militia
to put  down the  rioters, and many  of the principal  citizens re-
paired to the assistance of the civil authority ;  some of them were 
16                    The President's
 severely wounded.  Mr. Jay  received a  serious  wound in the
 head, and  the Baron de Steuben  was  struck  by  a stone, which
 knocked him down, inflicted a flesh wound upon his forehead, and
 wrought a sudden change in the  compassionate feelings he  had
 previously entertained  towards the rabble.   At  the  moment of
 receiving it, he was earnestly remonstrating with Governor Clinton
 against ordering the militia to  fire on  the  'people,' but as soon as
 he was hit, his benevolence deserted him, and as he fell he lustily
 cried out,  ' Fire ! governor I  fire !' "
   In 1791, John Bard  having again lost his property, his son
 again  and for the third  time paid his debts, and  took  him into
 partnership.   This lasted for three years, until the senior Bard
 made  his  final  retirement from the  profession.   In  1798,  Dr.
 Samuel Bard formed a partnership with the rising and brilliant
 David Hosack, intending to spend most of his time at his country
 seat, and to  enjoy, amidst agricultural and rural pursuits, that
 repose so congenial to his tastes, and so well calculated to build up
 and prolong a life wThich, for more than half a  century, had been
 untiring in professional  labor; but the same year the dread epi-
 demic, which  of late had been so  pitiless  in its scourges,  again
 visited the city, and Bard returned to his post and threw his whole
 soul into the strife with his but too familiar foe.   His skill effected
 much, but his presence  did  more.  It stayed  alarm,  it restored
 confidence, it encouraged the wavering, it set a glorious and never-
 to-be-forgotten example to his  younger medical brethren.   After
 toil worthy of his most  vigorous  days, he was himself attacked,
 and nearly succumbed to the pestilence.  He survived to see his
 devotion crowned with success,  and to  find  himself more endeared
 than ever to  his fellow-eitizens.  Besides the various  positions of
 trust and  honor, already mentioned,  Dr.  Bard was  one of the
 founders of the New York city dispensary,  of the Agricultural
 Society, and of the first  public library.  He died  in his eightieth
year, twenty-four hours after  the demise of his devoted wife, with
 whom  he had lived for over fifty-five years in one  of the most
perfect unions that ever blessed man  and wife.   For much of the
above matter pertaining to Samuel Bard, the writer is indebted to
the graceful memoir by Prof.  James P. White, published in Gross'
Medical Biography.   Brief allusion  may here be made to David
Hosack, also of Huguenot descent, upon whose ample shoulders 
                   Anniversary Address.                 17

the mantle of Bard was laid.  He was, undoubtedly, one of the
most polished and cultivated gentlemen that ever adorned the pro-
fession of medicine.   He was  the  intimate friend and associate of
Alexander Hamilton—Washington's great secretary—and accom-
panied him to the fatal field when he lost his invaluable life by the
hand of  the  notorious Col. Burr.  Dr. Francis, in his  historical
discourse, says:  " Of my preceptor and friend, David Hosack, let
it be sufficient to remark, that distinguished beyond  all his com-.
petitors  in the  healing  art, for a long  series of years he was
acknowledged by every hearer to have been the most eloquent and
impressive teacher of scientific medicine and  clinical practice this
country  has produced.   He was, indeed, a great instructor.  His
descriptive  powers and his diagnosis were the admiration of all.
