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Dr. N. S. Davis at the age of about 60. Reproduced from steel engraving-. 
 
The Life 
 
 of 
 
 Nathan Smith Davis 
 
 A. M., M. D., LL. D. 
 
 1817 1904 
 
 " I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; 
 I have led thee in right paths." — Prov. iv. 11. 
 
 By 
 
 I. N. Danforth, A. M., M. D. 
 
 Chicago, III. 
 
 3IUuatrat?ti 
 
 Chicago 
 
 Cleveland Press 
 1907 
 
Copyright 1907 
 
 BY THE 
 
 CLEVELAND PRESS 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 
TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 ISAAC DANFORTH, M. D. 
 
 1763 1851 
 
 AND 
 
 SAMUEL PARKMAN DANFORTH, M. u., 
 
 iSio 1865 
 
 TWO VERMONT PHYSICIANS 
 
 WHO DEVOTED THEIR LIVES TO THE 
 
 ELEVATION AND IMPROVEMENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE 
 
 OF MEDICINE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I began writing the life of Dr. Davis with great reluctance ; I close 
 my task with greater reluctance. For several months past he has been 
 my constant companion, I might almost say, day and night. As I have 
 studied his austere personality, arid his rugged character, so transparent 
 and genuine, my respect for the man has grown day by day. I do not, 
 however, for a moment imagine that T have written a life of Dr. Davis that 
 will be satisfactory to the medical profession or the public. A character 
 so colossal needs the perspective of time and distance, before an adequate 
 estimate of its merits or demerits can be formed. Fifty years hence, Nathan 
 Smith Davis will measure up to the altitude of Benjamin Rush and Joseph 
 Warren ; then some one will write his life in a worthier manner than is 
 possible at the present time, or by the present biographer. I have tried to 
 be accurate; I have tried to be impartial; I have tried to be just; how far 
 I have succeeded, my readers must judge. I have been much handicapped 
 by the absence of original documents, such as letters, and the various man- 
 uscript sources of information usually left by public men; but all these in- 
 valuable treasures were unfortunately destroyed a few years ago. 
 
 Just at this point, the mail brings me the following letter from the' 
 present Dr. N. S. Davis, worthy successor of a noble father, which it gives 
 me great pleasure to receive and to print: 
 
 My dear Doctor Danforth : 
 
 You have striven most conscientiously to present correctly the facts 
 in my father's life and I believe that you have succeeded. 
 
 Unfortunately there have been few manuscript aids for the construction 
 of your work, and my father's cotemporaries are almost all dead. How- 
 ever, in spite of these difficulties you have successfully described the im- 
 portant incidents of his life. 
 
 It has been a pleasure to aid you as far as possible. 
 
 Very sincerely yours, N. S. Davis. 
 
 I cannot close without expressing my profound gratitude to Madam 
 Davis, widow of Dr. N. S. Davis, who still survives him, for her patient 
 assistance and counsel as my work has progressed, and to her son, the pres- 
 
PREFACE 
 
 ent Dr. Davis, I am under deep obligations for his helpful counsel. I 
 take pleasure, also, in expressing- my thanks to my friend, Dr. L. B. Hayman, 
 who has been of great assistance in helping me to correct proofs, and in 
 guiding me over sundry rough places, which I encountered because of my 
 slight acquaintance with the "technique" of the printer. 
 
 905 \\'. ^lonroe street. I. X. D. 
 
 September, 1907. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Introduction. 
 I. Childhood— Youth— Medical Studies, 
 11. Marriage; Early Professional Life. 
 
 III. Removal to Chicago; Connection with Rush 
 
 Medical College. 
 
 IV. Professional Career in Chicago: Chicago 
 
 Medical College; Mercy Hospital. 
 
 V. Connection with Educational and Charitable 
 
 Institutions. 
 VI. Relations to the American Medical Association. 
 VII. Relations to the American Medical Association 
 
 — (Continued). 
 VIII. Connection with the Ninth International 
 Medical Congress in 1887. 
 IX. The "Jubilee" Meeting of the American 
 
 Medical Association in 1897. 
 X. Temperance Work: Public and Professional. 
 XI. Literary and Journalistic Work. 
 XII. The Literary and Scientific Harvest of a 
 Busy Life. 
 
 XIII. The Testimonial Banquet of October 5, 1901. 
 
 XIV. Religious and Church Life; Last Days. 
 XV. Memorial Service of October 23, 1904. 
 
 XVI. Commemorative Tablet Placed in Davis Hall. 
 
 XVII. Tributes of Respect from Friends and Former 
 
 Pupils. 
 
 XVIII. Personal and Reminiscent. 
 XIX. Conclusion— A Character Study. 
 
INTRODUCTORY, 
 
 The subject of the following memoir took his medical degree in 
 January, 1837, while he was yet a minor, and immediately engaged in medical 
 practice. But the world he entered at the threshold of his professional life 
 was a very different world from the one he left, nearly seventy years after- 
 wards. It will be interesting to glance briefly at some ot the conditions 
 in our country at that time. 
 
 In the South, the condition of the slave had become a source of great 
 anxiety. The "abolitionists" were at work tooth and nail, and one of them, 
 David Walker, a free negro, published his "Appeal" in 1829, a hot-headed 
 pamphlet which exasperated the slaveholders and unsettled the slaves. 
 
 Benjamin Lundy, William Lloyd Garrison, Elijah Lovejoy and other 
 determined spirits in the North, espoused the cause of the slave, and their 
 appeals in the public press and on the platform aroused intense excitement 
 North and South. In 183 1 came "Turner's Rebellion," a mad-cap out- 
 break by twenty or thirty negroes, under the leadership of a Virginia 
 slave, named Nat Turner, which set the slave-holding states into a hyster- 
 ical fear of a general revolt among their bondmen. But as fifty-five men, 
 women and children were slain by Turner and his folloAvers, it is not 
 strange that southern people believed that the smouldering volcano upon 
 which they stood, was about to break forth into fury. 
 
 Considerable anxiety was also beginning, in regard to the immigration 
 of the paupers, cripples, invalids, idiots and "distracted persons," from 
 Europe to this land of liberty and of plenty, and restrictive legislation was 
 being discussed in a tentative way. As a consequence, a "Native American" 
 party of small proportions but ominous import, sprung up, survived its 
 little day and faded out — precursor of the more pretentious "Knov/-Noth- 
 ingism" of the fifties. 
 
 Travel was mainly by the old fashioned stage coach (the "Concord 
 coach," built in Concord, N. H., was the acme of style and luxury), but 
 a few short and very primitive railways had been built experimentally, 
 yet not a single railway v,'as in regular and successful operation until 1830, 
 when the road from Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills, about 13 miles long, 
 was opened, and it was regarded as almost beyond belief that the whole 
 13 miles was made in sixty-nine minutes, and that Peter Cooper's locomo- 
 
10 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 tive demonstrated that it could go round a curve ''without danger." Never- 
 theless, there was great opposition to railways, and the old "strap" rails, 
 with their perilous "snake heads,"' were not calculated to inspire faith in 
 the new mode of travel, and so the Concord coach, the canal boat and 
 the "prairie schooner" still held their own. But the "experts" were 
 laboriously trying to decide whether steam power or horse power should 
 haul the railroad train of the future, and John Stevens, the father of 
 American railwavs, was vainly trving to "finance" (but not Harrimanize), 
 his projected railway from Philadelphia to Columbus. 
 
 During these years mail robberies were frequent, and the question of 
 Sundav mails was agitating the churches and the people. But meantime 
 other great events were taking place and great discoveries were being 
 made. Cyrus H. McCormick had invented his reaper; the steamboat had 
 become a practicable and profitable venture; the use of anthracite and- 
 bituminous coals had passed the experimental stage; the sewing machine 
 had become an actuality and the rotary printing press had supplanted its 
 venerable predecessor. 
 
 When we turn to the condition of the jails, prisons, houses of correc- 
 tion, penitentiaries or whatever else they were called ; and to the treatment 
 of the patients in the lunatic asylums and similar institutions, we find a 
 sad and shameful story. It does not seem possible that in this country of 
 ours, a lunatic was "jailed for eight years, during which time he had 
 left his room but twice, and for eighteen months the door had never been 
 opened; food and water was thrust through a hole in the door." In a 
 cellar "were five lunatics in cells six b}^ eight feet." And so on ad nauseam. 
 
 The prisons throughout the country were dirty, full of infection, ill- 
 ventilated, and in every way disgusting. Solitary confinement, imprison- 
 ment for debt, the pillory, the whipping post, cropping the ears, branding 
 with the "scarlet letter," and standing on the gallows with a rope around 
 one's neck for an hour or more ; these were some of the refined and elevat- 
 ing methods of punishment still in vogue during the boyhood and young 
 manhood of the man whose career we are to study. It is but just to 
 add, however, that a reform movement was already under way and be- 
 fore 1840 considerable progress had been made in the direction of decency 
 and humanity. 
 
 In the political world Andrew Jackson's second term as President 
 was drawing to a close. His administration had been a turbulent one ; he 
 liad strangled "nullification," thus putting off the evil day of secession 
 for a quarter of a century; had closed the United States Bank, and had 
 done sundry other things, equally positive and radical, and was about to 
 retire to his beloved "Hermitage," having as manv devoted friends and 
 
INTRODUCTORY II 
 
 as many bitter enemies, as any man in this or any other country. Then 
 came the administration of Jackson's "man Friday" — "that slender little 
 gentleman, always courteous, always placid, always ready to listen"* — 
 Martin Van Buren, with its crushing financial panic, suspension of specie 
 payments, bread riots and general distress among all classes of people, 
 during which "the country went staggering and bewildered through its 
 season of bitter ruin."** 
 
 But the country survived; the "Log Cabin and Hard Cider" cam- 
 paign of 1840," succeeded, the cry of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," was in 
 every schoolboy's mouth; the very hens were said to cackle "Tip Tip, 
 Tip Tip, Tyler," and the land-slide from Jackson and Van Buren to the 
 "hero of Tippecanoe," William Henry Harrison, illustrated in a graphic 
 way, the vagaries of "we the people." But Harrison's brief term of about a 
 month closed with his death. John Tyler took the helm, and the Tylerizeci 
 administration began its baleful existence. 
 
 Very soon plans for stealing Texas were developing, the Mexican 
 war cloud began to show above the horizon, and mutterings, both loud 
 and deep of the "irrepressible conflict," were heard in all sections of the 
 country. Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Hayne, Van Buren, Lewis Cass, Roger 
 B. Taney> of malodorous memory, and slippery, foxy James Buchanan, 
 whose name brings the blush of shame to the cheeks of his countrymen; 
 these were some of the men who were at the front in the days whereof 
 we speak. 
 
 By the year 1820, literature in the United States had assumed a re- 
 spectable attitude, and the question was no longer sneeringly asked in 
 England, "who reads an American book?" Lwing, Cooper, Bryant, Long- 
 fellow, Jared Sparks, John Marshall and a few others, were gaining a 
 favorable recognition in the realms of authorship, and were building up a 
 purely American literature of permanent value.*** 
 
 In medical literature not very rapid strides had been made, which is 
 by no means to be wondered at, since ample clinical facilities and prolonged 
 clinical study and observation, must precede authorship in the domain of 
 practical medicine and surgery; and in the two decades from 1820 to 
 1840, adequate opportunities for clinical study were few and far between 
 in the LTnited States. As a consequence, in those days, text-books and 
 monographs on medicine and surgery were mainly either those which were 
 written in England or translations of books written on the continent of 
 Europe. Nevertheless, a creditable beginning had been made in the devel-. 
 
 ^History of the American People, by Woodrow Wilson, iv., 63. 
 **0/'. cit. p. 71. 
 
 ***For much of the above T am indebted to that ideal work, McMaster's "History 
 of the American People." 
 
12 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 opment of a purely American medical literature. Chapman's "Therapeu- 
 tics and ^Materia Medica," Samuel Jackson's "Principles of Medicine," 
 Eberle's "Practice of Medicine," Bartlett's "Fevers of the United States," 
 Hosack's "Lectures on Theory and Practice,'' the writings of Dr. Daniel 
 Drake, and various monographs, among which Dr. W. W. Gerhard's "Trea- 
 tise en Diagnosis of Diseases of the Chest" deserves prominent mention ; 
 these are a few of the more prominent American works on the Practice 
 of Medicine and cognate subjects, to which the young American physi- 
 cian had access in the first half of the last century. 
 
 For many years perhaps Dunglison's "System of Physiology'' was the 
 standard, and the same should be said of his "Medical Dictionary," a work 
 which gave him the sobriquet of "Dictionary Dunglison." 
 
 In the domain of surger}-, Dr. Geo. ]\IcClellan's "Principles and Prac- 
 tice of Surgery," Gibson's "Institutes and Practice of Surgery," Dorsey's 
 "Elements of Surgery," Gross' "Diseases and Injuries of the Bones and 
 Joints," and a few other works of less importance occupied the field of 
 i\meiican surgical authorship. 
 
 In the field of obstetrics and diseases of women, the works of Dewees, 
 Hugh L. Hodge and Chas. D. Aleigs, easily took and held the lead 
 for many years, as they were clearly entitled to do. They were three re- 
 markable men, and they exercised a remarkable influence upon the medical 
 profession of their generation. 
 
 The practice of medicine and surgery in the days whereof we write, 
 was as unlike the practice of medicine and surgerv at the present day as 
 it is possible to imagine. The practice of medicine was, to all intents 
 and purposes, a great system of empiricism. In fact it could not be other- 
 wise. "Scientific" medicine was not even in its infancy; it was yet in 
 utero, there to remain for many long years, and then to undergo a slow 
 and wearisome parturition, followed by a period of infancy and adoles- 
 cence, before it emerged into manhood. • Those of us who remember the 
 practice of medicine only as far back as the sixties, can testify to the crude 
 ideas which governed the equally crude methods of practice ; and when 
 we compare the methods of those days with the comparatively enlightened 
 and scientific methods of these days, we can realize, as the younger men 
 cannot, that we have "seen a great light." 
 
 In surgery, the story is about the same ; of course, as surgery is more 
 mechanical, and the surgeon's work is more immediatelv under his eye 
 than is the work of the physician, better results ought to be expected. 
 Simple fractures were probably treated as successfully by the elder AA'ar- 
 ren as they are by the most skillful surgeons of to-day. But operative sur- 
 gery was fearfully crude; plastic surgery was an almost untouched field; 
 
INTRODUCTORY 1 3 
 
 abdominal surgery was a bete noir, and of course aseptic surgery was not 
 even a dream. When we turn to the department of obstretrics, we enter a 
 veritable chamber of horrors. It was a rare instance when the parturient 
 wouian escaped some form of post-partuin infection, and the new-torn 
 child encountered perils of which it was happily ignorant. When we 
 consider the frightful frecj^uency of puerperal fever — against which the 
 genial Autocrat of the Breakfast Table thundered so forcefully" — when we 
 consider how common were cases of pelvic cellulitis, mammary abscess, 
 septic phlebitis, not to mention erysipelas, unrecognized albuminuria, with 
 an occasional case of auricular embolism, which was of course a case of 
 "heart failure ;" and then when we thankfully contemplate ths remarkable 
 immunity of the puerpera from^ these and various other post-partum acci- 
 dents at the present day, we begin to get a practical and tangible realization 
 of the changes that have occurred since commencement day in the College 
 of Physicians and Surgeons of Western Nezv York, in the year of our 
 Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven. 
 
 And then comes the c]uestion, will our children and grandchildren have 
 occasion to exercise the same degree of charity towards us; that we are 
 called upon to extend to our grandfathers? 
 
 "Specialism" was almost a terra incognita seventy years ago, and 
 hence the eye, ear, nose and throat, and various other component parts 
 of the human body, had comparatively quiet times, but they are making 
 up for it now. It is a well-known fact that the distinguished physician 
 whose life I have attempted to depict in the following pages, was no ad- 
 mirer of "Specialism" or the "Specialist" in medicine; in fact as he never 
 did anything by halves, he had a thorough contempt for "Specialists," 
 which he could not have concealed if he would, and would not if he 
 could. Perhaps this was due in part to the absurd divisions and subdivis- 
 ions of "specialism" in this our day, which is not calculated to inspire re- 
 spect either inside or outside the profession,** while it does encourage the 
 alarming increase of quack and semi-quack specialists, which are almost 
 as numerous as the frogs of Egypt and decidedly more dangerous. It is 
 no wonder that a physician of the olden time, and one not given to chang- 
 ing his mind with every change of wind, should have looked with no. 
 friendly eyes upon an innovation so far-reaching and revolutionary. After 
 all, the wonder is that the physician of half or three-quarters of a century 
 ago, achieved such good results with such indifferent means ; we who sur- 
 
 *As late as 1870, a justly distinguished professor of obstetrics in Chicag'o told 
 the author that puerperal fever was not contagious. 
 
 **Not long since a lady called upon the author, and inquired if he knew a spe- 
 cialist who "doctored the liver and nothing else" ! 
 
14 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 vive them owe them a debt of gratitude, honor and respect, utterly beyond 
 our abiHty to Hquidate. 
 
 The Hfe of the farmer and of the minister and of the lawyer, seventy 
 vears ago, varied as much from that of the present day as did the life 
 of the doctor, but we cannot enter into lengthy details. They all helped to 
 develop this splendid country of ours, and make it what it is to-day. The 
 clergy were a devoted band of men who '"did justly, loved mercy, and 
 walked humblv with their God."' The lawyers perhaps did the same thing, 
 but this present author would not like to give a written guarantee to 
 that effect. But the .farmer's life, and the life of the farmer's wiie, could 
 not be compared with the conditions of to-day. The whirr of the spin- 
 nine wheel, the chug of the old-fashioned churn, and the dismal creak of 
 the ancient cheese press were still heard in the land. Farming was done 
 bv hand ; the slow-going oxen hauled the plow ; the scythe whisked 
 through the sweet-smelling hay, and the sickle laid low the golden grain; 
 in autumn the old cider mill groaned aloud as it crushed the juicy apples, 
 aid th'j husiving bee. with its "red ear" frolics, came with the first snow 
 flakes. In winter the sound of the flail was heard, the farmer took his 
 grist to the mill, and his boys and girls to singing school, to spelling- 
 school, and with a thankful heart, to church on the Sabbath. 
 
 At such an epoch, and amid such an environment did Dr. X. S. Davis 
 begin his professional life, which was to last more than sixty years. It 
 falls to the lot of few men to witness such marvelous changes and such 
 prodigious advances, in everything that means progress and increased com- 
 fort and happiness for his fellowmen. 
 
CHAPTER 1. 
 
 Childhood— Youth— College Days. 
 
 Nathan Smith Davis was born on the 9th of January, 1817, in a log- 
 house, in the town of Greene, County of Chenango, and State of New York. 
 His parents were among 'the pioneer settlers in the midst of the virgin 
 forests of that then far western region. His father's name was Dow Davis, 
 who lived to the extraordinary age of ninety years, and died upon the farm 
 which he had reclaimed from the primitive forest and its savage denizens. 
 His first name he derived in some unexplained way from Rev. Lorenzo Dow, 
 a very eccentric, yet very able, vagrant preacher, who started out as a 
 Methodist, but ended in "no-man's-land," after wandering over the greater 
 part of the then civilized world. 
 
 Dr. Davis' mother's maiden name was Eleanor Smith. She died in 
 1824 when young Nathan was but seven years old. 
 
 No greater calamity can possibly happen to a child of tender years than 
 the loss of a mother, and the watchful, loving care, which only a mother can 
 give. At a complimentary banquet given to Dr. Davis by the medical pro- 
 fession of Chicago, October 5th, 1901, when the doctor was 84 years old, he 
 made the following touching and beautiful references to his mother: "At 
 the age of seven years, as a boy who had never been outside of his father's 
 farm, born in a log house, and when still in a log- house, I was called to the 
 hedside of my dying mother to receive her last words. I was the youngest 
 of a family of seven children; I was in my seventh year. It made a vivid 
 impression upon my mind. She was a Christian — a reader of the Bible. She 
 said to me that she wished me to be a good boy, to learn to worship God, 
 .and to do good to my fellowmen. I promised her I would. Of course I 
 -did not realize the importance or bearing of that promise at that early period 
 of life, but an impression was made upon my mind, and from that day to 
 this the rule of my life has been that whatever comes up that seems to be im- 
 portant and will improve my fellowmen, my impulse is to do what I can to 
 "help it along."* Noble words ; and true to the letter, as Dr. Davis exam- 
 plified throughout his long and fruitful life. 
 
 Dr. Davis' name, "Nathan Smith," was derived from a maternal uncle, 
 and not from the eminent Doctor Nathan Smith, of Cornish, New Hamp- 
 
 ' Report of Testimonial Banquet/' October, 1901. 
 
l6 CHILDHOOD- — YOL'TH COLLEGE DAYS 
 
 shire, the founder of the ^ledical Department of Dartmouth College,, as so 
 many of us have supposed. 
 
 I have not been able to trace the ancestry of either of Dr. Davis" par- 
 ents with anything like satisfaction or certaint}'. That they emigrated from 
 ]\Ia5sachusetts to central Xew York seems certain; that they joined the Pur- 
 itan hegira from England during the days of the Stuart persecutions seems 
 altogether probable, but cannot be stated with certainty. 
 
 Young Nathan's childhood was monotonously uneventful. The farmers' 
 sons, in the pioneer days of New England and western New York, were 
 brought up to "'work." and well they knew what that uncompromising little 
 word meant. "AA'ork'' meant getting up with the sun, and "working" till the 
 sun went down ; the same routine, day after day, with only the vacation 
 which a rainy day, or Training Day, or East Day, or Thanksgiving Day, or 
 Eourth of July, or the rigid solemnity of the Sabbath brought. Earming in 
 those days was all done "by hand," and hard and weary work it was. When 
 winter came there was three or four months of "schooling," but every winter 
 brought a new teacher, and generally one whose qualifications were limited 
 to such text books as Webster's Spelling Book, Adam's Arithmetic, Lindley 
 Murray's Grammar and ^Morse's Geography. The teachers of those days, 
 however, were usually pretty proficient in the use of a well-selected rod of 
 birch, annealed and toughened in the hot ashes of the fire-place or stove. 
 
 And thus the first sixteen years of young Davis' life passed away. We 
 do not learn that he did any heroic deeds, or encountered any romantic 
 episodes, or gave any special promise of future greatness or usefulness. He 
 was simply a "good boy," according to the promise made to his dying" 
 mother; industrious, faithful, truthful and eminently in earnest in whatever 
 he undertook. But during these early years of hard work his appetite 
 for knowledge began to manifest itself, and it grew as he grew, and very 
 early in his life it became, not a "passion," but a deeply-settled, all-pervasive 
 motive, which dominated his thoughts and his plans for the future. His 
 fondness for study, his aptitude for acquiring knowledge, and a consecjuent 
 languor and want of interest in farming pursuits very soon attracted his 
 father's notice, and convinced him that the boy ought to have some facilities 
 for acquiring an education better and broader than those afforded bv the 
 district-school. His decision was probabh' hastened by the fact that on go- 
 ing to the field on a certain occasion, he found Nathan trying to guide a 
 plough, which the slow-moving oxen were hauling, in the proper direction 
 with one hand, while in the other he held a book in which his attention was 
 absorbed. Dow Davis was not very familiar with books, but he did knowv 
 from long experience, that effective plowing required the undivided atten- 
 tion of two hands and a head, as well as a voke of oxen, and he at once 
 
CHILDHOOD YOUTH COLLEGE DAYS \J 
 
 resolved that Nathan should plough in a different and more attractive field. 
 It is greatly to the credit of Dow Davis that he had the perception to dis- 
 cover the type and bent of Nathan's mind, and that, out of his limited means, 
 he found a way to send his ambitious and promising son to the neighboring 
 Cazenovia Seminary, if only for a single term. But that single term was 
 sufiicient to demonstrate to the boy of only sixteen, that "knowledge is 
 power," and that unremitting" industry is the key to its possession. It is 
 altogether probable that the discipline which the plastic youth of sixteen re- 
 ceived during that single term in Cazenovia Seminary determined his 
 future course in life, and shaped the habit of systematic industry which he 
 followed to his dying day. 
 
 In the month of April, 1834, when he was only seventeen years old, 
 Nathan Smith Davis commenced the study of medicine under the preceptor- 
 ship of Dr. Daniel Clark, of Chenango County, New York, and "worked" 
 for his board. 
 
 It would be hardly possible to make a more drastic commentary on the 
 system of medical education as it was carried on seventy years ago than the 
 simple statement of the above fact. A youth seventeen years old, with prac- 
 tically no previous preparatory training, is allowed to enroll himself as a 
 medical student, complete the required course in less than three years, and 
 assume the highest responsibiHties in the reach of man, while he is yet a 
 beardless youth; and in the present case such was the literal fact, for yorlng 
 Davis graduated from the "College of Physicians and Surgeons of Western 
 New York" in January, 1837, "with distinguished honor," says one of his, 
 eulogists. Between the date of his registration as a medical student under 
 Dr. Clark, his preceptor, and his graduation "with distinguished honor," 
 there was a period of two years and nine months, and at his graduation 
 he was just twenty years old; in other words, an "infant" in the eyes of 
 the law. Yet the "College of Physicians and Surgeons of Western New 
 York" — a school which perished of inanition long ago — never did a greater 
 or worthier thing than when it created Nathan Smith Davis a doctor of 
 medicine, and the 31st of January, 1837, proved to be an epoch-making day 
 in the history of American medicine. In all fairness, however, it should be 
 said that the "College of Physicians and Surgeons of Western New York" 
 was a school of excellent standing in its day, ranking along with the Berk- 
 shire Medical School 'at Pittsfield, Mass. ; the Dartmouth School of Medi- 
 cine,'" and other well known country schools, which have long since been 
 absorbed by the larger schools with clinical facilities. Many eminent men 
 occupied its professorships, and many eminent men received its diplomas. 
 
 *The Dartmouth School of Medicine is still in the front rank, and is doing 
 excellent work. 
 
l8 CHILDHOOD— YOUTH — COLLEGE DAYS 
 
 Among its professors was T. Romeyn Beck, whose lectures on medical 
 jurisprudence charmed young Davis, and awakened in him a lasting interest 
 in that branch. 
 
 Young Davis attended three courses of lectures prior to his graduation^ 
 and found himself wondering at the fact that the three courses were all alike, 
 and that all the students attended all the lectures, and travelled exactly the 
 same course from ^-ear to year. In other words, even before his own gradua- 
 tion, the inconsistencies and incongruities of the system of medical education 
 as it was carried on became apparent to him, and the germs of the "graded 
 course" took root in his mind, to ripen into a solid and enduring monument 
 to his creative genius in the years to follow. 
 
 We know Jiothing of N. S. Davis' student days, but it is perfectly safe to 
 assume that he was a hard-working student, who made the most of his time 
 and opportunities ; that he was faithful in his attendance upon the lectures 
 and recitations ; that in the correctness of his deportment he was an example 
 to his classmates and a delight to his teachers, and we can easily imagine 
 that he may have asked those teachers some puzzling questions now and 
 then, and that his grave, earnest, serious face, prominent forehead and 
 Gladstonian nose would attract their attention, and extort from them some 
 predictions as to the future of that unusual student. His biographer also 
 feels perfectly safe in hazarding the assertion that the student by the name 
 of Davis never was "passed up," never smoked cigarettes, never came home 
 at night when he was unable to find the keyhole, never fell in love with the 
 "college widow," and never indulged in any of the rowdyish freaks which 
 have always accentuated and frequently disgraced studeni life. 
 
 A short time prior to his graduation, he entered the office of Dr. 
 Thomas Jackson, of Binghamton, New York, as a student, and remained 
 with Dr. Jackson until he received his degree of doctor of medicine. As 
 Dr. Jackson was a practitioner of more than average ability and enjoyed a 
 large and varied practice, young Davis' advantages in a clinical way were 
 undoubtedly much improved by the change from Dr. Clark, his first precep- 
 tor. 
 
 In days of vore, every candidate for the degree of doctor of medicine 
 was required to write a "thesis," and he might be required to read and de- 
 fend it before the faculty of his college. The subject of Dr. Davis' graduat- 
 ing thesis was "Animal Temperatures," and in this he combated the (then) 
 generally accepted theory that the evolution of animal heat had its origin in 
 the union of oxygen and carbon in the lungs, maintaining that its evolution 
 was in the tissues. The inherent merit of his argument was such, and the 
 premises upon which it rested were so accurately established by experimental 
 investigation, that the faculty of the college selected it as one of those to be 
 
CHILDHOOD YOUTH — COLLEGE DAYS 1 9 
 
 publicly read on the day of graduation/'- That Dr. Davis, at the age of 20 
 could write such a thesis, and especially one that was thought worthy of 
 graduation honors, seems very remarkable. For it must not be forgotten that 
 he was only a youthful farmer's son, whose educational advantages had been 
 very meagre, and that his opportunities for scientific experimentation must 
 have been scanty indeed. 
 
 And now, the die is cast: Nathan Smith Davis is a "doctor," and the 
 proud possessor of a "sheepskin," tied with a bright ribbon, sealed with the 
 college seal, signed by the "professors," and the whole thing done in college 
 Latin, either good or bad — and to the majority of students in those days, 
 it did not make much difference which. 
 
 The farewells are said, the usual promises "to write" are made, but not 
 kept, and the young doctors scatter to the four winds, never to meet again 
 on earth. The future career of one of them we shall endeavor to trace in 
 the succeeding chapters. 
 
 '^"Group of Distinguished Physicians and Surgeons," p. 2. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Marriage; Early Professional Life. 
 
 Some time during the month of February, 1837, a new and very youth- 
 ful doctor appeared in the Httle village of Vienna, Oneida county, New 
 York. His name was Nathan Smith Davis, and then and there a remark- 
 able man began his long and eventful career. Dr. Davis formed a partner- 
 ship with Dr. Daniel Chatfield, of Menna, and we can easily imagine that 
 Dr. Chatfield soon found that his youthful partner had some positive notions 
 of his own, in spite of his inexperience, ^^'e know nothing concerning his 
 life in Menna, except that he found time to fall in love with ]\Iiss Anna 
 I\Iaria Parker, daughter of Hon. John Parker, of Vienna, and that they 
 were married on the 5th day of i\'Iarch, 1838. Dr. Davis died June 16th, 
 1904; therefore, they lived together the almost unprecedented term of 
 sixty-six years, three months and eleven days ! It does not need to be 
 said that they lived in beautiful harmony, and that wedded life was never 
 more felicitous, never more ideal, and never came nearer fulfilling the lofty 
 requirements of its Divine author than in the case of Nathan Smith Davis, 
 aged twenty-one years, and ]\Iaria Parker Davis, aged seventeen years, at 
 the time of their marriage. 
 
 There were born to them three children : Ellen Parker Davis, born 
 April 1 2th, 1842. 
 
 Frank Howard Davis, born June 5th, 1848; died Aug. 17, 1880. He 
 attended the University of Michigan for two }'ears and graduated from 
 Chicago Medical College in 1871. He entered into practice in Chicago and 
 gave great promise of usefulness, and his untimely death was a loss to 
 the profession and to the city. 
 
 Nathan Smith Davis. Jr., born Sept. 5th. 1858,. now in practice in 
 Chicago, and late Dean of the Northwestern University Medical School. 
 
 The field of operations in A'ienna seems to have been too narrow 
 for the expanding energies of our young doctor, and in July, 1837, less 
 than six months after he went there, his partnership with Dr. Chatfield 
 was dissolved, and he went to Binghamton, New York, where, it is 
 stated, "he at once commanded professional confidence and popular patron- 
 age" — an oratorical explosion that must probably be taken cum i^rano 
 salis. It is altogether more likelv that he had the usual experience of 
 
marriage; early professional life 21 
 
 young doctors, and that his entry into practice was slow and progressive. 
 But we may be very sure that his time was not spent in idleness, or frivolity. 
 
 During these early years of his professional life, Dr. Davis was a 
 hard-working and very systematic student. He studied Latin, all alone, 
 and made himself a respectable Latin scholar ; he studied botany and made 
 himself an expert botanist: he made himself familiar with the principles 
 and ground work of chemistry, geology and political economy, besides giv- 
 ing' particular attention to surgical anatomy, as his practice was largely 
 surgical. He also kept in familiar touch with the current literature of the 
 day, and hence he soon became known as one of the most intelligent and 
 progressive young men in Bing'hamton. During the winter months, he 
 pursued the study of practical anatomy by dissecting one or two cadavers, 
 and he frequently responded to requests to lecture on physiology, botany, 
 chemistry and allied subjects before the classes of the Binghamton 
 Academy, at that time a school of considerable local repute, and of which 
 he was one of the founders. He also had a hand in organizing the "Lyceum 
 Debating Society of Binghamton," and we may be quite sure that he did 
 his full share of the debating. It is easy to imagine that his intellectual 
 gymnastics before the Lyceum Debating Society of Binghamton, can- 
 tributed materiall}'' towards making him the powerful and incisive debater 
 which in his later years rendered him such a terror to his opponents. 
 
 In the year 1840 (three years after his graduation), 'he won the first 
 prize of the New York State Medical Society, for the best essay on "Dis- 
 eases of the Spinal Column; their Causes, Diagnosis and Treatment." In 
 1 84 1 he captured another prize as a reward for a paper entitled, "Analysis 
 of the Discoveries Concerning the Physiology of the Nervous System." 
 These two essays were widely read, and attracted considerable notice and 
 comment from the medical profession of his native state. 
 
