COLUMBIA LIBRARIES OFFSITE 
 
 HEALTH SCIENCES STANDARD 
 
 HX64095088 
 R1 54.F52 W27 in memory of Dr. Was 
 
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 Washington University. St, Louis. Medical School 
 
 In Memory of Dr, Washington E, Fischel 1650-1914 
 
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 COLLEGE OF 
 
 PHYSICLA.NS AND SURGEONS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
In Memory of 
 
 Dr. Washington E. Fischel 
 
 REMARKS AND ADDRESSES BY 
 
 JOHN BLASDEL SHAPLEIGH, M.D., FRANK 
 V. HAMMAR, ABRAHAM JACOBI, M.D.,LL.D., 
 AND FREDERIC A. HALL, LL.D. PRESENTED 
 AT A MEETING HELD by WASHINGTON UNI- 
 VERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 Open Knowledge Commons 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/inmemoryofdrwashOOshap 
 
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In Memory ot 
 Dr. Washington E. Fischel 
 
 A meeting in memory of Dr. Washington E. Fischel was held 
 in the Assembly Hall of Washington University Medical School 
 on Sunday, Dec. 13, 1914, at 4 o'clock. Acting Chancellor 
 Frederic A. Hall presided and addresses were made in com- 
 memoration of the work of Dr. Fischel as a physician, a citizen 
 and a teacher by Dr. John Blasdel Shapleigh, Mr. Frank V. 
 Hammar, Dr. Abraham Jacobi and Chancellor Hall. 
 
 Chancellor Hall opened the exercises with the following 
 remarks : 
 
 We are assembled to-day to honor the memory of an eminent 
 physician, a public-spirited citizen, a warm-hearted friend, a 
 noble man. By our presence and our words we bring to this 
 room a tribute to the life and character of the late Dr. Washing- 
 ton E. Fischel. Months hence this building and these grounds 
 will be dedicated in formal manner, but in no slight sense we 
 to-day dedicate this room to the ideals for which he stood — a 
 room in which he himself would rather have spoken than in any 
 other room in the entire world. His persistent efforts had no 
 small influence in making these buildings possible. In this school 
 and the adjacent hospitals was his affection planted deep; here 
 his heart's interests centered. With loving hearts, then, appro- 
 priately here do we pay tribute to one who thus served the public. 
 
 I feel that it would be to mar the exercises were I to introduce 
 the several speakers. Most of them are familiar to you all, and 
 he whose face may not be familiar bears a name known through 
 the medical world. To him especially is gratitude due that at his 
 advanced age, in inclement weather, he should come so long a 
 distance to speak for his friend and ours. Those who will 
 address you have been selected from among Dr. Fischel's asso- 
 ciates in the medical world and in philanthropic and educational 
 enterprises. Each will speak as he may wish, but however inade- 
 quate their words may be, they testify to a desire on the part 
 of everyone to honor the memory of him in whose name we meet. 
 
2 DR. WASHINGTON E. FISCHEL 
 
 WASHINGTON EMIL FISCHEL 
 
 AN ADDRESS BY JOHN BLASDEL SHAPLEIGH, M.D. 
 
 To have practiced medicine in this community continuously 
 for forty years; from small beginnings to have built up a large 
 practice ; to have been for years acknowledged by his colleagues 
 as a leader, and to have commanded their respect through high 
 professional ideals and their esteem through uprightness of char- 
 acter; to have gained a high and more than local reputation in 
 his chosen department of practice ; to have rendered efficient and 
 untiring service to his fellows for more than a generation, and to 
 have exerted a positive influence for good among us; these are 
 evidences of an active, useful and successful life, and they are 
 the record of Dr. Fischel's professional career. 
 
 Meeting here to honor the memory of one so prominent in his 
 profession, and whose reputation in medical circles in the East 
 and in Europe made him the representative of internal medicine 
 ill this city, it is fitting that something be said of his work in 
 medicine and of the interests and associations that gave it its 
 conspicuous success and value. 
 
 Dr. Fischel was born in this city on May 29, 1850. He grad- 
 uated from the St. Louis High School in 1868, and in 1871, when 
 not quite 21, received from the St. Louis Medical College the 
 degree of Doctor of Medicine. After serving as intern in the 
 St. Louis City Hospital he continued his post-graduate studies 
 at the universities of Prague, Berlin and Vienna. He returned 
 to St. Louis in 1874 and began the practice of his profession. 
 
 It is only under exceptional conditions that a physician steps 
 at once into an extensive practice. Usually its growth, though 
 cumulative, is slow, and the early years are times of trial and 
 struggle. This was true of Dr. Fischel, but he won his way to 
 success by virtue of qualities that made failure impossible. 
 
 Who that knew him failed to feel his magnetic energy ! Who 
 could resist the charm of his greeting, of the cordial handclasp 
 and the gracious consideration he bestowed on all! Who of all 
 his patients did not know the comfort and encouragement his 
 visits brought ! His presence in the sick-room seemed to radiate 
 cheer and courage ; his confidence and strength brought renewed 
 hope. 
 
 There are personalities who unconsciously command our con- 
 fidence and upon whom we instinctively rely. It is the privilege 
 
MEMORIAL 3 
 
 of strong natures thus to impress others and few have possessed 
 this power in greater degree than did Dr. Fischel. 
 
 Ask the rich why they chose him as their physician. They 
 will tell you of their confidence in his ability; of his care and 
 watchfulness : of the comfort and encouragement his personality 
 inspired. Ask the poor and they will tell you not only of his 
 skill, but of his generous kindness and of his consideration for 
 their needs. And so while his ability brought him many patients, 
 both rich and poor, his personal qualities and his interest in their 
 welfare bound them to him and gained for him their loyalty and 
 friendship. 
 
 Dr. Fischel valued this feeling on the part of his patients very 
 highly. He wanted to be, and sought to be, the family friend as 
 well as the family doctor. That in so many homes his death is 
 felt as a personal grief, shows how well he succeeded. 
 
 Unquestionably, the first duty of a physician is to his patients. 
 His time, his strength, his skill belong to them, and their need 
 should be the measure of his service. He owes it to them to 
 prepare himself for his professional work in the best possible 
 manner and by continued study to keep himself informed of the 
 constant advances made in medical science and practice, to the 
 end that those who intrust themselves to his care may receive the 
 benefit of what is found good in the new methods of diagnosis 
 and treatment. These obligations Dr. Fischel met fully. Respond- 
 ing freely to the demands of his patients, he spent himself unre- 
 servedly in their service. Always informed as to the newest in 
 medical research, he was ready to abandon the old and adopt the 
 new whenever his judgment and experience confirmed the new 
 as better. 
 