His efficiency in rearing to a high state of consideration the Col-
lege of  Physicians and  Surgeons, while  he  held  the  responsible
office of professor, is  known throughout  the Republic.   His early
movement to establish a medical library  in the New York Hospi-
tal  ; his co-operation with the numerous charities which  glorily
the metropolis ; his adventurous outlay  of the establishment of a
State botanical  garden (the Elgin Garden) ;  his hygienic sugges-
tions the better to improve the medical police of New York ; his
copious  writings on  fevers, quarantine and foreign pestilence, in
which he was the strenuous and almost sole advocate, for years, of
doctrines now verified by popular demonstration ; these, and a
thousand other circumstances, secured to him a  weight of char-
acter that was  almost universally felt.   It was not infrequently
remarked by our citizens,  that Clinton, Hosack and  Hobart were
the tripod  on  which our city stood.   The  lofty  aspirations of
Hosack were further evinced by his whole career as a citizen.  Sur-
rounded by his large and costly library, his house was  the resort
of the learned and enlightened from every part of the world.  No
traveler  from abroad rested satisfied without a personal  inte ^ ew
with him ; and  at his evening soirees, the literati, the philosopher
and the statesman, the skilled in natural science and  the explorer
of new regions, the archaeologist and the theologian met together,
participators in the recreation of familiar  intercourse.  His life
was a triumph in services  rendered and  in  honors received.  His
death was a loss to New York, the city of his birth.   His remains
     [t.  f. r.J           3 
18
The President's
 were followed to the grave by the eminent of every profession,
 and by the humble in life whom his art had relieved."
   It may be here remarked, that Dr. Hosack filled and "adorned
 five different medical chairs in the course of  his  career.   First,
 that of botany, then  superadded, that of materia mediea,  in Col-
 umbia College ;  then, in 1807, that  of surgery and midwifery, and
 finally, those of theory and practice, and  of physic  and clinical
•medicine in the  College  of  Physicians and  Surgeons.  Dr.
 Hosack's preceptor was Nicholas Romayne, one of the old  Dutch
 stock.   He was pursuing  his studies at Edinburgh when  the Rev-
 olutionary war  broke out,  and less patriotic,  or  perhaps more
 provident  than most of his  American confreres, did not return  to
 his native land until the struggle was over.   Entering New York
 as  the  British wrere evacuating it,  he  almost  immediately found
 himself in request as a medical instructor, teaching several depart-
 ments, and being associated  with such men as Bayley, Kissam, Til-
 lery, Treat and  Moore.    In  1807,  he  was  appointed  by the
 Regents of the University, president of the College of Physicians
 and Surgeons, and in 1808, wras elected president of the Medical
 Society of the State of New York, which office he filled for three
 successive terms.   His form  was immense ; his manners were pecul-
 iar ; his neatness of person not remarkable—from all accounts, he
 must have been  quite Johnsonian.  In speaking  of quacks, he
 says : " Most  monsters inhabit waste and  desolate places ; these
 vampires throng the cities and  spread  their  lairs in the crowded
 resorts  of mankind."
   Dr.  Francis styles him "  An  original and  intrepid  thinker, un-
 wearied in toil,  and of mighty energy, goaded by  a strong ambi-
 tion to  excel in whatever  he undertook, he generally secured the
 object of his desire, at least  professionally.   He was temperate in
 all  his drinks, but his gastric powers were of inordinate capabili-
 ties.  I should incur your displeasure, were I to record the mate-
 rial of a single  meal; he sat down with  right good earnest and
 exclusive devotion to his repast; auricular powers  seemed now sus-
 pended.  Dr. Mitchell long ago had said that the stomach  had no
 ears."   Dr. Romayne died very suddenly in June, 1817, after ex-
 posure to intense heat of the sun.
   Every one will remember the great  interest  experienced in the 
Anniversary Address.
19
year 1874, December 8th, by the scientific world, in the observa-
tion of the transit of Venus.  Scientists from all parts were sent,
at great expense, to remote portions  of the globe, to  note the
various appearances and phenomena presented.   In 1769, the time
of the last  preceding  transit, Colonial  America did her best  to
verify or refute the prediction and observation of this event, made
in  1639, by Jeremiah Horrox, the Lancashire astronomer.  For
this purpose, the American Philosophical  Society appointed  a
commission to make the necessary astronomical observations, and
prominent on the list was the name of Dr. Hugh Williamson, who
published the result of their joint labors in the first volume of the
"Transactions of the  Philosophical Society  of Philadelphia."
They were republished in Europe with  high commendations.