 Soon after his settlement in Binghamton, he was elected a delegate 
 to the Broome County Medical Society, of which organization he was 
 Secretary from 1841 to 1843, and Librarian from 1843 to 1847, besides be- 
 ing a member of the Board of Censors for several years. In 1844, he was 
 chosen a delegate to represent the Broome County Medical Society at the 
 annual meeting of the State Medical Society, at Albany. And this appear- \ 
 ance of Dr. Davis, as a delegate to the New York State Medical Society, ' 
 in 1844, must be regarded as the beginning of his long and remarkable 
 public life ; a life which was none the less public and none the less notable 
 because it was nearly all spent in connection with, and for the uplifting of, 
 the medical profession. "^ 
 
 When this grave, serious, albeit modest 3^oung man made his ap- 
 pearance in Albany, and presented his credentials as a delegate from 
 
22 MARRIAGE ; EARLY PROFESSIONAL LIFE 
 
 Broome County, he must have been considerably surprised to find that 
 his reputation as a writer, and a clear-headed and incisive reasoner, had 
 preceded him, and we can easily picture his embarrassment at finding him- 
 self so well and so favorably known. It is stated that "when he took his 
 seat as a delegate in the body which represented the highest medical learn- 
 ing of the State, his voice was heard with respectful attention.'"* Even 
 at this earW date, and during his first term of attendance upon the Xew 
 York State Medical Society, he commenced that remarkable campaign 
 in the interests of higher medical education, which led very soon to the 
 establishment of the American Medical Association, and at a later stage 
 to the adoption of his plan, substantially, of medical education, not only 
 in Chicago, but all over this country. But this subject will claim our 
 attention in extenso, in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 After about ten years of active practice in Binghamton, Dr. Davis 
 decided to transfer his activities to a still larger field, and he accordingly 
 removed to New York City in the summer of 1847. His life in Bingham- 
 ton was evidently a ver}- active and busy one. His practice — which was 
 the very "general" practice of a country physician sixty years ago — was 
 a strenuous -and laborious one. Only those who have experienced the 
 multifarious perplexities and responsibilities which used to beset the coun- 
 try doctor, can actually sec Dr. Davis as he made his weary rounds, up 
 hill and down, night and day, in the heat of summer and cold of winter^ 
 in rain or snow, and wind or dust, carrying and dispensing his medicines 
 from saddlebags or trunk, and ministering to all sorts and conditions of 
 men, women and children, with all sorts of complaints, real and imaginary, 
 surgical, medical, obstetrical and psychical, to say nothing of the tooth- 
 pulling with the invincible old "turnkey," and the spring and autumn 
 venesections, which almost came to be a "fetich" not only with the people, 
 but with many of the practitioners of half a century ago. It is easy enough 
 to imagine that his active mind travelled far .taster than his body could 
 traverse the gravelled roads, and that during these years of early toil, he 
 was planting the seed' which should bear such splendid fruitage in his more 
 mature years. 
 
 ^^ During his Binghamton decade, he was a busy and systematic stu- 
 dent; the natural sciences, Latin, English literature, political economy, 
 and medical jurisprudence, each by turn, claimed his attention, and he be- 
 came, in no narrow sense, not a "classic scholar," from the standpoint of 
 the pedagogue, but an all-aroiuid learned man, with a broad, practical 
 knowledge of matters and things, and with the ability to make use of his 
 
 *0p. Cit., p. 3. 
 
marriage; early prop-essional life 23. 
 
 knowledge in furthering the best interests, first of his profession, and sec- 
 ondly of his communit3^ 
 
 During these initial years, also, he dabbled a little in politics, and 
 during the "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" campaign, he "stumped" Broome 
 County, in the interests of the Democratic party, for Dr. Davis was a "dyed 
 in the wool" Democrat." He likewise lectured on various topics to various 
 political, social, scientific and religious bodies, wrote many articles, mostly 
 on medical subjects, and mostly ephemeral, and we may be sure that he 
 did not forget that death-bed scene of his childhood, and that he did not 
 neglect the worship of God, or the study of the Bible. 
 
 At the time of his removal to New York City, in the summer of 
 1847, ^^- Davis was thirty years old, and he probably concluded that it 
 was time for him to "settle for life." New York City was at that time 
 rapidly approaching its position as the American metropolis. Its popula- 
 tion was something over four hundred thousand, and it was growing very 
 rapidly. It was also assuming a notable importance as a centre of medical 
 education, and that of course presented a strong attraction to a young 
 and ambitious medical man. It was therefore quite the natural thing that 
 Dr. Davis should decide to remove to the great city, where the advantages 
 were so superior and so many. Yet his stay in New York was only for 
 two years ; not long enough for anything very decisive or eventful to oc- 
 cur. He entered into general practice, with what degree of success we 
 have no very definite information. It goes without saying that he con- 
 nected himself with the local medical organizations, and that he was wel- 
 comed by the profession with the courtesy to which his merits and his 
 recognized ability entitled him. His first experience as a medical teacher 
 occurred in New York, when he was given charge of the dissecting rooms 
 of the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons, and entered upon 
 the teaching of practical anatomy. He also delivered a course of lectures 
 upon Medical Jurisprudence — his favorite study — during the spring term 
 of 1848, by special invitation of the faculty of the same institution. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to call attention to the fact that very few medi- 
 cal men are qualified to lecture upon a subject so far out of the trodden 
 paths of medical education as Medical Jurisprudence, and especially an 
 ordinary practitioner so young as Dr. Davis then was. In fact it must 
 be regarded as a very high compliment to him that he was "specially in- 
 vited" by the faculty of his college to deliver these lectures, and it must 
 also be accepted as indubitable evidence of the broad range of his knowl- 
 edge, and the masterful grasp of his mind, even at this early day. 
 
 But Davis' stay in New York was destined to be brief, and after \ 
 spending a little more than two years in the metropolis of the Empire State, 
 
^^4 marriage; early professional life 
 
 he gathered up his "lares and penates" and began his long and weary jour 
 ney by railway, stage, canal boat, and "packet" to the then shabby and 
 muddy town by the great inland sea, which was to become the metroDolis 
 not only of the Prairie State, but of the great and wonderful west. Thither 
 we will follow him, and there we will study and admire, even if we cannot 
 mutate, his long, eventful and altruistic career. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Removal to Chicago — Connection with Rush Medical College. \ 
 
 One who walks through the stately streets of Chicago in this year of 
 grace, 1907, can hardly imagine its condition fifty-eight years ago. Its 
 population was then about 23,000, whereof the great majority were em- 
 ployed in operating the growing industrial interests of the city. The 
 buildings were mainly of wood, with little attempt at elegance or architec- 
 ture. The streets were mostly unpaved, and were either wretchedly dusty 
 or wretchedly muddy. Many of the highways were rendered impassable 
 by a moderate rainstorm, and signs reading "no bottom" were frequently 
 seen in the middle of the streets warning teamsters to avoid the quagmires 
 which would engulf them if they dared venture to disregard the timely cau- 
 tion. But the city was growing with great rapidity, and was already giving 
 promise of its future greatness, which has so far surpassed the expectations 
 of its most enthusiastic citizens. Nevertheless, it was anything but an 
 alluring place, for a permanent residence, for a man of high intellectual 
 or scientific attainments, especially when compared with New York City, 
 with its schools, libraries, museums and other products of wealth and ma- 
 turity. At first glance, then, it must cause considerable surprise that a man 
 of the ability and prospects of N. S. Davis should exchange the great ad- 
 vantages of New York, where he was well known and well established, for 
 the meagre advantages of Chicago, where he was a total stranger. 
 
 In the month of July, 1849, Dr. John Evans, of Chicago, professor of 
 Obstetrics in Rush Medical College of that city, attending the third meet- 
 ing of the American Medical Association, while in Boston met Dr. Davis, 
 and invited him to accept the chair of physiology and general pathology in 
 ]R-Ush College, those two branches being then united in one chair. Dr. 
 Davis accepted, but did not arrive in Chicago until September, about the 
 usual time for the beginning of the lecture term. His first lecture in Rush 
 was delivered in October, 1849. Rush Medical College, (named after the 
 eminent Dr. Benj. Rush of Philadelphia, one of the signers of the Declaration 
 of Independence in 1775) was founded in 1843, chiefly, if not wholly, by Dr. 
 Daniel Brainard. It was therefore in the sixth year of its existence when 
 Dr. Davis connected himself with it. Its first permanent building, at the 
 corner of North Dearborn and Indiana Streets, had recently been built, and 
 the prospects of the college as to permanency and prosperity were very 
 flattering. The rapid growth of Chicago and of the vast area tributary 
 
26 REMOVAL TO CHICAGO 
 
 thereto gave great promise of development and usefulness to Rush, then the 
 only medical school within a radius of several hundred miles. Moreover, 
 the personality and reputation of such men as John Evans and Daniel 
 Brainard were sure to attract students, and thus guaranree the success and 
 -stability of the school. Such considerations as these doubtless appealed to 
 Dr. Davis, and were efficient make-weights in influencing his decision to 
 cast his future lot with the young city and the younger medical school. 
 
 Here we find him, then, in the early autumn of 1849 with his devoted 
 wife and two young children, entering upon his' remarkable career of more 
 than half a century, during which time he was to write his name and engrave 
 his character in imperishable words and deeds upon the archives of his 
 adopted city. He was at this period thirty-two years of age, according to 
 the calender, but his maturity of mind and character rather befitted a man of 
 fifty. He was already well known to the medical profession throughout 
 the country, partly through his contributions to the medical periodicals, 
 l3Ut chiefly througli his efficient agency in the establishment of the American 
 Medical Association. He was also well known as the champion of higher 
 medical education, and more exacting preliminary training. 
 
 Dr. Davis entered upon his duties as professor of physiology and gen- 
 eral pathology in Rush Medical College with his usual earnestness, fidelity 
 and ability. Before his lecture hour arrived he arrived, and when his bell 
 rang, he stepped into the lecture room, and the business of the hour began, 
 without any display of oratory or pyrotechnics, but he had, and held, the 
 thoughtful attention of the entire class from start to finish. He was a 
 natural teacher; a teacher who could impart knowledge so as to interest 
 and instruct a class of young men without worrying them with tiresome 
 platitudes of stale wisdom, or disgusting them with explosions of windy 
 oratory. I am told that even in these early days of his teaching, his com- 
 mand of language was regarded as remarkable. His sentences were short, 
 terse and incisive, and he had the unusual gift of being able to select the 
 words which expressed his thoughts in the strongest manner, without 
 repetition or redundancy. And such a teacher as this, whether in a medical 
 •or any other school, is always strong with his classes, and it is therefore not 
 strange that Dr. Davis was a beloved as well as a highly respected teacher. 
 
 But Dr. N. S. Davis was a citizen, and a very public spirited citizen, as 
 well as a doctor and a professor, and it is interesting to note how soon and 
 "how readily he entered into the sanitary and engineering problems of Chi- 
 cago. The water supply of the city was derived altogether from wells, with 
 the exception of a single "pump log" line, which supplied a manufactur- 
 ing establishment with water pumped from the lake. The surplus was dis- 
 tributed through pump logs to a few citizens ; there was no system of 
 -sewerage, and so the water from the wells was contaminated by the villainous 
 
REMOVAL TO CHICAGO 2/ 
 
 surface drainage. Meantime, the water of Lake Michig^an, pure and inex- 
 haustible, lay Avithin a stone's throw, and Dr. Davis, with his characteristic 
 energ}'', urged the establishment of an adequate system of water supply, and 
 a corresponding scheme of drainage. At that time there was no public 
 hospital in Chicago, and so in 1850 he delivered a course of public lectures, 
 enforcing the urgent need of water supply and sewerage. A small admission 
 fee was charged for these lectures, and with the proceeds a small hospital 
 ■of twelve beds was established, and such was the beginning of the present 
 Mercy Hospital, with its 350 beds, and its admirable equipment for clinical 
 teaching. For nearly forty years, or until his death, Dr. Davis was senior 
 physician to this noble institution, and during the whole of this long period, 
 he was absolutely faithful in his attendance, and his clinics attracted medical 
 men from far and near. 
 
 But Dr. Davis' connection with Rush Medical College was destined to 
 be brief. He was still firmly convinced that the lecture terms ought to be 
 lengthened to at least six months ; that a standard of preliminary education 
 ■ought to be required ; that a graded curriculum of medical study should 
 be adopted and enforced ; and that regular attendance upon hospital and 
 college clinics ought to be recjuired of all students as a pre-requisite to 
 receiving the degree of doctor of medicine. But his ideas were quite too 
 radical to harmonize with those of the majority of his colleagues, and par- 
 ticularly with the autocratic head of the faculty, and practical founder of 
 the college. Prof. Daniel Brainard. It is quite probable, also, that there may 
 have been other sources of friction between Drs. Brainard and Davis, as they 
 were not well calculated to work together in harmony. Both were men of 
 iron will ; both were born to command, neither one was fitted to obey. The 
 ;g'entle arts of conciliation and persuasion were alike unknown to both, and 
 it Avas only a question of time when these two colossal wills would collide, 
 with unpleasant consequences to both. 
 
 Rush Medical College was "joined to its idols," and Dr. Davis was 
 unyielding in his educational views. The story goes that soon after Dr. 
 Davis' connection with the college, and during Dr. Brainard's absence 
 in Europe, the annual announcement was prepared for the printer, in which 
 a graded course, a lengthened term and other radical advances were an- 
 nounced; but just before the fated document reached the printer. Dr. 
 Brainard returned, and summarily vetoed the whole plan in his characteristic 
 autocratic manner. 
 
 Of course Dr. Davis would not peacefully submit to that, and his course 
 was soon decided upon. In the year 1859 the trustees of Lind University, 
 of Chicago, organized a medical school as a department of that university. 
 The trustees invited Drs. Hosmer A. Johnson, Edmund Andrews and 
 Ralph N. Isham to meet them for the purpose of considering the matter. 
 
28 REMOVAL TO CHICAGO 
 
 At a subsequent meeting these gentlemen again met the university trustees^ 
 together with Drs. N. S. Davis, W. H. Byford and David Rutter, and out 
 of this meeting grew the Medical Department of Lind University. The 
 introductory lecture of the first term of instruction was given by Dr. Davis, 
 October 9th, 1859. Of course he had previously severed his connection 
 with Rush Medical College by resignation, as he saw no prospect of a "for- 
 ward movement" in that institution. 
 
 The 9th of October, 1859, must always be regarded as an important 
 epoch in the history of American medicine, and in the history of Chicago. 
 On that day, in a rather obscure city, in the then remote and little known 
 west, under the auspices of a university destined to a brief and otherwise 
 uneventful existence, and under the patronage of a group of medical men 
 who, with a single exception, were not recognized as leaders in the pro- 
 fession, there was inaugurated a movement that was an acute and radical 
 departure from the traditional and venerable methods of teaching which 
 were hallowed by the great names of the numerous and powerful professors 
 of the schools of the Atlantic cities, and by many of those of Europe. It 
 certainly looked like, and as certainly was regarded, as a very impracticable 
 and Utopian scheme, and quite as certainly it would not have been inaugu- 
 rated then and there but for the powerful and persistent support of Dr. 
 Davis. It is equally certain that it would have shared the untimely fate 
 of Lind University if Dr. Davis had faltered or weakened in his iron deter- 
 mination to advance the standard of medical education in the United States. 
 But from this small and apparently obscure beginning, without financial 
 support or professional encouragement outside of his own faculty, has been 
 evolved the elaborate and comprehensive curriculum of medical education 
 that is now in force in all the reputable medical schools of this country. 
 
 It is not often that a "reformer" is so fortunate as to live long enough 
 to see his ideas accepted, adopted and put into practical use ; but such was 
 Dr. Davis' felicitous and well-deserved experience, and it was a source of 
 great gratification to him in his declining years. 
 
 Financial misfortunes overtook Lind University,* and as its probable 
 demise was foreseen by Dr. Davis and his colleagues, it was deemed best 
 to reorganize the medical department on an independent basis. Accordingly, 
 in 1864, it was organized anew under the name of the Chicago IMedicai 
 College, but without essential changes in its faculty or plan of teaching. 
 The same strong and devoted men formed the faculty of the Chicago 
 Medical College, but they recognized Dr. Davis' title to leadership by mak- 
 ing him president of the institution, and then supporting him by their con- 
 stant loyalty. 
 
 *SiHce the above was written, I have been informed that the Lake Forest I'lii- 
 versity, of Lake Forest, IlHnois, was the "residuary legatee", and successor of Lind 
 Universitv. — L N. D. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Professional Career in Chicago — Chicago Medical College — Mercy Hospital. 
 
 After the reorganization of the Medical Department of Lind University, 
 under the name of the Chicago Medical College, the administrative work 
 fell largely upon Dr. Davis, and he entered into it con amove. It was the 
 opportunity of his life, and he knew it. His theories of medical education 
 were to have a fair and open trial, under his own eye and largely subject 
 to his personal supervision, and a failure would be a calamity both to him 
 personally, and to the ideas for which he had contended so long and so 
 earnestly. Fortunately he had a power of will which nothing could daunt, 
 and fortunately again, he had the constant support of an able and loyal 
 body of colleagues. Yet the early years of the Chicago Medical College 
 were years of hard work and discouragement on the part of the faculty 
 and friends of the college. It was the first college to install the graded 
 system of instruction; to require an entrance examination and stated ex- 
 aminations before students were allowed to pass from the lower to the 
 higher classes. Of course it was a radical departure from the venerable, 
 antiquated and inefficient methods of the past; it required no small degree 
 of self-sacrifice on the part of both students and faculty, and it was sure 
 to meet with opprobrium and ridicule on the part of the older and better 
 known schools. But Dr. Davis and his loyal colleagues held firmly to 
 the plan they had marked out, and the ultimate result was as gratifying 
 as it was remarkable. At this period Dr. Davis was forty-seven years 
 old; he was at the zenith of his intellectual strength; his capacity for work 
 seemed to be without limit, and his industry was only limited by his powers 
 of endurance. With a less resolute and less capable man at the head, the 
 experiment of graded instruction and periodic examinations, upon which 
 basis the Chicago Medical College was founded, would have proven a 
 failure, and the "forward movement," as regards medical education, 
 would have received a back-set until some more fortunate pioneer -^should 
 arise. But with Dr. Davis it was a case of "this one thing I do," and St. 
 Paul himself could not have shown a more persistent purpose, or a more 
 indomitable will in carrying out his purpose. 
 
 In the year 1869, the Chicago Medical College became "affiliated" 
 with the Northwestern University, still, however, retaining its old name. 
 Its government and management remained practically in its faculty, and 
 
30 PROFESSIONAL CAREER IN CHICAGO 
 
 of course Dr. Davis still remained its executive head, under the title of 
 Dean. As one happy result of this "affiliation." the Chicago ^Medical 
 College received about fifteen thousand dollars from the University, which 
 enabled the former to leave the cramped and incommodious quarters on 
 State street and build a more roomy and comfortable edifice at the corner 
 of Twenty-sixth street and Prairie avenu.e. In 1891 the name was changed 
 to Xorthwestern Universit}' ^Medical School, and the University acquired 
 a more commanding influence in its management. 
 
 In 1892, aided by the gifts of William Deering and Dr. Ephraim Ingals, 
 the faculty were enabled to erect and adequately equip the noble buildings 
 known as the "Laboratory Building" and "Davis Hall" on Dearborn street, 
 between Twenty- fourth and Twenty-fifth streets, immediately adjacent to 
 Wesley Hospital; and Nathan Smith Davis had the happiness to see the 
 medical school which was so largely due to his unwearied efforts, move 
 into a permanent home, suited to its wants, and sufficiently commodious 
 to accommodate it for many }ears to come. The buildings were first 
 occupied in 1893-4. 
 
 But while the ^ledical Department of Lind University of 1859, had 
 heen changing its name and moving its domicile so many times, it had 
 iilso undergone other changes of far greater in.iportance. It had become 
 known as the most advanced school in its plan of instruction; it had passed 
 the experimental stage, and had reached a solid foundation, financially and 
 otherwise ; its classes had grown in numbers quite as rapid!}' as its faculty 
 desired, and the personnel of the matriculants had improved in every par- 
 ticular. In fact, when the ]\Iedical Department of Xorthwestern University 
 moved into its stately home on Dearborn street in 1893-4, it had become 
 one of the best known and most highly esteemed medical schools in the 
 country. 
 
 ]\Ieantime the ideas of Dr. Davis had demonstrated their vitality by 
 proving that they were self-propagating. Starting in obscurity and with 
 A-ery slight financial backing, they had become the corner stone of medical 
 education throughout the United States. One by one, slowly, many times 
 doubtfully, many more times unwillingly, the medical schools of our coun- 
 try came to adopt the tripod which was the foundation of Dr. Davis' scheme, 
 and of w'hich he was the pioneer, namely, the enforcement of a standard 
 of preliminary education; the adoption of longer annual courses of college 
 and clinical instruction, and the graded curriculum by which a definite num- 
 ber of branches are assigned to each year. It is not too much, therefore, 
 to say that to Dr. N. S. Davis chiefly, and his loyal colleagues in a scarcely 
 less degree, must be traced the educational "leaven" that has slowly, pro- 
 gressively, but surely and effectually, "leavened the whole lump." 
 
PROFESSIONAL CAREER IN CHICAGO 3 1 
 
 For more than fort_y years — from 1859 ^ 1904 — Dr. Davis occupied 
 the Professorship of Practice of Medicine and Clinical Medicine in the 
 Medical Department of Lind University and its successors. His faithful, 
 prompt and unwearied response to the call of the lecture bell was a marvel 
 to all who knew him, and if he missed a lecture, it was simply because some 
 obstacle beyond his control had arisen. 
 
 Mercy Hospital, of Chicago, Avas founded June 21st, 1851. It was 
 the "residuary legatee" of an older institution which was started in October, 
 1850, under the bombastic name of "The Illinois General Hospital of the 
 Lakes." It was first located in a few rooms in an old hotel building known 
 .as the "Lake House," standing at the corner of ^Michigan and Rush streets, 
 and the necessary money (one hundred dollars), was raised by Dr. Davis, 
 as the proceeds of a course of lectures given by him, in "South Market 
 Hall," then the largest hall in the city. The subject of Dr. Davis' lectures 
 was "The Sanitary Condition of the City." After various vicissitudes, the 
 "Illinois General Hospital of the Lakes" fell into the hands of the Catholic 
 .Sisters of Mercy, whereupon it was immediately reorganized and chartered 
 under the name of ]\Iercy Hospital, which name it still bears. It has now 
 (1907) become one of the largest and best equipped hospitals in Chicago. 
 It is still under the care of the Sisters of Merc}^, and it is a splendid monu- 
 ment to their single-minded devotion to their holy calling, and of their 
 ^reat ability as organizers. 
 
 Dr. Davis was appointed a member of the medical staff of the original 
 "Hospital of the Lakes," was transferred to Mercy Hospital as Senior 
 Ph3'sician, and held this position from 1851 until his death in 1904, a period 
 of more than fifty years. On several occasions, shortly prior to his death, 
 Le tried to resign, but as Sister Raphael (the Sister Superior) says, "I 
 would not let him." Dr. Davis was probably somewhat infl-uenced in his 
 lavish support of J\Iercy Hospital bv his desire to utilize the ward patients 
 for clinical teaching, but that does not lessen the beneficial results of his 
 support so far as it concerned the sick poor, while it did increase, by many 
 times, its usefulness to the community, in that it supplied them with a 
 corps of clinically trained and competent physicians and surgeons, some- 
 thing they had never known before. Dr. Davis' clinical lectures in the 
 wards and amphitheatre of A/fercy Hospital gave him a wide and enviable 
 reputation as a teacher of practical medicine ; in fact it is not too much to 
 -say he had no superior as a clinical instructor in this country. 
 
 In addition to his colleg'e and hospital work. Dr. Davis /had a 
 large and varied family and office practice. He Vvas never a "specialist," 
 and he had no patience with specialism. He placed peculiar emphasis on 
 the fact that he was a "ohvsician," and that his vocation was not narrowed 
 
32 PROFESSIONAL CAREER IN CHICAGO 
 
 or handicapped by specialism. He regarded the family physician of his 
 early and middle life, as the highest type of medical practitioner, and he 
 believed that specialties in medicine were harmful alike to physician and 
 patient. Hence he never limited his own practice to any particular region 
 of the body or system of organs, save that he abandoned surgical prac- 
 tice, perhaps from a natural dislike for it, but more probably because his 
 extensive and ever-widening family practice left no time for the exacting 
 demands of surgery. His office practice was phenomenal, on account of 
 the great number of patients, and their great variety as to nationality and 
 social status. The poor came to him ; the rich came to him ; the black 
 man and the. white man, the Irishman, the Scandinavian, the Teuton and 
 the dark-skinned Italian, without regard to age, sex, color, or elegance or 
 shabbiness of apparel, and they w^ere all treated alike, except that when 
 a poor and ill-clad woman, especially if she happened to have a limp and 
 fretful baby in her arms, came among the crowd, that woman and baby 
 were pretty sure to get prompt attention. He disposed of his cases very 
 rapidly; a few questions, and those straight to the point; he wanted no 
 long-winded descriptions or opinions from his patients, but he did want 
 and would have a direct answer to his questions, without circumlocution 
 or delay. And then a diagnosis, almost by intuition, and a prescription, 
 followed by the invariable fee of one dollar, and the consultation, lasting 
 from three to five minutes, in ordinary cases, was over, the patient was 
 dismissed with scant ceremony, the next number was called, and so it 
 went on hour after hour for six days in the week, for a full half century. 
 But in the investigation of obscure or complicated cases. Dr. Davis 
 showed what manner of man he was. In a calm, judicial and perfectly 
 systematic manner, equally without haste and without hesitancy, but with 
 a deliberate and incisive analysis of signs and symptoms that left no 
 stone unturned, no function unquestioned and no organ with secrets un- 
 revealed, he turned the merciless logic of his master mind upon the case, 
 and when his examination was finished, he knew, or he knew that he did 
 not know, what was the nature and pathology of the case under investi- 
 gation. And with a frankness and directness that was delightful, he 
 always told what he knew, and what he did not know. When Dr. Davis 
 was really "on his m.ettle," as I have seen him when I have sought his 
 aid in consultation, his analytic and diagnostic powers were almost phenom- 
 enal. His accuracy of sight and touch and hearing; his skill in percussion 
 and auscultation ; his art of eliciting information and detecting deception 
 by means of searching interrogatories ; but above all, his Baconian method 
 of winnowing the grain from the chaff, and getting at the solid facts in 
 the case, were a lesson once seen never to be forgotten. 
 
PROFESSIONAL CAREER IN CHICAGO 33 
 
 His consultation practice for many years was probably the largest 
 of any physician in Chicago, a fact which should not excite surprise, when 
 we remember that added to his great ability was a lofty and high-toned 
 sense of honor, which made the youngest and most timid practitioner feel 
 perfectly at ease when Dr. Davis was his adviser. 
 
 I have already alluded to Dr. Davis' considerate kindness for the 
 poor, in his office practice. He was also always ready and willing to visit 
 the poor in their homes by day or night, storm or shine, cold or hot, and 
 only the Recording Angel will ever know how many times he added to his 
 gratuitous visit equally gratuitous gifts of money or suppHes for the house- 
 hold, for under his somewhat austere and forbidding personality was hid- 
 den a great tender heart, which was not only altruistic but was altruism 
 itself. 
 
 For a full half century Dr. Davis pursued his daily routine of making 
 |)rofessional calls, attending to his enormous office practice, attending to 
 his executive duties and delivering his lectures at the medical college 
 which was so near to his heart and head, and in fact his pocket, visiting 
 the wards of Mercy Hospital and delivering clinical lectures at the bed- 
 side and in the amphitheatre, besides attending to various other duties 
 which, as we shall see presently, devolved upon him as a loyal and public- 
 spirited citizen and "all around" man of affairs. It would be a difficult 
 task to find another man, in all the annals of medicine, who has lived a 
 life so busy ; who did so many things, and did them all so well. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Connection with Educational and Charitable Organizations. 
 
 Dr. X. S. Davis was a man of many gifts, and lie had many calls tO' 
 exercise them. If he ever refused to engage in the promotion of any enter- 
 prise that promised good to his fellow men such refusal has certainly not 
 been made a matter of record. We have seen how ardently and ably he 
 engaged in founding the Chicago Medical College (now the Xorthwestern 
 University ]\Iedical SchoolJ, and in the upbuilding of Z\Iercy Hospital, and. 
 v\"e shall presently see with, what energy he entered upon the work of 
 fovmding the American Medical Association. 
 
 But these were only drops in the bucket, compared with the long list 
 of societies, organizations or institutions of which he was founder, charter 
 riiember, or promoter, in some important and commanding capacity. 
 
 The X'orthwestern University, located at Evanston. Illinois, was in- 
 corporated in January, 185 1. On of the 14th of June following. Dr. Davis- 
 Vvas elected a member of the first Board of Trustees ; he continued a 
 member for about ten consecutive years, after vrhich he retired for a few 
 years, but was then re-elected, and remained a trustee during the remain- 
 der of his life. It is needless to say that he was no "figure-head" trustee; 
 he made himself familiar with the financial and educational affairs of the 
 University, he was invariably present at the meetings of the Board unless 
 unavoidably detained ; he took an active, intelligent and influential part irt 
 the discussions of the trustees, and he had as much to do with shaping 
 the policies and determining the management of this great institution as 
 any other one man. His name is }'et mentioned with profound respect 
 b}^ his surviving colleagues. 
 
 When the negotiations were opened looking to the absorption of the 
 Chicago ^Medical College Iw the X'orthwestern University, of course he 
 was the most prominent representative of both medical school and university, 
 and it is a splendid tribute to his just and judicial mind, that a union of the 
 two institutions, so favorable and so beneficial to both, was effected so 
 smoothly and quietly. It needs no violent stretch of even a dull imagina- 
 tion, to understand that it must have been exceedingly gratifying to Dr. 
 Davis to see the Chicago ^Medical College — the child of his creative genius 
 — placed under the ample wing of Xorthwestern University, thus insur- 
 ing its perpetuity and unvarying loA'alty to scientific medicine. 
 
CONNECTION WITH EDUCATIONAL AND CHAR['1AI!LE ORGANIZATKJX.S 35 
 
 It is perhaps difficult to say which has been most benefited b}' this 
 union, the University or the Aledical SchooL 
 
 A meeting of a few or the more prominent physicians of Chicago was 
 cahed in the early part of the year 1850, for the purpose of taking steps 
 toward forming' a medical organization, for mutual improvement, and 
 among' them was Dr. Davis. yVt this meeting a committee was appointed 
 to prepare a constitution and by-laws and report at a subsequent meetings 
 which was held April 5th, 1850, when the report of the committee was 
 ratified and the name "Chicago Medical Society"'^^^ was adopted. In this 
 movement Dr. Davis was active and interested, but factional divisions soon 
 interfered with the progress of the society, and after the second election 
 of officers, in April, 1851, a quorum could not be gotten together. Neverthe- 
 less Drs. Davis, Blaney, Boone, Herrick, Evans and a few others, held 
 stated ''meetings" which one writer called "pathological sociables,"' since 
 in the absence of a quorum no business could be transacted. But presently 
 the interest in the societ}' began to increase and it had reached a state 
 of considerable prosperity when the fire of 1871 scattered the membership 
 and drove all thoughts of scientific matters from their minds. But Dr. 
 Davis invited such of the members as he could reach to meet at his house 
 on Wabash avenue, which they did, until the ruins of the old court house 
 became tenable, when the meetings v/ere transferred to that gloomy old 
 structure. The present writer well remembers those meetings, and the mem- 
 bers, long since gone to their reward, whatever it may be. Dr. Davis was 
 almost invariabl}^ present, and, no matter what the subject under discus- 
 sion might be, he was sure to be an active and ver}- interesting participant. 
 
 The Chicago Medical Society is now a strong and influential organiza- 
 tion, and its members remember with pride that Dr. N. S. Davis was one 
 of its founders. Of course he filled all its offices, and no member was more 
 prominent in its councils. 
 
 The Illinois State ]\Iedical Society was organized June 3, 1851, at 
 Peoria, being the outcome of a convention held at Springfield June 4th, 
 1850, and Dr. Davis was one of its charter members. He served as Secre- 
 tary for ten consecutive years, and his colleagues would gladly have elected 
 him for twice that length of time, if he would have consented. In 1856, 
 he was elected President, and he was for many years connected with the 
 society, in some official capacity. He was rarely absent from the annual 
 meetings of the society, read several papers before it, and was an active 
 participant in its discussions, both ethical and scientific. His membership 
 in the societv onlv terminated with his life. It is interesting to notice 
 
 *Since the above was written, I have found the following memorandum in Dr. 
 Davis' handwriting, on one of his prescription iolanks : "Ch. Med. Society organized in 
 the spring of 1850 — changed its name to Cook Co. Medical Society in 1852 — and 
 changed it back to Chicago Medical Society in 1858." — I. N. D. 
 
36 COXXECTIOX WITH EDUCATIOXAL AND CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS 
 
 that his "Presidential Address'' was entitled, "What Influences are Alcoholic 
 Liquids Capable of Exerting, Either in Preventing or Curing Tubercular 
 Disease of the Lungs?" It is needless to add that "alcoholic liquids"' re- 
 ceived scant courtesy at the hands of this apostle of temperance as reme- 
 dies for "tubercular disease of the lungs'' or anything else. 
 
 In the year 1854, Dr. Davis was Treasurer of the society. 
 
 On the 23d of April, 1869, the "State ]\Iicroscopical Society of Illi- 
 nois" was organized under a charter from the Legislature of the State of 
 Illinois and we find the name of "Xathan S. Davis, ]\I. D.,*' among the 
 charter members. (Dn the 7th of !May following, the "Council" was chosen, 
 and Dr. Davis' name appears as a member of this body. On the 14th of 
 the following January he presented a paper to the society on the "Trichina 
 Spiralis," a subject of considerable rarity at that time, and one that was 
 often confounding the diagnoses of practitioners, particularly of the western 
 cities. It is interesting to find that Dr. Davis, although not a practical 
 raicroscopist. was a charter member of the State ]\Iicroscopical Society, 
 anl that among the first papers presented was one by himself on a then 
 mysterious and much dreaded disease. 
 
 The State ^Microscopical Society of Illinois had a brief but very 
 brilliant career. The societv's annual "Conversazione" was one of the 
 events of the season, and the display of microscopes and microscopic ob- 
 jects was more gorgeous than scientific. But it had its day, and Dr. Davis 
 was one of its patrons. 
 
 The Chicago Historical Society was organized April 24th, 1856. We 
 find Dr. Davis catalogued as one of the original promoters and one of its 
 first, as well as one of its most active, members. On the 7th of February, 
 1857, the Chicago Historical Society assumed a legal existence under an 
 act of incorporation, and Dr. Davis was one of the incorporators. The 
 society had its infantile troubles, but it also had its heroes. "The devoted 
 services of its friends managed, in the first fifteen years of its life, to accu- 
 mulate a mass of historical treasure. There were some 20,000 volumes. 
 1,738 files of early newspapers, 4,689 manuscripts (including the entire 
 Kinzie collection) and last, but not least, the original draft of Lincoln's 
 Emancipation Proclamation ! These call a glov.- to the heart, only to be 
 followed bv a spasm of pain, for every vestige of them all, was destroyed 
 in the great fire of 1871. After this disaster many friends sent boxes 
 of books addressed to the society, which were stored, awaiting some move- 
 ment for rehabilitation; and again in the fire of July, 1874, these, too, were 
 burned."''-' Yet in spite of these disasters the Chicago Historical Society 
 now occupies its. own spacious and beautiful granite edifice, at the corner 
 of Dearborn avenue and Ontario street, and on its wall hangs the picture 
 of N. S. Davis, one of its founders and most unfaltering supporters. 
 
 'The Story of Chicago," ]. Kirkland, p. 343. 
 