 Of almost equal importance to his duty to his patients is the 
 physician's obligation to his profession. It is incumbent on him 
 to uphold its noble traditions and to oppose all things that might 
 lessen the dignity of, or bring reproach upon, a calling that is 
 humanitarian and not commercial. He should share with his 
 colleagues the results of his own experience and investigation by 
 contributing to medical literature, or by work in medical societies, 
 or as a teacher. 
 
 Dr. Fischel's contributions to medical literature were mostly 
 in the form of papers and reports to various medical societies 
 and not preserved in permanent form. This is to be regretted, 
 
4 DR. WASHINGTON E. FISCHEL 
 
 for his thorough knowledge and clear views of medical sub- 
 jects, his accurate judgment and his wide experience would have 
 made anything from his pen most valuable. 
 
 In his earlier years Dr. Fischel was active in the affairs of 
 the St. Louis Medical Society, holding the position of secretary 
 in 1878 and of treasurer from 1880 to 1884. He was also a 
 member of various other medical societies both local and national, 
 whose leaders became his warm personal friends. 
 
 His greatest interest, however, centered in the cause of med- 
 ical education, and as teacher and faculty member he rendered 
 perhaps his most valuable service to his profession. In both 
 capacities he filled a prominent place in the history of the St. 
 Louis Medical College and the Washington University Medical 
 School during the last fifteen or twenty years. His connection 
 with this institution began in 1881 and continued unbroken until 
 his death. 
 
 In 1881 he was made lecturer on therapeutics and two years 
 later became a member of the faculty, being called to fill the 
 newly created chair of hygiene and forensic medicine. In 1886 
 he was made professor of clinical medicine, which position, with 
 occasional change of title, he held for twenty-eight years. 
 
 To his work in the clinics and the wards of the University 
 Hospital he brought the same energy and thoroughness that 
 characterized him in all he did. He loved this work and counted 
 no sacrifice too great for its faithful performance. 
 
 For the following estimate of Dr. Fischel as a clinical teacher 
 I am indebted to Dr. Albert Taussig, who was for years asso- 
 ciated with him in the work. 
 
 "The many years during which I was associated with Dr. 
 Fischel, first as pupil and then as assistant, served to fill me with 
 an increasing admiration of his wonderful ability as a teacher of 
 medicine. While he frequently employed the Socratic method of 
 leading the student by skilful questioning into correct paths of 
 observation and reasoning, and while he occasionally indulged 
 himself in a systematic discussion of some special disease or 
 group of diseases, his favorite method of teaching, and the one 
 in which he was most successful, was somewhat different. With 
 the patient before him, and an attentive group of students seated 
 round about, he would first make clear the noteworthy features 
 of the case under discussion and then draw upon an unusually 
 
MEMORIAL 5 
 
 retentive memory to illustrate, by analogy and by contrast, in 
 the discussion of other somewhat similar cases, the various 
 aspects of the case at hand. Such a presentation of the subject 
 could not always be entirely systematic, but this fault, if it was 
 one, was more than counterbalanced by the resulting vividness 
 and concreteness. He was an eager student of medical literature 
 and was broadened by frequent intimate personal contact with 
 the great clinicians of this and other countries, but it was when 
 drawing upon his own vast personal experience that his lectures 
 became most illuminating and inspiring. 
 
 While always insisting upon the fundamental necessity for 
 correct diagnosis, he never allowed his students to forget that 
 diagnosis is never more than a means to an end and that the 
 patient's welfare. Thus his clinics were eminently practical, in 
 the best sense of that much misused term. In his own practice 
 his most striking characteristic was his unfailing resourcefulness 
 in the face of an emergency. Something of this quality it was 
 his constant aim to impress upon his students and his classes were 
 sure to carry away with them not only a deep sense of their 
 personal responsibility to their patients, but many a definite sug- 
 gestion for later use in their own work." 
 
 As a member of the faculty he rendered many valuable 
 services to the medical school and had much to do with forming 
 and directing its policy and plans. In the years following the 
 death of the dean, Dr. H. H. Mudd, he was one of the leading 
 forces in the faculty, and to his zeal and devotion to its interests 
 the school owed much. Again, in 1910, when the complete 
 reorganization of the medical school by the directors of Wash- 
 ington University was undertaken, his advice was sought, and his 
 influence and earnest cooperation were of great assistance in 
 bringing it to a successful conclusion. 
 
 Proud as he was of the past record and reputation of his 
 alma mater, he saw in this reorganization the promise of greater 
 things and he regarded it as the first step toward placing her in 
 the front rank of university medical schools. He looked for- 
 ward to seeing the fulfilment of his aspirations begun by the 
 completion of the new buildings for the medical department. 
 Almost to the last he hoped to be able to take part in the opening 
 ceremonies, and it was a bitter disappointment when he realized 
 that this was not to be. 
 
6 DR. WASHINGTON E. FISCHEL 
 
 When in 1883 Dr. Fischel became a member of the faculty of 
 the St. Louis Medical College he became also a member of the 
 Medical Fund Society. He was secretary of this society from 
 1886 to 1912, and its president from 1912 till his death. I think 
 that of all his connections with medical organizations Dr. 
 Fischel held none dearer than this. As the existence of the 
 Medical Fund Society is not known outside a comparatively 
 small circle, a few words regarding it may not be out of place as 
 explaining his feeling for it and as demonstrating the unselfish 
 devotion to the cause of medicine of its founders. 
 
 The Medical Fund Society was incorporated in 1872. At that 
 time practically all medical schools were proprietary enterprises, 
 without university connection and under complete control of their 
 respective faculties. The cost of conducting such a school, there 
 being no salaried teachers and no laboratories or hospital to 
 maintain, was relatively small, and each year the net profits were 
 divided among the faculty members. This plan was in force at 
 that time in the St. Louis Medical College. Reahzing the need for 
 better medical teaching, and especially the necessity for clinical 
 teaching in hospitals and dispensaries under the school's control, 
 the members of the faculty of the St. Louis Medical College 
 formed the Medical Fund Society, whose object v/as the accumu- 
 lation of a trust fund to be used for this purpose, and primarily 
 for the purchase of the property on Seventh and Myrtle streets, 
 where the St. Louis Medical College was then located. In order 
 to accumulate this fund, each member pledged himself to pay to 
 the society each year his share in the profits of the medical col- 
 lege. Since then, except in the case of salaried teachers, the 
 members of the faculty have given their services without com- 
 pensation. 
 
 The work of the Medical Fund Society was invaluable in the 
 advancement of medical education in St. Louis. By the pecu- 
 niary sacrifice of its members the society was enabled to acquire 
 first the property at Seventh and Myrtle streets, and later to erect 
 the building on Locust and Eighteenth streets, so long occupied 
 by the medical school and now being given up for the new build- 
 ings provided by the university for its medical department. 
 