   Hugh Williamson was born in Philadelphia in 1733.   Was as
liberally educated as was then possible  in this country, and was a
graduate of  the first class which  received its baccalaureate degree
from the College of Philadelphia on May 17th, 1757.   In 1759
he was licensed to preach the Gospel.   He officiated as a minister
for two years, but finding his profession neither congenial to his
health  or  to his taste, he abandoned it  and devoted himself  to
medicine.   He pursued his  studies chiefly  in Europe ; first in Edin-
burgh,  and  finally  in  Utrecht,  where he  graduated.    On his
return home, he  both practiced medicine  and engaged in literary
pursuits.   In 1773,  in conjunction with Dr. Ewing, subsequently
provost of the University of Pennsylvania, he started for England,
hoping there to raise funds  for an academy at Newark.   The ship
on which they had embarked lay iii Boston Harbor, and just  as
they were about sailing, the famous "Tea Party" took place.  Dr.
Williamson  witnessed it, and, on his  arrival in England, was the
first to report that occurrence to the Home Government.   He was
summoned before the Privy Council, and declared to that body,
that  if the  coercive measures of Parliament  were persisted in,
nothing less  than civil  war  would result.  Lord North subse-
quently stated that Dr. Williamson  was  the first person who, in
his hearing,  had  even intimated the probability of such  an event.
Williamson's exact words are reported  to be these :  " But if the
measures were about to be pursued by Parliament against America,
which out of doors are said to be intended, the time was not far 
20
The President's
 distant when my native country  will be deluged  with blood."
 " This hand," said he, " shall be guiltless  of that blood."  At this
 epoch occurred the somewhat exciting affair of the " Hutchinson
 and Oliver Letters," the former being the Colonial Governor, and
 the latter  the  Secretary of Massachusetts.  " In these  letters the
 character of  the people of  Massachusetts  was  painted in the most
 odious colors, and their grievances and proceedings misrepresented
 by falsehoods the most glaring and  unfounded."  Dr.  Franklin
 having obtained possession of these " letters," sent them to America.
 The result was an intense explosion of indignation and  animosity
 in New England, and scarcely less feeling was  manifested in the
 mother country,  but in the latter ease against Dr. Franklin.   He
 was charged with duplicity as a diplomat—was accused of " steal-
 ing the 'letters' from the man who stole them," and finally the
 excitement culminated in a duel  between Air. AVilliam  Whately
 (the  brother of the  secretary to  whom  the " letters"  had  been
 addressed, and who was now dead), and Sir John Temple, between
 whom there was a bitter controversy in print, as to the manner in
 which Franklin became possessed of the "letters."
   The "letters" were given to Franklin  by Dr.  Williamson, who
 obtained them by a lour  (V adresse.   In some  manner he had
 learned that papers from Hutchinson and Oliver had been delivered
 in London, at an " office different from that in which  they should
 have  been placed."   Assuming  an air of official importance, he
 applied for them, and they were delivered to him by an unsophis-
 ticated clerk, and by him transferred at once to  Franklin, though
 not by his own hand.   Williamson left the next day for Holland.
 Dr. Franklin  kept the secret inviolate, although he became thereby
 the object of almost unparalleled  reproach and obloquy for a con-
 siderable  period in  England.  These facts, as  to  Williamson's
 agency, are corroborated in Hosack's  Memoir, by Bishop White
 and Gen. John Reed, of Philadelphia, and  by John Adams, the
 latter of whom speaks of Williamson  in the highest terms, dating
 their  mutual  acquaintance from 1773, and saying:  "He o-aVe us
 great comfort at that time by the  representation he gave us of the
 ardor of the  people in  the American cause in  the  Middle and
 Southern  States,  especially  in  New  York and  Philadelphia."
 Williamson hardly completed his visit in Holland,  when he received
the news of the '' Declaration of Independence."  He was detained in 
Anniversary Address.