CONNECTION WITH EDUCATIONAL AND CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS 2)7 
 
 It is pleasant to notice among Dr. Davis' colleagues in the Historical 
 Society the name of that genial gentleman, accomplished scholar, and de- 
 voted patriot. Dr. Jaiiies Van Zandt Blaney, a much respected practitioner 
 of those days. 
 
 In 1857, the "Chicago Relief and Aid Society" was organized, and of 
 course Dr. N. S. Davis was among its charter members, for it was an in- 
 stitution whose function it was to dispense relief and aid to the worthy 
 sick and poor. The good this society has done during the half century 
 of its existence cannot be computed in cold figures, or stated in human 
 language. During the year and a half following the great fire (1871), it 
 dispensed in pure charity and relief work, the enormous sum of $8,923,400, 
 and no whisper of "graft" was ever heard. Dr. Davis was closely asso- 
 ciated with this beneficent work, as was also his close friend and colleague, 
 the late Dr. Hosmer A. Johnson, for many years one of the most eminent 
 and most beloved physicians of Chicago. 
 
 The Chicago Academy of Sciences was founded in 1859, with Dr. 
 Davis as one of its charter members. This institution suffered a total loss 
 of its library and collection of specimens in the conflagration of 1871. It 
 now possesses a noble building, the -"Matthew Laflin Memorial," in Lincoln 
 Park, and a fine collection of objects of scientific interest as well as an ex- 
 tensive and valuable library. For many years Dr. Davis gave the 
 Academy his active support, and his name holds an honorable place among 
 its founders and early patrons. 
 
 Among the professors in the "College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
 Western New York," where Dr. Davis took his degree of Doctor of Medi- 
 cine, was the late Theodore Romeyn Beck, "Professor of M^edical Juris- 
 prudence," a man who was justly eminent by reason of his knowledge of 
 Forensic Medicine, and who was also a highly gifted lecturer and teacher. 
 His lectures had a peculiar charm for young Davis, and aroused in him a 
 love for the study of the relations of law and medicine which lasted through 
 his entire life. Hence it is with no surprise that we find him an active 
 participant in the organization of the Union College of Law, which began 
 its career in 1859, as the law department of the (then) University of 
 Chicago and Northwestern University ; hence the name, "Union Col- 
 lege of Law." After the unfortunate demise of the original University 
 of Chicago the law school became the law department of Northwestern 
 University, and such it still remains. Dr. Davis was "Professor of Medi- 
 cal Jurisprudence" for many years, and his lectures were highly commended 
 by the students and they are still gratefully remembered by the same 
 students, in their more mature years.* His lectures in the law school were 
 
 *Vide Chapter XVII. 
 
38 CONXECTIOX WITH EDUCATIOXAL AND CHARITADLE ORGAXIZATIOXS 
 
 generally given in the evening, after an arduous day, prescribing for pa- 
 tients in his office, visiting patients at their homes, making rounds at the 
 hospital, and. many times, after lecturing at the medical school ; and it 
 was a constant wonder to the law students, how this hard-working, strenu- 
 ous man, could come, fresh and virile, aften ten or twelve hours' continuous 
 work, and deliver lectures hardly germane to the practice of medicine, so 
 learned and interesting. 
 
 The Davis Free Dispensary was incorporated May 15, 1873, by Drs. 
 Davis, Johnson, Hollister, Nelson and Andrew^s, all of whom were profes- 
 sors in the Chicago ^Medical College. 
 
 Its purpose was twofold : First, to supply skilled medical and sur- 
 gical services to the worthy poor, and secondly, to act as a "feeder" to 
 the clinics of the college. It was most appropriately named after Dr. X. 
 S. Davis, and was largely another offshoot of his creative genius, but after 
 a couple of years i^:s name was changed to the South Side Dispensary, 
 under which name it still exists, and carries on an extensive and varied 
 clinical work.* 
 
 In addition to the enterprises and organizations already mentioned. 
 Dr. Da^^s was so active and influential in the founding of the American 
 Medical Association, that he has been called its "Father." and the honor 
 is by no means undeserved ; and his agency in upbuilding and maintaining 
 the Washingtonian Hoyie, in Chicago, was no less important and fruitful, 
 but these are matters of such moment that each will demand a more ex- 
 tended notice than can be given in the present chapter. It must be apparent 
 to every one who is conversant with the facts, that Dr. Davis' genius for 
 creating and organizing new enterprises was something akin to the mar- 
 vellous, especially when we consider the variety of the organizations, and 
 their utter want of a common bond of union. In his medical and hospital 
 work he was most ably assisted and supported by Drs. Hosmer A. John- 
 son, AMlliam H. Byford, Ednumd Andrews. Ralph X. Isham, and especially 
 by his honored and well-beloved colleague. Dr. John Hamilcar Hollister, 
 the last survivor of that noble and eminent galaxy of men, to whom the 
 cause of higher medical education owes so much. 
 
 *For much of the information contained in Chap. V, the author is indebted to 
 Andrea's History of Chicago, A'"©!. II. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Relations to the American Medical Association. 
 
 Dr. N. S. Davis has, with great justice and propriety, been called the 
 "Father of the Ainerican Medical Association.'' This association, now so 
 powerful and effective for good, was the outgrowth of a concerted effort 
 on the part of the various medical colleges and the various medical societies 
 of the United States, primarily for the purpose of elevating the standard of 
 medical education, which had fallen so low that the high-minded men of 
 the profession looked upon the situation with grave alarm. But Dr. Davis 
 did not originate the first movement in this direction, although he did or- 
 iginate the first movement that bore fruit. It should be said at the outstart 
 that the medical schools, with perhaps a single authenticated exception, 
 either opposed the proposal to form a national organization, or "damned it 
 with the faint praise" of indifference and apathy. The ''single exception" 
 seems to have been the faculty of the Medical College of Georgia, which in 
 1835, "formally proposed the holding of a convention of delegates from all 
 the medical colleges of the Union, and advocated the same through the 
 columns of the Southern Medical and Surgical Journal."-'' Accord- 
 ing to the Nezv York State Journal of Medicine for ]\iay, 1907, 
 which journal quotes from the "A'^zc Jersey Medical Reporter, 
 Vol. vii (date and page not given), "the first movement of which 
 we have any record, which contemplated a convention of delegates, 
 not only from all the medical colleges, but a'so from the regularly organized 
 medical societies throughout the whole country, was made in the Medical 
 Society of the State of New York at its annual session in February, 1839. 
 During the same session the subject of medical education had been a promi- 
 nent topic of discussion ; and a resolution, declaring that the business of 
 teaching should be separated as far as possible from the privilege of grant- 
 ing diplomas, had been adopted by a large majority. It was in view^ of 
 this discussion that Dr. John McCall, of Utica, offered the following- 
 preamble and resolution, viz : 'Whereas, A National Medical Conven- 
 tion would advance, in the apprehension of this Society, the cause of the 
 medical profession throughout our land, in thus affording an interchange 
 of views and sentiments on the most interesting of all subjects — that involv- 
 
 *iV. Y. State Jour. Med., May, 1907, p. 199. 
 
40 RELATIOXS TO THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 
 
 ing men's health, and the means of securing or recovering the same ; there- 
 fore : 
 
 " 'Resolved, That in our opinion such convention is deemed advisable 
 and important: and we would hence recommend that it be held in the year 
 1840, on the first Tuesda)^ in May. of that year, in the city of Philadelphia; 
 and that it consist of three delegates from each State Medical Society, and 
 one from each regularly constituted medical school in the United States, 
 and that the president and secretary of this Society be and they are hereby 
 instructed and required to transmit, as soon as may be, a circular to 
 that effect to each State ^ledical Society and medical school in said United 
 States.' 
 
 "This proposition was adopted, and all the necessary steps taken by 
 the Society of the State of Xew York for carrying it into effect. But neither 
 the societies nor the schools of other states, not even those of Philadelphia, 
 w^here the proposed convention was to be held, responded to the invitation, 
 and consequently no meeting took place."* 
 
 Thus the first attempt to call a National Convention of delegates from 
 the various state societies and medical schools of the country was a dismal 
 failure, because the spirit of commercialism was the dominant spirit in the 
 medical schools, and because the man of iron who was destined to carry 
 the scheme of a convention to a successful issue had not arrived upon the 
 scene. But by this time the subject of medical education had aroused an 
 active interest in many of the medical societies throughout the country, and 
 the faculties of the medical colleges generally had come to realize that the 
 demand for higher medical education could not be postponed or ignored 
 much longer. At the annual meeting of the New York State Medical So- 
 ciety in 1844 attention was strongly directed to the subject of medical edu- 
 cation, and the necessity of a higher standard of qualification, both prelimin- 
 ary and medical, by two series of resolutions ; one by Dr. Alexander Thomp- 
 son of Cayuga County, and the other by Dr. N. S. Davis, "then a new dele- 
 gate from Broome County, N. Y." These resolutions declared a four- 
 months' college term too short for an adequate course of lectures on all 
 branches of medical science,, and that the preliminary requirements in the 
 way of general education were altogether too low. After considerable dis- 
 cussion the whole matter was referred to the standing "Committee of Cor- 
 respondence"" with instructions to report at the next annual meeting, and in 
 the meantime to address circulars to the several county societies, asking 
 their views on the same subject. At the next annual meeting of the State 
 Society (in 1845), two reports were made; one by Dr. Davis, as chairman 
 of the "Committee of Correspondence," zealously advocating reform ; the 
 
 * Jhid, p. 200. 
 
DR. N. S. DAVIS AT THE AGE OF 38. 
 
 This likeness is a reproduction of the Frontispiece to his History of the 
 Amei'ican Med'cal Association, published m 1855. 
 
RELATIONS TO THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 43 
 
 other a minority report by Dr. M. H. Cash, of Orange County, taking a 
 radicahy opposite view of the subject. These reports led to a lengthy and 
 vigorous discussion of the whole subject of medical education, which de- 
 veloped the fact that the medical schools of New York were very much 
 afraid of anv advance movement, because it would drive students to the 
 neighboring schools of Philadelphia and other cities in other states. For the 
 purpose of obviating the very natural objection and opposition of the mem- 
 bers of the state society who were interested in the New York medical 
 schools. Prof. Alden March, of Albany, suggested to Dr. Davis that he 
 modify his resolutions so as to embrace all the medical schools of the 
 country ; whereupon Dr. Davis at once submitted the following- preamble 
 and resolutions : 
 
 , "Whereas, It is believed that a National Convention would be conducive 
 to the elevation of the standard of medical education in the United States; 
 and whereas there is no mode of accomplishing so desirable an object, 
 without concert of action on the part of the medical societies, colleges and 
 institutions of all the states ; therefore, 
 
 "Resolved, That the New York State Medical Society earnestly rec- 
 ommend a National Convention of deleg-ates from medical societies and 
 colleges in the whole Union to convene in the city of New York on the first 
 Tuesday in May, in the year 1846, for the purpose of adopting- some con- 
 certed action on the subject set forth in the foregoing preamble. 
 
 "Resolved : That a committee of three be appointed to carry the fore- 
 going resolution into efifect."* 
 
 This scheme was very generally regarded by the members of the New 
 York State Medical Society as Utopian, impracticable and undesirable. 
 Nevertheless, after a brief discussion, the preamble and resolutions were 
 adopted by a large majority, and Drs. N. S. Davis, of Binghamton ; John 
 McNaughton and Peter Van Buren, of Albany, were appointed a committee 
 to carry into effect the plan contemplated thereby. Dr. Davis, the virile 
 and determined chairman of the committee, at once entered upon an ex- 
 tensive and laborious correspondence with the various medical societies and 
 colleges of the country, albeit without the aid of a stenographer, type 
 writer, mimeograph, or any of our modern aids in such emergencies. The 
 responses were favorable, almost without exception, and on the first Tues- 
 day of May, 1846, "we were gratified," says Dr. Davis, "with the privilege 
 of meeting in the city of New York, at least one hundred delegates, repre- 
 senting medical societies and colleges in sixteen states of the union, viz : 
 Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island. Connecticut, New 
 York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, A'lrginia, Georgia, 
 
 ""History of Medical Education, b\- N. S. Davis, p. 124. 
 
44 RELATIONS TO THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 
 
 ?ilississippi,, Indiana, Illinois and Tennessee. The general dignity and har- 
 mony, the spirit of forbearance and mutual concession, and the noble zeal 
 for the accomplishment of the objects for which it had convened, which 
 characterized the proceedings of this convention, was no less a disappoint- 
 ment to its enemies than an honor to the profession. All the prominent 
 topics connected with medical education were appropriately discussed, and 
 referred to able committees, with instructions to consider and report in 
 full at an adjourned meeting of the convention to be held on the first 
 Wednesday in May, 1847, in the city of Philadelphia."* On the first day of 
 the convention, "Dr. N. S. Davis moved the following, which was adopted: 
 
 "Resolved, That a committee of nine be appointed to bring the sub- 
 ject of Medical Education before the convention in the form of distinct 
 propositions, suitable for discussion and action, and that it report at the 
 next meeting." 
 
 The following gentlemen were appointed: Drs. N. S. Davis, March, 
 Hays, Watson, Brainerd, Stearns, Bush, Haxall and Bell. 
 
 On motion of Dr. J. R. Wood, of New York, the president. Dr. Jonathan 
 Knight, was added to the committee. 
 
 Dr. Buell offered the following, which was adopted : Resolved : That 
 the committee be instructed to receive and submit propositions on all sub- 
 jects proper to be broug"ht before this convention.*''- 
 
 On the following day (May 6, 1846,) Dr. Davis, as chairman of the 
 foregoing committee, made a somewhat lengthy report, including six resolu- 
 tions, whereof only the preamble and the first two resolutions concern us in 
 this connection, and they were as follows : 
 
 "Whereas, It has been shown by experience that the association of 
 persons engaged in the same pursuit, facilitates the attainment of their 
 common objects ; therefore, 
 
 "Resolved: That it is expedient for the medical profession of the 
 United States to institute a National JMedical Association for the protection 
 of their interests, for the maintenance of their honor and respectability, 
 for the advancement of their knowledge, and the extension of their useful- 
 ness. 
 
 "Resolved: That a committee of seven be appointed to report a plan of 
 organization for such an association at a meeting to be held in Philadelphia 
 on the first Wednesday in May, 1847."*** 
 
 The committee of seven, authorized by the second resolution, consisted 
 of Drs. John Watson, John Stearns, T. Campbell Stewart, of New York; 
 
 *0/'. at., p. 128. 
 
 '^*Trans. Am. Med. Assji., I, p. 16. 
 
 '^**Trans. Am. Med. Assn., Vol. I, p. 17. 
 
RELATIONS TO THE AAIEKICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 45 
 
 A. Stille, Philadelphia; N. S. Davis, Binghamton, N. Y. : W. H. Cogswell, 
 New London, Conn. ; E. D. Fenner, New Orleans. 
 
 A committee was also appointed to prepare and issue an address to the 
 medical schools and societies which were regularly organized and in good 
 standing, inviting them to send delegates to the adjourned convention at its 
 reassembling in Philadelphia, the following May. 
 
 At the end of the second day, and after a most profitable and har- 
 monious session, the convention adjourned, to meet again on the first 
 Wednesday of May, 1847, in Philadelphia. 
 
 This convention was an epoch-making event in the medical history of 
 the United States. As Dr. Davis rode back to his country practice in Bing- 
 hamton did he realize that his efl^orts had set in motion the machiner} that 
 would result in the mighty American Medical Association of 1907? 
 
 On the fifth of May, 1847, at ten o'clock a. m., pursuant to the plan 
 adopted, the delegates to the National Medical Convention assembled in the 
 hall of the Academy of Natural Sciences, in the city of Philadelphia. They 
 were greeted by Dr. Isaac Hayes, whose words of welcome could not be 
 otherwise than scholarly and appropriate. Eminent men were there ; men 
 whose earthly pilgrimage ceased long ago. but whose names are held in lov- 
 ing remembrance. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Alonzo Clark, Edward Elisha 
 Phelps, Amos Twitchell, Josiah Bartlett, Thomas M. Markoe, Jonathan 
 Knight, Valentine Mott, Austin Flint, Alden March, Nathaniel Chapman, 
 George B. Wood; these are a few of the brilliant g-alaxy of men who graced 
 that auspicious and epoch-making occasion. Of course Nathan Smith Davis 
 was there, and we can easily imagine with what pride and pleasure he looked 
 upon the remarkable gathering that his magic wand had called together. 
 "A nobler spectacle was never presented by the medical profession of any 
 age or country than was witnessed on the assembling of the adjourned con- 
 vention in 1847,"* says Dr. Davis. About 250 delegates attended the meet- 
 ing, representing medical societies and colleges in twenty-three states. 
 
 A careful reading of the minutes of the convention of 1847, does not 
 show that Dr. Davis was particularly active or influential during its pro- 
 ceedings or debates. We find that "Dr. N. S. Davis, of Binghamton, New 
 York, offered the following resolution, which was ordered to be laid upon, 
 the table : 
 
 "Resolved, That a committee of one from each state represented m 
 this convention be appointed by the President whose duty it shall be to in- 
 vestigate the Indigenous Medical Botany of our country ; paying particu- 
 ular attention to such plants as are now, or may hereafter during their 
 term of service be found to possess valuable medicinal properties, and are 
 
 *Davis' History of Medical Education, p. 129. 
 
^6 RELATJOXS TO THE AMEKICAX MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 
 
 not already described in the standard works of our country; and report 
 the same in writing, giving not only the botanical and medical descrip- 
 tion of each, but also the localities where they may be found, to the next 
 annual meeting of the American jMedical Association."* 
 
 This resolution was afterwards taken from the table, adopted, and a 
 committee appointed, whereof Dr. Davis was chairman. It is interesting 
 to find among the members of that committee the names of Eli Ives, of 
 Connecticut ; Jos. Carson, of Pennsylvania ; E. E. Phelps, of Vermont ; A. 
 Twitchell. of New Hampshire; J. P. Porcher, of South Carolina, and G. 
 Norwood, of Indiana. 
 
 The convention appointed the previous year in New York, "to prepare 
 a plan of organization," and of which Dr. Davis was an active and influen- 
 tial member, and in a large sense the constructive member, reported an 
 elaborate plan which was adopted and signed by nearly all the members 
 of the convention. The first article reads as follows: "This institution 
 shall be known and distinguished by the name and title of 'The American 
 Medical Association,' and at the evening session, on the last day of the 
 convention, it was 
 
 "Rcsok'cd. That this convention do now resolve itself into the Ameri- 
 can Medical Association, and that the officers of the convention continue 
 to act as officers of the Association, until others be appointed ; which was 
 tmanimously adopted."** 
 
 Thus on the evening of May the seventh, in the year of our Lord, one 
 thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the city of Philadelphia, the 
 American Medical Association sprang into existence, and began its mem.or- 
 able career. It was an act of great historic importance to our profession, 
 and it was peculiarly appropriate and felicitous that it should occur in 
 the "City of Brotherly Love." 
 
 If it is possible to imagine that Nathan Smith Davis ever had any 
 feeling of self-congratulation about him, such must have been his state 
 of mind as he wended his way back to the peaceful s'hades of Binghamton, 
 and resumed his rounds of house to house visitation of the sick and 
 suffering. 
 
 *Trans. Am. Med. Ass'n., I, 36. 
 **0p. Cit, p. 47. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Relations to American Medical Association — (Continued). 
 
 No other enterprise or organization so captivated and held Dr. Davis' 
 thoughts and efforts as did the American Medical Association. From the 
 meeting of the first "National Convention" (of Physicians), in New York, 
 May 5th, 1846, to his death, in 1904, his interest in, and labors in behalf 
 of, the Association never wavered. From the first meeting of the Associa- 
 tion proper in 1847 until his last attendance in 1897 I am told that he missed 
 "but four meetings, and from these he was kept by causes unavoidable. 
 
 At the annual meetings of the Association he was always a power. As 
 a debater it is probably safe to say that he was not only ths peer, but the 
 superior of any other member. Whenever he rose to speak, he was sure of 
 the respectful attention of every member present. It was not regarded as 
 desirable to be ranked among his opponents in a debate which aroused his 
 •combativeness. In the matter of meekness, he was no rival of Moses, and 
 lie never tried very hard to rob Job of his pre-eminence as "the patientest 
 man." His manner was sometimes imperious, and his stock of sarcasm and 
 invective never failed to respond to his demands. But his arguments were 
 solid, logical and generally iirefragable. His diction was not what would 
 he called "elegant," but it was of that terse, condensed and "penetrating" 
 kind that was more effective than the more effusive and oily oratory of the 
 so-called "elegant" speakers. 
 
 He nearly always participated in the scientific and secular debates of 
 the Association, and his opinions were always received with unqualified 
 and genuine respect, although they were not always accorded the value 
 which he himself attached to them. He was on various committees at 
 various times, and a most faithful and efficient counsellor he was. 
 
 Of course we cannot record here all his sayings and doings at the 
 many meetings of the Association which he attended, but we wish to select 
 and direct attention to a few of the important episodes of which he was 
 the center, or in which he was a prominent actor. 
 
 It will be remembered that at the adjourned convention of May, 1847, 
 which "resolved itself into the American Medical Association," there was a 
 committee on "Indigenous Botany" appointed, "under the resolution of Dr. 
 N. S. Davis." At the succeeding meeting, in Baltimore in Mav. 1848, — 
 ■"the first annual mcctjij" — Dr. Davis, as chairman of tlie c::mn';ittce, pre- 
 
48 RELATIONS TO THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (CONTINUED) 
 
 sented a report occupying seventeen pages of the Transactions, in which 
 he discussed the medical properties of the "rumex, or water dock; the 
 Lycopus virginicus; the Hamamelis virginicus, and the Cimicifuga race- 
 }nosa." At the next annual meeting, in Boston, May, 1849, Dr. Davis con- 
 tinued his report, which was supplemented by papers from Dr. S. W. 
 A\'illiams, of IMassachusetts, and Dr. F. P. Porcher, of South Carolina, re- 
 spectively. It was his original design to have this committee continue its 
 work from year to year, with the view of extending the knowledge of the 
 profession as to our indigenous materia medica, a work which had never 
 been undertaken in a systematic and persistent manner. But after present- 
 ing his report to the Boston meeting in 1849, he resigned from the com- 
 mittee, and his resignation was accepted. 
 
 The session of 1850 was held in Cincinnati. The session does not seem 
 to have been a very eventful one, but in the "History of the American 
 Medical Association," written by Dr. Davis, I read that "the only paper 
 read to the meeting of the Association in Cincinnati, founded on original 
 physiological investigations, was a short one by N. S. Davis, M. D., of 
 Chicago, Illinois. It contained matter of sufficient importance to attract 
 attention, both in this country and in Europe."* Upon turning to the volume 
 of Transactions for 1850, we find the only paper presented by Dr. Davis 
 was entitled "Has the Cerebellum any Special Connection with the Sexual 
 Propensity, or Function of Generation?" This paper was a discussion of 
 the different theories as to the function of the cerebellum held by the 
 "phrenologists," and the current authorities on physiology, more especially 
 the opinion of Dr. Wm. B. Carpenter, of London, whose voluminous 
 treatises on physiology were then accorded very high standing. It is alto- 
 gether likely, therefore, that this paper did "attract attention both in this 
 country and Europe." 
 
 The session of 185 1 was held at Charleston. S. C. Quite a large 
 number of the members from the northwestern and northeastern cities as- 
 sembled at New York "and proceeded thence to Charleston by way of the 
 Atlantic," says Dr. Davis, and he adds, "to much the larger number, this 
 was their first trip on the wide ocean, and long will they remember it." 
 The afternoon on which they "dropped quietly down the bay" had been 
 fair and pleasant, and "all on board was life, animation and g'ayety." The 
 afternoon passed, evening came with its social enjoyment, and in due time, 
 "one after another retired to their staterooms and berths, apparently as 
 quiet and secure as in their private dwellings among their, own native hills."' 
 It was, however, another case of misplaced confidence in the old Atlantic, 
 
 ^'Hist. Am. Med. Ass'n., bj^ N. S. Davis, M. D., 1855. (A series of papers, first 
 published anonymously in the Nczv Jersey Medical Reporter. I. N. D.) 
 
RELATIONS TO THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (CONTINUE!)) 49 
 
 especially that part of the Atlantic that cultivates too intimate relations with 
 Cape Hatteras, for, continues Dr. Davis, "midnight comes, and what a 
 ■change ! The rain pours in torrents on the decks, the wind rattles every 
 movable thing on board, while wave after wave breaks in torrents of spray 
 around the ship, giving a mingling of sounds heard nowhere else but on a 
 lone ship tossed upon the wild and boisterous waves. In the meantime, the 
 swaying of the ship rocks the sleepers in their berths like the child in his 
 cradle. But, alas ! that rocking soon awakens a large proportion of our 
 doctors, with feelings very much as though they had swallowed half of 
 the ipecac in a respectable drug shop." But our good doctor himself 
 escaped the dreaded mal-dc-mcr, and he adds that "though feeling a cordial 
 sympathy for the sick, yet being entirely exempt myself, it was a season 
 ■of pecfdiar enjoyment." The writer hereof can himself testify that there is 
 very much more "peculiar enjoyment" in seeing other p,eople wrestle with 
 sea- sickness than in doing it himself. 
 
 But the delegates arrived at Charleston safe and sound, and the session 
 passed off pleasantly and harmoniously. Did any of those delegates reahze 
 that in little more than anotlier decade the political volcano over which they 
 stood would break forth with an irruption that would astound the world? 
 
 At this session. Dr. Davis read a paper on "An Experimental Inquiry 
 Concerning Some Points Connected with the Processes of Assimilation and 
 Nutrition." 
 
 On the evening of the third day the Medical Association of South 
 Carolina gave a "splendid banquet" to their guests, and then and there, "for 
 the first time in the history of the Association, wines and strong drink were 
 freely furnished as a part of the entertainment," says Dr. Davis, evidently 
 to his mortification and disgust. 
 
 As a complete catalogue of the numerous papers which Dr. Davis read 
 before the Association may be found in Chapter XII of this memoir, I 
 shall omit them here, but shall content myself with noticing some of the 
 important epochs in the history of the Association in which Dr. Davis 
 played an important part. 
 
 At the thirteenth annual meeting of the Association, held in the chapel 
 of Yale College, New Haven, Conn., June 5th, 6th and 7th, i860, it was 
 voted that the next 'annual meeting should be held in Chicago in June, 
 1861, and Dr. Davis was made chairman of the committee of arrangements. 
 But before the time came for making arrangements, the country was con- 
 vulsed b}^ the outbreak of the civil war, and in accordance with the almost 
 ■universal sentiment of the profession, the session of 1861 was postponed 
 i:mtil the following year. But when June, 1862, came around, the same 
 ■reason which existed in 1861 now obtained with greatly increased intensity, 
 
50 RELATIONS TO THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (CONTINUED) 
 
 with the added reason that a great many of the more prominent members 
 of the Association were in the field with the vast armies which were called 
 into being, both north and south, and so the session for 1862 was abandoned. 
 Those of us who remember those awful times can readily understand that 
 it would have been impossible to call together any considerable number of 
 the profession, and that it would have been a melancholy gathering at best. 
 But before the time for the meeting of 1863 came around a reaction had 
 taken place, and there was a very general unanimity of opinion that the 
 meetings of the Association ought to be resumed, and that they ought not 
 again to be discontinued. Accordingly, the fourteenth session of the Ameri- 
 can Medical Association was held in the old Bryan Hall, Chicago, 111.,. 
 June 2, 3 and 4, 1863. Dr. Davis, as chairman of the committee of ar- 
 rangements, delivered the address of welcome, in the course of which he 
 uttered some denunciations of our erring southern brethren, which looked 
 better in print then than they would now. The meeting was a profitable and 
 harmonious one, and it is interesting to note that an undercurrent of quiet 
 but deep loyalty to their country, and of sorrow for the absence of the 
 southern delegates, was manifest throughout the whole session. 
 
 At the session of 1864, held in New York in June, Dr. Davis was elected 
 president, and took his seat on the retirement of Dr. Alden March, of Al- 
 bany. His conduct as presiding officer gave great satisfaction. He was 
 calm and deliberate, yet prompt and positive in his rulings, and he displayed 
 an intimacy, not only with parliamentary law, but with parliamentary prac- 
 tice, that delighted his friends, and surprised his enemies, of which he was 
 always fortunate enough to have his share. 
 
 A change in the organic law of the Association was made — or rather 
 completed — at the New York meeting, which does not concern us here 
 except that one of its immediate effects was that the president of 1864. 
 held over, and presided over the session of 1865, which was held in 
 June in the State House in Boston, overlooking Boston Common, and 
 within ''sympathetic" distance of the "Old South Meeting House," the 
 "Old State House," at the head of State street, and the venerable old 
 "Cradle of Liberty," Fanueil Hall. The awful civil war was just closing ; 
 only a couple of months before the idolized Lincoln had been assassinated ; 
 the north was bowed with sorrow, yet hot with indignation ; politics ran 
 high, and patriotism was at a white heat; vacant chairs, or crutches, or 
 empty sleeves were everywhere, and the public mind was in that sensi- 
 tive, hair-trigger state that required only a breath of suspicion to- arouse 
 an explosion. Dr. Davis was a democrat; he was at that time little 
 known in Ncav England, except by a few of the more prominent medical 
 men of the larger cities. A cruel, absolutely baseless and absurd rumor 
 
RELATIONS TO THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (CONTINUED) 5 1 
 
 somehow got afloat in New England that he had "southern procHvities," 
 and that the victories of Grant and Sherman gave him no joy or comfort. 
 And there was for a short time preceding the date of the Boston meeting of 
 the Association, a strongly pronounced sentiment that he ought not to 
 be allowed to preside at that meeting. But it was short-lived ; local rather 
 than general, and was not countenanced or even tolerated by the prominent 
 and influential New England members of the Association who knew Dr. 
 Davis, and knew the nobility of his character, and the flavor of his loyalty 
 to his country and its institutions. Nevertheless, it must have been a time 
 of sore trial to Dr. Davis, in spite of his calm and unruffled exterior. 
 
 But when the hour of meeting arrived. Dr. Davis calmly took pos- 
 session of the speaker's chair in the hall of the House of Representatives, 
 
 Dr. N. S. Davis at the age of 46 — from photograph 
 by Fassett, Chicago. 
 
 in the Massachusetts State House, called the Association to order without 
 the slightest embarrassment, or tremor of voice or musc.e, apparently ab- 
 solutely oblivious of the fact that a word had been uttered in his dispraise. 
 It was a very dramatic scene, although the chief actor in the drama did not 
 seem to know it. But it was doubtless a great sense of relief to the mem- 
 bers of the Association, when they found the wheels of business moving so 
 smoothly, and under the guidance of an associate so well-beloved as Dr. 
 Davis. He won golden opinions for his ability, parliamentary knowledge 
 and fairness, and when, at the close of the session, the customary compli- 
 mentary vote of thanks was passe-d, some enthusiast called for "three cheers 
 for Dr. Davis," and they were given with a will. And these cheers were 
 given in Boston, on Beacon Hill, and in the State House. Alas for Boston 
 dignity ! 
 
52 RELATIONS TO THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (CONTINUED) 
 
 President Davis delivered bis "Presidential Address" on the second 
 day. according to custom, and it was a noble effort., abounding- in lofty senti- 
 ments and high toned patriotism, appropriate to the peculiar but solemn 
 times, and the grand old city, the pride of all Americans. Its closing sen- 
 tence is so characteristic of the man. and breathes such a noble spirit of 
 altruism that I cannot help quoting it: "Finally let us all remember, not 
 onlv while transacting the business of this annual session, but also in all the 
 work that is before us in the future, that the great object of a virtuous and 
 happy life is neither worldly honors nor worldly treasures, but an inward 
 consciousness of doing good from day to day." And Dr. Davis practised 
 ■what he preached. 
 
 Obverse face of American Medical Association Medal, 
 struck in 1875; now very rare. 
 
 At the eighteenth annual session, in Cincinnati, May, 1867, Dr. Davis 
 made the report of a committee appointed at the session in Baltimore in 
 1866 to call a convention of teachers in the various medical colleges for 
 the purpose of agreeing upon a uniform scale of preparatory recjuirements, 
 and a uniform scheme of medical education, to be adopted by medical 
 schools throughout the country. The convention met in Cincinnati, and 
 organized the American Medical College Association, which has done so 
 much towards reforming the lax methods of medical education then in 
 vogue, and which is still in active helpful existence. 
 
 At the twenty-fourth annual session held in .St. Louis, June, 1873, Dr. 
 Davis brought forward a plan calling for the appointment of a "Judicial 
 Council." which was adopted, and the work of this council has proven. 
 salutary and helpful to a large degree. 
 
RELATIONS TO THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (CONTINUED) 53 
 
 At the twenty-fifth session held at Detroit, Michigan, June, 1874, Dr. 
 Davis was called upon to respond to the address of the delegates from the 
 •Canadian Medical Association, a duty that, it is needless to say, was ably and 
 satisfactorily performed. 
 
 At this same Detroit meeting, on motion of Dr. H. F. Askew, of Dela- 
 ware, it was "Resolved that a suitable die for a medal, with a likeness 
 of Dr. N. S. Davis on one side, and the name and date of the organiza- 
 tion on the other side, be procured by this Association, and that hereafter 
 •one be furnished to each delegate on becoming a member." The resolu- 
 tion was adopted and "Drs. Toner, Woodward and Keller were appointed 
 .a committee to procure the die." On motion it was "Resolved that aM 
 
 Reverse face of Medal referred to above. 
 
 present as well as all future members of the American Medical Association 
 be furnished with the medal ordered by the Association."* 
 
 At the next meeting, held in Louisville, Ky., May, 1875, Dr. Toner, 
 ■chairman of the foregoing committee, reported that in accordance with the 
 resolution (quoted above), "they have procured an excellent die with a 
 faithful likeness, as directed. * * * It will be remembered by the 
 members of the Association that the resolution passed at the last session 
 of this body, provided that hereafter a copy of the medal should be fur- 
 nished to each delegate on becoming a member. On corresponding with the 
 treasurer, however, it was found that, in his opinion, the resolution was 
 not so worded as to authorize any expenditure of money for any other pur- 
 
 '^Transactions, Vol. 25, p. 47. 
 
54 RELATIONS TO THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (CONTINUED) 
 
 pose than to procure a die."* So the project of furnishing delegates "who be- 
 came members" fell through "en a technicality," as the lawyers say. But 
 the Association gravely accepted the report, which proved almost a death- 
 warrant to the die, since the hyper-legal mind of the treasurer had evolved 
 a "decision" onlv a little less astute than that of Portia in the Merchant 
 of Venice. 
 