 In 1912 the Medical Fund Society transferred this Locust 
 Street property to the Washington University on the latter assum- 
 ing its bonded indebtedness. The incorporators of the Medical 
 Fund Society were A. Litton, J. B. Johnson, E. H. Gregory, John 
 
MEMORIAL 7 
 
 T. Hodgen, J. S. B. Alleyne, E. F. Smith, L. C. Boisliniere and 
 John J. McDowell, and among its later members were Henry H. 
 Miidd, Gustave Baumgarten and John Green. These are names 
 the medical profession of our city holds in proud remembrance, 
 and they are written high upon its roll of honor. 
 
 Sharing the ideals of these men, himself a partner in their 
 labors and in their self-sacrificing loyalty to their conception of 
 professional duty, it is no wonder that Dr. Fischel cherished the 
 traditions of this society so dearly and counted his membership 
 in it so great a privilege and honor. 
 
 But besides his duty to his patients and to his profession, the 
 physician has an obligation to the community in which he lives. 
 In this respect Dr. Fischel was not found wanting. He was 
 keenly interested in all matters concerning the public health and 
 was always ready to lend his support to any civic enterprise, or 
 any philanthropic or educational endeavor that in his judgment 
 was of value. 
 
 He was for many years a member of the medical staff of 
 St. Luke's Hospital, and was connected with the Barnard Free 
 Skin and Cancer Hospital from its organization. This phase of 
 his medical work will, however, be the theme of another speaker. 
 
 While what I have said may have given you some idea of the 
 professional ability and skill of Dr. Fischel; of the esteem in 
 which he was held by his colleagues ; of his reputation and suc- 
 cess and of the value of his medical work, I am conscious that it 
 has failed to bring before you the real Dr. Fischel. Words can- 
 not do this. Only by meeting him face to face and receiving his 
 hearty handclasp and his genial, courteous greeting ; by noting the 
 tactful kindness that made you feel that your affairs were of the 
 first importance to him; by seeing him in the sick-room or the 
 hospital ward and observing the gentle thoroughness of his exam- 
 ination of his patients and by feeling the atmosphere of strength 
 and cheer he brought with him ; by seing the wan face brighten 
 at his coming and the tired eyes light up with new hope and 
 courage; only by such personal knowledge is it possible to have 
 known Dr. Fischel as he was — a true gentleman and a great 
 physician. 
 
 And so the summons came, as he himself would have chosen, 
 in the full tide of his work and in the maturity of his strength, 
 before advancing age had lessened his activities or limited his 
 usefulness. 
 
8 DR. WASHINGTON E. FISCHEL 
 
 WASHINGTON EMIL FISCHEL 
 
 AN ADDRESS BY FRANK V. HAM MAR *► 
 
 As president of the Barnard Free Skin and Cancer Hospital, 
 it is my very great honor to speak of Dr. Fischel's connection with 
 various philanthropies in this city. It is very difficult to give a 
 detail of the constructive philanthropy of a long life devoted to 
 the welfare of the people and the upbuilding of institutions for 
 public benefactions. 
 
 For a true interpretation we should have to consider prac- 
 tically every hour of the span of such a life; for no day passes 
 that does not make its record of some good done to humanity. 
 Whether the execution of his work was a single service to one 
 person, or whether it was a service instigated by himself and 
 carried out through the instrumentality of many other men, the 
 human mind grasps but one unit of endeavor; but there is a 
 psychological appreciation of proportion, and the public holds 
 its corresponding and comparative judgment of a man's per- 
 sonality, for his whole work. 
 
 The element of love among the people is typified by father 
 and mother. The words have come to mean love and service, 
 daily and continuously. If father and mother are spoken of with 
 such an understanding, the synonym of Dr. Fischel is super- 
 father, for not only did he represent love and service in his 
 family, but in hundreds of homes and in thousands of instances. 
 It was no uncommon occurrence to hear that without the knowl- 
 edge that Dr. Fischel was within call the dread of possibilities 
 and the fear of personal peril transcended the possibilities of 
 father and mother service, and peace and relief were impossible 
 until such burdens were shifted onto the shoulders that had 
 proven in countless instances to be adequate to the demands. 
 With this knowledge of his services there was the soul satisfac- 
 tion that whatever human knowledge could accomplish would be 
 done at whatever sacrifice of his personal effort. 
 
 He brought healing, cheerfulness and contentment wherever 
 he went. Such a relationship cannot be valued in terms of visits 
 or consultations or fees of money, for the poor were quite as 
 important to Dr. Fischel as the rich and received the same care- 
 ful, devoted consideration and the invaluable benefit of his great 
 scientific knowledge. And such a relationship proves the per- 
 sonality of the man who can sink himself in a sincere effort in 
 
MEMORIAL 9 
 
 doing good and who accepts as a personal responsibility, not only 
 healing, but the greater and unpurchasable boon of sympathy and 
 fellowship in pain and sorrow. Such service is without price, 
 and for such a life Dr. Fischel was so well beloved by the com- 
 munity as a whole. 
 
 The very character of his labors was such that he could not 
 share his burden with others. He shared the pain and suffering 
 with his patients, but the great responsibility of conserving 
 human life and happiness he carried alone. That the responsi- 
 bility was great and distressing to one of so tender a heart, was 
 very apparent to those who knew him. It was acute personal 
 suffering, and in his supreme efforts, which could not in their 
 very nature be always successful, he could only paraphrase the 
 sand diviner, "Only God and I know what is in my heart." But 
 we knew, in a way, what he suffered on such occasions and we 
 loved him for it. 
 
 If such results are the reward of effort for individuals, there 
 is a correspondingly greater reward in the opinions of mankind 
 for such civic service as he gave to his native city. So far as I 
 know, there has been no movement or organization proposed in 
 this city that had for its object the good of the people as a whole 
 in which Dr. Fischel was not immediately interested. He gave 
 his heart interest and he gave gladly, not only of his own pro- 
 fessional knowledge, but what was of equal value, his powerful 
 abilities as an organizer and as an executive. He created oppor- 
 tunities for doing good; he brought them to fruition, and 
 throughout their term he so guided and governed them and 
 conciliated contending factions, that his presence on any board 
 was a source of exceeding gratification and assistance to his 
 fellow associates and a very necessary factor to success. Further, 
 because of his fellowship and his standing in the community, his 
 name in connection with any movement gave it immediate pres- 
 tige, both as to highest professional qualification and also as a 
 guarantee of highest business probity. He was a man who did 
 things. He was a splendid type of dynamic energy in life's 
 affairs, one that was remarkable even in the community of virile 
 men. He was a tireless worker, and few, if any, men gave more 
 hours of concentrated thought and untiring activity to the 
 demands of his profession. 
 