21
France by illness, but came home as soon as possible, bringing im-
portant despatches from  the  French Government.  The ship  on
which he sailed was  captured off the Capes of Delaware, but he
escaped in an open boat, in company with one other passenger, and
brought his  dispatches safely to their destination.  He was full of
enthusiasm,  but his health was too feeble to allow him to take an
active part in the all-engrossing contest.   He was advised to resort
to a southern climate, and accordingly went to Edenton, in North
Carolina.  Here he soon became invigorated to such an extent,
that he offered his services  to the  State authorities,  and was at
once assigned to the medical department as surgeon and physician-
in-ehief.   After the battle of  Camden, he went,  under a flag, into
the enemy's lines, against  the remonstrance of General Coswell,
who advised him to send some regimental surgeon.  He replied,
that the regimental surgeons such as he had seen, had refused to
go, being afraid of the consequences ; " but," he added, " if I have
lived until a flag will not protect me, I have outlived my country
and in that  ease have lived one day too long."   He  went—was
received—and proffered  his  services for the care of the  wounded
American prisoners, and was  allowed to remain for two months;
and such  was his skill and success, that the British  surgeons be-
came very friendly to him, and  sought his counsel in the serious
illness of  one of their own general  officers.   On his return to the
American quarters, he immediately inaugurated a series of sanitary
reforms, perhaps  learned in some measure  from  the enemy.   He
caused  the  camps to  be properly  located  and  drained, paid
especial attention to dietary regulations,  and, in short, established
much needed hygienic rules and system.  So intimate and pleasant
had been  his relations with the  North Carolinians, and so genial
had he found the climate of  the  State, it is not  surprising to find
that, at the close of the  war,  he continued to reside in Edenton—
a veritable Eden to him.  For several years he was a member of
the House of Commons  of North Carolina, and finally most ably
represented that State in the United  States Congress, where he
became noted for the honorable and strict discharge of his duties,
and received the thanks of the legislatures of both North Carolina
and Pennsylvania, for his  services.  Here also his friendship was
sought  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  who subsequently  wrote  of  his
character  and acquirements in the most pleasant manner.  While 
22
The President's
Williamson was in Congress, an Italian sculptor, Joseph Ceracchi,
took many busts, and among others applied to Williamson, with
what object the following letter evinces: " Mr. Ceracchi requests
the favor of Mr. Williamson to sit for his bust, not on account of
getting Mr. Williamson's influence in favor of the National Monu-
ment—this  is a  subject too  worthy  to lie recommended—but
merely on account of his distinguished character, that will  produce
honor  to the artist,  and may give to  posterity the expressive
features  of  the American Cato."   This is the reply:  "Mr. Hugh
AVilliamson  is much obliged  for the polite offer of taking his bust.
Mr. Williamson could not possibly suppose that Mr. Ceracchi had
offered him  such a compliment by way of a bribe, for the man in
his public station who could accept a bribe or betray his trust,
ought never to have his likeness made, except from a block of wood.
Mr.  Williamson cannot,  in  the meantime, avail himself of  Mr.
Ceracchi's services, as he believes that posterity will not be solicitous
to know what were the features of his  face.   He hopes, neverthe.
less,  for  the sake of his  children, that posterity will do him the
justice to believe that his conduct was upright, and  that he was
uniformly influenced  by a regard to the happiness of his fellow
citizens and those who shall  come after them."
   Williamson was a ready  and  voluminous writer.  He was the
author of several monographs on  professional subjects, and also of
extended papers on scientific, philosophical and historical  matters.
Prominent among these may be mentioned his work on the Fevers
of North Carolina, his history  of that State, his theory of the Fas-
cination  of Serpents, his discourse on the Benefits of Civil History,
his essay on Lightening Rods, and many  papers on Navigable
Canals.  He was intimately associated with De Witt Clinton, in his
great project of constructing  the Erie canal to  make a navigable
water connection between the great lakes and tidewater,  and was
really one of the few—of the hundreds subsequently claiming it—
in assisting the  illustrious governor in  carrying out his grand and
successful scheme.   He returned to New York about the year 1800,
making thenceforth that city  his residence.  He took an active part
in founding the Philosophical Society ; was made a trustee of the
College of Physicians  and  Surgeons,  and one of the physicians
to the  New York Hospital.   In  this latter he surprised his col- 
Anniversary Address.
23
leagues by the energy, ability and punctuality with which, not-
withstanding his advanced age, he discharged his duties.  He died
on the 22d of May, 1819, in  his 85th year—another instance of
longevity, although he had  always been in delicate health.   Dr.