 A few copies of the medal were sold at a dollar and twelve cents each, 
 but the great majority of the present members of the Association probably 
 never heard of it, and therefore we have thought best to reproduce it in the 
 exact size of a copy of the medal which Mrs. Davis has kindly furnished. 
 It is a matter of regret that this laudable scheme was nipped in the bud 
 so early and so needlessly, and it is to be hoped that the Association will 
 yet make some arrangement to furnish copies of the medal to its members. 
 
 The idea of establishing a weekly journal, as the official organ of the 
 American Medical Association, just as the British Medical Journal is the 
 organ of the British Medical Association, seems to have been first suggested 
 by the late Dr. S. D. Gross, of Philadelphia, at the annual meeting of 1870; 
 it was again advocated in 1872, by Dr. Theophilus Parvin, and again in 
 .1879 by Dr. Stanford E. Chailli, of New Orleans. At the session of 1880 
 Dr. Foster Pratt once more brought the matter before the Association, but 
 ^yithout any positive results. At the following session (1881) Dr. John 
 H. Packard, of Philadelphia, moved the appointment of a committee to 
 investigate the subject and report at the next meeting; said committee was 
 appointed and reported favorably the following year (at the session held 
 in St. Paul, Minn., June, 1882), whereupon Dr. N. S. Davis offered resolu- 
 tions authorizing and ordering the establishment of a weekly journal, 
 to take the place of the annual volume of "Transactions," which had be- 
 come too ponderous for convenience, and was too tardy to answer the 
 demands of the present generation. The resolutions VN?ere adopted, Dr. 
 Davis was chosen editor by the trustees, and the first number of the 
 Journal of the American Medical Association appeared on the 14th day 
 of July, 1883. 
 
 Dr. Davis held the position of editor until December 31, 1888, when he 
 insisted upon being relieved, as even his iron constitution was beginning to 
 feel the burden of three score and ten years. But under his experienced 
 and judicious management, the Journal reached the point where it was no 
 longer an experiment or a stranger in the journalistic world, and he felt 
 that his services could be spared. He lived to see the Journal of the Ameri- 
 can Medical Association one of the strongest, most generously patronized 
 and most influential medical journals in the world. 
 
 '''Transactions, Vol. 26, p. 35. 
 
RELATIONS TO THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (CONTINUED) 55 
 
 At the forty-first session of the Association at Nashville, Tenn., Ma\- 
 2, 1890, Dr. Davis delivered the "Address on Medicine." 
 
 The session of 1881, at Richmond, seems to have been deeply stirred by 
 a proposed amendment to the "Code of Ethics," a subject which was 
 always sure to call forth some lively forensic tilts, and which was pretty 
 certain to arouse Dr. Davis, and put him on his mettle. But this particular 
 occasion seems to have called forth his best efforts, although there is no 
 report of his speech in the Transactions, and I have not been fortunate 
 enough to find a record of it in any of the contemporary medical periodicals 
 in our libraries.* But the following letter, which I copy without any 
 change, seems to indicate that Dr. Davis' "oration" must have been a very 
 powerful and telling one, although Dr. Linthicum appears to have made a 
 verbal error when he speaks of the "amendment to the constitution," which, 
 according to the official report in the Transactions, was an amendment to 
 the code of ethics. Following is Dr. Linthicum's letter: 
 
 Helena, Ark., May 27, 1881. 
 N. S. Davis, M. D. : 
 
 My Dear Sir: — I am at home, and all the excitement of my trip, and 
 the late business of the "American Medical Association" is over; and I 
 can think and reason dispassionate^ with myself. 
 
 After mature deliberation and reflection, I am more and more of the 
 opinion that I formed, during the delivery and at the close of your oration, 
 in defense of the honor of your profession, that it was the ablest effort of 
 your life, one that I have never heard equalled, and I have heard Clay and 
 Webster in their palmy days. In honoring- your profession, you have glori- 
 fied yourself and inscribed your name in golden letters in the topmost niche 
 of the "Temple of Fame." My great regret, and that of very many others 
 who listened to your defense of your amendment to the constitution of the 
 A. M. A. at Richmond, Va., was the probability that we would never see it 
 in print, and that it would be lost to the profession and the world, as there 
 was no stenographer present. I now write to urge upon you the importance 
 of your leaving it in manuscript among your papers, that it may live after 
 you, for the benefit of generations that are coming on and yet unborn. The 
 literature of our profession cannot afiford to lose so precious a gem. I am 
 no flatterer or toady, and I write in no such sense, but in the interest of a 
 profession that I love and cherish. Can't you do it?** 
 
 Very Sincerely Yours, 
 
 D. A. Linthicum. - 
 
 *A few memoranda on a prescription blank were the speaker's sole "manuscript.' 
 **If Dr. Davis left any such manuscript, it has been lost. 
 
56 RELATION'S TO THE AMERICAX ^lEDICAL ASSOCIATION (cOXTIXUEd) 
 
 As Dr. Davis had for an opponent the late Prof. E. S. Dunster, of 
 Ann Arbor, ]\Iich., one of the most effective speakers on the floor of the 
 Association, it is quite certain tfiat the members of the Association heard 
 some fine speeches and some keen debating. 
 
 In the Journal of jNIarch loth, 1891, we find a letter from Dr. Davis 
 calling for a meeting of physicians who were interested in the promotion 
 of temperance, to meet at the approaching session of the ]\Iedical Associa- 
 tion in Washington, for the purpose of forming the "American Medical 
 Temperance Society." This meeting took place at the time designated, and 
 was well attended ; the "society" was organized. Dr. Davis was elected its 
 first President, and the organization is still doing excellent work — another 
 legacy from this many-sided man, to his surviving confreres. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Connection with the Ninth International Medical Congress. 
 
 The "Ninth International Medical Congress," composed of men emi- 
 nent in all departments of medicine and cognate sciences from all over the 
 world, assembled in Albaugh's Theater in the city of Washington, D. C, 
 on the 5th of September, 1887, ^^^ continued in session until and includ- 
 ing" the loth inst. After a brief and very characteristic speech of welcome 
 from President Grover Cleveland, the chairman of the Executive Com- 
 mittee, Professor Henry Ilollingsworth Smith, said : "It is now my duty 
 to present for your approval the names of the officers of the Congress 
 agreed upon by the Executive Committee. For the high office of Presi- 
 dent of the Congress, the committee unanimously nominate to you one 
 widely known as a scientific practitioner, an able teacher and medical 
 author, Dr. Nathan Smith Davis, of Chicago. All approving .this nomina- 
 tion will say 'aye.' "* The motion was carried with applause. But Dr. 
 Davis was not the original choice of the Committee on Preliminary Or- 
 ganization for President of the Congress, and it therefore becomes neces- 
 sary for us to consult history and enter into some explanations. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the American Medical Association, held in 
 Washington in the spring of 1884, the President, Dr. Austin Flint, in his 
 annual address recommended the appointment of a committee to report 
 upon the propriety of extending an invitation to the International Medical 
 Congress of 1887 to meet in this country. Following this suggestion, a 
 Committee of Invitation was appointed, whereof Dr. Flint, President of 
 the Association, was chairman. This committee proceeded to Copenhagen, 
 where the International Medical Congress of 1884 met, and formally in- 
 vited the Congress to meet in Washington in 1887. The invitation was 
 accepted, and the committee returned home. But the resolutions under 
 which the committee was appointed, also authorized said committee to 
 add to its members, and act as a Committee of Arrangements for effecting- 
 a preliminary organization'''* of the proposed Congress, provided the invi- 
 tation was accepted. The committee accordingly met, increased its num- 
 ber from eight to twenty-five, and at this or subsequent meetings or by 
 
 "^Transactions, 2. 
 
 **Hence sometimes called "Committee on Preliminary Organization." 
 
58 CONNECTION WITH THE NINTH INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS 
 
 correspondence, made arrangements for the preliminar}' organization of 
 the Congress, prior to the meeting of the American Medical Association 
 in New Orleans in April, 1885. 
 
 At this meeting, Dr. J. S. Billings, the Secretary-General of the com- 
 mittee, made a report, embodying the doings of the committee up to that 
 date. The report was severely criticised on the ground; (i) that the 
 committee had awarded pretty much all the chief offices of the Congress 
 to its own members; (2) that it had centred an unduly large proportion of 
 the officers of sections in two or three cities, to the exclusion of the rest 
 of the country; and (3) that it had given an undue prominence to a 
 portion of the profession in New York, which was weU known to have 
 arrayed itself in opposition to the State and National organizations of the 
 profession generally. A vigorous discussion ensued, which resulted in the 
 addition to the original committee of eight, of one member from each 
 State and Territory, one from the District of Columbia, and one' each 
 from the Army, Navy and Marine Hospital Departments, making in all 
 a committee of 45 members, exclusive of the fifteen members added by 
 the original committee at its first meeting, who were dropped. 
 
 This action gave some color of validity to the objections urged against 
 the doings of the committee as above noted. 
 
 The new committee met in Chicago, June 24th, 1885, organized, and 
 transacted some business including the substitution of other names for 
 officers, in place of those nominated by the first committee, who had repu- 
 diated the Code of Ethics. This laid bare an old sore, and trouble began 
 at once. Five members of the committee, who had been members of the 
 original committee, resigned, and this caused much embarrassment, as it 
 made it difficult to assemble a quorum; a few members of the profession 
 — from 15 to 30 — in the cities of Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and 
 Baltimore, met and decided to have no connection with the Congress, or 
 with making any arrangements for its entertainment. And then com- 
 menced a long, weary and acrimonious controversy conducted mainly 
 in the Medical Times, of Philadelphia, the Medical Record and the Nc-zo 
 York Medical Journal, of New York, on one side, and the Journal of ihc 
 American Medical Association on the other, which lasted pretty much 
 through the year 1885. Other journals in the United vStates, and a few in 
 Europe gave some languid attention to the matter, but those above-men- 
 tioned threw most of the hot shot. 
 
 But the matters involved in the controversy have long ago ceased to 
 be vital, and we may therefore pass them in silence, albeit had it not been 
 for a few level-headed men, the International Medical Congress of 1887 
 would have been a failure. 
 
CONNECTION WITH THE NINTH INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS 59 
 
 The Committee of Arrangements met in New York City, September 
 3, 1885, for the transaction of necessary business, inchiding the nomina- 
 tion of candidates for officers of the Congress. The committee reported as 
 follows: For President, Austin Flint, M. D., LL. D., New York; for 
 Secretary-General, Nathan S. Davis, M. D., LL. D., Illinois, besides 
 Presidents of Sections and other officers. 
 
 Having completed their business, the committee adjourned subject to 
 call, having, as they believed, nearly completed the preliminary plans for 
 the organization of the approaching Congress. 
 
 But human plans are not infallible, and human foresight is limited 
 by a very restricted horizon ; another heavy blow was lying in wait for the 
 International Medical Congress of 1887. Dr. Austin Flint, the prospective 
 President of the Congress, was suddenly stricken with cerebral hemor- 
 rhage and died March 13, 1886. Dr. Flint stood in the forefront of the 
 medical profession, not only of this country, but of the world, and his loss 
 was felt accordingly. Of course the c[uestion as to who should fill the place 
 of President of the approaching Congress, made vacant by the death of 
 Dr. Flint, became at once acute and pressing. 
 
 There must have been some interesting discussions at the sessions of 
 the "Committee of Arrangements,"'" and some private exchanges of opinion 
 among the members thereof, but they do not appear to have been over- 
 heard. Dr. Davis was to be Secretary-General, and thus would be in the 
 line of "promotion," which may have 1;een a make-weight. But as a pre- 
 siding officer and parliamentarian, he had already been tried, and there 
 was no question as to his ability in those particulars. Again his age and 
 unquestionable position of prominence — not to say eminence — in the medi- 
 cal profession of the United States, made his candidacy almost a foregone 
 conclusion. On the other hand, he v^^as the most prominent member of 
 the American Medical Association, was an uncompromisingly "orthodox" 
 supporter of the "Code of Ethics," was editor of the Journal of the 
 American Medical Association and was aggressively severe in his editorial^ 
 on the conduct of the few recalcitrants — eminent though thev were — who 
 were out of sorts with the Association and its attempts to manage the 
 Congress. And the old "Ethical" ulcer of several years prior, which was 
 an especially touchy subject to some of the New York men — and men 
 whose names always did and always will command the deepest respect 
 of their' professional confreres — broke out again, and aggravated and en:- 
 bittered the journalistic controversy. 
 
 Nevertheless, at the 37th Annual Meeting of the American Medical 
 Association, held at St. Louis, Mo., May 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th, 1886, Dr. 
 
 ■'"Called also "Committee on Preliminary Organization." 
 
60 CONNECTION WITH THE NINTH INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS 
 
 J. S. Lvnch, of Baltimore, chairman of Committee on Preliminary Organi- 
 zation, presented the name of "Xathan Smith Davis, M. D., LL. D., of 
 Illinois," as the nominee of the American Medical Association^ for Presi- 
 dent of the Ninth International jNIedical Congress. At the same time, he 
 presented the name of John B. Hamilton, of Washington, D. C, as the 
 candidate for Secretar3--General in place of Dr. Davis, together with 
 various other names for various other offices connected with the Congress. 
 The recommendations were adopted, v.'hereupon in order to "clinch things." 
 Dr. Henry H. Smith, of Philadelphia, made a motion to "reconsider," 
 which upon motion of Dr. A. L. Gihon, was laid on table. Meantime, 
 the feelings of discord — which were largely due to misunderstanding — 
 began to die away, the peppery editorials and other communications in 
 the journals ceased, a wave of reaction came, and there was a "great 
 calm." 
 
 At a meeting of the New York County Medical Association, Feby. 
 2ist, 1887, the President, Dr. John Shrady, said: "Our Medical RepubHc 
 is now at peace, and we are amply able to receive visitors from abroad, 
 and render their stay agreeable as well as perhaps profitable." And this 
 speedily became the sentiment of the profession throughout the country, to 
 the great relief of those who were immediately concerned in the man- 
 agement of the Congress. 
 
 On the first day's session of the Congress, President Davis delivered 
 his inaugural address, and as he was the first American President of an 
 International Medical Congress, we think the event warrants the repro- 
 duction of the address in its entirety. It is as follows : 
 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 It is my first sad duty to remind you that death lias re- 
 moved from among us one to whom, more than to any other, we 
 are indebted for the privilege of having the Ninth International 
 Medical Congress in America. One whose urbanity, erudition, 
 valuable contributions to medical literature and eminence as a 
 teacher, caused him not only to be universally regarded the most 
 influential leader in all the preparatory work, but also the one 
 unanimously designated to preside over your deliberations on 
 this occasion. That one was the late Professor Austin Flint, 
 of New York, who was taken suddenly from his earthly labors, 
 early in 1886, before the work of preparation for this Con- 
 gress had been half completed. The true nobility of his private 
 and professional character, his eminent ability as a teacher, and, 
 above all, the extent and value of his contributions to the 
 
CONNECTION WITH THE NINTH INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS 6 1 
 
 literature and art of medicine, had caused him to be known and 
 esteemed by the profession in all countries. And, as you all 
 remember, while the shock of his death was fresh upon us, our 
 loss seemed well-nigh irreparable. But, though he has taken his 
 departure ripe in years and full of honors, yet the influence of 
 his excellent example and his contributions to medical science 
 remain, and will continue to exert their beneficent influence 
 through all the generations to come. 
 
 With a full consciousness of my own deficiencies and still 
 with a heart over-flowing with gratitude, I thank you for the 
 honor you have bestowed in selecting me to preside over the 
 deliberations of this great and learned assembly. It is an honor 
 that I appreciate as second to no other of a temporal nature be- 
 cause it has been bestowed, neither by conquest nor hereditary 
 influence, nor yet by partisan strife, but by the free expression 
 of your own choice. 
 
 Addressing myself now more directly to those here assem- 
 bled, who have left home and loved ones in other lands and 
 encountered the fatigue and dangers of traveling by sea and 
 by land, in the name of the Medical Profession of this country 
 I welcome you, not only to this beautiful city and the hospitality 
 of its citizens, as has been so admirably done already by the 
 honorable representative of the Government who has just taken 
 his seat, but I cordially welcome you to the whole country in 
 whose name you were invited here three years since, and whose 
 representatives are now here, side by side with you, gathered 
 from the East, the West, the North, the South, as well as from 
 the rugged mountains and fertile valleys of the center, to make, 
 good the promise implied by that invitation. 
 
 If they do not cause you to feel at home and happy, not only 
 in the social circles and halls devoted to the advancement of 
 science, literature and art in this city of our nation's pride, but. 
 wherever you may choose to roam, from the rocky coast of New- 
 England on the Atlantic to the Golden Gate of the Pacific, it 
 will be from no want of earnest disposition to do so. 
 
 And now, I not only thus welcome you from other lands, but 
 I take great pleasure in greeting you one and all as leading rep- 
 resentatives of a profession whose paramount object is the lessen- 
 ing of human suffering, by preventing, alleviating, or curing dis- 
 eases wherever found, and in whatever class or grade of the 
 human family. Nay, more, with profound reverence I greet you 
 as a noble brotherhood, who in the practical pursuit of that one 
 
62 COXXECTIOX WITH THE XIXTH IXTERXATIOX.XL MEDICAL COXGRESS 
 
 grand object, reccg'uize no distinction of country, race or creed, 
 but bind up the wounds and assuag'e the pains of the rich and 
 poor, ruler and ruled, Christian and pagan, friend and foe alike. 
 
 Xot that every medical man does not love and defend his 
 own country and fireside with as fervid a patriotism as the mem- 
 bers of any other class of men. But as disease and pain are 
 limited to no class or countr}-, so is the application of his bene- 
 ficent art limited only by the number of those sutitering within his 
 reach. 
 
 AMth a common object so beneficent in its nature, and oppor- 
 tunities for its practical pursuit so universal, it is but natural 
 that you should be found searching for the most effectual means 
 for the accomplishment of the one object of lessening human 
 suffering, in every field of nature and every department of 
 human knowledge. 
 
 The living human body — the chief object of your solicitude, not 
 only combines in itself the greatest number of elementarv sub- 
 stances and the most numerous organs and varied functions, so at- 
 tuned to harmonious action as to illustrate the operation of every 
 law of physics, every known force in nature, and every step in 
 the development of living matter, from the simple aggregation 
 of protoplasm constituting the germinal cell to the full-grown 
 inan, but it is placed in appreciable and important relations with 
 the material and immaterial forces existing in the world in which 
 he lives. 
 
 Hence a complete study of the living man, in health and 
 disease, involves a thorough study, not only of his structure and 
 functions, but more or less of every element and force entering 
 into the earth, the air and the water with which he stands in 
 constant relation. 
 
 The Medical Science of to-day, therefore, embraces not only 
 a knowledge of the living man, but also of such facts, principles 
 and materials gathered from every other department of human 
 knowledge as may increase your resources' for preventing or 
 alleviating his suitering or prolonging his life. 
 
 The time has been, when medical studies embraced little 
 else than the fanciful theories and arbitrary dogmas of a few 
 leading minds, each of which became for the time the founder 
 of a sect or so-called school of medicine, with his disciples more 
 or less numerous. -But with the development of general and 
 analytical chemistry, of the several departments of nature 
 science, of a more practical knowledge of physics, and the 
 
'CONNECTION WITH THE NINTH INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS 63 
 
 adoption of inductive processes of reasoning, the age of theo- 
 retical dogmas and of medical sects blindly following some more 
 plausible leader passed away, leaving but an infinitesimal shadow- 
 yet visible on the medical horizon. 
 
 So true is this, that in casting our mental vision, to-day, over 
 the broad domain of medicine we see its votaries engaged, some 
 searching for new facts and new materials; some studying new 
 applications and better uses of facts and materials already known ; 
 some of them are in the dead house with the scalpel and micro- 
 -scope, not only studying the position and relations of every part, 
 from the obvious bones and muscles to the smallest leucocyte, 
 in health; but also every deviation caused by morbid action or 
 disease. Some are searching the fields, the forests, the earth 
 .and the air, both for knowledge concerning the causes of disease 
 and for additional remedial agents ; some are in laboratories with 
 crucible, test glass and microscope, analyzing every morbid 
 product and every remedial agent, separating the active prin- 
 ciples from the crude materials and demonstrating their action 
 on living animals, while far the greater number are at the bed- 
 side of the sick and wounded, applying the knowledge gained by 
 all other workers to the relief of human suffering. A more ac- 
 tive, earnest, ceaseless and beneficent field of labor is not open 
 .to your vision in any other direction or occupied by any other pro- 
 fession or class of men. And thus has the Science of Medicine 
 become a vast aggregation of observed facts, many of them so 
 -related to each other as to permit practical deductions of per- 
 manent value, while many others remain isolated through in- 
 completeness of investigations, and therefore liable to prompt, 
 hasty or even erroneous conclusions. 
 
 Indeed, the most defective and embarrassing feature in the 
 science and art of medicine, at this time, is the rapid accumula- 
 tion of facts furnished by the vast number of individual workers, 
 each pushing investigations in some special direction without 
 concert with his fellows, and without any adeciuate conception of ■ 
 the coincident lines of observation necessary to enable him to see 
 the true bearing of the facts he evolves. Hence he is constantly 
 mistaking mere coincidences for the relation of cause and effect, 
 and the pages of our medical literature are being filled with 
 hastily formed conclusions and rules of practice from inadequate 
 data. 
 
 This results, in part at least, from the extent and variety of 
 the fields of inquiry and the complexity of the problems pre- 
 
64 CONXECTIOX WITH THE XIXTH IXTERXATIOXAL MEDICAL COXGRESS 
 
 sented for solution. For nowhere else within the realms of 
 human thought does the mind encounter problems requiring for 
 their correct solution the consideration of a greater number of 
 data, than in the study of etiology and pathology. To determine 
 the appreciable conditions of the earth, air and water of any 
 country before, during and after invasion of an epidemic disease 
 long enough to include several consecutive visits of the same, 
 is not possible for a single individual, nor for any number of 
 observers acting separately or without concert. 
 
 Yet just this complete knowledge is necessary to enable us to 
 separate the conditions that are merely coincident or accidental 
 from those that are such constant accompaniments of the disease 
 as to prove a necessary relation between them. And it is only 
 by such persistent coincident, systematic observations of many 
 individuals, each having a definite part, and the results care- 
 fully compared anahtically and synthetically at proper inter- 
 vals, that the real conditions and laws controlling the prevalence 
 and severity of epidemics can be clearly demonstrated. It is 
 not enough to discover the primar)- infection, or the contagium 
 vivum, Avhether it be the bacillus of cholera, yellow fever, or 
 tuberculosis, for abundant experience has shown that not one 
 of these will extend its ravages into any community or country 
 unless it finds there a soil or pabulum congenial for its support 
 and propagation. 
 
 It is on the development and diffusion of knowledge con- 
 cerning the local conditions necessary for receiving and propa- 
 gating the specific infections of disease that nearly all the im- 
 portant sanitary measures of modern times have been based. 
 And it is on a further development of knowledge in the same 
 direction, gained bv more systematic, continuous and coincident 
 investigation, that we shall most successfully protect our race 
 from the pestilences that have hitherto ''walked in darkness and 
 wasted at noonday." 
 
 It was an extensive and ever extending field of medical 
 science, the complexity of the problems pressing for solution, and 
 still more the individual responsibility of applying the re- 
 sources at command to the direct treatment of disease, that 
 early disposed medical men to seek each other's counsel, to form 
 groups or clubs for comparison of views and mutual improve- 
 ment. The manifest- advantages of these soon prompted more 
 extended social gatherings, until at the present time a large pro- 
 portion of the more active members of the profession in every 
 
CONNECTION WITH THE NINTH INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS 65 
 
 civilized countn^ are participating- in municipal, district, National 
 and International medical organizations. 
 
 The aggregate benefit derived from all this active inter- 
 course is beyond easy expression in words. In more frequent 
 and familiar comparison of cases and views on all professional 
 subjects in the local societies, closer habits of observation and 
 a wider range of thought are induced, while narrow prejudices 
 and bigotry give place to generous rivalry and personal friend- 
 ships. In the larger gatherings, the formal preparation of papers 
 and reports on a great variety of subjects impels their authors 
 to a wider range of study and greater mental discipline, while 
 the collision with other minds in discussion brings all aspects 
 of the subject to view, enlarging the scope of mental vision, 
 starting new trains of thought, and begetting a broader and 
 stronger mental grasp with purer and nobler aims in life. 
 
 I think I am justified in saying that no other one influence 
 operative in human society during the present century has done 
 as much to develop and diffuse medical knowledge, to stimu- 
 late its practical and successful application, both in sanitary 
 measures for preventing disease and in the direct alleviation of 
 suffering at the bedside, and in unifying and ennobling the 
 profession itself, as has been accomplished by the aggregate 
 medical society organizations of the world. Yet their capacity 
 for conferring other and, perhaps, still greater benefits, under 
 proper management, will have become manifest in the near 
 future. And that I ma.y accomplish the chief object of this 
 address, I must ask your indulgence while I indicate some of 
 the more important additional benefits in advancing- medical 
 science and saving human life through the instrumentality of 
 our medical organizations, and the methods by which they may 
 be accomplished. 
 
 Every experienced and intelligent practitioner of the healing 
 art is familiar with the fact that all acute general diseases are 
 influenced in their prevalence and severity by seasons of the 
 year, topographical and other conditions of the earth, meteoro- 
 logical conditions of the atmosphere, and the social conditions 
 and habits of the people themselves. The most familiar en- 
 demics vary annually in the same localities, while the great epi- 
 demics that have for ages broken over the comparatively limited 
 boundaries of their habitats only at intervals of years, and ex- 
 tended their ravages from country to country and receded again 
 to the source from which they apparently originated, differ 
 
66 COXNECTIOX WITH THE NINTH INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS- 
 
 widely in the different periods of their prevalence. But in study- 
 ing the essential causes of any one of these general diseases and 
 the laws and conditions under which such cases operate, he- 
 soon finds certain factors, essential for the solution of his prob- 
 lems, wanting. 
 
 For instance, if he wishes to identify the date of the first 
 attack of epidemic cholera in a given locality and the character 
 of bowel aft'ections immediately preceding, the ordinary statis- 
 tics of mortality will give him only the date of death, which 
 ma}- have been from one to seven days later, or it may have 
 been preceded by one or more cases that recovered. If he is 
 anxious to determine the reason why the disease, on entering 
 one community, develops with such rapidity that in a few days 
 its victims are found in every grade of the population and in. 
 almost every street, while in another it develops slowly, adher- 
 ing persistently to particular classes or localities, he may find 
 in the ordinary meteorological records the thermometric, barom- 
 etric and hygrometric conditions of atmosphere, with the direc- 
 tion and the velocity of the winds, but he finds nothing regard- 
 ing those important though variable elements known as ozone 
 and hydrogen peroxide, active oxidizers ; or those nitrogenous 
 products called free and albuminoid ammonia. Neither do the 
 sanitary records give the desired information concerning the 
 composition and impregnations of the soil, or of the organic and 
 inorganic emanations that may arise therefrom. 
 
 An adequate knowledge of these absent factors relating to- 
 the condition of the earth, air and water over districts large 
 enough to embrace localities subject to invasions of the epi- 
 demics and others known to be exempt, through a sufficient 
 length of time to cover several periods of prevalence and periods 
 of absence alike, is essential for enabling us to comprehend the 
 causes that make one district amenable -to the prevalence of 
 a disease and another not, as well as the marked dift"erences in 
 the severity and mode of progress of the same disease at differ- 
 ent periods in the same localities and same classes of the people.- 
 The same additional knowledge would also furnish the basis for 
 further sanitary measures of the greatest practical value. 
 
 And yet it must be obvious that the cooperation of numbers- 
 of medical men directly engaged in the field of general practice, 
 with others possessed of more practical facilities for chemical 
 and microscopical research, is necessarv for successfully prose- 
 cuting: such coincident and continuous investigations as would 
 
CONNECTION WITH TPIE NINTH INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS 67 
 
 be likely to secure the desired results. Only well-trained general 
 practitioners in every locality chosen for observation could ob- 
 serve and record the date of the initial symptoms of acute gen- 
 eral disease coming under their notice, and at stated intervals 
 collate and report them to a central committee. The daily ob- 
 servations concerning the presence and relative proportion of 
 active oxidizers and of nitrogenous organic elements in the 
 atmosphere and the water, would require the selection of one 
 or two experts in chemical and microscopical research for each 
 locality; all making their observations coincidently in time, and 
 by uniform methods. 
 
 There are included in the organized medical associations of 
 each country the men and material necessary for prosecuting 
 every well-defined Hne of inquiry; and these associations, by 
 their stated meetings and their facilities for inter-communication 
 and concert of action, present the entire machinery needed and 
 are only waiting for well planned and systematic use. 
 
 The tendency to make the permanent medical organizations 
 available for prosecuting work in the directions I have indicated 
 has already been manifested to a limited extent, as may be seen 
 in the formation of the Collective Investigation Committee of 
 the British Medical Association, and of the International Collec- 
 tive Investigation Committee, organized during the sitting of 
 the Eighth International Congress at Copenhagen. 
 
 An earlier movement, more fully of the character I have 
 been endeavoring to explain, was made by the American Medical 
 Association in 1875, when a standing committee was appointed 
 to establish in a sufficient number of localities regular coinci- 
 dent daily observations and records concerning all appreciable 
 meteorological conditions, including organic and inorganic 
 elements found in the atmosphere, and the date of beginning of 
 acute general disease, and report the result at each annual meet- 
 ing of the Association. 
 
 The committee made reports embodying facts of interest and 
 permanent value in 1877, in 1879, in 1881, in 1882, and in 18S3. 
 The latter report contains, among other items, a complete tabu- 
 lated statement of the free and albuminoid ammonia in the at- 
 mosphere for every day in the year ending August 31, 1883, as 
 determined for the committee by Prof. J. H. Long in connec- 
 tion with the laboratory of the Chicago Medical College. The 
 committee is still prosecuting its work, with material in hand for 
 a still more important report at an early day. The greatest 
 
68 CONNECTION WITH THE NINTH INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS 
 
 difficulty encountered has been to enlist a sufficient number of 
 active practitioners in each locality who would faithfully record 
 the desired clinical facts and report the results to the committee. 
 But this and all other obstacles can be overcome by persevering 
 and well-directed work. 
 
 I trust no apology is needed for having embraced this occa- 
 sion to attract your attention to the very important question of 
 how to make all our Medical Associations more useful in pro- 
 moting the science of medicine by more complete methods of 
 investigation, especially in directions where the coincident action 
 of several persons in different places is essential for success. 
 
 I fully appreciate the great benefit resulting from the simple 
 mingling of a large number of medical men in social contact, 
 where each is made to hear constantly whether on the street, 
 in the hotel or the assembly room, new suggestions, new modes 
 of expression, and to observe the physical and mental effects 
 of the various habits and customs of the different peoples, until 
 each one leaves the general gathering with largely increased 
 mental activity and resources, as was so happily expressed by 
 Sir James Paget in his address to the Congress of 1881, in 
 London. And I appreciate in a still higher degree the benefits 
 derived from the preparation and reading of papers by indi- 
 viduals and the discussion of important questions, in all our 
 assemblies. 
 
 But for reasons I have already briefly stated, I hope to see 
 added in every permanent general medical society two standing 
 committees ; one to whom should be referred for critical exam- 
 ination every communication claiming to embody a new dis- 
 covery in either the Science or Art of Aledicine ; and the other 
 should be charged with the work of devising such lines of in- 
 vestigation for developing additional knowledge as require the 
 cooperation of different individuals, and perhaps societies, and 
 of superintending their efficient execution until crowned with 
 success. 
 
 If ten or twenty per cent of the money paid for initiation 
 and membership dues by the members of each society were ap- 
 propriated and judiciously expended in the prosecution of such 
 svstematic and continuous investigations from year to year, it 
 would accomplish more in advancing medical science directly, 
 and indirectly in benefiting the human race, than ten times that 
 amount would accomplish if expended in any other direction. 
 
CONNECTION WITH THE NINTH INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS 69 
 
 For it must be remembered that when money is expended 
 for material objects, even for food, clothing or medicine, such 
 materials feed, clothe or relieve but one set of needy individuals, 
 and are themselves consumed ; but the expenditure of money and 
 time in such a way as to develop a new fact capable of practical 
 application either in preventing, alleviating or curing disease, 
 that fact does not, like the food or medicine, perish with the 
 using, but it becomes literally imperishable. Neither are its 
 benefits limited to one set of individuals, but it is transmitted 
 with the speed of the lightning, over the land and under the 
 sea, to every civilized people ; and whatever benefits it is capable 
 of conferring are -as capable of being applied to a million as to 
 one, and being repeated with increasing efficiency from genera- 
 tion to generation. 
 
 It has been tersely and correctly stated that associated ac- 
 tion constitutes the characteristic and predominating power of 
 the age in which we live. 
 
 It is by association that education in its broadest sense, re- 
 ligion and civilization, have been more rapidly diffused among 
 the masses of mankind during the present century, than during 
 any other period of the world's history. 
 
 It is by the association of capital, wielded by the associated 
 intellects of the nineteenth century, that highways of commerce 
 have been opened over the valleys, through the mountains, across 
 the deserts, and on the oceans, over some of which the material 
 productions of the nations are borne by the resistless power of 
 steam, and along others the products of mental action are moved 
 with the speed of electric currents, until both time and space are 
 so far nullified that the most distant nations have become neigh- 
 bors, and the inhabitants hold daily converse with each other 
 from opposite sides of the globe. 
 
 Indeed, it is only by means of such of these highways as 
 have been constructed within the memory of him who addresses 
 you, that you have been gathered in this hall from the four quar- 
 ters of the earth, and through which an account of your doings 
 may be daily transmitted to your most distant homes. 
 
 I congratulate you on the fact that the profession you repre- 
 sent has taken the lead of all other professions or classes of 
 men, in rendering available these grand material achievements 
 of the age, for cultivating fraternal relations, developing and 
 interchanging knowledge and planning concerted action for ren- 
 
70 COXXECTIOX WITH THE XIXTH IXTERXATIOXAL MEDICAL COXGRESS 
 
 dering- human life everywhere heaUhier, happier, and of longer 
 duration. 
 
 This is the Ninth International Congress in the regular series, 
 within little more than two decades, and let us hope that all its 
 work will not only be done in harmony and good order, but 
 with such results as will add much to the aggregate of human 
 happiness through all the coming generations. 
 
 Without trespassing further on your patience, I must ask 
 your forbearance with my own imperfect qualifications, and your 
 generous assistance- in the discharge of the responsible duties 
 you have devolved upon me. 
 