 In 1905 it developed that the free institutions of St. Louis 
 would not give adequate care and attention to those unfortunates 
 
10 DR. WASHINGTON E. FISCHEL 
 
 suffering from cancer and skin diseases, especially in the 
 advanced stages. In association with other broad-minded men 
 and women who felt the need, Dr. Fischel was instrumental in 
 organizing the institution now known as the Barnard Free Skin 
 and Cancer Hospital. He labored long and earnestly in its for- 
 mation, in the detail of its organization, both in the hospital itself 
 and on the board of general direction. He gave not only his 
 time, but his money, and through the power of his influence he 
 brought such weight to bear that the institution became an 
 im.mediate financial and professional success. As the need 
 developed into greater proportion, his interest also expanded, and 
 there was built up the present splendid success that has done so 
 much for the alleviation of pain and the comfort of those 
 unfortunates of our city. To the day of his death he was chair- 
 man of the medical board of the institution and a most valuable 
 assistant on the board of directors. 
 
 In 1910, through Dr. Fischel's instrumentality, the department 
 of pathology was added to the hospital. He took the greatest 
 possible interest in this branch, having for its object the study 
 of the cause and cure of cancer. He was unfaltering in his 
 endorsement of this purely scientific endeavor for the general 
 uplift of humanity. And it appears to-day as one of the most 
 tragic ironies of fate, that the vary condition he fought so hard 
 to overcome for others should in the end have overcome him. 
 "He could save others, but himself he could not save." 
 
 It is with a due sense of our obligations to him that I, as 
 president of this hospital, make grateful acknowledgement for 
 such services. 
 
 There J are two other institutions in the city that are so inti- 
 mately associated with Dr. Fischel that we can hardly think of 
 him and not connect him with them — the medical department 
 of the Washington University and St. Luke's Hospital. At the 
 very beginning of his life as a physician he became greatly inter- 
 ested in the success of the St. Louis Medical College. 
 
 He was very active in bringing about the consolidation with 
 the Missouri Medical College, and appreciating at an early date 
 the advantages that would accrue from association with the 
 Washington University, his energy and influence were instru- 
 mental in establishing the present medical department of that 
 university, which has such infinite promise for the future. He 
 was a member of the faculty and professor of medicine for 
 
MEMORIAL 11 
 
 many years. Of equal importance was his association with St. 
 Luke's Hospital. He was a member of the active staff during 
 the early years when the hospital was on Nineteenth Street and 
 Washington Avenue. Through the need for greater and more 
 extended facilities, resulting from such excellence of practice 
 that only such men as Dr. Fischel can give, the institution 
 expanded into its present splendid establishment. For thirty 
 years he has given it devoted attention, both as a physician and 
 for some years on the board of general direction. He was vice- 
 president of the Tuberculosis Society, director of American 
 School of Hygiene, member of the National Association for 
 Relief and Prevention of Tuberculosis and of the Association 
 of American Physicians. 
 
 So our city benefited greatly through Dr. Fischel's life. We 
 have lost a most valued member of our philanthropic society, 
 but his life's results are an inspiration to all of us, and while 
 we shall miss him greatly, his accomplishments will live and 
 encourage those of us who at times feel the discouragement that 
 must always follow in some degree our own greatest endeavors 
 of success. 
 
 Dr. Fischel was not a man to seek the applause of men; he 
 did not court publicity, but, like many other men, his good works 
 v.''ere covered with a mantle of modesty and but few knew ot 
 them, but they were the medium by which many days of suffering 
 were relieved and many lives made comfortable and happy, which 
 without him would have been destitute and despondent. 
 
 He has gone from among us and his passage from this world 
 to a brighter one was accompanied by the sighs of the multitude 
 to whom he had given love and service, and they carried him as 
 a benediction to the very steps of the heavenly throne. 
 
 WASHINGTON EMIL FISCHEL 
 
 AN ADDRESS BY ABRAHAM JACOBI_, M.D._, LL.D. 
 
 Ten years ago Dr. Washington Emil Fischel invited me to 
 address the graduating class of the medical school of Washing- 
 ton University. He requested me to select for my remarks a 
 topic that would be of some use at and after the commencement 
 of the young doctors' new lives. It struck me that if I drew for 
 them a mental picture of the very man who honored me with an 
 opportunity to speak to his young friends and pupils, I should 
 succeed in delineating to them whatever was choicest in practical 
 
12 DR. WASHINGTON E. FISCHEL 
 
 medicine and pure citizenship. My subject was: "The Modern 
 Doctor." With my mental eye on Fischel, I could have depicted 
 for them the assiduous student, the ever-occupied ^nd self- 
 sacrificing family practitioner, the ethical consultant, the success- 
 ful teacher, the public adviser who renders services too valuable 
 to be paid for with money or public places, and the sociologist 
 who teaches eugenics and virtue to the nation and its governing 
 powers. Indeed, there was no class of people he did not benefit, 
 no exalted virtue he did not practice. 
 
 Fischel died much too soon, but his life was long enough to 
 experience many things in the practice and the teaching of medi- 
 cine. Of both he had full knowledge, and to the evolution of 
 both he contributed more than an average share. 
 
 Dr. Fischel knew the medical schools of this country when 
 the curriculum extended over two short seasons only. The 
 didactic lectures of one year were repeated the next; bedside 
 instruction, there was none; a few sick were presented in a 
 weekly hour to students gathering in the amphitheater; the 
 example of real clinical instruction attempted in the smallest of 
 the New York schools, the Medical College of East Thirteenth 
 Street, which had to close its doors toward the end of the Civil 
 War, remained Avithout permanent results. Gradually the two- 
 year course was replaced by one of three years, of four years ; 
 and the progressive changes in medical instruction caused by 
 restrictions in matriculation and the introduction of state exam- 
 inations are Vv^ell known. In most of these movements Fischel, 
 who had spent years in German universities, participated 
 modestly, but eftectually. 
 
 The work of a family physician underwent important changes 
 during his active life. Those who study at present, also those 
 who have practiced only a decade or two, cannot appreciate the 
 great difficulties and grave responsibilities of the early practi- 
 tioner. There was no Lister, no antisepsis, no asepsis ; but much 
 erysipelas and gangrene and misunderstood fever, many unfath- 
 omed and sudden changes in the course of an infectious epidemic, 
 and more unexplained deaths than at present. 
 