David Hosack, in his biographical memoir before the New York
Historical Society—and to which the writer is indebted for most
of the preceding  notice—thus concludes  his eloquent remarks  :
"Citizens of America! If piety, patriotism, talents and learning,
and these all devoted to his country's good and the best interests
of mankind, entitle their possessor to praise and  gratitude, you
will cherish with respect the memory of Hugh Williamson, whose
name will be associated with those  to whom we are most indebted
for our country's independence, and the first successful administra-
tion of that happy constitution of government which we  now
enjoy."  It may  not be out of place to put on record here,  one
who, although a native of Maryland, and  who served that State
as a regimental surgeon through the war,  subsequently held high
social  and  political position  in New York,—Thomas Tillotson,
brother-in-law of Gen.  Richard Montgomery, the hero of Quebec,
and  also brother-in-law of the famous Chancellor Livingston.   He
is believed to have accompanied the latter when  he administered
the  oath of office to  Washington, when  he fi:st assumed  the
duties of President, April 30th, 1779.   Tillotson soon after became
Secretary of State of New York, and did  honor to his place, not
only by his abilities, but also by his elegant and courtly manners.
The temptation to mention other prominent physicians is strong,
but  time warns us not to  trespass too much on the  limits of your
patience.   This paper commenced with the death of Gen. Joseph
Warren, M.D. ;  let it  conclude,  as  far  as individuals are  con-
cerned, with that of Gen. Mercer,  M.D.  Hugh Mercer was born
in Scotland, 1720.  He served as assistant surgeon in the battle of
Culloden, in the army  of  Charles Edward,  the unfortunate  grand-
son of James I., historically known  as the Young Pretender.  The
disastrous defeat scattered the adherents of the  Stuart, and Mercer
immediately took refuge in America,  locating in  Virginia.   At
the outbreak of the Revolution his old martial spirit  and his  hatred
of the, to him, double  oppressor, caused him to abandon his pro-
fession for that of arms, and through the influence of Washington
he was made a brigadier-general.  He displayed excellent soldierly 
24                    The President's

qualities, particularly at the battle of Trenton.   He met with his
death-wound at the succeeding action at Princeton.   In attempt-
ing to rally his wavering troops he was felled to the ground by a
blow from a musket, and was immediately surrounded  by British
soldiers, but struggling to his feet, drew his sword and attempted
resistance.   He was thrust through with bayonets, and was left for
dead.  His body was carried to a farm-house ; he was resuscitated,
lingered for a week, and died in the arms of his aid, Major Lewis,
who was a nephew of  Washington.  His death was a great loss.
He was very popular, and at his funeral in Philadelphia,  it is
stated that thirty thousand people followed his remains.   In  1840,
a monument to his memory was erected in the beautiful cemetery
of Laurel Hill.
   Enough  has now been  spoken of various persons, to give an
idea of the material of which  the medical profession was com-
posed ; let us now glance briefly at the effect upon it, both of the
struggle in  arms, and of the transition in the form of government.
It has been said that medical  science is always advanced by war.
If this be true,  it is a  pleasing  reflection for the non-combatant
medical man who renders  his services alike to friend and foe, to
think that his duties are to  mitigate the  inevitable horrors of war,
while, at the  same time, the profession of his choice is elevated
and improved.  It is very certain  that  the army surgeons of the
Revolution  were most  enthusiastically welcomed  home when the
army was disbanded.   This  came of course,  to a certain extent,
from the eclat which attached to every one who had been instru-
mental in shaking off the British yoke ;  but there were  also other,
and deeper,  and stronger motives.   Warm attachments had  been
formed between the soldiers and the  surgeons ; those  at least of
them who had  discharged  their duties well and  faithfully.   The
intimacies and friendships thus established, were cherished, and in
private life the influence which resulted therefrom was  widely ex-
tended.  Many of the surgeons had greatly profited by their army
experience.   They had not only seen much of varied disease, and
had observed  the  effect of locality on health, but  they had also
been thrown in company with practitioners of shrewdness and in-
telligence from quarters more  or less  remote.  The consequent
interchange  and  comparison  of views was  almost  necessarily
instructive.   At the commencement of hostilities, the greater part 
Anniversary Address.