 The Congress was a success in every particular. The utmost harmony 
 prevailed, and it was altogether an occasion to gratify the pride of every 
 American physician and surgeon. The London Lancet of Sept. 25th,. 
 1887, says : "The success of the Xinth International Congress is a matter 
 for thankfulness. The interruption of the series of Congresses would 
 have been little less than a calamity and a disgrace for the profession of 
 all nations." But the Lancet writer could not let up without "bleeding " 
 us a little, and so he adds : "They'" — the Americans — ''have carried 
 through the Congress, and we thank them. There is yet one other service 
 they can do ; in an}- official action that now de\-olves upon them, to strive 
 to obliterate the last relics of discord, and to stand in the light of truth 
 and charity undimmed and unqualified, to those in Berlin on whom will 
 now rest the burden of responsibility for the next Congress." 
 
 In his farewell to the Congress, President Davis closed by saying: 
 "Life with me is not long, but if it is spared with sufficient health, I shall 
 take great satisfaction in meeting my friend Dr. ]\Iartin, and all his com- 
 rades in Berlin in 1890." 
 
 But when 1890 came, the undertaking seemed too great in view of 
 his advancing years, and the foreign members of the 'Congress of 1887 
 saw his face no more. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The "Jubilee" Meeting of the American Medical Association. 
 
 The forty-eighth annual meeting- of the American Medical Association 
 was held in Philadelphia, June ist, 2d, 3d and. 4th, 1897, just fifty years 
 after the Medical Convention, which met in Philadelphia May 5th, 1847, 
 "resolved itself into the American Medical Association." Of course this 
 meeting of June, 1897, should have been the fiftieth annual session, in- 
 stead of the forty-eighth, but on account of the disturbed state of the coun- 
 try incident to the civil war, the meetings which would otherwise have 
 occurred in 1861 and 1862 were omitted; consequently the forty-eighth 
 meeting occurred on the -fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Associa- 
 tion, an anachronism that is a little confusing, until its cause is understood. 
 
 In the Association Journal of May 16, 1896, the following editorial 
 note occurs: "The 47th annual meeting of the Association should be mark- 
 ed with a white stone, as one of its Dies Memorahilcs." 
 
 And such it proved to be ! 
 
 At the 47th annual meeting, held at Atlanta, Ga., May 5, 6, 7 and 8, 
 1896, Dr. John B. Roberts, Chairman of the Delegation from the Phila- 
 delphia County Medical Society, presented the following: "At a meeting 
 of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, held April 15th, the follow- 
 ing preamble and resolutions were adopted : Whereas, The American 
 Medical Association completed its organization and commenced its actual 
 existence in the city of Philadelphia, during the first week of May, 1847; 
 
 "Resolved, That a committee be appointed by the chair to publicly urge 
 that the Association celebrate in 1897 its Fiftieth Annual Meeting with 
 ceremonies appropriate to its long and successful career ; 
 
 "Resolved, That the delegates of the Philadelphia County Medical 
 Society to the meeting of the American Medical Association at Atlanta, be 
 instructed to extend to the Association a cordial invitation to hold its 
 semi-centennial meeting in Philadelphia, the city of its birth." 
 
 On motion of Dr. Reed, "the resolutions were referred to the Com- 
 mittee on Nominations," but, so far as the official report of the proceedings 
 show, said committee made no recommendation in the matter. Yet there 
 must have been a "Committee on Anniversary Exercises" appointed at this 
 meeting, inasmuch as Dr. John B. Roberts appears as chairman of such 
 committee, as we shall see presently. 
 
^2 THE JUEILEE ^[EETIXG 
 
 The meeting of the American Medical Association which was held 
 in Philadelphia June ist, 2d, 3d and 4th, 1897, Vv^as called the "Jubilee 
 Meeting,"' and such indeed it was. In more dignified but less inspiring 
 phrase, it was called the "Semi-Centennial," but from start to finish, it 
 was an occasion long to be remembered, and one never to be duplicated. 
 Dr. Nicholas Senn was President, "whose skill" — says the Journal — "as 
 a presiding officer was manifest from the first hour." The attendance was 
 the largest in the history of the Association, or as the Journal says, "it 
 not only surpassed all previous meetings in number of members present, 
 but in tout ensemble." Many of the older men were there, attracted thither 
 by the expectation of a historic and epoch-making meeting! Love, of Mis- 
 sauri : Garcelon, of Maine ; Maclean, of IMichigan ; Holton, of Vermont ; 
 Didama. of New York ; Marcy, of Massachusetts ; Conn, of New Hamp- 
 shire ; Reed, of Ohio ; Davis, Hamilton and Graham, of Illinois ; Quimby, 
 of New Jersey ; Atkinson and Roberts, of Pennsylvania ; Reyburn, of the 
 District of Columbia; Sternberg, Surgeon General of the Arm}-, and 
 Gihon, Surgeon General of the Navy; these are only a few of the eminent 
 members of our profession who gathered on that occasion, both to honor it 
 and themselves. Since that meeting, the "Reaper whose name is death" 
 has been busy, and very many of the older men have answered the sum- 
 mons to "go up higher." 
 
 The first "General Session" was held on Tuesday, June ist, in the 
 stately Academy of j\Iusic, and was mainly given up to the purely business 
 matters of the Association. 
 
 The second "General Session," on Wednesday, June 2d, was made 
 interesting and memorable by the fact that the lamented President of the 
 United States, William McKinley — so soon to complete our noble trio of 
 M^artyred Presidents — was there and made one of his short but dignified 
 and characteristic speeches from which I extract the following: "Although 
 summoned to the city for another purpose, I deem myself most fortunate to 
 find this honorable Association in its semi-centennial meeting on the same 
 day. ... I cannot refrain from pausing a moment that I might come 
 into this brilliant presence, to meet the learned gentlemen here assembled, 
 and to pay my homage to the noble profession which you so worthily rep- 
 resent." The President having retired there were loud calls for Governor 
 Hastings, who delivered an excellent and eloquent address, which was fol- 
 lowed by "loud and prolonged applause." 
 
 And then the Association settled down to business again, and thus 
 passed into history one of the eventful days in the history of the American 
 Medical Association. 
 
 But Thursday, June 3d, 1897, was perhaps the most memorable day 
 
THE '"jubilee meeting 73 
 
 in the history of the Association.. The "Third General Session" was held 
 on this day, and its chief event can never be duplicated. It was the occa- 
 sion of the "Jubilee Exercises ; Fiftieth Anniversary of the Found- 
 ing OF the American Medical Association/'' says the official report, in 
 "small caps." The Academy of Music was crowded with a brilliant audi- 
 ence, composed of delegates, prominent members, and other medical men, 
 drawn thither by the unusual importance of the occasion. Many of the 
 laity, comprising' the prominent citizens of Philadelphia and other cities 
 were there. A large number of w^omen, mostly vsdves or relatives of mem- 
 bers in attendance, were there, and as one stood on the stage and looked 
 over the vast audience, it was a brilliant and inspiring scene. But in all 
 that great company, there was but one who was present when the Asso- 
 ciation commenced its existence, fifty years before, and he was the honored 
 guest of the hour. Only four of the original members of the Association 
 were then living, namely, Dr. N. S. Davis, of Illinois, an ex- President ; Dr. 
 Alfred Stille, of Pennsylvania, also an ex-President; Dr. John B. John- 
 son, of Missouri, an ex-Vice President; and Dr. David F. Atwater, of 
 Massachusetts. Dr. Stille, although residing in Philadelphia, was not able 
 to be present, and Drs. Johnson and Atwater were also unable to take the 
 long journey to Philadelphia but sent interesting letters, which were read. 
 "The hour set for the Jubilee Exercises having arrived" Dr. N. S. 
 Davis, the founder of the Association, appeared upon the stage, escorted by 
 the Presidents of the State Medical Societies and the Presidents of State 
 Boards of Medical Examiners. Dr. Davis was presented to President 
 Senn by Dr. John B. Roberts, Chairman of the Committee on Anniversary 
 Exercises, who said : 
 
 " 'Some fifty-two years ago, at a meeting of the New York State Medi- 
 cal Society, there appeared for the first time a young delegate from Broome 
 County. Observation during his collegiate course had opened his eyes to 
 the fact that there were radical defects in the methods of medical educa- 
 tion. To remedy these evils and to organize the profession of the United 
 States into a professional brotherhood, with a common purpose, a common 
 dignity, a common ethical standard and a common humanity, he deter- 
 mined to use all the vigor which he possessed. It was his desire to separate 
 medical teaching from medical licensing, and to organize the profession in 
 connection with a central medical body. That his labors, despite much oppo- 
 sition, have been crowned with success, is shown by the existence of a Med- 
 ical Examining Board in nearly every State in the Union, and State Medi- 
 cal Societies in all parts of the country. The presence of these gentle- 
 men who accompany him to-day, and the registration of 2,000 delegates and 
 
;74 'i'HE JUBILEE MEETING 
 
 members attest the approval given to the efforts of the ever-young man 
 whom I now present to you.' (Applause.) 
 
 ''At the conclusion of Dr. Roberts' remarks, Dr. Davis arose and was 
 greeted with round after round of applause, which continued for fully 
 three minutes. As soon as quiet was restored, President Senn said : 
 
 " 'Dr. Davis, in the name of nine thousand members of the Association 
 I greet you and congratulate you that you have been permitted to live long- 
 enough to witness the commemoration exercises of your life work, the 
 fiftieth anniversary of your favorite child — the American Medical Asso- 
 ciation. May you live long, and when the inevitable comes, find a peace- 
 ful end and an ample reward in the life to come.' (Applause.) 
 
 "Dr. Davis then delivered his address, selecting- for his subject, 'A. 
 -Brief History of the Origin of the American Medical Association, the 
 Principles on which it -was Organized, the Objects it was Designated to 
 Accomplish, and How Far They Have been Attained During the Half 
 Century of its Existence.' "* 
 
 And such is the cold and colorless official account of the Jubilee ]\Ieet- 
 ing of the American Medical Association, an event of more than passive 
 importance, not only to the medical profession of the United States, but of 
 the civilized world. The Association was half a century old ; it had grown 
 from a feeble beginning to a membership of about 9,000 ; it had exercised 
 an influence for good on medical education, medical legislation and medical 
 progress generally, of incalculable value, an influence which was and is in- 
 creasing with every passing year. And flow, on the third of June, 1897, 
 about two thousand members and delegates, together with a liberal sprink- 
 ling of non-professional men and women, had gathered in the self-same city 
 where the Association was born, to celebrate its fiftieth birthday, and to 
 -do well merited honor to its venerable and illustrious founder. It was a 
 scene and an event to stir the blood and warm the heart of an anchorite. 
 It was not a meeting of the Judicial Council, or of the Section on State Med- 
 icine ; it was the Jubilee Meeting of the largest medical organization in the 
 world, and its founder was there to rejoice with. the numerous membership 
 of the institution of which he had been the fons et origo, and the chief 
 inspiration, for these many years. 
 
 An editorial touch in the Journal of June 12th, following the Jubilee, 
 i:hrows a little color into the picture: "The jubilee exercises were impres- 
 sive. The venerable founder of the As.sociation, Professor Nathan S. 
 Davis, accompanied by his colleague. Professor Alfred Stille,** was es- 
 
 * Journal Am. Med. Ass'n., June 12, 1897. 
 
 **Dr. John B. Roberts, Chairman of the Committee on Anniversary Exercises, 
 ""regretted that Dr. Stille was not present." 
 
THE "jubilee" meeting 75 
 
 corted to the stage between a double line of ex-presidents of the Associa- 
 tion, who were standing- in open order. The escort consisted of the 
 Presidents of State Medical Societies, and Presidents of State Boards of 
 Examiners. President Senn then welcomed him in a few well-chosen 
 words, the delegates in the hall rose and cheered until they were stilled, 
 when Professor Davis delivered the historical reminiscences which we else- 
 where publish. No one present will ever forget it. The orator read with his 
 old time earnestness, and with a clear voice that time has scarcely impaired ; 
 and the pride and affection that the Association has for our venerable col- 
 league was manifested again, when he closed, by vehement and enthusiastic 
 applause." 
 
 As Dr. Davis slowly advanced towards the footlights, between the 
 lines of ex-presidents, what was the drift of his thoughts, and what the 
 nature of his reflections? Certainly he indulged in no vainglorious pride, 
 nor was he possessed by an unseemly egotism; but the "feeling of satisfac- 
 tion and thankfulness that came to him as he contemplated the vast and 
 beneficent result of his work, can be easily imagined by those who knew 
 the man and his great human heart. 
 
 As in an early chapter we have recounted the history of the origin 
 of the American Medical dissociation in detail, we omit the jubilee address 
 of Dr. Davis, except its closing paragraph which says that "Every leading 
 object sought to be accomplished by its" (the Association's) "founders 
 has been substantially obtained: That is, universal free and friendly social 
 and professional intercourse has been established ; the advancement of medi- 
 cal science and literature in all their relations has been promoted; and the 
 long agitated subject of medical education has reached the solid basis of 
 a fair academic education as preparatory, four years of medical study, 
 attendance on four annual courses of graded medical college instruction, of 
 from six to nine months each, and licenses to practice to be granted only 
 by State Boards of Medical Examiners. The grand citadel of our 
 noble profession has thus been constructed on its legitimate foundations, and 
 it only remains for those who come after us to perfect its several parts, 
 and make them more and more efficient in preventing human suftering and 
 prolonging human life." 
 
 On the last day of the memorable session of 1897, Dr. Davis uttered 
 a few last words which will be read with a kind of sad pleasure by those 
 of us who remember and survive him: "I am not quite willing to let this 
 occasion pass without a word. The first convention I went to, to help 
 form the Association, was by the old stage coach, and it took longer to go 
 over the hills of Pennsylvania, in and around the corners of it, to get from 
 the village of Binghamton and the Susquehanna and the Chenango Rivers 
 
76 THE "jubilee"'' meeting 
 
 to Xew York City, than it does to go from Chicago to San Francisco. I 
 mention this to show you that the world has progressed. I have followed 
 the meetings of the Association with the utmost interest and with the 
 greatest possible pleasure, from the foot of Bunker Hill ^Monument to the 
 Golden Gate, and from ^Minnesota to the Gulf of ]\Iexico, round and round. 
 These meetings, and the meetings of our State Society have been my pleas- 
 ure excursions : they have been the only vacations I have ever taken." 
 (Applause.') "They are vacations that bring me in touch with my brethren 
 from every quarter, and enable us to stir each other up by thoughts, by con- 
 tact of mind with mind, man with man, and woman with man if you please." 
 (Applause.) 'Tt gives us an elevation, infuses a buoyancy that lifts us 
 out of our ruts at home. When we return to our homes and resume our 
 practice, we do so with fresh vigor, with greater confidence." (Loud ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 At the conclusion of these remarks, three hearty cheers were proposed 
 and given to Dr. Davis and the American Medical Association. And in 
 this happy and jubilant frame of mind, did the speaker — now eighty years 
 old — say iiltiina vale to his lusty offspring, the American Medical Asso- 
 ciation . 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Dr. Davis' Temperance Work, Public and Professional. 
 
 From his earliest to his last days, Dr. Davis was a total abstainer from 
 all forms of alcoholic beverages. It is a historic fact, which I have upon 
 the excellent authority of Mrs. Davis, who still (August, 1907J survives him, 
 that he never tasted an alcoholic beverage in all his life. During all the 
 years of his long and remarkable career, he was an active vv'orker in the 
 temperance cause, and no one will ever know how many men he saved 
 from that terrible fate, the death of the drunkard. His hatred of alcohol 
 was so intense, that he was often called a "temperance crank," a "fanatic,"" 
 a "faddist," and various other names which were intended to be opprobious, 
 but were in the highest degree complimentary. 
 
 It must be remembered that in Dr. Davis" early days, the use of alco- 
 holic beverages was rather more common than the use of "acjua pura ;"" 
 nor was it regarded as improper or specially harmful. The minister, the 
 lawyer and the doctor, each took his "toddy,"' without any idea of its 
 impropriety, and in the country stores, rum was sold as openly as, and rather 
 more frequently than, "lamp oil" or molasses. When the merchant made 
 out his vearly bill against his customers — professional men included — the 
 item ''one gallon of rum" occurred about as often as any other item, and 
 the farmer generally needed an extra ten gallons to "get through haying." 
 
 It was several years after Dr. Davis had been a married man, or rather 
 bov, and had graduated in medicine and become a legal voter, before the 
 temperance cause had acquired sufficient momentum to be respected or 
 even felt. In those days it took some back-bone for a young man to allow 
 himself to be known as a "teetotaller," as the early temperance advocates 
 were contemptuously called, but our young doctor, standing almost alone, 
 swerved not a hair's breadth from his principle of absolute and uncompro- 
 mising abstinence. 
 
 From the very beginning of his medical practice to his last days, he 
 absolutely prohibited the use of alcohol as a therapeutic agent. And not 
 onlv that, but he talked against it to his patients, argued against it before 
 various medical societies and in his more public and popular addresses, and 
 wrote against it in medical and secular periodicals far and wide. It would 
 be impossible at this day, to gather all of Dr. Davis' essays and addresses 
 against the use of alcohol in an}' fcrm, either as a beverage or as a cura- 
 
y8 DR. DAVIS' TEMPERANCE WORK 
 
 tive agent, but if this could be done, the collection would be about as for- 
 midable an array of anti-alcoholic literature as could, be desired. Nor 
 must it be forgotten that as long ago as he began practice, and in 
 fact down to quite recent times, the use of alcohol in medical and surgical 
 practice was not only very common, but its use was, by the majority of 
 physicians, regarded as indispensable. But a change has come over the 
 practitioner of to-day, and the use of alcohol in medical practice is im- 
 mensely less common than it Vv'as a couple of decades ago. It is no more 
 than fair, no more than just, to attribute this change in no small degree, 
 to the ceaseless and persistent hammering of Dr. Davis on his temperance 
 anvil, for a full half-century. 
 
 \Mien he came to Chicago in October, 1849, ^'^^ brought his temperance 
 principles with him, and they certainly seemed to thrive in the uncongenial 
 atmosphere of this then frontier city, with its cloud of frontier vices. Of 
 course he preached temperance to the students of Rush Medical College, 
 and later to the students of Chicago Medical College, and on Christmas, 
 1854. we find him delivering to the students of Rush College a "Lecture 
 on the Effects of Alcoholic Drinks on the Human System, and the Duties 
 of Medical Men in Relation Thereto." A little later he delivered and 
 published a lecture descriptive of some original experiments in relation to 
 the eft'ects of alcohol on respiration and animal heat. 
 
 But probably Dr. Davis' most effective and telling" temperance work 
 in Chicago was done during his active connection with the Washingtonian 
 Home of that city. It has been stated again and again that he was "one 
 of the founders" of the institution in question, and this statement comes 
 pretty near being true. 
 
 The first movement towards the foundation of the home was due to 
 J\Ir. Rolla A. Law, a well known Chicagoan of forty years ago, a member 
 and an officer of the "Good Templars" (an aggressive temperance organi- 
 zation) and an uncompromising temperance war horse. On October ist, 
 1863, ^Ir. Law called a meeting of lialf a dozen well known temperance 
 advocates for the purpose of forming an organization looking to the estab- 
 lishment of a refuge for inebriates, and the adoption of measures for their 
 reformation. Four subsequent meetings were held, a constitution and by- 
 laws were drafted by a committee, and adopted, but according to the records 
 of the Secretary, Dr. Davis was not present at any of these meetings. At 
 a meeting held January 21st, 1864, at the Association's first "Home," 547 
 State street, Chicago, the first Board of Directors was elected, and Dr. 
 Davis was one of the number. In this instance, as in several other similar 
 instances, I have tried to be accurate about facts and dates, because too 
 manv loose statements have been made bv various enthusiastic eulogists, 
 
DR. DAVIS' TEMPERANCE WORK 79 
 
 concerning- Dr. Davis' agency in "founding" this, that and the other in- 
 stitution, to which he has rendered years of invakiable service, without, 
 ]iowever, being entitled to the claim of founder. But from the time of his 
 election as Trustee in 1864, to his retirement in 1881, a period of seventeen 
 years, he was unwearied in his labors for the advancement of the interests 
 of the Home, and the permanent moral uplifting of its inmates. He did 
 not believe in the cure of inebriety by drugging its victims with antidotes 
 or substitutes or "cure alls" of any kind; but he insisted upon the import- 
 ance of arousing\the self-respect and awakening the latent will-power of 
 the unfortunates, so that they could resist the seductive influences of drink, 
 and return to their vocations and their families. 
 
 In the management of the Washingtonian Home, owing partly to his 
 professional position, but perhaps more to his unquestioned ability, Dr. 
 Davis very soon came to be the leading spirit in the Board of Directors. 
 He, more than any other man, mapped out the policy of the institution in 
 regard to the treatment of alcoholism, a subject which he had studied, and 
 continued to study, with great care. 
 
 It is perhaps a fair and just statement to say that Dr. Davis came to 
 he regarded as one of the best equipped men in the country in regard to 
 the treatment, or more properly the curative management of inebriety. He 
 was Chairman of the first Finance Committee of the Washingtonian tlome 
 Association; he was also Chairman of the Executive Committee from .1865 
 to 1 88 1. During all these years, he was almost invariably present at the 
 stated meetings of the Executive Committee, no matter how inclement the 
 weather, or how crowded he might be with professional cares. As one 
 looks over the early records of the Washingtonian Home, one is amazed 
 at the constancy of his attendance at the meetings of the Executive Com- 
 mittee, as well as the meetings of special committees which were frequently 
 required for special duties, and of which "Dr. N. S. Davis" was pretty sure 
 to be a member. 
 
 During his connection with the Washingtonian Home, he watched that 
 institution grow from a small and feeble beginning into a strong cor- 
 poration, with every element of permanency ; he saw it housed in its pres- 
 >ent large and commodious building; he saw its "daughter" the Martha 
 Washington Home, successfully launched, and started on its career of 
 usefulness, and he had the satisfaction of knowing that to his untiring- 
 labors, the success of these kindred enterprises were largely due. While 
 it is true that the doctor retired from active service in the Home in 1881, 
 it is also true that his interest in the institution never lessened, and that 
 his memory is cherished by his former colleagues with profound respect 
 and affection. 
 
8o DR. DAVIs' TEMPERANCE WORK 
 
 But his services to the cause of temperance were by no means hmited 
 to the Washingtonian Home, or to Chicago. Lectures before various bodies ; 
 articles for the secular press, and for medical periodicals; essays for jour- 
 nals especially devoted to the promotion of the cause of temperance from 
 a scientific standpoint, besides the constant hammering on the subject, as 
 occasions presented themselves in his daily contact with patients and others ; 
 and when we remember that he began this sort of Avork in his youth, and 
 never ceased it until he ceased to live, we can form some adequate opinion 
 of the amount and value of his labors in a cause that was exceedingly un- 
 popular when he espoused it, but which had gained a powerful hold on 
 the public mind before age and infirmity compelled him to "cease at once 
 to labor and to live." 
 
 It is well known to all medical men, and to a great many of the laity. 
 that Dr. Davis was regarded as the father of the American Medical Asso- 
 ciatiou, perhaps- the most powerful and influential medical organization iu 
 the world. Of course his influence in this Association was greater than 
 that of any other individual, and it is interesting to observe that he never 
 missed an opportunity to urge his temperance doctrines upon this august 
 bod}^ Especially did he enforce his views as to the value — or rather 
 harmfulness — of alcohol as a remedy for the treatment of disease in any 
 form. In fact, he took the positive and rather radical ground that, under no 
 circumstances, could alcoholic stimulants be regarded as necessary or 
 even useful, while there were plenty of other remedies more reliable, and 
 less harmful. The doctor presented several papers to the American Alcdical 
 Association enforcing his views, all of which are published in official re- 
 ports of the "Transactiojis" of the Association, and are catalogued in a later 
 chapter of this present work. He also presented various papers, based upou 
 carefully conducted experiments, before medical societies or other scien- 
 tific bodies in various parts of the country, all converging on the single 
 point of the absolutely toxic efliects of alcohol, whether as a beverage or as 
 a medicine. 
 
 It is needless to add that the great majority of physicians and sur- 
 geons thought, and still think, that Dr. Davis went altogether too far in his 
 condemnation of both fermented and distilled liquors in the treatment of 
 certain diseases, and especiallv in certain grave medical and surgical emer- 
 gencies, where alcoholic stimulants seem absolutely indispensable. But 
 in conclusion I think it quite within the bounds of truth to say that the 
 use of alcohol, in the treatment even of "emergency" cases, has become 
 much less frequent than it was a couple of decades ago ; that it is gradually 
 becoming less frequent as time goes on ; that the older stimulants are better 
 understood and new ones are being discovered ; and that to the persistent 
 
DR. DAVIS' TEMri!:RAXCE WORK 8l 
 
 teachings of Dr. Davis, and especiall}' his positive and fearless position in 
 regard to the therapeutic value of alcohol, before the various scientific 
 bodies which he addressed, and to his voluminous writings pointing in the 
 same direction, must very much of this salutary change be attributed. It 
 should be said that alcohol is no longer classed as a stimulant b^ writers 
 upon Pharmacology, but rather with ether and chloroform as an anaesthetic. 
 By way of securing a favorable hearing for his views, and of assuring 
 their perpetuation among medical men, he aroused the movement which re- 
 sulted in the organization of the "American Medical Temperance Associa- 
 tion" in 1890, and at the meeting in Detroit in June, 1892, he delivered an 
 address on the "Objects of the American Medical Temperance Association," 
 in which the work of the Association was admirablv set forth. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 Literary and Journalistic Work. 
 
 Dr. Davis certainly wielded the. "pen of a ready v/riter," but a readr 
 writer, like a "ready" speaker, is apt to turn off much ephemeral, and per- 
 haps some ill-digested work. But when we consider the voluminous prod- 
 uct of Dr. Davis' pen, we are compelled to acknowledge that his writings 
 show a degree of care, thoughtfulness and accuracy that are remarkable. 
 
 In another chapter of this work is printed a "list comprising the more 
 important essays, addresses, reports and volumes, written on professional,, 
 scientific or educational subjects," and published in various periodicals or 
 else in the form of separate volumes, by Dr. Davis, commencing in 1840, and' 
 ending in 1904, shortly before his death. This list* rounds up one hundred 
 and thirty-six titles, including papers and addresses for special occasions,, 
 articles for various periodicals, and separate and independent volumes. 
 
 As one looks over this list, two or three things attract particular at- 
 tention : first, the comprehensive and formidable titles that the author gave 
 to his papers, amounting in many cases to almost a synopsis of the paper it- 
 self ; second, the severely practical nature of nearly all the papers, and the 
 absolute absence of guess-work where facts were obtainable ; third, the sim- 
 plicity and directness of the writer's language, every paper being written. 
 in clear, concise English, without bombast, redundancy, or the everlasting 
 egotism which defaces the writings of so many of us ; fourth, the large 
 proportion of papers which are reports of, or are based upon, the original 
 experimental work of the author, when the facilities for such work were sO' 
 crude and meagre. 
 
 Taken as a whole the writings of Dr. Davis will compare favorably 
 with those of any other American medical writer, although, of course, many 
 of his papers and addresses had relation to only a certain occasion of a 
 local or temporary nature, and therefore had only a transient and ephemeral 
 value; but such is the fate of most of the productions of every public, 
 speaker. It is the penalty a popular orator pays for being 2l popular orator.. 
 
 Between the years 1848 and 1890, Dr. Davis was editor of the eight 
 periodicals named below, but, of course, he served only a few years with 
 each one: 
 
 *Vide, chapter XII. 
 
LITERARY AND JOURNALISTIC WORK 83 
 
 •I. The Annalist, a medical journal published in New York; 
 
 2. North Western Medical and Surgical Journal, published in Chicago ; 
 
 3. Eclectic Journal of Education and JJtcrary RcMezu, also pulilished 
 in Chicago ; 
 
 4. Chicago Medical Journal; 
 
 5. Chicago Medical Examiner; 
 
 6. Journal of the American Medical Association; 
 
 7. American Medical Temperance Quarterly; 
 
 8. Bulletin of the American Medical Temperance Association 
 Besides having editorial charge and writing editorials for the periodical 
 
 he happened to be editing at the time, he contributed largely to other 
 periodicals upon various medical, temperance and cognate subjects. 
 
 His first editorial experience was on the "Annalist/' in 1848. This 
 seems to have been rather a short-lived medical periodical, published in 
 New York. His last editorial labors were upon the Journal of the American 
 Medical Association, whereof he vv'as the first editor and therefore, in a 
 certain sense, the founder. Thus he was nearly forty years in editorial work, 
 with here and there a brief interval of leisure. 
 
 He blossomed out as an author at the early age of thirty-one, his 
 first publication being a work on agriculture. It has long been out of prinf , 
 and is of course very hard to obtain, but the present Dr. N. S. Davis has 
 kindly loaned me his copy, which is now before me. It is a curiosity in- 
 deed. Its external appearance reminds one of the common school text- 
 books of fifty years ago, with their blue pasteboard covers and indifferent 
 binding. The title page reads as follows : 
 
 "A Text Book on Agriculture, by N. S. Davis, M. D.— 'Mater 
 omnium Artium, est Scientia.' New York : Samuel S. & AA'il- 
 liam Wood, 1848." 
 
 The preface is dated "New York, August i, 1847." 
 
 The author was led to write this book as the result of a report of the 
 "Committee on Agricultural Schools," in the New. York Legislature of 
 1847, which recommended the study of agriculture "in our best common 
 schools." But no text-book on agriculture fit for use in the common schools 
 existed, and to suppty that want Dr. Davis prepared the work under con- 
 sideration. It is in the fonri of a school book, with questions and answers, 
 commencing with elementary chemistry, and ending vvith "Insects and 
 Worms Injurious to Vegetation." In its day it must have been an exceed- 
 ingly welcome addition to the common school text-books. 
 
 It appears that the. State Agricultural Society offered a premium for 
 the best work on agriculture, and our author submitted his book, not quite 
 coniplete, in competition with others, and was awarded a "small premium" 
 
84 LITERARV AXD JOURXALISTIC WORK 
 
 bv the examining- committee, with the privilege of revising and completing 
 his work, and submitting it for final competitive examination, ^^''hen the 
 time came, Dr. Davis presented his book again ; "bnt finding that it Avas 
 the only one in the hands of the committee, it was withdrawn, the author 
 not wishing to ask an award in a coiirs sciilcnieiit" — an example of high- 
 toned honor and delicacy, which will bear copying in these later and per- 
 haps less scrupulous days. 
 
 His next work was a niodest little 12 mo. volume of 228 pages, with 
 the following overpowering title : 
 
 "History of Medical Edlxatiox axd Ixstitutioxs ix the 
 UxiTED States, from the first settlement of the British Colo- 
 nies to the year 1850; with a chapter on the Present Condi- 
 tion and Wants of the Profession, and the means necessary for 
 supplying those wants, and elevating the character and extend- 
 ing the usefulness of the whole Profession. — Chicago, 185 1." 
 One is very much tempted to pity this innocent little book, with its 
 back load of title, but a more interesting, readable and profitable bit of 
 medical history, cannot be found anywhere. I regret to say that it is out 
 of print, although I have myself had the good fortune to obtain a copy, 
 and have perused it with peculiar pleasure. It is inscribed by the author 
 to his '"esteemed friend and benefactor. Dr. \Mllard Parker, of Xew York, 
 especially; and to the medical profession of the United States generally." 
 (Dr. Willard Parker was at that time the leading surgeon of Xew York.) 
 Our author's next publication in book form, was 
 "A History of the Americax ^Medical Associatiox from its 
 
 Orgaxizatiox to Jaxuary, 1855." 
 This book, from preface to finis, is an unconscious paean of triumph. 
 Although the author knew full well that the American Medical Association 
 V\'as mainly the fruit of his own labor ; that many obstacles had been met and 
 overcome by him in accomplishing this work, and that its success and per- 
 manency now seemed well assured, yet we find no attempt at self-glorifica- 
 tion, no vindictive flings at those who opposed him and his broad and states- 
 man-like plans : but there is an undercurrent of rejoicing in the hour of 
 victory which was undoubtedly shared by most of the readers of that his- 
 tory, Avhen it was first issued. It is altogether desirable that this work, now 
 out of print and almost impossible to obtain, be reissue<l and brought down 
 to date by some competent successor of Dr. Davis. 
 
 Xext in order comes a book entitled "Clixical Lectures ox' A'arious 
 Importaxt Diseases." whereof the second edition was issued in 1874. It 
 was edited by Dr. F. H. Davis, Dr. X'. S. Davis' son, who was closely as- 
 sociated with his father, until his untimelv deatli. as alreadv noted. This 
 
LITERARY AND JOURNALISTIC WORK 65 
 
 is a small and unpretentious work of twenty clinical lectures, based upon 
 cases occurring in Dr. N. S. Davis' service in Mercy Hospital. As a second 
 ■edition was called for only a year after the issue of the first, the lectures 
 must have found favor with the profession. In olancing over this work 
 at. the present day, one is struck with the vast changes in the treatment 
 of acute diseases, when compared with that of thirt^■ or forty vears ago. 
 Then patients were "treated" indeed ; noiv they are pretty much left to the 
 trained nurse and the vis mcdicatrix iiatiircc. 
 
 Dr. Davis contributed a chapter on Bronchitis to Lea Brothers &. 
 Co.'s "System of Practical Medicine,'' published in 1885, which shared the 
 fate of most of the articles consigned to such literarv graveyards as the 
 wearisome "systems'' of medicine and surgery, published during the last 
 twenty years, have turned out to be. .^ 
 
 In 1886, he published the second edition of his greatest work, entitled 
 "Lectures ON the Principles and Practice of Medicine/' issued from 
 the press of Jansen, McClurg & Co., of Chicago. One of the things which 
 Dr. Davis "set before himself to accomplish," as he remarked to his trusted 
 friend, Dr. John H. Hollister, was the publication of a "text-book which 
 should embody his views of the 'Theory and Practice of Medicine.' " And 
 this text-book first made its appearance in 1884, and in a little more than 
 a year a second edition was called for. It was one of the first text-books to 
 adopt the metric system. It is in the form of didactic lectures extemporan- 
 eously delivered, but stenographically reported. There are ninety-two lec- 
 tures in all, the closing lecture being on the "Therapeutics of Alcohol"' and 
 the closing words of this characteristic address are quoted from the wise 
 inan: "Wine is a mocker, and strong drink is raging; and whosoever is 
 deceived thereby, is not wise." 
 
 The student who reads these lectures, reads Dr. Davis. They are his 
 own production, delivered in his own clear, terse style, embodying his own 
 views as to pathology and treatment. He quotes from nobody, except King 
 Solomon, defers to nobody, borrows from nobody: but in his own sturdy 
 and positive manner proceeds with his task, and finishes it up, without the 
 slightest indication that he has exhausted either himself or his subject. 
 