 Eighty years ago it was ascertained that of thirty-five sick 
 thirty-four would die, while at the present time the same number 
 will recover. Pasteur and Lister stopped that misery. Safety 
 increased from year to year with corresponding changes in 
 methods of diagnosis and practice. They are not all praise- 
 
MEMORIAL 13 
 
 worthy. The safety due to soap and water, corrosive subhmate, 
 peroxid of hydrogen and tincture of iodin, combined with general 
 and local anesthesia, have created a sad temptation to perform 
 operations of doubtful value or dignity. That is not as it should 
 be. All that glitters is not gold. But without glitter there is 
 much gold, and more genuine gold will come to the surface. 
 Fischei's vast experience and impartial judgment appreciated all 
 that. The men who worked and taught like him accepted will- 
 ingly the new additions to diagnosis and practice, but did not 
 substitute them altogether for their old possessions. To make a 
 diagnosis they did not wait for the necropsy or a laparotomy, 
 which permits a more or less direct inspection of a cavity. They 
 had eyes in the tips of their fingers, and their most important 
 instruments of precision were their brains and their practiced 
 eyes and ears. May the men who live now never forget that 
 there were great doctors more than fifty years ago. 
 
 The men of that period knew all that was known at that time. 
 They were fully modern then. They remained modern v/hile 
 they added the results of bacteriological and, later on, chemical 
 research to their stock of knowledge. Having been reared in 
 the experience of centuries and accustomed to the means of cure 
 and relief, they did not find it difficult to learn the new gospel. 
 Fischel belonged to that class. While thus progressing, he was a 
 circumspect and successful teacher, general practitioner and con- 
 sultant, benefiting through his comprehensive gifts both the 
 student classes and the public. Such men are not frequent even 
 at present. 
 
 Still, there is no reproach to the men of industry and genius 
 who specialize for research when we acknowledge that their 
 horizon, while they work and discover and teach, may become 
 narrow. It is true, medicine requires their work; they benefit 
 medicine, which is being built up on the cooperation of many. 
 They do not, however, while furnishing foundation stones and 
 pillars on which the edifice of scientific modern medicine is 
 erected, contribute to the art of medicine. It is the art of medi- 
 cine, however, which is needed and demanded by mankind and 
 must be taught in schools. That was, as I learned from Fischei's 
 lips, his creed and faith. 
 
 The subject of one of our late conversations was the relation 
 of the physician to the public. Dr. Fischei's activity in the prac- 
 tice of medicine was not limited. Fle began' his career as a 
 
14 DR. WASHINGTON E. FISCHEL 
 
 general practitioner. His heart was big, his knowledge rapidly 
 increasing, his interests extensive. We looked — he and I — on 
 the family physician as the prop and staff of the profession and 
 of the country. It is the general practitioner who in his county 
 and state medical societies suggested and enforced improved 
 instruction and better schools. Of that kind was his practice for 
 a long time. It was in no way specialized. Whenever he required 
 specialized skill, he knew where to find it and when to advise it. 
 He earned the gratitude and love of those whom he relieved or 
 restored, in their variegated ailments, and that of their relatives 
 and friends. He was looked up to as the benefactor of the mul- 
 titude. He treated patients of more than one generation — 
 grandparents, parents and children formed his clientele. He 
 knew their bodies and souls ; they trusted him and loved him as 
 only a doctor, as no clergyman or lawyer was ever loved or 
 trusted. He was their doctor, their friend, their confessor, their 
 adviser in health and in sickness, and shared their secrets. That 
 is why he could be successful in relieving both their physical and 
 spiritual needs. He appreciated that whoever expects to aid and 
 cure his neighbor must first understand him and that, like the 
 inequalities of individual features, their natures are inequal. As 
 he was gifted both with intuitive observation and philosophical 
 insight, he was readily credited with being the godly physician 
 of whom Hippocrates tells us. 
 
 The criticism of one of the great physicians of the Atlantic 
 Coast found no favor with him, nor any justification. According 
 to the latter, the family physician has no longer any defensible 
 existence; ailments should be handled by a specialist whose 
 modern accomplishments must be relied upon in adversity. 
 
 To arrive at that conclusion he committed the chronological 
 mistake of asking the family physician of fifty or seventy-five 
 years ago to grapple with the case of to-day. The family prac- 
 titioner of fifty years ago was the accomplished physician of his 
 time. Year out, year in, he learned what the men of great oppor- 
 tunities and genius and research discovered for him and applied 
 it as they could not have applied it themselves. Forty years ago, 
 thirty, twenty, ten years ago he learned constantly both the 
 science and the art of medicine. If not always ahead, he was 
 ever abreast with and never in the rear of the active medical 
 column. My friend in New York had in mind the sluggard in 
 practice, and not the progressive, clear-eyed, and watchful prac- 
 
MEMORIAL 15 
 
 titioner who has not forgotten the old tools of his art while 
 v/elcoming new ones ; and he did not realize the fact that there is 
 many a patient who is not cured by medicine but by the doctor. 
 
 The great danger connected with modern teaching and modern 
 practice is not the acceptance in an individual case of the mere 
 laboratory reports of the examination of secretions, excretions, 
 blood and artery pressure, and the employment of the many new 
 instruments of precision, but the teaching in some schools and 
 the tendency on the part of many ill-guided students to adopt as 
 complete a diagnosis based upon mere laboratory tests, a sort of 
 absent treatment. The general practitioner, coming from such a 
 school or imbued with such habits of laziness or self-indulgence, 
 is very apt to rely exclusively on the genuine or alleged competent 
 or defective laboratory. Dr. Fischel complained that the instruc- 
 tion of many schools neglected the most important instruments 
 of precision, which are the brains and the educated fingers, ears 
 and eyes, and also the correct observations of the historical and 
 contemporaneous masters of our art. He feared lest the young 
 disciple and practitioner should no longer learn how to judge of 
 the pulse — its softness, hardness, frequency, alternation, irregu- 
 larity — and rather rely on the sphygmograph alone, though 
 handled by some one else. The modernized pupil is liable to 
 trust in an electrocardiogram alone in place of an old-fashioned 
 but trustworthy auscultation, and to refuse to examine a patient 
 and his history before sending him to the radiologist. What 
 Fischel looked forward to was the whole of clinical instruction 
 and independent bedside study for the future "therapos," that is, 
 the servant of the sick. He was anxiously awaiting the time 
 when the Washington University Medical School, reinforced by 
 the intelligent generosity of gifted lay philosophers and enjoying 
 vastly improved facilities, would turn out only such physicians as 
 combine new tools and modern methods with preexistent long- 
 cultivated experience. 
 
 His life was divided between practicing and teaching. That is 
 why we easily understood one another on questions connected 
 with schools and universities. To him the latter was not a place 
 to obtain a diploma or a title, but one of general philosophical 
 education and spirit, of teaching and of research. 
 