25
 of the army surgeons were but little instructed or practiced in the
 details and operations of surgery prop3i\   They soon, however,
 acquired a dexterity and skill which was almost surprising, but
 explicable partly by the natural ingenuity of the American mind,
 but to a still greater extent  from the fact that  their actions were
 prompted by fervent patriotism, rather  than by greed of gain or
 even professional renown, and this motive necessarily gave rise to
 earnestness, prudence and success.
   Before  the war, medical matters were  extremely unsettled.
 There were few societies or organizations.  In the expressive Ian.
 guage of Smith's History of Xew York, it is written:  'Quacks abound
 like locusts in Egypt, and too many have recommended themselves
 to a full and profitable practice and subsistence.  This is the less to
 be wondered at. as the profession is under no kind of regulation.
 Any man, at his pleasure, sets up for a physician.   No candidates
 are either examined or licensed, or even sworn to a fair practice."
   The war separated the wheat from the chaff.   Hardship, strife,
 and exposure had no attractions for the base and ignorant pretend-
 ers.  If they were near the army at all, they were  where  their
 natural  instincts took  them, in the rear, as  plunderers and camp
 followers.
   It must, however, be admitted that  in Colonial times, means and
 facilities for obtaining a medical education were totally inadequate
 to the needs of the great majority of  the medical students.  They
 were obliged to be content  with  such information as they could
 acquire from  slightly  educated practitioners, and from  the few
 books to which they  could obtain access.  Of medical schools,
 there were but two  in the  land—that of Philadelphia, organized
 in 1765, Drs. Morgan  and Shippen being the sole professors, the
 former of the " Theory and  Practice of Physic," and the  latter of
 " Anatomy and Surgery," to which he  afterwards added "Mid-
 wifery," and the " Medical Department of King's (Columbia) Col-
 lege,  New York," founded in 1768.  Its organization was larger
and more complete than that of  the Philadelphia school.   It had
six chairs, filled by Peter Middleton, Samuel Bard, Samuel Clossy,
James Smith,  J. B. V. Tennant and  John Jones.  The Medical
Department of Harvard University was not established until 1782,
some fifteen years  preceding that of Dartmouth, N. H.   On ac-
     [~T. F. R.]         4 
26                    The President's
count of great distance and absence of facilities for travel, and
especially from extremely limited means, these schools were inac-
cessible  to  the greater number of medical students; those posses-
sing means, finding it about as easy to cross the Atlantic as to go
to, and live in, Philadelphia or New York while  prosecuting their
studies.   The  advantages and  attractions of foreign schools took
abroad the better provided and the better educated, and for a long
time the home schools,  although limited  in number,  languished.
Immediately after the establishment of the Republic, the whole
country was in a state of depression,  war had exhausted all avail-
able resources.  But  a new spirit had been evoked ; a nation had
been founded,  and the  paralysis which seemed to threaten every
industry was shaken off,  and the  dormant  energy of a people was
aroused.   Science and art began to plant their roots in native soil,
and a pride in, and a love for, home institutions was established
and fostered.   The aspirations of the good Dr. Morgan of Phila-
delphia, expressed in his first address, in these words,  began  to be
realized : " Perhaps this medical institution, the first of its kind  in
America, though small in  its  beginning, may receive  a  constant
accession of strength, and aunualry exert new vigor.   It may col-
lect a number  of  young persons of more  than ordinary  abilities,
and so improve their knowledge as  to spread  its  reputation  to
different parts.  By  sending these abroad duly  qualified, or by
exciting an emulation among men of parts and  literature, it may
give birth to other useful institutions  of a  similar nature, or occa-
sional rise,  by  its example, to numerous societies of different kinds,
calculated to spread  the light of knowledge through the whole
American continent,  wherever inhabited."  Morgan's vision was
prophetic, and one of the  grand schools of Philadelphia—" The
Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania "__thus
humbly and hopefully founded, now flourishes in new,  elegant and
ample quarters, in proud power and vigor, numbering by thous-
ands its alumni, and exerting its  beneficent influence over an area
whose confines are not limited  to America.