 It is certainly delightful to notice that we find in these lectures no en- 
 couragement given to the hopeless and enervating therapeutic agnosticism 
 which limps so languidly through most of our recent text-books on the 
 Practice of Medicine. 
 
 Dr. Davis made some contributions to Wm. Wood & Co.'s "Reference 
 Handbook of the Medical Sciences" and to Sajous' "Annual of the Uni- 
 versal Medical Sciences!' where they are safely and permanently hidden 
 from mortal vision. 
 
86 LITERARY AND JOURNALISTIC WORK 
 
 In 1903 the Cleveland Press of Chicago published the first edition of 
 Dr. Davis' "History of Medicine," and at the present time (August, 1907) 
 a second edition is passing through the press. In the judgment of the 
 present writer, this is the best and ablest of the works of its distinguished 
 author. It is a book of 209 pages, divided into fourteen chapters. The- 
 work is based upon the author's annual courses of lectures, from 1892 to- 
 1897, "both years included," to the senior class of the Northwestern Uni- 
 versity Medical School, on the history of medicine. "The following chap- 
 ters," states the author in his preface, "constituting this book, have been 
 v/ritten and revised from the notes used in the lecture room ; each chapter 
 representing a lecture in the order in which it was given." It is a concise,, 
 condensed, but very comprehensive and complete history of the "progres- 
 sive development of the various branches of medical science and practice," 
 * =^ * * "from the earliest periods of which we have any records, to- 
 the end of the nineteenth century of the Christian era."* Every chapter 
 gives evidence of careful study, painstaking investigation, close familiarit}^ 
 with the literature of the subject^ and consummate ability and cleverness. 
 in the arrangement of material. 
 
 It is remarkable, in the first place, how the busy author ever found 
 time and opportunity to gather the necessary data for this History, and in 
 the second place how he ever managed to condense such a vast store of 
 information into so small a space, without spoiling it by too much con- 
 densation. But the fact remains that in this rather diminutive volume, we 
 find an essentially complete and connected history of medicine "from the 
 earliest period of which we have any records, to the end of the nineteenth 
 century," and the story is told in a style worthy of the subject and of the 
 venerable author, for when this volume v\^as first printed, he was eighty- 
 six years of age. As he died in less than a year after the publication of 
 this book, it may be regarded as his last literary work, and as a fitting* 
 ■finale to his long and remarkable literary and journalistic career. 
 
 In endeavoring to form a just and impartial estimate of Dr. Davis*" 
 position in medical literature, we remark at once that it is almost marvelous 
 how so busy a man ever found time to turn ofit such an astonishing amount 
 of work, and the wonder grows still greater when we rem.ember that he 
 never employed a private secretary, amanuensis, stenograplier or typewriter,, 
 except in the preparation of his Practice of Medicine, and a very little of 
 his later literary work. He never "got used" to having assistance about 
 anything that he could do himself. He wrote slowly, 1)ut he could work 
 for many hours at a stretch, without seetning to suffer any material ex- 
 haustion or nervous wear and tear. His chirography was certainly no in- 
 
 \^ 
 
 ^History of Medicine (preface). 
 
LITERARY AND JOURNALISTIC WORK 8/ 
 
 dex of the character of the man, as will be seen b)^ the specimen page given 
 elsewhere. 
 
 As to the actual and permanent value of his writings, it is altogether 
 likely that his contributions to medical literature will share the fate of the 
 vast volume of the productions of other men, which may or may not have 
 been read, but at all events are forgotten. Where are the text-books ol 
 my own student days? What has been the destiny of the journalistic 
 medical literature of twenty years ago? Both are regarded as worthless 
 — except as curiosities — by the younger and more advanced men of to- 
 day. 
 
 In the very nature of things medical literature must be to a great 
 extent, ephemeral, for which let us be thankful. Let our friends the lawyers 
 hug their musty old tomes, and solemnly bow down to "precedent," but 
 let us medical men push forward into "green fields and pastures new," just 
 exactly as Dr. Davis did during the whole of his long and useful life. His 
 medical writings served their purpose and their day ; they were a constant 
 incentive to the younger men of his time, and they are still an example 
 of what a life of intense intellectual activity can accomplish. 
 
 His historical works will become permanent works of reference, and 
 their value will increase as the years go by and the early history of Ameri- 
 can Medicine, especially as regards medical education, becomes more and 
 more important. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Literary and Scientific Harvest of a Busy Life. 
 
 The following list comprises the more important essays, papers, ad- 
 dresses, reports and volumes written on professional, scientific or educa- 
 tional subjects and published in various books and periodicals b}^ Dr. Davis 
 from Feby., 1840, to March, 1904; making a little more than sixty-four years 
 of continuous literary and scientific activity: 
 
 1. A "Prize Essay on Diseases of the Spinal Column," 
 presented to the New York State Medical Society in February, 
 1840, and published in the Transactions of the Society for that 
 year. 
 
 2. A "Prize Essay on the Discoveries in the Physiology 
 OF THE Nervous System from the Time of Charles Bell 
 TO the Present Time/'" (1841), presented to the New York 
 State Medical Society, Feb., 1841, and published in the Trans- 
 actions of the Society that year. 
 
 3. "A Brief Review of Dr. Marshall Hall on an 
 Excito-Motory System of Nerves." See Transactions of N. 
 Y. State Med. Society, 1842. 
 
 4. "AIedical and Topogilaphical Sketches of Bingham- 
 TON, and the Surrounding Country." See Transactions of 
 the N. Y. State Med. Society, 1843. 
 
 5. Also in same volume of Transactions a paper on the 
 "Epidemic Influenza," as it prevailed at Binghamton. 
 
 6. Report of the "Medico-Legal Testimony on the Trial 
 of Mrs. Turpenning for the Murder of Her Husband, with 
 Observations on the Same." See Tranactions of the A'. Y. 
 State Med. Society, 1844. 
 
 7. Report on "AIedical Education, Examinations and 
 Legislation," to N. Y. State Aledical Society, Feb., 1845. 
 See Transactions for that year. " , 
 
 8. "A Text-Book on Agriculture, Designed for Study 
 in Schools." Published by S. S. & W. Wood, New York, 
 1848. 
 
THE LITERARY RECORDS OF A J!USV f.IFE SQ 
 
 9. "Short Essays on Pathology, an Inquiry into the 
 Nature of Diseases and the Condition of the Solids and 
 Fluids whicpi Attend Them." See The .liiaiist. New York, 
 1847-8. 
 
 10. Report "On the Medical Proj^erties of Indigenous 
 Medicinal Plants," to the American Medical Association, 
 1848-49. See Transactions, Volumes I. and II. 
 
 11. An address on "Free Medical Schools/' introductory 
 to the course of instruction in Rush Medical College, Oct., 
 1849. 
 
 12. A paper on the question, "Has the Cerebellum any 
 Special Connection with the Sexual Propensity or Func- 
 tion of Generation?" with some original investigations. See 
 Transactions of Amer. Med. Association, Vol. 3, 1850. 
 
 13. "History of Medical Education and Institutions 
 IN the United States, from the First Settlement of the 
 British Provinces to the Year 1850, with a Chapter on 
 Ti-iE Present Condition and Wants of the Profession, and 
 the Means Necessary for Supplying Those Wants." Chi- 
 cago, 1 85 1. 
 
 14. "An Experimental Inquiry Concerning Some 
 Points Connected with the Functions of Assimilation, 
 Nutrition and Animal Heat ; also Analyses of the Blood 
 OF THE Renal Vein and Artery and that of the Iliac Vein 
 AND Artery of Same Animal." Read before the Amer. Med. 
 Association, 1851, and published in North Western Medical and 
 Surgical Journal, 1851. 
 
 15. "Report of the Committee on Medical Literature" 
 to the Amer. Med. Association, 1853. See Transactions, p. 97, 
 Vol. VI. 
 
 16. "An Inquiry, Critical and Experimental, into the 
 Pathology of Fever." See North Western Med. and Surg. 
 Journal, Vol. II. New Series, 1853, Chicago. 
 
 17. "Report of the Committee on Practical Medicine, 
 Presented to the Illinois State Medical Society,'' June, 
 1852. SeeTransactions, p. 47, 1852. 
 
 18. "On the Intimate Relations of Medical Science 
 TO the Whole Field of Natural Sciences," being the 
 annual address to the 111. State Medical Society. See Transac- 
 tions, p. 15, 1852. 
 
90 the literary records of a busy life 
 
 19. "On the Effects of Alcoholic Drinks on the 
 Human System and the Duties of Medical Men in Rela- 
 tion Thereto/' an address delivered by request of the class 
 in Rush Medical College on Christmas Day (Dec. 25th, 1854). 
 with results of original experiments appended. See North West- 
 ern Medical and Surgical Journal, j\Iarch, 1855, Vol. IV., New 
 Series. 
 
 20. "Report on the Means of Preserving Milk/' pre- 
 sented to the Amer. Med. Association. See Transactions, p. 
 535, Vol. VIIL, 1855. 
 
 21. "Report on the Changes in the Composition and 
 Properties of the Milk of the Human Femaxe, Produced 
 by Menstruation and Pregnancy/' pi-esented to the Ameri- 
 can Medical Association. See Transactions, p. 515, Vol. IX., 
 1856. 
 
 22. "On the Influence of Alcoholic Drinks on 
 Phthisis or Consumption/' being the annual address to the 
 Illinois State Medical Society, June 4th, 1856. See Transac- 
 tions of Society, p. 71, 1856. 
 
 23. "History of the American Medical Association 
 EROM ITS Organization to January, 1855." Philadelphia: 
 Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1855. 
 
 24. "On the Cfianges that Take Place in the Blood 
 in the Continued Forms of Fever, Including Chemical 
 Analyses." Presented to the Illinois State Medical Society, 
 June, 1857. See Transactions, p. 92, 1857. 
 
 25. "Effects of Alcohol in Phthisis." See North West- 
 ern Medical and Snvgical Journal, Vol. VI., New Series, pp. 
 48-190, 1857. 
 
 26. "Address Introductory to the Annual Course of 
 Instruction in Rush Medical College.'" C)ct., 1857. See 
 North Western Med. and Surg. Journal, Dec, 1857. 
 
 27. "The Mutual Relations and Consequent Mutual 
 Duties of the Medical Profession and of the Community," 
 being the annual address to the Illinois State Medical Society, 
 May, i860. See Transactions, p. 19. 
 
 28. "On the Food Most Proper for Infants When De- 
 prived of the Milk- of the Mother." See Transactions of the 
 Jll. State Med. Society, p. 161, i860. 
 
the litiirary records of a busy life 01 
 
 29. "On the Influence of Alcoholic Drinks on the 
 Development and Progress of Pulmonary Tuberculosis." 
 Read in the M^pdical Section of the Amer. Med. Association, 
 June, i860. See Transactions, Vol i^, p. 565, i860. 
 
 30. "Medical College Education/' introductory address 
 at the opening of the Medical Department of Lind University, 
 Oct., 1859. See Chicago Medical Examiner, Vol. i, p. i, i860. 
 
 31. "Nature and Art. Their Relative Influence in 
 THE Management of Diseases. Are they Antagonistic or 
 Co-operative?" An essay read to the Chicago Medical So- 
 ciety, Oct. 19th, i860. See Chicago Med. Examiner, Vol. II., 
 p. 129, 1861. 
 
 32. "On Inversio-Uteri, its Causes, Mechanism and 
 Medico-Legal Bearings." See Chicago Med. Examiner, Vol. 
 II., p. 4, 1861. 
 
 33. "On Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis," its Pathology and 
 Treatment. See Chicago. Med. Examiner, Vol. IV., p. 304, 
 1863. 
 
 34. "Lecture Introductory to the Fifth Annual 
 Course in the Chicago Medical College, Oct. i2th, 1863." 
 See Chicago Med. Examine}', Vol. IV., p. 550, 1863. 
 
 35. "The Report on Practical Medicine," to the Illi- 
 nois State Medical Society, May, 1864. See Transactions, p. 
 14, 1864. 
 
 36. "On the Nature and Objects of Medical Study — 
 Duties and Qualifications of the Physician — Influence 
 of Popular Opinions — the Present Status of Practical 
 Medicine." See Chicago Medical Examiner, Vol. V., p. 616, 
 1864. 
 
 37. Address of the President of the American Medical As- 
 sociation, June, 1865. See Transactions, Vol. 16, p. 71, 1865. 
 
 38. "Report to the Mayor and Council on the Means 
 FOR Improving the Sanitary Condition of Chicago." See 
 Chicago Med. Examiner, Vol. Y\., p. 705, 1865. 
 
 39. "Address to the American Dental Association," 
 July 27th, 1865. See Chicago Med. Examiner. Vol. VI., p. 576, 
 1865. 
 
 40. "Report on the Etiological and Pathological Re- 
 lations OF Epidemic Erysipelas, Spotted Fever and Diph- 
 
ij2 THE LITERARY RECORDS OF A BUSY LIFE 
 
 THERiA." See Transactions of the American Med. Association, 
 \^ol. 17, p. 379, 1866. 
 
 41. "Report on the Convention of Delegates from the 
 Several ^Medical Colleges of the United States/" Cincin- 
 nati, May, 1867. See Transactions, \'ol. 18, p. 377, 1867. 
 
 42. "Experimental Inquiries Concerning the Physio- 
 logical Effects of Alcoholic Drinks on Man," presented 
 to the 111. State Med. Society. See Transactions for 1867. 
 
 43. "How far do the Facts Accompanying the Preva- 
 lence OF Epidemic Cholera in Chicago During the Sum- 
 mer AND Autumn of 1866 Throw Light of the Etiology of 
 that Disease?" Read to the Amer. Med. Association, May, 
 
 1867. See Chicago Med. Examiner, Vol. VIII., p. 637, 1867. 
 
 44. "Report on tfle Sanitary Condition of Chicago and 
 the Prevalence of Disease from Oct., 1867, to April, 1868." 
 See Chicago Med. Examiner, Vol. IX., p. 257, 1868. 
 
 45. "Report on the Pathology and Treatment of 
 Epidemic Cholera," presented to 111. State Med. Society, May, 
 
 1868. See Chicago Med. Examiner. Yol. IX., p. 527. 
 
 46. "On the PIistory, Condition and Means of Im- 
 provement OF Medical Journalism in the United States." 
 An address presented to the American Association of ^Medical 
 Editors, May 2d, 1870. See Chicago Med. Examiner, Vol. 
 — , 1870. 
 
 47. "Report on Vegetable Parasites and their Etiolog- 
 ical Relations to Disease." Presented to the 111. State Micro- 
 scopical Society, Jan. 14th, 1870. See Chicago Med. Examinev, 
 Vol. XL, p. 70, 1870. 
 
 48. "Report on Resolutions and Correspondence with 
 State IMedical Societies Concerning the Means for Ele- 
 vating the Standard of ]\Iedical Edl^cation." Presented to 
 the Amer. Med. Association, May, 1871. See Transactions, Vol. 
 22, p. 159, 1871. 
 
 49. A paper on the "Comparative Effects of Alcohol 
 and Tobacco, on the Hltman System," presented by request 
 to the Chicago Medical Society, Dec. 26th, 1870. See Chicago 
 Med. Examiner, Vol. XIL, pp. 129 and 274, 1871. 
 
 50. "Report on- a Proposed Revision of the Code of Med- 
 ical Ethics of the American Med. Association," June, 1874. 
 See Transactions, Vol. 25, p. 28, 1874. 
 
THE LITERARY RECORDS OF A BUSY LIFE 93 
 
 51. Address on "Practical Medicine/' etc., to the Section 
 on Practice of Medicine, Materia Medica and Physiolog)-. See 
 Transactions of American Med. Association, Vol. 25, p. 109, 
 1874. 
 
 52. "On Chronic Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis." Read to 
 111. State Med. Society in May, 1873. See Transactions of the 
 Society, page 219, 1873. 
 
 53. "Report on the Necessity for Coincident Clinical 
 AND Meteorological Observations and Records in the 
 Study of Etiology; and on the Influence of Atmospheric 
 Conditions in the Development of Bowel Affections of 
 Children." See Trartsactions of American Med. Association, , 
 Vol. 26, p. 125, 1875. 
 
 54. Address on the "Progress of Medical Education in 
 the United States from 1776 to 1876," delivered' to the Cen- 
 tennial International Aledical Congress, at Philadelphia, 1876. 
 See Transactions of the Congress. 
 
 The same revised and extended, was published the same year 
 by the National Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. 
 
 55. "Report on Clinical and Meteorological Records 
 in Their Relation to Etiology." See Transactions of Amer. 
 Med. Association, Vol. 28, p. 153, 1877. 
 
 56. "Report on Drugs and Medicines to the III. State 
 Med. Society." See Transactions, p. 180, 1878. 
 
 57. "Report on the Prevention of Bowel Affections^ 
 BOTPi IN Children and Adults, as Indicated by a Compari- 
 son OF Clinical and Meteorological Facts Relating to^ . 
 Their Etiology." See Transactions of Amer. Med. Association,. 
 Vol. 30, p. 145, 1879. 
 
 58. "Report on Ozone and Other Atmospheric Condi- 
 tions IN Connection with Records of the Prevalence of 
 Diseases." See Transactions of Amer. Med. Association, Vol.. 
 32, p. 481, 1881. 
 
 59. "On the Therapeutic Value of Internal Anti- 
 pyretics IN THE Treatment of Fevers." See Transactions IlL 
 State Med. Society, p. 253, May, 1882. 
 
 60. "On the Efficient Causes of Serous Diarrhoea and 
 Cholera Morbus in Infancy and Early Childhood, and the 
 best Means for Lessening the Mortality from those Af- 
 
94 '-I'lIE LITERARY RECORDS OF A BUSY LIFE 
 
 FECTiONS." See Transactions of Amcr. Med. Association, Vol. 
 33. P- 439> 1882. 
 
 61. "Report on Practical Medicine and Epidemics to 
 III. State jMed. Society." -See Transactions of the Society, p. 
 63, 1883. 
 
 62. Clinical Lectures on \''arious Important Dis- 
 eases:" Second Edition, Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea, 1874. 
 
 63. "Address on the Present Status and Future Ten- 
 dencies OF the Medical Profession in the United States," 
 delivered at the annual meeting of the American Association of 
 Medical Editors, Cleveland, June 5th, 1883. See Journal of 
 
 ,Amer. Med. Association, Vol. I., p. 33, 1883. 
 
 64. "Report on jMeteorological Conditions and their 
 Relations to the Prevalence of Acute Disease." See Joiu'- 
 nal of the Amcr. Med. Association, Vol. II., pp. 85 and 169, 
 1884. 
 
 65. "On the Use of Ergot in the Treatment of Cer- 
 tain Conditions in Pneumonia." See Jour. A met'. Med. As- 
 sociation, Vol. II., p. 369, 1884. 
 
 66. Chapter on "Bronchitis — Acute and Chronic — 
 Catarrhal, Mechanical, Capillary and Pseudo-Mem- 
 braneous." See A System of Practical Medicine by American 
 Authors, Vol. III. Philadelphia, Lea Brothers & Co., 1885. 
 
 Gy. "Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Med- 
 icine;" (nearly 900 pages.) Chicago: Jansen, ]\IcClurg & Co., 
 1884. Second edition in 1886. 
 
 68. "Report of the Special Committee of the Amer. 
 J\Ied. Association, on Changes in the Plan of Organiza- 
 tion AND By-laws of that Association." See Journal of the 
 Amer. Med. Association, Vol. VIII., p. 711, 1887. 
 
 69. "Inaugural Address" as President of the IX, Inter- 
 national Medical Congress, Washington, D. C, 1887. See 
 Transactions of the Congress, Vol. I., p. 10, 1887. 
 
 70. Articles on "Insanity in Acute and Chronic Alco- 
 holism ; Polyuria or Diabetes Insipidus ; Chronic Articu- 
 lar Rheumatism," in the Reference Handbook of the Medical 
 Sciences, Vols. IV., V., VI., New York. William Wood & 
 Company, 1887-1888.- 
 
 71. "Report on the Influence of Meteorological and 
 Topographical Conditions on the Prevalence of Acute 
 
THE LITERARY RECORDS OF A BUSY LIKE 95 
 
 Diseases/' to the 111. State Med. Society. See Transactions of 
 the Society, p. 41, 1889. 
 
 ^2. "The Influence of the American Medical Associa- 
 tion IN its Relations to the Public Health." Presented 
 at the meeting, 1889. See Journal of the Amer. Med. Associa- 
 Aion, Vol. XIII. , p. 122, 1889. 
 
 73. "History of the Medical Profession and Medical 
 Institutions of Ci-iicago." See Magazine of Western History, 
 New York, 132 Nassau St., Vol. XI.-XIL, 1889-90. 
 
 74. "Influence of Alcohol on the H^uman System, 
 Especially as Used in Beer and Wine; Viewed from a 
 Scientific Standpoint ; Together with tfie Amount of 
 Alcoholic Liquors Annually Consumed in the United 
 States/' New York National Temperance Society Publication 
 House, 58 Reade St., 1890. 
 
 75. Annual Address on "Practical MedicineV' read to 
 Amer. Med. Association, May, 1890. See Journal of Amer. 
 Med. Association, Vol. XIV., p. 746, 1890. 
 
 y6. "Report on the Meteorological Conditions and 
 their Relations to tfie Epidemic Influenza and Other 
 Diseases in Chicago During the Six Montfis Ending March 
 .3 1ST, 1890." See Journal of the Amer. Med. Association, Vol. 
 XIV., p. 817, 1890. 
 
 yy. "The Basis of Scientific Medicine and the Proper 
 Methods of Investigation." A lecture to the Post-Graduate 
 Medical School of Chicag'o. Jan. 6th, 1891. See Journal of the 
 Amer. Med. Association, Vol. XVI., p. 114, 1891. 
 
 78. "Report on the Relations of Meteorological Con- 
 ditions TO the Origin and Prevalence of Acute Diseases." 
 See Journal of Amer. Med. Association, Vol. XVII., p. 245, 1891. 
 
 79. "On the Origin and Spread of Yellow Fever and 
 -the Means of Preventing it." See Maryland Medical Jour- 
 Mai, Oct., 1878. 
 
 80. "Brief Comments on the Pathology of Pneumonia 
 .and the Principles that Should Guide in its Treatment.-" 
 
 Presented to the Chicago jMedical Society, Feb., 1892. See 
 Chicago Medical Recorder. 
 
 81. "On the Prevalent Therapeutic Inconsistencies in 
 IMedical Practice; Illustrated in Current Medical Liter- 
 ature and in Clinical Observations." Presented at the an- 
 
96 THE LITERARY RECORDS OF A BUSY LIFE 
 
 nual meeting of the Michigan State Med. Society. See Transac- 
 tions of that Society, Vol. XVI., p. 62, 1892. 
 
 82. "On the Physiological and Therapeutic Differ- 
 ence Between the Carbo-Hydrates^ Constituting Proxi- 
 mate Elements of Living Vegetable and Animal Bodies^ and 
 those Resulting fro:m Bacteriological or Retrograde Ac- 
 tion." Being the annual address to the Amer, Med. Temp. As- 
 sociation, June 9th, 1892. See Transactions of that Society for 
 1892. 
 
 83. A paper on "Illusions and Delusions in Medical 
 Practice," read to the Illinois State Medical Society, May, 
 
 1892. See Transactions, p. 54, 1892. 
 
 84. "On the Influence of the Ship Canal, now Being 
 Constructed by the Trustees of the Chicago Drainage 
 District, on the Sanitary Condition of Chicago and the 
 State of Illinois." Presented to the 111. Med. Society, May, 
 
 1893. See Transactions of the Society, p. 493, 1893. 
 
 85. "Clinical Facts and Cases Illustrating the Ef- 
 fects OF Alcoholic Liquors in the Treatment of Typhoid 
 Fever, Pneumonia, Diphtheria and Some Other Affec- 
 tions." Being the annual address to the Amer. Med. Temp. 
 Association, June, 1893. See The Amer. Med. Temp. Quarterly, 
 July, 1893, p. I. 
 
 86. "History of the American Medical Temperance 
 Association." See Temperance in All Nations, Vol. L, p. 89, 
 1893. 
 
 87. Address at the Opening of the Amer. Med. Temp. As- 
 sociation Section of the World's Temperance Congresses, in 
 the Art Institute, Chicago, June loth, 1893. See Temperance in 
 All Nations, Vol. II., p. 185, 1893. 
 
 88. "The Results of Scientific Investigations Con- 
 cerning the Effects of Alcohol on the Living Human 
 System, to this Date." A paper read in the Medical Section of 
 the World's Temp. Congresses, June, 1893. See Temp, in All 
 Nations, Vol. II., p. 209, 1893. 
 
 89. Section on "Gout"'' in the Supplement to Reference 
 Handbook of the Medical Sciences, New York: William Wood 
 & Co., p. 382, 1893. - 
 
 90. "The History, Present Status, and Future Progress 
 OF Practical Medicine." A lecture at the Post-Graduate 
 
THE LITERARY RECORDS OF A 13USY LIFE Cf] 
 
 Medical School and Hospital of Chicago, Sept. ist, 1893. See 
 Chicago Clinical Rcviczv, Oct., 1893. 
 
 91. "Introductory Lecture to the Thirty-fifth An- 
 nual Course of Instruction in the Northwestern Uni- 
 versity Medical School'' ( Chicago Medical College), Sept. 
 26th, 1893. See Tke Chicago Medical Recorder, Oct., 1893. 
 
 92. Section on "Rheumatism and Gout;" in the Annual 
 of the Universal Medical Sciences, Vol. L, each year, from 1888 
 to 1894, inclusive. F. A. Davis Company, Philadelphia, 1893. 
 
 93. "On the Nature and Effects of Alcoholic Liquors." 
 Being the introductory address before the International Medical 
 Congress in Prohibition Park, Station Island, July 15th, 1891. 
 Published in the American Medical Temperance Quarterly, Jan., 
 1894. 
 
 94. "The Sources or Causes of Erroneous Conclusions 
 from Clinicvvl Observations Concerning the Effects of 
 Alcohol in the Treatment of Disease." Medical Temper- 
 ance Quarterly, July, 1894. 
 
 95. "A Series of Apparently Well Established Facts 
 in Therapeutics on vv^hich are Based Some Questions of 
 Great Practical Importance." Journal of American Medical 
 Association, Dec. 22d, 1894. 
 
 96. "What are the Essential Conditions for the 
 Maintenance of the Natural Action of the Heart; and 
 What are the Causes that Impair Such Action, or Cause 
 its Entire Failure, Especially in the Progress of Acute 
 Febrile Affections?" American Medical Temperance Quar- 
 terly, Jan., 1895. 
 
 97. "The Present Status of Bacteriologic Investiga- 
 tions AND Their Relations to Etiology and Therapeutics." 
 Read at the Forty-fifth Annual Meeting of the Illinois State 
 Medical Society, May, 1895. Transactions of the Society, 1895. 
 
 98. "Some Familiar Clinical Cases Illustrating Im- 
 portant Items Connected with the Etiology, Pathology, 
 AND Therapeutics of Disordered Digestion and Assimila- 
 tion." See International Clinics, Vol. I., Fifth Series, Phila- 
 delphia, 1895. 
 
 99. "Does Alcohol Ever Act as a Food or as a Genera- 
 tor of Any Natural Force in the Living Body?" Read in 
 the Section on State Medicine of the American Medical Asso- 
 
C)S THE LITERARY RECORDS OF A BUSY LIFE 
 
 ciation, 2\Iay, 1895. Published in Journal of American Medical 
 Association, Sept. I4tli, 1895. 
 
 100. "On THE Alleged Opposite Action of Large and 
 Small Doses of Drugs." Read in a meeting of the British 
 Medical Temperance Association and published in the Medical' 
 Pioneer, London, Eng., and in the Bulletin of the American Medi- 
 cal Temperance Association, A^ol. IIL, No. i, Nov., 1895. 
 
 loi. "The Importance of the Study of Medical Juris- 
 prudence BY Students of Law, and the Extent to which 
 IT Should be Taught in Schools or Colleges for the Edu- 
 cation OF Such Students." A paper read before the Sectiom 
 of Legal Education of the American Bar Association at the 
 annual meeting, Aug. 30th, 1895. See Transactions of the Asso- 
 ciation, 1895. 
 
 102. "The Causes and Treatment of Some of the More 
 Common Functional Disorders of the Heart." Published 
 in International Clinics, Vol. IIL, Fifth Series, and continued 
 in Vol. I., Sixth Series, 1896. 
 
 103. "What Constitutes True Clinical Experience in 
 Medical Practice, and its Relations to the Public Health." 
 Read before the Section on State Medicine of the American 
 Medical Association, May, 1896. Published in the Journal of 
 the American Med. Ass'n., May, 1896. 
 
 104. "An Address on the Character of Dr. Edward 
 Jenner and the History of His Discovery of the Protec- 
 tive Value of Vaccination." Read at the Centennial Anni- 
 versary, May, 1896. Published in the Journal of the American 
 Medical Association, May 9th, 1896. 
 
 105. "A Brief History of the Origin of the American 
 Medical Association — The Principles on which it was 
 Organized — The Object it was Designed to Accomplish — 
 And How Far They Have Been Attained During tpie 
 Half-Century of its Existence." Published in Journal of 
 the American Medical Association, June 12th, 1897. 
 
 106. "What will be the Effect of Havin^g Pulmonary 
 Tuberculosis Officially Declared a Contagious Disease, 
 AND every Case to be Reported by the Physician and be 
 Subjected to Officl\l Sanitary Regulation?" Published in 
 the Bulletin of the American Med. Temp. Association., INIay, 
 1897. 
 
the literary records of a busy life 99 
 
 107. "On the Therapeutic Properties of Alcohol, and 
 THE Reason why the Fermented and Distilled Beverages 
 or Liquors Should not be Recognized in the Pharmaco- 
 peia AS Medicinal Agents." Published October, 1897, in the 
 BuUetin of the Amcr. Temp. Association. 
 
 108. "Are Narcotics and Anesthetics, as Opium, 
 Tobacco, Cocaine, Alcohol, Ether and Chloroform Capa- 
 ble OF Filliistg any Natural Want, Instinct or Pi-iysio- 
 logical Process in the Healthy Human Body?" PiibHshed 
 in the BuUetin of the American Medical Temperance Association, 
 July, 1898. 
 
 109. "Heredity and its Relations to Life Insurance." 
 Published in Chicago Medical Recorder, August, 1898. Also in 
 Bulletin of Amer. Med. Temp. Association, July, 1898. 
 
 no. "Importance of Regulating Dietetics in Harmony' 
 WITH THE Physiological Laws Controlling Digestion, 
 Nutrition and Waste." Bulletin of American Medical Temp. 
 Association, Jan., 1899. 
 
 111. "What are the Chief Determining Causes of 
 Death in Fatal Cases of Typhoid Fever, Pneumonia^ 
 Diphtheria, etc., and How can they p.e Most Successfully 
 Combatted?" Chicago Medical Recorder, March, 1899. 
 
 112. "What are the Physiological Processes or Func- 
 tions that Impart to the Living Human Body its Vital 
 Resistance or Immunity, and How can thb:y be Ended b\' 
 Therapeutic Agents?" Journal of Amer. Med. Association, 
 July 1st, 1899. 
 
 113. "Is THERE Any Causative or Etiological Relation 
 Between the Extensive Use of Alcoholic Drinks and the 
 Continued Increase of Epilepsy, Imbecility, Insanity and 
 Criminality in all the Countries of Europe and America?" 
 Bulletin of the American Medical Temperance Association, Octo- 
 ber, 1899. 
 
 114. "Dental and Oral Surgery: Their Relations to 
 THE General Field of Medicine and Surgery; and the 
 Proper Professional Status of those who Practice ti-iem." 
 Journal of the .Imerican Med. Association, June i6th, 1900. 
 
 115. "History of Experimental Investigations Con- 
 cerning the Influence of Alcohol and Alcoholic "Drinks 
 ON THE Functions and Structure of the Living Animal 
 
100 THE LITERARY RECORDS OF A BUSY LIFE 
 
 Body by American Txvestigators." Bulletin of the American 
 Medical Temperance Association, July and October, 1900. 
 
 116. "The Evils Resulting from Na.^iing Diseases or 
 THEIR Causes after Individuals^ and the Importance of 
 Maintaining a Clear Distinction Between Etiology and 
 Pathology." Transactior.s of the Illinois State Medical Society, 
 1900. 
 
 117. "History of the Illinois State Medical Society 
 During the First Fifty Years of its Existence." Transac- 
 tions of the Society for 1900. 
 
 118. "Alcohol and Food. Can any Substance be both 
 Food and a Poison, etc., etc." Bulletin of the Am'erican Med. 
 Temperance Association, Jan., 1901. • 
 
 119. "Does Alcohol as it Exists in Fermented and 
 Distilled Liquors Prodt:ce any Real Stimulating or 
 Restor-\tive Effect if Given in Cases of Shock, Syncope^ 
 OR Sudden Prostilvtion of any Kind? If not^ What Reme- 
 dies are Most Effectual in such Cases?" Transactions of 
 Kansas State Medical Society for 1901. 
 
 120. "Mental Worry AND Nervous Excitability : Their 
 Effect upon all the Functions of the Body, and on the 
 Duration of Life." Chicago Record-Herald, April nth, 1901. 
 
 121. "^^'HAT are the MoST EFFICIENT REMEDIES FOR 
 
 Shock, Syncope, or Temporary Exhaustion; and how 
 Should they be Used?" Journal of the Illinois State Medical 
 Association, July, 1901. 
 
 122. "Old Age, and How to Use it to the Best Advant- 
 age." Chicago Record-Herald, May 23d, 1901. 
 
 123. "The Tr.\ining of the Physician — His Responsi- 
 , bilities — and Nature of His Calling, etc." Record-Herald, 
 
 July 5th, 1 90 1. 
 
 124. "On the Need of much more Accurate Knowledge 
 Concerning both the Immediate and Remote Effects of 
 THE Remedial Agents in General Use, and the Exercise 
 OF ]\IoRE Care to Avoid the Coincident Administration of 
 Antagonistic Remedies in Acute Disease." Jom-nal of Amer. 
 Med. Association, Vol. 38, pp. 1415-1418, May 31st, 1902. 
 
 125. "The Relations of Alcohol and Alcoholic Liquors 
 TO THE Economic, Sanitary, and Moral Interests of the 
 
the literary records of a busy life 101 
 
 Human Family, and tfie True Principles of Legislation 
 THAT Should Govern their Use." Address to the annual meet- 
 ing of the American Medical Temperance Association, Saratoga, 
 N. Y., June 13th, 1902. Published in the Quarterly Journal of Ine- 
 briety for July, 1902, and in the Bulletin of the American Med. 
 Temp. Association, July, 1902. 
 