 The medical school is part of the university, with all the 
 breadth of its principles. That is why medical research should 
 be encouraged in a medical student, to a certain extent, at least. 
 
16 DR. WASHINGTON E. FISCHEL 
 
 Every medical student should be taught the methods of research. 
 but the methods only. Only those few of the class who mean to 
 spend their lives in it, should be taught to invade and occupy the 
 territory of the theories and practice of mere science. That takes 
 all of his life. No mere student of medicine who prepares for 
 practice should undertake to spend the years of his curriculum 
 on deep research. 
 
 Medicine, which is to be dedicated to the service of the people, 
 sick or well, requires all the time and efforts of the most gifted. 
 "Eines schickt sich nicht fiir alle." Not everything is proper 
 for everybody. 
 
 One day I asked him to what extent he and his school w^ere 
 teaching therapeutics, physical and medicinal. He regretfully 
 admitted that m.any medical schools he knew were apt to forget 
 that their principal reason for existence was the furnishing of 
 good doctors for the cure or prevention of diseases. These count 
 by the hundred ; their causes are legion, their manifestations 
 many. Only of late are our student classes being taught hygiene 
 as a preventive, the use of cold and warm air and water, the 
 chemistry of food-stuffs, the physiology of digestion, the effect 
 of darkness and light, the ill effects of poisons, such as alcohol 
 and tobacco. The gravest mistake of our instruction is the neg- 
 lect of medication and its administration. Meanwhile, among 
 the public the ranting against drugs ranks as a modern curse. 
 Hatred of drugs is inscribed on the flags of the quacks and 
 sectarians who have succeeded in demoralizing public conscience. 
 Our legislators are constantly besieged with and conquered by 
 bills to legitimize ignorance. New sects apply for recognition 
 solely on account of their not using drugs. They insolently plead 
 not guilty of knowing and employing the best friends of the sick. 
 Perhaps, however, they belong to the school of Tatian, who 
 fifteen hundred years ago taught that remedies were permissible 
 for heathen, not for christians. Unfortunately, the public, includ- 
 ing legislators, gather their pseudomedical maxims from the 
 young reporters who concoct part of our daily press from the 
 v/hims of humorous medical men bent upon the mere entertain- 
 ment of their audiences, upon cheap applause and financial 
 rewards, and from the wholesale tradesmen who swamp the 
 markets with circulars eulogizing proprietary medicines and nos- 
 trums. What would you do without the drugs that relieve 
 exhausting pain in peritonitis, stones in the kidneys and gall- 
 
MEMORIAL 17 
 
 bladder, nervous exhaustion; without the quinin, which cures 
 your malaria; the mercury, iodin and salvarsan, which relieve 
 syphilis ; thyroid extract, which cures myxedema and cretinism ; 
 digitalis and strophanthus and caffein, which stimulate or 
 strengthen the heart; theobromin and nitrite, which regulate 
 blodd pressure ; antitoxin in diphtheria, tetanus and typhoid ; with- 
 out arsenic, that great nutrient and nerve remedy; iron, the 
 regenerator of impoverished blood; calcium, adrenal and thymus 
 extracts, and the dozen of alkalies ? And what v/ill your pupils 
 and practitioners do with all of them unless they are taught how 
 to prescribe them better than the officious drummer with the 
 wagging tongue? 
 
 Though our meetings were too few, Dr. Fischel gave me 
 opportunities to admire his humanitarianism. He expressed the 
 wish that all our medical students and young practitioners could 
 always appreciate the frequency with which suffering is increased 
 by their carelessness. Can you make a correct diagnosis and 
 fashion your prognosis ? If you do, please learn something more 
 — ■ and more important — a hasty word is a dagger you thrust 
 into the soul of the sick or dying. Your patient asks you : "Am I 
 consumptive?" and his scared look informs you that he fears 
 your answer. In place of telling him that he is consumptive, and 
 so driving him to despair, what will you tell him? Tell him: 
 "You have tuberculosis in your lungs. Many such cases get well. 
 Almost no one dies in old age who has not at some time or other 
 had tuberculosis and got well. By care and good luck your 
 tuberculosis may improve or get entirely well. If you get worse, 
 however, your tuberculosis might indeed turn into consumption. 
 Now, see to it, not to get worse, and you may learn how to avoid 
 that." That man has a better chance to get well, for you have 
 given him hope, than which there is no better stimulant for his 
 nerves, and the courage to do something for himself and to give 
 the lie to one of our whimsical celebrities in the East who claims 
 that the treatment of consumption is opium and lies. 
 
 Another patient has been told he has cancer in his liver. He 
 knows the term and that cancer is fatal. "How long have I to 
 live ? But doctor, is it cancer, as they told me ?" "I do not know 
 how long you will live. I do not even know how long I shall live. 
 But you would do wrong to neglect yourself. You have a tumor, 
 you feel it yourself ; that is all you need know and fear. I advise 
 against an operation at this time, for medication can do a great 
 
18 DR. WASHINGTON E. FISCHEL 
 
 deal for you." So it can, young man ; but if you tell him he has 
 cancer he will die soon after, having spent his remaining days in 
 constant fear and agony ; v/hile the hope, born of uncertainty and 
 sympathy, will encourage him, make him live longer, and when 
 the time comes he will die in comparative comfort. Which do 
 you prefer? I know what I prefer, and to me it was a great satis- 
 faction to learn from Fischel that I was correct. This was his 
 way, and it is the way of those who know how to differentiate 
 between a medical mere man and a medical humanitarian. 
 Unfortunately, humanitarianism and altruism are not inscribed 
 in the hearts of all those who have M.D. engraved on their 
 diplomas. The nature of man is liable to be narrow. Even 
 heroes of intelligence do not always combine practice with science 
 and humanity, like Virchow, who succeeded. He claimed that 
 medicine failed in its calling unless it became the property of 
 mankind. Not all, even great practitioners, join the warmth of 
 the heart to their diagnostic acumen. That is true, though what 
 superficial persons say is not correct, that the doctor gets cold 
 and callous with advancing years. To me it is a consolation to 
 have experienced the reverse in many colleagues, though not 
 always to the extent in which cool judgment and ripe experience 
 and warm sympathy were joined in Fischel. 
 
 Fischel was a humanitarian by temperament, and by innate 
 and acquired wisdom. This great physician who remained a 
 general practitioner because he could not limit himself to a 
 specialty; who was a loved teacher, because even the youngest 
 disciple knew or guessed the breadth of his teacher's interest, 
 became the admired and much-loved fellow-citizen because his 
 inclinations and wishes and activities prevented his broad nature 
 from confining himself to the mere practice of physic. 
 