  Frequent reference has been made in this paper to the European
teachers of the 18th century.   Some  further allusion to them may
not be out  of place.  The modern critic is too apt to speak of them
as mere theorists, and to dismiss them  in strong words of condem-
nation.  Such treatment is hardly just.  That they  were,  in great 
Anniversary Address.
27
 measure, theorists is not denied, but the fault was that of the age ;
 the misfortune, that of the men.  That they were well educated,
 earnest, enthusiastic, and many of them of unusual mental ability, no
 one will dispute.  Unhappily, so-called philosophy ruled the period.
 Dogma and theory, rather than reason and analysis, were the basis
 of the various departments of science  including  that of medicine.
 On examination,  however, we find that then, as now, and as always,
 that educated intelligence and common sense, when combined, ever
 point  to the right and the true, however they  may have been
 warped by prevailing ideas and influences.   Sydenham and Boer-
 haave are historically fluidists.   Yet the first was, in truth, a great
 reformer, and in  these,  his own words, confutes his accusers :
   "It is," says he, "difficult to give  a detail of the  numerous
 errors that spring from hypothesis, whilst writers, misled by false
 appearances  assign such phenomena for diseases  as never existed
 but  in their own brains.   *****  jf anv symptom pro-
 perly suiting their hypothesis, does in reality belong to the disease
 they are about to describe, they lay  too  much stress upon it, as if
 nothing  more  were wanted to confirm  it; whereas, on the con-
 trary, if it does not agree with their hypothesis, their maimer  is
 either to take no notice at all of it, or  but barely to mention it,
 unless the}' can,  by means  of  some  philosophical subtilty,  adjust
 it thereto and bring it in some measure to answrer their ends."
  Boerhaave wrote in reality a grand work of sound  sense,  philo-
 sophy, and  satire of extravagant ideas, in his famous  epigram—
 the sole contents  of a large and elegantly bound  volume—" Keep
 the head cool, the feet warm, and  the  bowels open."  Cullen was
 perhaps the most pronounced  of all the theorists—he was  a soli-
 dist, sang pur.   He  must have been an extremely able, eloquent
 and  attractive  man, possessing that  personal magnetism, which  is
 so powerful in its influence, that it covers all faults by the dazzling
 rays of genius.   His teachings were generally accepted in America,
 but were soon measurably renounced by Rush, Hosack and others,
 when thought and experience had taught them the errors of their
 great instructor.   Hosack most emphatically disclaims all theories,
 and  quotes Rush, so  often maligned  as  a pure theorist, to this
 effect: "Principles are but  the assemblage and  classification  of
facts, and are the only safeguards to  practice."
  This was  the age of Stahl and of Hoffman, who were ranked 
2g                    The President's

iii their  day  with Boerhaave.  The name  of the latter  is often
used in the familiar prescription for Hoffman's Anodyne, by those
who know nothing of its originator.  This was the age of Albert
Haller, " the father of physiology ; " of Morgagni, the pathological
anatomist;  of Erasmus Darwin, the naturalist and eccentric physio-
logist ; of Astruc, the discoverer of the reflex action of the nervous
system, and of Edward Jenner, immortalized by his  discovery,
and brave and persistent introduction of vaccine virus.   To these
names must especially be added those of John Hunter and Bichat,
intellectual giants, who by  their wonderful industry, patient re-
search, and thorough analysis of facts bearing upon the formation
of structure, and the origin and maintenance of vital  force, barred
theoretical speculation, and led the way to that process  of reason-
ing by induction, which has ever since been followed by all true
inquirers in the various departments of science.
  Hunter  was  born a genius—he was great in  spite of  himself.
He  would have attained a  commanding position in any sphere.