 126. "A Brief History of Medical Journalism in Chi- 
 cago TO the End of the Nineteenth Century." Clinical 
 Review, of Chicago, September, 1902. 
 
 127. "The Medical Schools and Medical Teachers of 
 Sixty Years Ago." Medical Standard, of Chicago, for Sep- 
 tember, 1902. 
 
 128. "The Proper Use of Baths for the Preservation 
 OF Health and the Prolongation of Life." Chicago Record- 
 Herald, October 6th, 1902. 
 
 129. "To Preserve Vital Force and Good Circulation." 
 Chicago Record-Herald, November 27th, 1902. 
 
 130. "Criticisms of the Doctrine of 'No Breakfast 
 Cure/ etc." Chicago Record-Herald, December, 1902. 
 
 131. "Are the Questions Relating to the Nature, 
 Effects, Uses and Abuses of Alcohol as Existing in Fer- . 
 
 MENTED AND DiSTILLED LlOUORS, POLITICAL QUESTIONS TO BE 
 
 Settled by Votes at Ordinary Elections ; or are they True 
 Questions Concerning the Public Health and Morals 
 and Therefore to be Dealt with by the Sanitary Author- 
 ities and the Courts of Justice?" Read to the Amer. Med. 
 Temp. Association, May, 1903,, and published in Journal of Ine- 
 briety, July, 1903. 
 
 132. "History of Medicine, with Code of Medical 
 Ethics." Published by the Cleveland Press, Chicago, 1903. 
 (Second Edition, 1907.) 
 
 133. "Is Alcoholic Medication Necessary? In Other 
 Words, is Alcohol as it Exists in Various Fermented and 
 ■Distilled Liquors, a Necessary Remeiw in the Treatment 
 OF Diseases .of any Kind, or in any Stage of Their 
 Progress?" Published in the Pacific Health Journal for Jan., 
 1904.. 
 
 134. "Why has the Prevalence of Pneumonia and the 
 Ratio of its Mortaiity, been Increasing During the Last 
 Sixty Years; and how can such Increase be Obviated and 
 
r02 THE LITERARY RECORDS OF A BUSY LIFE 
 
 ITS Ratio of ^Mortality be Decreased?" Written Dec, 1903. 
 
 135. "The Effects of Tobacco on the Human System." 
 Published in The Life Boat for February, 1904. International 
 Clinics, Vol. i, p. 41, 14th Series. 
 
 136. "On the True Functions of the Skin and Proper 
 Bathing: A Criticism of the Doctrine of 'No Bathing.'" 
 Published in the Chicago Rccord-Hcrald, ]\Iarch i8th, 1904, 
 page 6. 
 
 Explanation (by Dr. Davis) : The foregoing list of contributions to 
 Medical Science, Literature and Education, do not include any editorials, 
 reviews, reports of clinics, medical society proceedings, etc., to be found in 
 almost every number of the medical journals I have been engaged in 
 editing from 1848 to the present time, viz: The Analist ; the Northzvestern 
 Medical and Surgical Journal; Chicago Medical Journal ; Chicago Medical 
 Examiner ; Journal of the American Medical Association ; the American 
 Medical Temperance Quarterly; and the Bulletin of the American Medical 
 Temperance Association. 
 
 Chicago, 111., ]\Iarch 20th, 1904. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Testimonial Banquet of Oct. 5, 1901. 
 
 Tlie following account* of this interesting occasion can neither be 
 omitted nor abbreviated, without doing injustice to the memory of the 
 honored guest, and to those who participated: 
 
 A testimonial banquet was given to Dr. N. S. Davis, the 
 Father of the American Medical Association, Nestor of the 
 medical profession, first editor of this journal, and founder of 
 the Mercy Hospital, at the Auditorium Hotel, Oct. 5, 1901, 
 under the auspices of the Chicago Medical Society. 
 
 The event was a grand success. Approximately three hun- 
 dred and fifty physicians from Chicago and various parts of the 
 countrv attended the feast. The gathering was a representa- 
 tive one and typified in a striking manner tlie high esteem in 
 which Dr. Davis is held by the profession. Cities outside of 
 Chicago were well represented. The tables were tastefully dec- 
 orated with flowers. . The speeches were timely, replete with 
 good thoughts, characterized by zest, and interspersed with wit 
 and humor. The reminiscences about Dr. Davis were fraught 
 with interest, and their recital by Drs. Andrews, Waxham, Hol- 
 lister and Bridge created amusement. 
 
 Dr. Davis sat between Drs. Fenger and Billings, the one,, 
 the highest embodiment of modern surgical pathology, the other, 
 representing all that is progressive and modern in internal medi- 
 cine. After the banquet Dr. Christian Fenger, president of the 
 Chicago Medical Society, rapped for order, and introduced Dr. 
 James H. Stowell, who said that the members of the profession 
 had assembled to pay their respects to one of the greatest ex- 
 amples of professional honor and dignity in the medical pro- 
 fession. He said it was unnecessary to call attention to the many 
 eminent pupils that had been sent out under the instruction of 
 the distinguished guest. The Deans of three of the largest 
 medical colleges in Chicago were pupils of Dr. Davis. Through- 
 out the country graduates from the Chicago ]\Iedical College 
 
 ■^Jour. Am. Med. Assn., Oct. 12, 1901. 
 
I04 THE TESTIMONIAL BANQUET OF OCT. 5, I9OI 
 
 were occupying positions of eminence, and among them were 
 Drs. Nicholas Senn, Norman Bridge, Frank Billings, Nathan 
 Smith Davis, Jr., Arthur R. Edwards, Roswell Park, John A. 
 Fordyce, and many others, who had in some way or other been 
 honored by their professional brethren. 
 
 The toastmaster of the evening. Dr. Frank Billings, said that 
 to preside at a banquet given in honor of Dr. Davis was an 
 honor second only to that which Dr. Davis was receiving. Dr. 
 Davis did not belong to Chicago alone, but to the whole country. 
 Dr. Davis was a New Yorker by birth, was born Jan. 9, 1817, 
 and graduated in medicine in 1837, when he was not quite 21 
 years of age, from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
 the Western District of New York. He then practiced medi- 
 cine in Binghamtoh, N. Y., for about ten years, and, seeking 
 wider fields, or people in a better field seeking him, he went 
 to New York City, where he remained about two years. Then 
 Chicago, always looking for something better, found Dr. Davis 
 there and invited him to Chicago. He came here in 1849 ^.nd 
 taught in Rush Medical College for the next ten years. Not 
 satisfied with the method of teaching at that time, and desiring 
 a different method and a longer course, he, with others, severed 
 his connection with that school and founded the Chicago Medi- 
 cal College in 1859. He said that the history of Dr. Davis was 
 known to all, and it was hardly necessary for him to take time 
 in repeating it. He only desired to say that Dr. Davis had be- 
 come known throughout the whole country as a medical teacher, 
 as a lever to elevate medical education. Practically, it was due 
 to Dr. Davis that the first steps toward a better method of 
 medical education were taken in America, and it was he and 
 his colleagues who instituted the graded method of instruction 
 in medical schools. The speaker said that Dr. Davis and his 
 colleagues had not received the credit that was due them for 
 this, and that Eastern medical schools had taken the credit, al- 
 though they had adopted the graded method of instruction 
 afterwards.^ As a teacher he was eminent. Those who had sat 
 at his feet and had listened to his lectures would remember as 
 long as they lived his graphic description of disease, even in a 
 didactic lecture. When it came to the demonstration of a case, 
 he did not think there was any clinician abroad or in this coun- 
 try who could excel Dr. Davis in the matter of clinical teaching. 
 The work of Dr. Davis was not alone confined to medical 
 
THE TESTIMONIAL BANQUET OF OCT. 5, I9GI 10; 
 
 teaching, for it was through his efforts that the American Medi- 
 cal Association was founded, and he is cahed the Father of the 
 American Medical Association. Dr. Davis was the founder of 
 Mercy Hospital. Dr. Davis has been president of the Illinois 
 State Medical Society, of the Chicago Medical Society, of the 
 American Medical Association, and the only American who was 
 ever president of an international medical congress. Dr. Bill- 
 ings then dwelt at length upon some of the chief characteristics 
 of Dr. Davis' life, among which were: "Industry, tenacity of 
 purpose, integrity ; progressiveness ; liberality, a Christian gen- 
 tleman." 
 
 Dr. Edward F. Wells presented the loving cup to Dr. Davis. 
 He said : 
 
 "Honored Sir and Guests: In behalf of the medical profes- 
 sion of Chicago and of the whole country, it is my privilege to 
 present to you this loving cup as a token of the esteem in which 
 you are held by your associates, and as an expression of their 
 appreciation of your valuable labors in the advancement of scien- 
 tific, practical, academic and social medicine. 
 
 "This beautiful cup, of Grecian design, is, in its lines and 
 proportions, a model of simple, vigorous dignity, and was se- 
 lected as being peculiarly emblematic of your character and 
 career. Engraved upon one side is an excellent likeness of your- 
 self; upon another is the leaf of victory, and beneath it the in- 
 scription, Palmam qui meruit ferat — let him who has won it 
 bear the palm — and beneath this, 'Pioneer in local and national 
 medical organization, and in graded medical instruction;' and 
 upon the other is this memorial tribute: 'Presented to Nathan 
 Smith Davis, A. M., M. D., LL. D., in recognition of his long 
 and distinguished services to medicine, in its every field of use- 
 fulness, by the members of that profession which he has so con- 
 spicuously adorned, and to whose shield he has given an added 
 luster.' 
 
 "Few^ possess the creative genius necessary to initiate great 
 forward movements in public affairs, and fewer yet are per- 
 mitted to see the realization of their lofty conceptions. But 
 you, sir, are singularly fortunate in both these respects; and, 
 now, after these many years, you may stand before the bow of 
 promise, supported, as it is, upon one side by the fathers of 
 medicine, resting upon the adamantine foundations of experi- 
 ence and truth, and upon the other by the moderns, standing 
 
io6 THE testi:moxial baxouet of OCT. 5, 1901 
 
 upon the broad expanse of experiment and fact, and, looking 
 throug'h, view with satisfaction the fair and boundless plains 
 of the future as they stretch out beyond." 
 
 AMien Dr. Davis arose to make a speech accepting the loving 
 cup, he was greeted with loud and prolonged applause, and 
 three hurrahs were lustily given for the venerable guest. Dr. 
 Davis was visibly affected by the ovation, but spoke in a deliber- 
 ate manner, as follows : '"Mr. Toastmaster, and Fellow Mem- 
 bers of the Aledical Profession : It is useless for me to say 
 that there are no words at my command b}" which I can convey 
 my idea of the gratitude that fills my soul at the present time. 
 If there is an}- particular thing that has guided my course 
 throug'h life, and if I have been able to contribute anything of 
 value that justifies your presence and this most generous ex- 
 hibition of your kindness and respect to me, it is from a very 
 simple principle of action. At the age of seven years, as a boy 
 who had never been outside of his father's farm, born in a log 
 bouse, and when still in a log house, I was called to the bedside 
 of my dying mother to receive her last words. I was the young- 
 est of a family of seven children ; I was in my seventh 3^ear. 
 It made a vivid impression upon m}' mind. She was a Christian 
 — a reader of the Bible. .She said to me that she wished me to 
 "be a good boy, to learn to worship God, and to do good to my 
 fellow-men. I promised her I would. Of course, I did not 
 realize the importance or bearing of that promise at that early 
 period of life ; but an impression was made upon my mind, and 
 from that day to this the rule of my life 'has been, that whatever 
 comes up that seems to be important and will improve my fellow- 
 men, my impulse is to do what I can to help it along. (Ap- 
 plause.) That is the whole foundation of it. I refused to un- 
 dertake anything the results of which would not be beneficial to 
 those around me, whatever it might be. The question was, 
 Would it benefit my fellow-men? If it would, I supported it. 
 I refused, on the other hand, to lay up enmity against any hu- 
 man being, and to-day I stand here and say that I know of no 
 man or woman for whom I have an evil wish, and there is not 
 one to whom I would not extend a helping hand at any moment 
 if they were within my reach and needed it. (Applause.) 
 
 "On this principle of action and reading the book that my 
 mother pointed to and taught me to read, there was revealed a 
 habit that in old times the patriarchs often formed a convenant 
 
THE TESTIMONIAL BANQUET OF OCT. 5, I9OI . IO7 
 
 with their God, and in my innocent early boyhood, as I grew 
 on, a proposition was made for me to study medicine. I no 
 sooner began than I formed a convenant with my Creator, that 
 he would guide me, so that I could be qualified to do good to 
 the sick, to alleviate human suffering, and to prolong human 
 life. I dedicated my life to that great leading idea, and from 
 that day to this I have striven to follow in that line. 
 
 "It was not long before I stumbled on the fact that the 
 system of medical education was a very ridiculous one, for I 
 went each year to the college and went over the same thing — 
 six lectures a week, and skimmed the whole field in sixteen 
 weeks. I thought that was very queer. I listened to these lec- 
 tures every day, but studied only three of them. I left the other 
 three for next year to make up. I made my own division. As 
 soon as I graduated and got into practice, in about three years 
 I was a delegate to the New York State Medical Society. The 
 first thing I did was to introduce a series of resolutions that the 
 term of medical education ought to be extended to not less than 
 six months, at least, and the course of instruction should be 
 graded. I was criticised for this, and the resolutions were 
 promptly laid on the table. The gentleman who made the mo- 
 tion to lay the resolutions on the table happened to be a professor 
 in the medical school from which I graduated. There was one 
 man there who seconded the resolutions that were laid on the 
 table. I hunted him out, and had an earnest conversation with 
 him regarding the resolutions, and I said something to the effect 
 that if this was the way they were going to serve any measures 
 that I might bring' before the convention, I should not travel by 
 old-fashioned stage coaches from Binghamton to Albany many 
 times to attend an association on such a basis. The professor, 
 who introduced the resolutions, had heard the substance of our 
 conversation, and after he had taken his dinner and the associa- 
 tion reconvened, he moved to take the resolutions from oft' 
 the table. This permitted one hour's discussion, and by means 
 of this discussion we gained time enough to have them referred 
 to a committee and to postpone the resolutions for renewed dis- 
 cussion until the following year. The next year we discussed 
 them again, and the fight was continued until it amounted to 
 this, that we were having a standard of education in New York 
 as high as it was in any other medical college in the United 
 States, and that if we undertook to make a six months' term, 
 
I08 THE TESTIMONIAL BANQUET OF OCT. 5, I9OI 
 
 graded courses, the only effect would be to send students to 
 Boston on the one hand, and to Philadelphia on the other, and 
 we would benefit nobody. But how were we to get out of this? 
 If one state can not move a peg without the rest, let us have 
 the rest, and a resolution was adopted to have a national meet- 
 ing of all the institutions for that purpose. The resolution was 
 seconded, and after a minute or two of silence, and a little 
 laughter, it was easy for them to see that Davis did not want 
 to fool away his time, and they said let him work. And so 
 they passed the resolution for a national convention and ap- 
 pointed me chairman of the committee to carry it out. I did 
 carry it out, and the result you know. I do not need to tell 
 3-0U about it; you know it; that is the secret of the story. It 
 was not my planning; it was simply done on the principle of 
 doing right and sticking to the right whenever an opportunity 
 occurs. It is just so in regard to introducing any other thing 
 that I have helped. It is simply the opportunit3^ I go into 
 it, and I know no other way to accomplish it. I have no con- 
 trivance about it. It is simply to do what comes before me, 
 and do it with all my heart. I don't want to make any half- 
 way work of it. Dr. Billings has said that when I took hold 
 of a thing I never let loose. Why should I? My old friend, 
 A. B. Palmer, said once that I had been harping at the same 
 thing for twenty years. M}^ only answer to him was, 'If it is 
 rig^ht and will benefit mankind, harp on it not only twent}-, but 
 forty years, until it is done.' 
 
 ''My friends, I don't want to tire you by reciting details. 
 Please accept my most cordial thanks for this demonstration. 
 It will probably be the last time I shall have an opportunity 
 to address you. But if you want to promote harmony, cor- 
 diality, advancement ; if you want to build up, stop pulling 
 down anybody. Never pull down, but build up, and if your 
 neighbor does not do as you think he ought to do, talk about 
 his good qualities, and let his bad ones go. You will soon es- 
 tablish harmony; you will soon have cordiality; you will have 
 3'our own heart free, and your conscience will be right before 
 your God. You will have neither enemies here nor hereafter. 
 I know no enemies to-night ; I have no enmities ; I am satisfied 
 with life. 
 
 "I am sometimes lonesome because I so rarely meet one of 
 my early comrades — lonesome because they are gone. But I am 
 
THE TESTIMONIAL BAXOUET OF OCT. =,, iqOl I09 
 
 going to join them before long. I do not expect to tan"\- a 
 great while. But I have no care about that. I live so that I 
 am ready each day to g'o. I have no settlements to make ; I 
 have no great fortune to give away ; I have got enough for my 
 comforts, enough to clothe and feed me as long as I live. That 
 is all I want. I would not die worth a hundred millions of 
 dollars ; I should be afraid I had not done my duty." 
 
 Of course it will be remembered that Dr. Davis' remarks 
 were wholly extemporaneous, no notes whatever being used by 
 him. 
 
 Dr. Charles A. L. Reed, of Cincinnati, was then introduced, 
 and responded to the toast, "The American Physician." 
 Born to carve his name 
 Upon the highest pinnacle of fame. 
 
 Dr. Reed said in part: "It is appropriate that the American 
 physician should be toasted at this festal board, around which 
 are gathered from all parts of the great republic, American 
 physicians who have come to honor one of their most dis- 
 tinguished and venerable living colleagues. To me has been 
 assigned the pleasant task of responding to this toast. That 
 duty would be easily discharged if T were simply to speak of 
 the ideal characteristics of the American physician ; for if I 
 were to thus confine my remarks and speak only of birth, of 
 education, of scientific attainments, of the lofty ideals of char- 
 acter, of the exemplification of Christian virtue, it would be 
 necessary for me to only stand mutely in your presence and 
 point to the distinguished guest of the evening. It may, how- 
 ever, be appropriate for us to consider the American physician 
 from a concrete standpoint. If we were to consider him from 
 his starting point, we must recognize the xA-merican physician 
 at the time when the American physician was not an American 
 physician. When, in other words, he was a distinct European 
 product, practicing medicine upon the Western Continent. 
 This was true in our Colonial period, but with the birth of 
 nationality, there was also the birth of the American physician, 
 and the establishment of the medical school in the United 
 States was an associated incident of the creation of the Ameri- 
 can physician. But the primitive medical school of America, 
 like the original physician that stood as the type of the 
 faculty of that institution, was largely of exotic origin. We 
 devoted ourselves at that time to the teaching of science as it 
 had been discovered, taught and amplified in foreign countries. 
 
no THE TESXmOXIAL LAXOL'ET OF OCT. 5, I9OI 
 
 English influence was dominant : French influence was pro- 
 nounced ; German influence had no footing at that time in 
 America. But with the succeeding generations, the American 
 physician became an estabhshed fact, a product of our schools, 
 and we found him exemplifying, even in that early day, those 
 attributes which have characterized the practitioner of medi- 
 cine of this continent — independence of thought, independence 
 of action, vet always in conformity with the overriding, over- 
 powering influence of law, not statutory law, of which there 
 was none, but of those eternal laws that make for good, that 
 make for truth, that make for happiness. But in the carrying 
 out of these fundamental principles the American physician 
 early dethroned personal authority and became an actor upon 
 a scale of independence that has but rarely characterized the 
 profession in other countries. . . . American medicine has 
 added to the great sum of our knowledge. Science has been 
 evolved by those practitioners in the remoter districts and towns. 
 McDowell, in his little village in Kentucky ; Sims, in the little 
 town in Alabama : Battey. in the little village in Georgia ; AA'ells, 
 with his anesthesia in the little town of Xew Haven — all of 
 them far removed from the influence of the schools — brought 
 to the light of humanit_\- those great truths which have done so 
 much to relieve suflrering humanity and to prolong human life.'' 
 After referring to the struggle of physicians in the early days. 
 Dr. Reed concluded as follov.'s: "But little needs to be said 
 for the American physician ; from seaboard to seaboard, from 
 lake to gulf, in everv hamlet, he ministers to stricken humanity, 
 and let me venture the belief that the .\merican physician in the 
 aggregate, wherever found, is actuated largely by those same 
 motives, by those same deeply-rooted sentiments that Dr. Davis 
 imbibed at the bedside of his dying mother. Let us, therefore, 
 with all honor speak, not egotistically of ourselves, but of that 
 great, typical character that we are constantly endeavoring to 
 emulate, the American physician, than whom there stands before 
 the American public, there stands before the world, no more 
 distinguished or worthy exemplar than Xathan Smith Davis." 
 (Loud and prolonged applause.) 
 
 Dr. Donald ^Maclean, of Detroit. ]\Iich., responded to the 
 toast, "'International Medicine." 
 
 For the whole world is a stage — 
 
 Let us hear of the acting. 
 
THE TESTIMONIAL T.ANOUET OF OCT. 5, I9OI III 
 
 He said he felt it was a great privilege to be present and 
 take part in the exercises of the evening, and to pay his respects 
 to his old and venerable and highly-respected friend, Dr. Davis. 
 (Applause.) The subject of international medicine was one 
 that reminded him of the lines written by one of the profes- 
 -sion, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, who said : 
 
 ''As Life's unending column pours, 
 
 Two marshaled hosts are seen — 
 
 Two armies on the trampled shores 
 
 That Death flows back between. 
 
 One marches to the drum-beat's roll. 
 
 The wide-mouthed clarion's bray. 
 
 And bears upon a crimson scroll, 
 
 'Our glory is to slay.' 
 
 One moves in silence by the stream. 
 
 With sad, yet watchful eyes, 
 
 Calm, as the patient planet's gleam 
 
 That walks the clouded skies. 
 
 Along its front no sabres shine. 
 
 No blood-red pennons wave ; 
 
 Its banner bears the single line, 
 
 'Our duty is to save.' " 
 He thought the above verses represented truly and fairly 
 international medicine. The profession could never repay Dr. 
 Davis, nor individually express their gratitude for what he had 
 -done, and we could say with the poet, Burns: 
 ""The bridegroom may forget the bride whom he's to wed; 
 The monarch may forget his crown ; 
 The mother may forget the child that smiles so sweetly on her 
 
 knee ; 
 But I remember thee, Glencairn, and all that thou has done for 
 me." 
 Reminiscences of Dr. Davis were related by Drs. John H. 
 Hollister, Frank X. Waxhain, Norman Bridge, and Edmund 
 iVndrews. 
 
 The toast, "Western Medicine," was responded to by Dr. 
 Archibald Church, who, among other things, said: "We do 
 not, for a moment, think of Trousseau as hampered by the walls 
 of Paris; or Sydenham confined by the geography of London; 
 nor Graves hampered by the purlieus of Dublin ; or Flint cooped 
 -up in the Island of Manhattan; nor is Davis limited to the con- 
 
112 THE TESTIMONIAL BANQUET OF OCT. 5, I9OI 
 
 fines of the city of Chicago. It is our privilege to-night; it is 
 the privilege of the profession of America — nay, more, it is the 
 privilege of the profession of the entire world — to read in the 
 galaxy of clinical masters the name of Nathan Smith Davis." 
 
 (Loud applause.) 
 
 Dr. Mctor C. Vaughan, of Ann Arbor, Mich., responded to 
 the toast, "Medical Education." 
 
 "Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers." 
 
 How, then, can best be told 
 "The fairy tales of science, and the long 
 Result of time?" 
 
 ]\Iedical education in this countr}', even at its best, is in 
 a somewhat chaotic state. He had heard a great deal about 
 the elective system in medical education, by which the student 
 was allowed to select courses and take them in whatever man- 
 ner he chose. Most of the leading literary colleges in this coun- 
 try had adopted the elective system ; some of the medical col- 
 leges had also adopted it. He thought it was in consonance with 
 American ways, namely, that every young man should have his 
 choice, and that the man beginning the study of medicine had 
 more wisdom than the man who taught it. After referring 
 to the advantages and disadvantages of the elective system of 
 medical education, the peroration of Dr. Vaughan was as fol- 
 lows : "Honored and Most Worthy Guest : AVe come together 
 to-night from near and from afar to give to you some outward 
 token of our honor and esteem, and we have for you, who to- 
 night has been fittingly called the Nestor of American Medi- 
 cine, the greatest of respect. For more than threescore years 
 you have labored diligently, worthily and successfully in our 
 profession. Your life has been to us both an example and in- 
 spiration. To many here to-night and t,o thousands of others 
 scattered over this broad country you haA^e been a beloved 
 teacher and an admired master. To all of us you have been 
 and are still a respected older brother, and an honored friend. 
 Your words have always fallen upon grateful ears ; your deeds 
 have ever been witnessed by approving eyes, and your friend- 
 ship is cherished in many a loving heart. In our busy adminis- 
 trations to the sick; in our ceaseless search for truth in the 
 laboratory, we seldom have the opportunity of expressing our 
 appreciation for one another. But so great and so helpful has 
 been the service that you have rendered to us, your younger 
 
THE TESTIMONIAL BANQUET OF OCT. 5, I9OI II3 
 
 iDrothers, that to-night we have come, la3'ing- aside our daily 
 tasks, to offer to you a tribute of our love and admiration. Life 
 is a mystery which it has not been given to man to solve. We 
 know not whence we came, nor can we name the land to which 
 we journey. But we do know, that he who lends a helping hand 
 to his fellow-men, as we travel along life's dusty and stony path- 
 way, is a benefactor of his race. 
 
 "There is a Hindu legend which accounts for the origin of 
 our profession in something like the following manner: An 
 intelligent Indian prince in the time long ago sought one of the 
 most renowned temples of Buddha, and prostrating himself* 
 upon the floor he prayed fervently and said, 'How can I best 
 serve my Maker?' As he lay prostrate on the floor he felt a . 
 touch upon his shoulder as lig'ht as that of a babe, and he heard 
 a silvery voice, saying, 'Arise !' He arose, and there stood be- 
 fore him a beautiful angel, who said: 'Dost thou serve thy 
 God ? And he replied, 'Yes.' 'Then, go serve thy fellow-man ; 
 administer to the sick, heal the afflicted; help those who are 
 in distress.' And thus the medical profession had its origin. 
 Our worthy guest to-night is almost an ideal of that Indian 
 prince of whom this legend tells. May he have many worthy 
 successors." 
 
 Dr. Hobart A. Hare, of Philadelphia, responded to the toast, 
 "Literary Medicine." 
 
 The last discovered fact; 
 
 The winnowed grain of thought. 
 
 Vividly portrayed in undying characters 
 
 By the art Divine. 
 He said that as he sat at the table this evening he could not 
 help thinking that he, one of the youngest, if not the youngest 
 speaker to-night, should bring from the effete East a graceful 
 tribute of admiration to the honored guest of the evening. He 
 thought it was a triumph for the so-called Western profession, 
 which, after all, was not the Western profession of the United 
 States, for the reason that every portion of this great country 
 had sent by mail or by wire and by personal representation 
 some one who bore a portion at least of the loving cup to Dr. 
 Davis. 
 
 Speaking to the toast, "Literary Medicine," he said that there 
 ^was far more in it than some thought. It enabled the mem- 
 bers of the medical profession to compare notes and ideas. It 
 
114 THE TESTIMONIAL BANQUET OF OCT. 5, IQOI 
 
 improved the culture of men who wrote articles, and it im- 
 proved the culture and learning- of those, as a rule, who read 
 those articles, but not always. In The Journal of the Ameri- 
 can Medical Association we had a great exemplar of what 
 literary medicine should be. Literary medicine was in close 
 touch with medical education. It taught a large body of medi- 
 cal men to be general practitioners, and not to start out as spe- 
 cialists as soon as they had graduated. A great trouble with the 
 medical profession of to-day is that there are too many men 
 going into specialties because they knew nothing about ordinary 
 medicine. Some one had well said: "I sought Happiness, and 
 she constantly fled before me; weary, I turned to Duty's path, 
 and Happiness sought me.'' It seemed to the speaker that Dr. 
 Davis was a conspicuous example of that phrase. . . . We- 
 honor Dr. Davis because he represents to us professional 
 ethics ; because he represents to us duty well done ; because he- 
 represents to us that greatest of all things, a great teacher ; more- 
 than this, he carries with him, day by day, the thoughts of the- 
 minds and hearts of many more than are assembled here to- 
 night, and he feels in his inner consciousness that he has 
 achieved some things of which not only he is proud, but we 
 are proud, and the American medical profession is proud. And 
 therefore I repeat, as the representative of the so-called efifete 
 East, which has gained so much from the brawn and sinew of 
 the mighty West, I come to-night to lay before you in your- 
 presence the loving tribute of our Eastern profession. 
 
 Dr. Edwin Ricketts, of Cincinnati, after referring to the- 
 good qualities of Dr. Davis, expressed the hope that he might- 
 yet be spared to see many years. 
 
 The last toast was responded to by Dr. Robert H. Babcock,. 
 of Cbicago, it being, "The Physician in Pubhc Affairs." 
 
 "For who is better fitted to study and correct the pathologic 
 body politic?" 
 
 The speaker thought it was strange that physicians should 
 be loth to enter politics lest they became defiled thereby, but 
 he held that there was no class of individuals in the community 
 who were so suitable to engage in public affairs as physicians. 
 In the words of the toast, "Who is so suitable to study and cor- 
 rect the pathologic body politic?" Let the physician enter the 
 field of politics, that he may curette away the i>art that is rotten. 
 There was an ample field for the influence of medical men in 
 
THE 'JEST-'MONIAL I!AN(jL"E'|- OK OC'l'. 5, I'jOi: II5 
 
 a quiet way in political campaigns. We bad an example of 
 this in Kentucky, where the physicians throughout the State, 
 by exerting their influence in a quiet way u])on the i);i]iticians 
 of the State, had rendered it impossible for a quack to prac- 
 tice or to advertise in the State of Kentucky. All honor to 
 the State of Kentucky. He said we bad among us some mem- 
 bers of the medical profession who were engaged in political 
 matters for the purpose of bringing about proper legislation 
 along the right lines to curtail the so-called practice of medi- 
 cine by quacks, charlatans, faith-healers, etc. There was ample 
 room for the influence of physicians. But even if the physician 
 had some ambition to hold office, it was right that he should, 
 provided that his motives were pure. Physicians were needed 
 in legislatures, not to support anti-vivisection laws, like Senator 
 Gallinger, but to fight anti-vivisection laws, to fight anti-vaccina- 
 tion laws, and to obtain legislation for the benefit of public 
 health. Perhaps the most brilliant example of the physician in 
 politics is Rudolph Virchow. What shall we say of our great 
 American physician, Benjamin Rush? He was not only a great 
 physician, but he was a member of the Continental Congress, 
 and chairman of the committee appointed to consider the ex- 
 pediency of the Declaration of Independence. He had the honor 
 of reporting favorably upon the Declaration, and it is thoueht 
 that many of the phrases used in the Declaration of Independence 
 emanated from Rush. Had he not won undying renown as a 
 physician, he would have been immortal as a signer of the Dec- 
 laration of Independence. The speaker said that there had been 
 Dthers and were others to-day who were engaged in public aflrairs 
 not only with credit to themselves, but with honor to the medi- 
 cal profession, and to the welfare of their State. Some of these 
 occupied comparatively insignificant positions, perhaps, but thev 
 were doing good work. 
 
 Dr. Babcock, after referring to the good work that had been 
 done by Dr. Davis in public afifairs, concluded by saying: "As 
 an alumnus of the old Chicago Medical College, I call on ^ou 
 to rise, and, in that beverage which Dr. Davis loves and has 
 continued to pledge his life, drink to his health." 
 
 At this juncture the entire audience arose, put the glasses to 
 their lips, and, after the following sentiment expressed by Dr. 
 Davis, drank to his health: "Pure water, Nature's universal 
 aseptic ; it disorders no man's brain ; it fills no asylums or 
 
Il6 THE TESimOXIAL TIAXOUET OF OCT. 5, I9OI 
 
 prisons; it begets no anarchy, but it sparkles in the dew-drop, 
 it glows in the peaceful rainbow, and flows in the river of life 
 close bv the throne of God. Let us take it, not only as guests 
 here, but for the whole profession of America."" 
 
 ^lanv highly complimentary letters were read from members 
 of the profession not able to attend. 
 
 The audience then arose and sang '•Auld Lang Syne." 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Religious and Church Life; Last Days. 
 
 On his mother's side, Nathan Smith Davis was a "hereditary" Chris- 
 tian. We have already spoken of that pathetic death-bed scene, when his 
 dying mother charged him to "be a good boy and read the Bible," and wc 
 have had occasion to observe, again and again, how deeply these solemn 
 words impressed the child, then but seven years old, and how closely he fol- 
 lowed the maternal injunction in after life. It seems very clear, from all 
 the information obtainable, that young Davis' mother was not only a deeply 
 religious woman, but also a woman of more than ordinary abihty, and that 
 she was largely blessed with the supreme gift of "common sense," an en- 
 dowment which young Nathan had the happiness to inherit, in large de- 
 gree. 
 
 Just how he passed his early childhood we do not certainly know, nor 
 do we know what religious iufluences may, or may not, have been thrown 
 around him during those early years, but when he was sixteen years of 
 age, he attended a single term of the Cazenovia Academy, an excellent 
 school, under the care of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In those days 
 the denominational schools, and especially those schools which were under 
 the charge of the "EvangeHcal" churches, made strenuous efforts to secure 
 the "conversion" of their students, and their enrollment as members of the 
 church with which the school was affiliated. It is very probable that young 
 Davis may have been persuaded to embrace the Christian religion formally, 
 after his arrival at Cazenovia, but we have no evidence on that point, pro 
 or con. But the whole atmosphere of the school was a religious one, au'l 
 the doctrine of, and necessity for "experimental" religion, was insisted upon 
 with far more emphasis than it is at the present day. 
 