 There was more to him. I wonder whether he himself was 
 aware of the weight of his words and the influence of his argu- 
 mentation. What his personality meant in local and state affairs 
 of medicine, you know best. In the preparation of what was 
 meant to become the World's Congress of Medicine in connection 
 with the Exposition of 1904, Fischel's advice was anxiously 
 sought for and conscientiously followed. That his wisdom and 
 moderation and energy would have continued to be of vast influ- 
 ence in the perfection of your Washington University, I doubt 
 not. 
 
 Everyone felt that to praise him as a great and good physician 
 rendered no adequate justice. I wonder whether at any time this 
 
MEMORIAL 19 
 
 owner of a thousand friendships had any enemies. It is not 
 always true that a strong man is never without them. After all 
 in Fischel's character, strength was not the only prevailing ele- 
 ment. Warmth and sympathy predominated to such an extent 
 that he may have lived without such friction as his winning 
 amiability could not easily palliate. In a multitude of his traits 
 the idealism of many great Americans seems realized. That 
 idealism I have found in the make-up of Fischel. In him it took 
 at an early age the shape of altruism and humanitarianism. 
 Social questions were closely allied in him with the needs of 
 medicine, which never will fulfil its destiny unless it makes the 
 welfare of individuals and the community its sacred duty. So 
 there are many reasons why his name will live. 
 
 It will be an evil day for St. Louis, for Washington Univer- 
 sity and the medical profession if he and his like — if there be 
 any — and his ideas be forgotten. In his modesty he never cared 
 about display or notoriety or publicity. But without a tangible 
 effort men like him leave their mark. Whoever has an interest 
 in the public welfare will rejoice that this man has lived and 
 worked amongst us. Many may feel as Tacitus says of Agricola, 
 "Neque lugere neque plangi fas est." No mourning or loud com- 
 plaining is proper. The appropriate feeling amongst those who 
 care for humanity and mankind and appreciate the fact that an 
 influential and withal lovely man lived with us and for us — that 
 feeling will be profound gratitude. 
 
 WASHINGTON EMIT FISCHEL 
 
 AN ADDRESS BY FREDERIC A. HALL, LL.D. 
 
 As presiding officer of the occasion I have officially repre- 
 sented Washington University, with the development of whose 
 medical department Dr. Fischel was so intimately identified. It 
 now becomes my privilege to appear in an additional capacity. 
 The committee in charge requests me to speak of Dr. Fischel and 
 his work as a teacher in Washington University. Since the par- 
 ticular topic reached me rather late, I have taken the liberty of 
 speaking from the standpoint of a patient and friend, briefly 
 referring to him as a practicing doctor and as a man. 
 
 He was my physician, in whose medical judgment and pre- 
 scribed treatment I had implicit confidence. He was my friend, 
 in whose counsel I found security, and in whose companionship 
 
20 DR. WASHINGTON E. FISCHEL 
 
 I found delight. For the past two years especially advice was 
 needed, occasionally of a delicate nature, as I endeavored wisely 
 to administer affairs quite foreign to my previous experience and 
 dealing with matters of present and future importance. Of all 
 my acquaintances in the medical profession, whom it is my good 
 fortune to count my friends, there was no one to whom I more 
 often turned for disinterested guidance. He was familiar with 
 every advance step in the marvelous expansion of the medical 
 department during the past few years, an expansion in whose 
 benefits he could, at best, have slight share and that for no long 
 time. As the splendid preparations rapidly reached maturity his 
 sustained interest was the professional satisfaction one might 
 naturally entertain in the realization of a life-time's dream, a 
 dream realized too late, however, for any material advantage 
 to him. 
 
 His advice in matters pertaining to the department's welfare 
 was always disinterested, but never impersonal. He could and 
 did separate himself as he separated his interests from any such 
 proposition, but in every discussion involving men he never lost 
 sight of the fact that a man's interests were at stake. His con- 
 sideration for the feelings of others was most pronounced. If a 
 measure seemed unavoidably to cross the purposes and plans of 
 another, he invariably considered how the measure could be 
 adopted with the least possible injury to those concerned. Noth- 
 ing pained him more than the alienation of long-time medical 
 friends, when differences in judgment as to what was best made 
 united effort no longer possible. 
 
 Dr. Fischel had but one enemy, the double-headed monster, 
 disease and death. Against disease and death he waged uncom- 
 promising warfare. Disease and death impede man's usefulness 
 and mar his happiness, therefore disease should be conquered 
 and death held in check to the latest possible moment. He fought 
 disease as one would resist an armed foe on the battle-field — a 
 fight to the finish, utilizing every instrument and every device 
 which preparation and skill and strategy and determination could 
 command. He would not admit that death was inevitable until 
 it actually came, for as he once remarked: "Death is a demon, 
 ending a man's career and harassing the feelings of his friends. 
 I hate death with all my soul." With such a disposition toward 
 the enemy of mankind he felt it to be a sublime duty personally 
 to equip himself by close study, by the recognition of every sane 
 
MEMORIAL 21 
 
 prevention, by the adoption of sound remedies both in medicine 
 and surgery for waging a successful warfare. 
 
 Difficulties or obstacles whether material or individual never 
 swerved him from his aim in life. Those who were familiar only 
 with the genial smile and gracious manner, so characteristic of 
 him, failed to know the man if they did not realize that behind 
 the pleasant word and gentle ways there lurked a determination 
 and a clear sense of duty which could be sternness personified 
 when necessary. The final development of this medical school 
 and the hospitals adjacent has come through vicissitudes and 
 episodes, some unavoidably embarrassing, whose history will never 
 be written; but they were of the nature to try the hearts of the 
 stoutest. Yet through them all Dr. Fischel held an unswerving 
 course toward the desired goal, sacrificing even friends if need 
 be for the accomplishment of the ultimate purpose. 
 
 Dr. Fischel had personal characteristics which added greatly 
 to his efficiency as a family physician; his genial disposition was 
 an invaluable asset. You who have called him to your homes 
 when distress and anxiety hung dense as a cloud will recall the 
 sense of security which was at once established by his cheering 
 words and hearty handshake. When he entered the sick-room 
 one seemed to realize that everything within the possibilities 
 would be accomplished, and that somehow even the impossible 
 might be attained ; such was the confidence that his very presence 
 and manner inspired. 
 
 His ability as a diagnostician was extraordinary. He instinc- 
 tively got at the character and the source of the trouble. Yet 
 what seemed almost an intuition was doubtless the result of 
 painstaking care and penetrating insight. His respect for the 
 modern laboratory method of determining disease was profound. 
 I have often heard him remark that he doffed his hat to those 
 scientifically trained in the laboratory, and he was keen to take 
 advantage of their skill and knowledge in order to confirm his 
 own judgment, but his confidence in reading a case never wavered 
 and was rarely amiss. 
 