In early life he gave no promise of  his future eminence.   He was
neither steady or studious.    His tastes were low, and  his diffidence
in expressing his ideas  was  so  great, that he resorted to opium as
a stimulant before even meeting a class  of  students.  No sooner,
however, had he fairly donned  the  professional harness, than the
spark within him was fired.  He abandoned the opium habit, and
evolved that tireless industry, of which the Hunter Museum is
to-day the enduring witness.  During the greater part of his  life
he was in ill health.   He had various attacks of pulmonary and
cerebral disorder, which were probably of cardiac origin, and, later,
suffered extremely  from Angina pectoris, of which any excitement
brought on a paroxysm.  He was in the habit of saying that "his
life was in the hands  of any rascal who chose to annoy  or tease
him."  Yet he faltered not—there  was no  pause  in his labors, his
researches and  his writings.  He died as he had  predicated.   At
a meeting of the  directors  of St. George's  Hospital, one of  his
colleagues  made some remark which provoked him extremely—
he left the  room to conceal  his  anger, and fell dead at the door,
in the arms of his friend, Dr. Robertson.   He  was in his day,
beyond  question,  the  most eminent surgeon,  physiologist  and
anatomist of the age.
  The mantle of Hunter was  wafted across the  English  channel 
Anniversary Address.
29
and fell upon the shoulders of Bichat, the pupil and adopted son of
the distinguished surgeon of Hotel Dieu—the celebrated Desault.
Bichat took up the work where Hunter left it, with all his prede-
cessor's zeal, energy and inspiration, and alas ! with more than his
feeble  health.  He was not a disciple or follower of Hunter—he
was fully his equal  in industry and originality ; their paths were
not the same, but  they converged.   Bichat finished his career at
thirty-two, but he  had so lived his brief span, that to him, with
Hunter, belongs the credit of accomplishing the greatest reforma-
tion ever effected  in medicine as a science.  Many esteem his
genius as  greater than that  of Hunter.  E. Thomas Buckle, the
critical English essayist, in his history of civilization in England,
is most enthusiastic  in his praise.  " Between Aristotle and Bichat,"
says he, " I can  find no middle man."
   When Europe produced such men as indicated above, it would
have been strange indeed  had not every American student of medi-
cine who possessed the means, sought information and professional
inspiration from the lips  and  presence of those who were justly
esteemed the scientific lights and  authorities of the period,  and
that, on their return home, they should  follow and  disseminate
their ideas and  doctrines, was also  to  be expected.  This is all
changed now. The great schools and  the great teachers of Europe
exist as prominently now as  they did then, perhaps more so ;  but
republican America has also her institutions and  instructors,  and
need  not shrink in comparing them with  those of the  old world.
No young man need now go abroad for medical information, except
as regards a few specialties, and of these the number is daily lessen-
ing.  It is  not, indeed presuming too much to  assert, that the
long favors  of past years  are now in  some measure reciprocated.
Amesthesia alone will weigh heavily in the balance of compensa-
tion, to say nothing of American chemical, physiological and gynae-
cological  advances and  discoveries.  The  nineteenth  century  is
most emphatically the era of progress.  The marvelous strides of
each  department of science  have not  only outstripped those of
ever}- preceding period, but  have even surpassed the sum of them
all, and medicine has fully kept pace in the race of  advancement.
Indeed, she  has associated herself with so many forms of useful art,
and made them so subservient to her purposes, that they now consti-
tute an integral  part of her  being.   Acoustics and optics, electro- 
 30       The President's Anniversary Address.

 galvanism, and various dynamic agents are employed in investiga-
 tion and demonstration with mathematical certainty and precision.
 It appears, indeed, as if no part of the body, no function of the
 system, were beyond the  measurement  and ken of the scientist.
 -Hypothesis and conjecture have been  superseded by analysis and
 fact; and yet every day  demonstrates that we are but entering
 upon that course  of  discovery  whose limits and extent are only
 bounded by infinity.  Surely, with all the aids and  accessories at
 our  disposal, we  ought  far to eclipse our  predecessors : but for
 this we should be thankful, not boastful.
  Let our aim be so to  live for the benefit of the present and of
the future, that when the  next summary of a  century is  made,
equal praise, and no more blame, shall attach to our memories than
to those of the zealous and earnest thinkers and workers of 1776.