 Again, he never lowered the dignity of his profession to the 
 level of purely commercial interests. A physician of his eminence 
 and especially of his gracious manner could easily have been led 
 into rarely lucrative fields had he allowed himself to do so. From 
 what I know of the man, I doubt whether the fee ever influenced 
 his acceptance of a case or his subsequent treatment. I know of 
 
22 DR. WASHINGTON E. FISCHEL 
 
 instances where large fees would have been reasonable and would 
 have been paid cheerfully, yet no bill could be obtained. He 
 positively refused in these cases to accept remuneration. Had 
 he been a man of independent means I verily believe he would 
 have practiced his profession for the mere love of it, irrespective 
 of any financial returns. 
 
 He had slight regard for himself when the good of his 
 patient was involved. To illustrate, allow me to relate a trifling 
 personal incident. Once I asked him to make an early morning 
 call. It was a cold, stormy winter morning; a bronchial trouble 
 annoyed me greatly, and I sought safety in bed. His visit assured 
 me that I had taken the proper precaution and he urged that I 
 remain in bed for two or three days and in the house for a week, 
 since it would be taking a risk to venture out. As the visit pro- 
 gressed I observed that he coughed much and that his cough 
 resembled mine. I further observed that he was not looking in 
 his usual health. Questioning him, I found that my trouble was 
 his also, and that strictly speaking he too should be in bed, since 
 to be out was to take a risk. He as a physician knew better than 
 I what he should do, but it was the call, the professional demand, 
 which outweighed personal considerations. We had a delightful 
 visit together coughing a duet occasionally ; whether I helped him 
 I cannot say, but his vivacity and courage bettered my situation, 
 and even to-day the memory of the occasion is fresh and fra- 
 grant with his presence. 
 
 Another striking characteristic of the man in whose honor we 
 meet was his freedom from professional jealousy. The medical 
 profession sometimes has associated with it a tendency to be 
 envious of what others are accomplishing in the same profession. 
 What may be the primary cause of this unfortunate situation is 
 somewhat obscure. Possibly the fact that each one does his 
 work in seclusion may explain it, but whatever the explanation, 
 the fact is patent in the estimation of laymen. This professional 
 jealousy is often manifested in the unwillingness of the older 
 physicians to help young men in the profession. 
 
 In marked contrast with this. Dr. Fischel was especially 
 interested in the advancement of young physicians. He would go 
 out of his way to recommend such as were promising, advising 
 that they be employed ; following their cases with them ; freely 
 putting at their disposal the results of his ripe experience, and in 
 every way encouraging them in the years of their struggle for a 
 
MEMORIAL 23 
 
 livelihood. Not a few of the eminent younger men in the medical 
 profession will cheerfully bear witness to the truthfulness of this 
 statement. I should not be telling the whole truth were I to 
 indicate that this interest was confined to young men in his own 
 profession. He had unusual depth of good will toward young 
 men as young men. He knew the dangers and difficulties which 
 stood between them and creditable careers in whatever occupa- 
 tion they were to pass their lives. Not alone as a physician, but 
 as a friend, his words of warning and especially of encourage- 
 ment helped many a young man over the stormy and uncertain 
 period of establishing himself. His purse was always open to the 
 deserving; and his personal solicitation gave not a few young men 
 positions in establishments and business houses. No young man 
 will ever forget that embrace and the confident cheer with which 
 Dr. Fischel stimulated him in forging ahead. 
 
 Those who knew Dr. Fischel only after he reached middle 
 life can associate him with prosperity alone, but in his early life 
 he knew the heartache of unsatisfied ambition and was associated 
 with scant supply for reasonable wants. Whatever success came 
 to him in later life he fairly and honorably won ; won by devotion 
 to his cause and by the skill which rewards the patient, persistent 
 follower of his profession. He once remarked to me that occa- 
 sionally when the number awaiting consultation was wearying he 
 took courage in recalling the days when calls were few and of 
 relatively slight importance. It was perhaps the remembrance of 
 this strenuous experience in securing a professional foothold 
 which made him so helpful to young physicians and gave him 
 such sympathetic understanding of their needs. 
 
 Dr. Fischel graduated from the St. Louis Medical College 
 in 1871. He immediately went abroad and spent the three follow- 
 ing years in study and research. From 1874 to 1881 he was quiz 
 master in the St. Louis Medical College; 1881-83, lecturer on 
 therapeutics; 1883-88, professor of hygiene and forensic medi- 
 cine, and from 1886 to the time of his death, professor of clinical 
 medicine. His connection, then, with the school as now organized 
 covers a period of more than forty years, inclusive of the time 
 spent in the St. Louis Medical College, one of the medical schools 
 to be incorporated into the present medical department of Wash- 
 ington University. This long and intimate association with the 
 medical department identified him with its development and is 
 indicative of the interest which he took in medicine from the 
 
24 DR. WASHINGTON E. FISCHEL 
 
 academic standpoint as well as from the practical side. He 
 devoted himself enthusiastically to the classroom work, and gave 
 careful preparation for the lectures which he was to deliver. 
 
 Such, in brief, are some of the things which can truthfully be 
 said of Dr. Fischel. A character so winsome, a physician so 
 eminent, a citizen so public spirited, a man so strong, might rea- 
 sonably justify a eulogy. I have, however, studiously avoided 
 any attempt at eulogy. I have endeavored to confine myself to 
 a plain statement of facts, for the reason that in his case facts 
 alone speak loudly. It were futile to endeavor to add value to 
 Dr. Fischel's life by glowing words of praise. His life is his 
 highest praise. What he did and what he was will perpetuate 
 his memory in the hearts of all who knew him intimately. 
 
 No words can make good the loss of such a man — an irrepar- 
 able loss to the community, to the medical profession, to count- 
 less friends, and most especially to his family. To-day we have 
 met and have spoken to one another of this good man now gone. 
 We have performed this simple act to symbolize our love for him 
 and our allegiance to the high ideals for which he stood. 
 
 What his religious views were I do not know. We talked of 
 many things at different times, a wide range of subjects was 
 mutually interesting, but it so happened that our private religious 
 views were never exchanged. Why, I cannot say; it may have 
 been that each considered the subject so private as to be sacred. 
 At any rate, we never spoke of them. So, I repeat, I do not 
 know what religious views he held. But this I do know, that in 
 his private life and outward conduct he illustrated to a rare 
 degree the principles laid down by the humble peasant of Galilee, 
 the philosopher of Nazareth, as entitling one who practiced them 
 to an abundant entrance into a haven of rest beyond. 
 
 We who knew him will never forget the late Dr. Washington 
 E. Fischel — physician, citizen, friend, man. 
 
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