 But whatever the explanation may be, it is certain that our Cazenovia 
 student joined the Methodist Episcopal Church at that place, and that he 
 remained an active member of that denomination through his entire life. 
 When he went to Binghamton to practice medicine, he transferred his 
 membership to the Methodist Church in that town ; when he went from 
 Binghamton to New York City, with the expectation of spending his days 
 there, he transferred his church membership to New York. When, in 
 1849, he removed his residence to Chicago, he at once joined the First 
 
Il8 RELIGIOUS AXD CHURCH LIFE; LAST DAYS 
 
 Alethodist Church of Chicago, at tlie southeast corner of Clark and Wash- 
 ington streets, as his residence was then adjacent to that church. .-V few 
 vears later he removed to \A'abash avenue near the Wabash Avenue }detho- 
 dist Church, which he joined by transfer from the First Church. After 
 a few more years, he transferred his residence and church membership to 
 Evanston, and lastly when he returned to the city, and took up his residence 
 on the North Side of Chicago, he brought his church letter and joined the 
 Grace ^I. E. Church, of which he was a member until he joined the Church 
 Triumphant, from whence no one has ever been known to ask for a trans- 
 fer. Such are the cold and formal facts in regard to Dr. Davis' church 
 membership, covering a period of 70 vears, but they tell nothing in regard 
 to his religious life, its activities, its self-denials, its philanthropies, and, 
 above all, its deep, although undemonstrative, spiritual experiences. 
 
 Christianity assumes different types or forms in different individuals. 
 Some Christians have deeply emotional lachrymal glands, but very unsym- 
 pathetic check books ; others are quite accessible by the check book route, 
 but have no use for the church or its institutions ; others are profoundly 
 stirred over the miseries of the heathen of Borrioboola-Gha, but are quite 
 oblivious of the weak and hungry orphans under their very noses, and there 
 are plenty of putative Christians who "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep 
 it holy," but are very unholy from ]\Ionday morning till Saturday night. 
 Dr. Davis belonged to none of these classes : his v.'hole life was a religious 
 life, but it was an every-day religion that did not wilt or wither when ex- 
 posed to the attrition of daily contact with the world and its people. It 
 did not require the stimulus of a periodical "revivar' to keep his religion 
 from dying of inanition. He was neither subject to spiritual plethora or 
 spiritual anaemia. He was eminently successful as a Sunday School teacher, 
 especially during his residence in Evanston, where university and theological 
 students flock from all parts of the country It used to be the special de- 
 light of these bright and scholarly yotmg men to get themselves enrolled 
 in Dr. Davis' Sunday School class, and I have been told that he had at 
 one time the largest Bible class that was ever gathered in Evanston, a place 
 so famous for its students of Biblical lore. I have also been informed that 
 his knowledge of the scriptures, and especially of the Old Testament canon, 
 was singularly broad and comprehensive. Of course, if he tried expotmding 
 the Bible at all, it need not be said that it was done exhaustive!}' and 
 thoroughly. The admirable address of the late Bishop Alerrill at the Mem- 
 orial Service noted elsewhere* gives a thorough analysis of Dr. Davis' re- 
 ligious belief, and it may be regarded as authoritative, as the Bishop knew 
 him intimatelv. 
 
 A^ide Chapter XV. 
 
RELIGIOUS AND CHURCH LIFE; LAST DAVS II9 
 
 The benevolent enterprises of the clnn-cli, Ijdth liome anrl foreign, re- 
 ceived his systematic support, for Dr. Davis' "conversion"' inckuled his head, 
 his heart and his pocket. 
 
 It is hard to frame a just estimate of such a Christian, for language 
 has its limits, and the mind of man soon gets beyond its depth, when it tries 
 to measure the possibilities of the soul of man ; but there is something won- 
 derfully inspiring and exalting in the contemplation of the calm, constant, 
 unswerving Christian life of Dr. X. S. Davis. 
 
 With the close of the final session of the iiftieth anniversary of the 
 American Medical Association in Philadelphia in ]\'[ay, 1897 — the so-called 
 "Jubilee Meeting" — Dr. Davis' public life practically came to an end. He 
 was then eighty years old, and the infirmities incident to age were creeping 
 upon him. He returned to Chicago, resumed his office practice, but prac- 
 tically withdrew from public life, and to a large extent from active life. 
 He made three or four brief extemporaneous addresses, like the one de- 
 livered at a complimentary banc[uet and printed in a preceding chapter, 
 but his activities were mainly confined to his office, and an occasional lec- 
 ture before the students of the Northwestern University Medical School. 
 In June, 1898, he sent in his resignation as Dean of the Medical School. 
 and thereafter sustained an "emeritus" relation only, so that he could be 
 relieved of the active work. About this time he tried to resign his position 
 as Senior Physician to Mercy Hospital, but as Sister-vSuperior Raphael says, 
 "I would not let him." Most of us teachers of a bygone age had easier 
 times resigning our positions than did Dr. Davis. Oliver Wendell Holmes 
 said somewhere that "to take things easy is one of the prerogatives of old 
 age," and this is just what Dr. Davis did, comparatively speaking, but in 
 that sense only. As compared with the intense activity which characterized 
 nearly all his life, his last three or four years might seem like "taking things 
 easy" ; but as compared with the lives of most post-octogenarians, his life 
 would not conform to the ideal of the genial Autocrat of the Breakfast 
 Table. 
 
 The venerable doctor was a very much respected — nay, revered — man 
 in Chicago during his last few years. His neat, trim but quaint figure al- 
 ways attracted notice, and he was slyly pointed out to strangers, as he 
 took his daily walk to and from his office. Always dressed in sober black, 
 inseparable from his old-fashioned "dress" coat, and tall silk hat — the coat 
 and hat of the "gentleman" of by-gone days — he was a character and a per- 
 sonality to attract notice and command respect. 
 
 As he looked back over his long and busy life ; as he surveyed his work 
 and its splendid results; as the retrospect of his frequent and sturdy con- 
 tests in the interests of higher education of medical students, and of pure 
 
120 
 
 RELIGIOUS AXD CHURCH LIFE ; LAST DAYS 
 
 morals, and of religion "pure and undefiled,'' and in uncompromising op- 
 position to alcohol in all its forms, did there ever appear before him the 
 figure of the lonely little boy, and the gloomy log house, and the environing 
 
 
 The last picture of Dr. Davis, taken in 1904 a few weeks 
 before his death. • 
 
 forest, where this venerable and venerated man began his heroic and won- 
 derful career? 
 
 On Saturday, June 4, 1904, Dr. Davis went to his office at his regular 
 time, and in apparently his usual health; he attended to his patients until 
 
RELIGIOUS AND CHURCH LIFE; LAST DAYS 121 
 
 the last one had been received and dismissed, and then slowly walked to 
 his residence, on Huron street, for the last time. The "harp of a thousand 
 strings" could be kept "in tune" no longer. The weary heart faltered in 
 its work, after nearly ninety years of unintermitting service ; the circulation 
 gradually failed, respiration became difficult, a short period of angina pec- 
 toris, reHeved in great measure by chloroform and morphia, and the end 
 came on the morning of Thursday, June i6, 1904, after about ten days of 
 the uneventful decline of what it is entirely correct and proper to call a 
 normal and perfectly healthy senility. The vital organism was exhausted ; 
 Dr. Davis' work was done. 
 
 The span of his earthly life was eighty-seven years, five months and 
 seven days. What of his future? 
 
 "Death cannot claim the immortal mind. 
 Let earth close o'er its sacred trust, 
 Yet goodness dies not in the dust." 
 
 His funeral occurred On Saturday, June 19, 1904, at the family resi- 
 dence, 291 Huron street, Chicago. The services, which were brief and 
 simple, were in charge of Rev. John Thompson, pastor of Grace Methodist 
 Episcopal Church of Chicago, of which Dr. Davis was an active and loyal 
 member. The honorary pall-bearers were: Drs. John Hamilcar Hollister, 
 William E. Quine, John E. Owens, Emilius C. Dudley, Frank Billings, 
 Frank S. Johnson, (all colleagues or former colleagues of Dr. Davis in 
 the faculty of Northwestern University Medical School), and Messrs. Wil- 
 liam Deering, Frank C. Crandon and James B. Hobbs, fellow trustees of 
 Northwestern University, and intimate friends of the deceased. The active 
 pall-bearers were: Drs. J. D. Kales, W. R. Kales, Albert M. Kales, Frances 
 H. Kales, Frank H. Davis and J. Dorr Bradley, all grandsons of the doctor. 
 
 There was no music, and the whole service, to which only family friends 
 and the intimate professional and other associates of Dr. Davis were invited, 
 was simple in the extreme. In fact, the funeral services over the remains 
 of Dr. Davis, were emblematic of the man, entirely devoid of ceremony or 
 ritualistic elaboration. At the conclusion of the service, the remains were 
 conveyed to the beautiful necropolis of Rose Hill, and the words of the 
 preacher were again fulfilled, "the dust returneth to the earth as it was, 
 and the spirit returneth unto God, who gave it." 
 
 The death of Dr. Davis was no occasion for mourning or sadness. It 
 was rather the occasion for the outpouring of gratitude and congratulation 
 on the part of his surviving brethren of the medical profession, that a 
 character so perfect and faultless, and that an intellect of such grand pro- 
 
122 RELIGIOUS AXD CHURCH LIFE; LAST DAYS 
 
 portions, had adorned and honored the profession throng^h a life so long and 
 fruitful. 
 
 The farewell declaration of the Great Apostle to the Gentiles would 
 have been equally appropriate from the lips of the Great Apostle of educa- 
 tional and temperance reform: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished 
 m\' course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a 
 crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me 
 in that day." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Memorial Service. 
 
 On the afternoon of Sunday, October 23, 1904, the Chicago Medical 
 Society held a memorial service in Powers' Theater, Chicago, in respectful 
 remembrance of an aged, honored, but departed member of the society, Dr, 
 N. S. Davis. He was one of the founders, was the oldest member at the 
 time of his death, and was chiefly instrumental in keeping the organization 
 alive for a considerable time following the great fire of 1871. For well- 
 nigh half a century he had attended its meetings. with remarkable regularity, 
 had been its President, and v;as constantly consulted as to the management 
 and policy of the society. He had furnished several papers of great value, 
 and was a regular and active participant in the discussions of the varioui 
 subjects which came before its meetings. No member of the Chicago 
 Medical Society was ever more universally beloved and respected than Dr. 
 Davis. It was peculiarly fitting and appropriate, therefore, that the medi- 
 cal profession of Chicago and vicinity, as embodied in the Chicago Medical 
 Society, should pay the highest honors, and the deepest respect, to this, their 
 most eminent member, now no more. 
 
 The memorial service v\as deeply impressive. A large audience gath- 
 ered, and it was a representative audience. All classes were mere ; nil 
 professions were there ; in fact, it was a spontaneous outpouring of respect 
 and homage from the people, to the great man they had known so long and 
 well. 
 
 But the gathering of the professional brethren of the deceased was a 
 remarkable feature. They were there in great numbers, not as mourners; 
 there was no occasion for mourning ; true an elder brother had fallen, full 
 of years, full of honors, but he had left a great name and a spotless char- 
 acter, and the occasion was rather one for rejoicing and thanksgiving, than 
 for gloom and sadness. 
 
 The services were simple, but singularly apt and appropriate. There 
 were two great addresses, each one by a great and deservedly eminent man. 
 The first one was by that justly and highly respected prelate, Rev. John 
 Lancaster Spalding, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria, on 
 "The Physician's Calling and Education," which we reproduce entire, ex- • 
 cept in so far as it relates to personal and historical matter, which appear in 
 earlier chapters. The address is as follows : 
 
24 MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 I have hope and wish that the nobler sort of physicians will 
 advance their thoughts, and not employ their time wholly in the 
 sordidness of cures ; neither be honored for necessity only ; but 
 that they will b)ecome coadjutors and instruments of the divine 
 omnipotence and clemency in prolonging and renewing the life of 
 man. — Bacon. 
 
 Love for true, wase and heroic men and women is part of our 
 love of life, which is a craving for more perfect and abundant 
 life. They show us how blessed a thing it is to be a genuine man. 
 They confirm our faith in the worth and sacredness of conscious 
 existence, and make our standards of value real and palpable. 
 They convince us that within and beneath and beyond all that 
 appears is the creative Spirit who knows and loves and is good. 
 They make it plain that he has not lost his cunning, but is still 
 with us as he was with our fathers of old. They give us confi- 
 dence that life shall not be emptied of its spiritual content : that 
 a race which has learned to believe and hope, to think and do, 
 can not descend into the sloughs of sensual indulgence and there 
 lie in brutish indifference. What no one has done we imagine 
 can never be done, and these sages and heroes reveal to us new 
 possibilities. AA'hen they appear a new quality of life dift'uses 
 itself. They may do what all the world is doing, but it is not the 
 same. They breathe a purer air, they are uplifted and borne on 
 by higher thoughts and diviner impulses ; they need not money 
 nor recognition nor any kind of worldly success to make them 
 cur benefactors and masters. In their presence financiers, in- 
 ventors and battle-winners dwindle. These deal with life's cir- 
 cumstances ; they drink at the eternal fountain-head. ^Mental and 
 moral force, like the physical, propagates itself, and the influence 
 of the wise and good is transmitted to ever-enlarging circles. To 
 hear of great achievements is to feel a new" impulse to fresh 
 resolve. We gain from them a higher conception of the meaning 
 of life, and of the marvels that lie within the reach of whoever 
 has faith -and industry. So a noble man, though dead, still lives 
 for those w^ho knew him or get tidings of him, and he is often 
 more helpful so, than when he moved in todily presence. So 
 long as there are those who meditate and love the lives of noble 
 and just men, the race of noble and just men can not perish. 
 
 Thanks to God- who makes us and to the human heart by 
 w^hich we live, such men are found everywhere. Neither learning 
 nor wealth nor high place is required that they may exist. Their 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICE [2; 
 
 power springs from within where great thoughts, high aims and 
 loving dispositions are horn and nourished. They may or may 
 not have genius or fame. They may dwell in solitude or mingle 
 with the restless crowds that pour through the thoroughfares of 
 populous cities ; they may he of exalted or of humble birth ; they 
 may follow the plow or sway the minds of listening multitudes. 
 . Their worth lies in themselves — in the spirit in which they act — 
 and not in the circumstances by which they are environed. What- 
 ever their worldly fortune, they are true to their deepest insight, 
 pure in mind and heart, modest, unenvious, free from vanity, 
 from the desire to shine and to become a theme for idle tongues, 
 consenting to be made conspicuous only at the command of duty, 
 happy in the good they can do, not in the praise or the money 
 they receive, holding themselves aloof from controversy and in- 
 trigue, intent on their own improvement and that of the environ- 
 ment in which their lot is cast, and rejoicing when leisure is given 
 them to take refuge from the cares and labors their business or 
 profession involves and imposes in the solitude and obscurity 
 where best opportunity is afforded to grow in wisdom and in 
 freedom. 
 
 Thoughts like these spring unbidden when we turn to the 
 character and w^ork of him to do honor to whose memory we 
 have come together. He was fortunate in the circumstances of 
 his life, but more fortunate in having within himself something- 
 higher and worthier than circumstances can provide. He was 
 one of the happy and hardy band who are born where Nature 
 holds her primal sway and challenges the soul to become itself; 
 who from their earliest days are brought face to face with what 
 is great and abiding, with the solid earth and the heavens made 
 glorious by the rising and setting sun or beautiful by the waxing^ 
 or waning moon, or sublime and awful by the intermingling mys- 
 tic light of countless stars ; who dwell with the changing seasons, 
 until all their thoughts and dreams are enriched and colored by 
 the radiance and freshness of spring, by the abounding- fragrant; 
 wealth of summer, by autumn's splendor and tranquillitv, and 
 by winter's white purity and crisp energy; who, felling trees or 
 feeding kine, store for themselves a treasure-house of courage 
 'and firm resolve whence they may draw rich nourishment through 
 all the coming years of toil and struggle. There is iron in their 
 blood and the full, deep throb of conquering strength in their 
 pulse-beat. ThroAvn back on Nature and on themselves, they 
 
126 MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 are made aware of the almightiness of God revealing itself iti 
 both. It is he who, tossing the celestial orbs, as a child its toys, 
 bids them spin forever in abyssal space; it is he who lifts the 
 oceans on high and scatters them over the thirsty earth as a gar- 
 dener waters his flowers. Xo man nor all the race of man has 
 made the world in which tliese young souls live and are exalted 
 and urged to high thoughts and deeds. * '■' '■' 
 
 There is nothing in the history of the nineteenth century for 
 which we ma}- be more justly or profoundly thankful than for 
 the rapid and wonderful advance made in the knowledge of the 
 causes and cures of disease. From the time men began to think, 
 they began to consider how sickness and death might be, if not 
 overcome, at least mitigated or postponed; nor was their think- 
 ing altogether vain or profitless. The Egyptians and the He- 
 brews, stiL more the Greeks and the Romans, arrived at some 
 insight into the laws of iiealth and the treatment of disease. 
 Hippocrates and Galen are great names, but their value for us 
 is historic, not scientific. Hippocrates was born 4C0 years before 
 Christ, and from that date to about the middle of the nineteenth 
 century there was relatively but little progress in medicine. Here 
 and there, indeed, we meet with ph3-sicians or surgeons of spe- 
 cial ability or skill. Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the 
 blood in the seventeenth century was important. Sydenham, by 
 his insistence on the necessity of careful observation and on the 
 healing power of Nature, rendered valuable service. In the 
 eighteenth century Boerhaave, whose famfe was probably greater 
 than that of any physician who has ever lived, whose attainments 
 were as surpassing as his character was benevolent and pure, 
 contributed nothing of an essential importance to the sgience of 
 medicine. 
 
 The most important contribution to medical progr.ess in the 
 eighteenth centur}- w"as made by Jenner. when, in 1796, he intro- 
 duced vaccination as a prevention of smallpox; for he not only 
 discovered the means by which one of the worst scourges has 
 been practical! v eliminated, but he opened the paths along which 
 the most wonderful advance has been made, ^^llen -Dr. John 
 Hunter, whose pupil he was, said to him, "Do not think, investi- 
 gate !" he announced the opening of a new era in medical his- 
 tory. The starting point was the systematic employment of sci- 
 entific methods of research. Experiment as the best means of 
 arrivingf at accurate knowledge is not a discoverv of the nine- 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICE 12^ 
 
 teenth century, but the nineteenth century provided facilities 
 and laboratories for scientific investigation, and so made it ]Jos- 
 sible for medical students to observe, analyze and determine \vith 
 precision the functions and conditions of the organs and tissues 
 of the body in liealth, their pathologic changes, the causes of dis- 
 ease and the means of prevention or cure. The result was that 
 in the nineteenth century medicine became a new science, wdiich 
 made most of what had been taught in the past a mere curiosity 
 of literature. All the vital organs, all the phenomena of life, 
 were examined in the scientific spirit, and as knowledge grew it 
 \^'as perceived that a single organ might afford sufficient matter 
 for the study of a lifetime. 
 
 Many physicians consequently limited their field of investiga- 
 tion to the diseases of special organs, or to the diseases of women 
 or of children, and to the labors of these specialists is due much 
 of the progress which has been made in the ascertainment of fact 
 and in the best methods of treatment. The greatest medical 
 triumphs were won in the realm of the infinitesimal beings that, 
 unseen, swarm and multiply v\dthin and about us ever3^where. 
 Bacteriology was born of the philosophic doubt, which for ages 
 had engaged the attention of acute minds concerning the origin 
 ■ of life. Is the living born of the dead? P'^or centuries the weight 
 of opinion had inclined to give an affirmative answer, so .far, at 
 least, as the lowest organisms are concerned. The theory of 
 .spontaneous generation prevailed far into the nineteenth century. 
 It seemed, indeed, to be an implication of the theory of evolution 
 which tended more and more to take possession of the modern 
 mind. It would have supplied the missing link in the chain of 
 causation. Hence in scientific minds there was a bias toward its 
 acceptance. It adapted itself to the pantheistic or materialistic 
 world views which were gaining wider and wider acceptance. 
 To doubt its truth was to retrograde. But the brutal fact estab- 
 lished by scientific experiment showed the hypothesis to be a de- 
 lusion, that the plain truth is that whatever has life is born of the 
 living. Pasteur, probably the greatest benefactor of the human 
 race in the nineteenth century, proved in 1861 and again in 1876. 
 that the theory of spontaneous generation is without foundation in 
 fact, and contrary to all the evidence which scientific research 
 can adduce. The consequence was that bacteriology became a 
 science, and the causes of all the phenomena, whether of health 
 -or of disease, began to be sought for in the activities of living 
 
128 MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 organisms, the smallest known, and belonging for the most part 
 to the vegetable kingdom. They upbuild and they break down all 
 the larger forms of life. They are the m.ighty armies on whose 
 banners is inscribed the axiom. "AMio despiseth small things shall 
 little by little be brought to ruin." 
 
 Bacteriology has furnished a solid basis for preventive medi- 
 cine, Avhich has conferred and is capable of conferring more and 
 more as its principles receive wider application, benefits on man- 
 kind, that make the triumphs of industrialism of minor import- 
 ance. 
 
 ]\Iore than 250 years ago, Descartes, the most original mind 
 of the modern age. who, more than any other thinker, has deter- 
 mined the course both of speculative and of scientific inquiry, 
 declared that if any great improvem.ent in the condition of man- 
 kind was to be brought about, medicine would provide the means, 
 and what he foresaw we see. The discovery that nearly all the 
 worst diseases which afflict the human race are due to the action 
 of minute organisms directed the attention of educated physi- 
 cians to the exclusion of these organisms, or, if this be impossible, 
 to investigations which should show how their baneful action 
 might be prevented. The cause which creates a disease being 
 known, the physician's business is to learn how to remove it or to 
 neutralize its effects. Bacteriology has revealed to us the infini- 
 tesimal organisms that produce many of the gravest maladies to 
 which man is subject — Asiatic cholera, diphtheria, tvphoid fever, 
 typhus fever, yellow fever, smallpox, the bubonic plague, tubercu- 
 losis, pneumonia, hydrophobia, leprosy, venereal diseases, puer- 
 peral fever and malaria. These are all germ diseases Avhich it is 
 possible to prevent or cure. Some have ceased to be a cause of 
 alarm to the civilized nations — smallpox, for instance, Asiatic 
 cholera, t3"phus fever, the bubonic plague and puerperal fever. 
 AA'hen vaccination is rightly employed, smallpox wholl}- disap- 
 pears. AA'hen filth and overcrowding are abolished, where there 
 is good sewerage and pure drinking water, typhus fever, Asiatic 
 cholera, yellow fever and diphtheria will hardly be found. The 
 bubonic plague has no terrors for the peoples of Europe and 
 America. Puerperal fever, which formerly destroyed each year 
 the most precious lives of thousands of mothers, is now almost 
 unknown, the mortality from this cause being only about .07 per 
 cent. Phvsicians themselves carrving the infectious germs from 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICE 1 29 
 
 bedside to bedside were the agents of death, which ignorant and 
 heedless physicians are always in danger of becoming. 
 
 When it became scientifically certain that many of the worst 
 diseases are produced by bacteria, it was plain that the principal 
 occupation of the physician and surgeon should be concerned 
 with the exclusion of poisonous germs or with the means by 
 which their baneful action might be suppressed. This led to the 
 employment of antiseptics and antitoxins. Tlie miracles of mod- 
 ern surgery are due not so m.uch to the superior skill of our 
 operators as to their knowledge of the means by which inflam- 
 mation and suppuration may be prevented. Sepsis is a Greek 
 word which means putrefaction, and antisepsis is the science and 
 art of preventing putrefactive processes. The appalling death 
 rate following surgical operations thirty or forty years ago, is not 
 to be ascribed to imperfect anatomic knowledge or lack of man- 
 ual skill, but to infection caused by disease-producing germs 
 which, introduced into the body by contact with the air or with 
 any object whatever, in which they had not been destroyed, mul- 
 tiply and sow the seeds of death with incredible rapidity. iVsep- 
 sis, based on the germ theory of infectious diseases^ now enables 
 the surgeon to operate with comparatively small risk in cases in 
 which formerly the dread of some form of blood poisoning de- 
 terred him from attempting to save his patient. Surgery has con- 
 sequently become a new and most beneficent art, anesthesia ren- 
 dering the operation painless, while asepsis excludes infection. 
 The progress of pathology and therapy, if less striking, is not 
 less real, and will doubtless in the next quarter of a century over- 
 shadow the triumphs of surgery. The field in which it works is 
 vaster, and its methods reach deeper, touching the roots of the 
 ills from which relief is sought. The living body has within itself 
 a greater or lesser power to resist the attacks of the foes to health, 
 and there have never been lacking practitioners or schools to 
 teach that in the treatment of disease the chief reliance is in the 
 healing force of nature. The blood and tissues, in their normal 
 state, have a germicidal efficacy which varies with the special 
 diatheses of individual constitutions. There are vigorous na- 
 tures which seem to have the power of resisting the action of all 
 poison-producing bacilli, while others afford no hold to certain 
 specific germs. In our cities the bacteria of tuberculosis, pneu- 
 monia and influenza are in the air and are inhaled by all. but 
 fortunately they find a suitable lodging place in but comparatively 
 
130 MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 few. Then there is in the blood a regular army of white cells or 
 leucocytes, whose function is to repel and destroy the intru ding- 
 enemy. They are the divinely appointed defenders of life's for- 
 tress, to whom the secret of Nature's medicinal power is entrust- 
 ed. They change or neutralize the toxins generated by the poi- 
 son germs, and elaborate antitoxins ; and when the victory, has 
 been gained and recovery has taken place, the patient has ac- 
 quired at least a temporory immunity from the disease which has 
 been eradicated. Insight into this fact has led to the discovery^ 
 and employment of serum therapy, whose efficiency has wrought 
 a transformation in medical practice, and promises, as knowledge- 
 grows, yet greater things. In one who has had the smallpox the 
 conditions which favor the spread of the poison have been de- 
 stroyed. The question suggests itself whether by introducing into 
 the S3^stem the specific poison in a milder form, equal immunit}^ 
 may not be acquired. This methodical doubt led Pasteur to the 
 discovery of serum therapy, which by the injection of the serum 
 of the infected blood prevents or cures the disease. Its efificacy 
 in the treatment of diphtheria, hydrophobia and various diseases 
 of animals has already been abundantly proven, and there is good 
 reason to believe that the research of specialists will enlarge the 
 field of its prophylactic or curative power, until it shall be univer- 
 sally recognized as the opening of a new epoch in the history of 
 medical science and practice, an epoch in which new and accurate 
 knowledge of the causes and nature of disease shall lead to new 
 and efficacious methods of prevention or treatment. Drugs will 
 not be discarded, but their action will be scientifically investi- 
 gated and confidence in their therapeutic value will diminish. 
 
 It was Dr. Davis' good fortune to begin the study of medicine 
 when this great transformation was about to take place ; and, like 
 the good, wise and far-seeing man he was^ he understood that 
 the physician could no longer be permitted to be but an empiric. 
 
 "The essence of greatness is the perception that virtue is- 
 enough," says Emerson in his fine way. Perception, indeed, is 
 not and can not be the essence of anything, but he who has in- 
 sight into the fact that the end of life is moral, is conduct and 
 character, understands wherein the essence of greatness consists. 
 It lies, like the kingdom of heaven, within. Title, office, posses- 
 sions may or ma}^ not be its accompaniments. \"ast knowledge 
 even gives no assurance of its presence ; for it is what a man be- 
 
AIEMORIAL SERVICE I3I 
 
 lieves. hopes, loves, admires, yearns for and does rather than 
 what he knows. Only they whose existence is upborne and illu- 
 mined by a high and holy purpose are interesting or have in- 
 trinsic value. The rest are busy with what ihey shall eat and 
 wear, with how they shall be housed and attended, and pass their 
 existence on the low plain of appetite and vain desire. Dr. Davis 
 was more than a learned and skillful physician ; he was a genuine, 
 man filled with religious and moral fervor and zeal. He might 
 have grown rich, but he died poor. He felt like Agassiz. tliat he 
 had no time to get money. Had he possessed the wealth of the 
 founders of universities, his chief significance and value would 
 still have lain in himself — in his rectitude of purpose, in his de- 
 sire to teach men how to live, in the simplicity and honesty of 
 his life, in his love of truth and justice, in his high-mindedness, 
 purity and benevolence, in his freedom from envy, jealousy and 
 pettiness. 
 
 In every profession there are men without principle or char- 
 acter who prefer success to virtue, vv'hose predominant passion is 
 greed, who to get money are ready to prey on the weakness and 
 miseries of their fellows, who, like the ghouls that gather wher- 
 ever great calamities befall, consider the helplessness and suffer- 
 ings of their fellows but opportunities for plunder; and since a 
 man is willing to give all he possesses for health, and since who- 
 ever can pay can advertise, the healing art offers the most invit- 
 ing field for these hyenas in human shape ; and therefore the med- 
 ical profession, more than law and quite as much as the sacred 
 ministry, is most commended and honored by men who to scien- * 
 tific attainments add the essential and abiding worth of moral 
 character. If it be true_that an orator is first of all a good man, 
 one who inspires confidence, who is himself more eloquent than 
 words can be, it is also true that a physician should first of all 
 be a man of moral worth, of principle, of probity, of honor, of 
 benignity and heroic unselfishness. If confidence in him as a man 
 be lacking, the wise will hesitate to put trust in the exercise of 
 his professional knowledge and skill; and confidence is half the 
 cure, since in his power to inspire hope, a cheerful and brave 
 spirit, hes, in most cases, the secret of a physician's success. Boer- 
 haave, whose reputation surpasses that of all other physicians, to 
 whom letters addi:essed "to the most famous physician of Eu- 
 rope" were sure to be delivered, wrought, it is said, more cures 
 by his presence than by his remedies. However great one's 
 science or skill, the foundation of the trust we place in him must 
 
132 MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 be laid by his moral worth. Knowledge does not of itself deter- 
 mine will or form character, and one may know many things and 
 be onh' the greater villain. 
 
 The trend of the most recent theor}' and practice in education 
 is to lay chief stress on intellectual ability and technical skill, and 
 to hold lightly the convictions of those who are persuaded that 
 human life is essentially conduct, and that the everlasting foun- 
 tain-head by which right doing is fed by religious faith, which 
 alone can build the foundation of a rational belief in the absolute 
 worth and sacredness of man, as revealed by his origin and des- 
 tiny. 
 
 The ideal is that of the calculating understanding in the ser- 
 vice of the senses. Get money, and whatever is desirable shall 
 be thine. Succeed, by fair or foul means, and the world will do 
 thee homage. Make thyself able, strong and skillful, and thou 
 shalt have small need of virtue. 
 
 Dr. Davis was a lover of knowledge, a life-long student, a 
 chief promoter of medical organization in this country, and the 
 tireless, persuasive advocate of the need in his own profession of 
 higher and more thorough education. His mind was vigorous 
 and alert, his intellectual curiosity drew him ceaselessly to scien- 
 tific inquiry, his temper was judicial, his power of diagnosis was 
 exceptional ; but his religious, virtuous life, his sobriet}^, his toler- 
 ance, his largeness of thought and sympathy, his independence, 
 his sense of justice, his desire to be of help, his fearlessness in 
 the assertion and maintenance of right, his indefatigable zeal for 
 the promotion of temperance and morality — his character — gave 
 him a distinction which belongs to but few in any profession. He 
 himself is greater than his reputation. "The chief need," says 
 Seneca, "is of great teachers." Dr. Davis was a great teacher, 
 and. like all teachers of essential vital truths, his highest lessons 
 are taught bv his life more than by his words. 
 
 In the midst of the crowd of adventurers, of the rabble of 
 fortune seekers, in which he found himself when first he came 
 to Chicago, he walked the narrow path among them like a min- 
 istering spirit, but not of them; and when the town of twenty 
 thousand had grown to be a city of a million and a half of in- 
 habitants, he, where all had changed, remained steadfast, true to 
 God, to himself and to the service of his fellow-men, faithful to 
 the old principles which assert religion, conduct and character 
 to be the aim and end of life. For him duty is a divine impulse, 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICE 133 
 
 and honor, the finest sense of duty. The patient who called him 
 became as sacred in his eyes as is the penitent in the presence of 
 the priest. What he learned was as though he knew it not. The 
 body is not separate from the soul, and like it, is sacred. He 
 who ministers to the infirmities of the one, helps the other. The 
 physician and the priest are near kin, and in all ages have been 
 held to be so, though like near kin they have had their quarrels. 
 Both recognize that moral good is the essential good ; that if 
 men had but virtue enough, they would have health and happi- 
 ness enough. 
 
 Progress in etiology and diagnosis has confirmed the belief 
 that the root of evil lies not in the stars, but in ourselves. 
 
 Men are most prone to lie to themselves, and most willing to 
 be lied to, when there is question of their health and morals. 
 They will lay their infirmities and faults to anything in the wide 
 universe but themselves. Whether there is question of medicine 
 •or of religion, their unwillingness or inability to employ the 
 right preservatives or remedies lies in their unwillingness or 
 inability to lead right lives. We make ourselves the victims of 
 greed, lust, gluttony, drunkenness, envy and hate, and find what 
 comfort we may in denouncing doctors and priests. And doc- 
 tors and priests, who, if they are not better, are worse than lay- 
 men, are forever tempted to palter, to flatter, lacking the cour- 
 age to unveil truth to the easily shocked eyes of lechers, drunk- 
 ards, gluttons, thieves and tricksters, if, having money and posi- 
 tion, they can make or mar. They are forever tempted to prove 
 false to their deepest knowledge and insight, to compromise 
 where compromise is betrayal, to indulge where indulgence is 
 ruin, to administer palliatives when there is no hope but in radi- 
 cal change. This false and cowardly attitude undermines char- 
 acter, confuses knowledge, and destroys the power to inspire con- 
 fidence in those who are ill that they shall be made whole. 
 
 In the presence of the all-pervading self-indulgence and self- 
 deceit which lust and pride and greed beget, we are made con- 
 ■scious of the transcendent worth of a man like Dr. Davis. 
 
 In him the average sensual man, who is every man, can find 
 little comfort. He sees the fact and speaks plain. Between him 
 and the possibility of quackery there lie infinite worlds. Be- 
 tween him and the expert who values his professional ability 
 chiefly for its power to exact large fees, there lie infinite worlds. 
 Between him and the crowd of the prosperous, who believe that 
 
134 MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 a man is worth not Avhat he is, but what he possesses, there he 
 infinite worlds. 
 
 Into the vahey of the ^Mississippi, made fat and fertile by 
 the slow but ceaseless action of natural forces during epochs of 
 indefinable length, there has come suddenly a race, provided 
 with the highest religious, moral and scientific power, a race of 
 exceptional vigor and of most fortunate historic experience. In 
 brief time we have developed here a material civilization whose 
 wealth and promise is a \\ orld- wonder. A\diat hitherto it had 
 taken thousands of years to bring about, has been accomplished 
 in half a century. But we ourselves have not gro^v■n as our pros- 
 perity has increased. We have succumbed to our success. AVe 
 have vast riches, and all the comfort, luxury and display which 
 monev provides, but our thoughts are superficial, our sympathies 
 shallow, our desires selfish or sensual, our aims and ambitions 
 vulgar. 
 
 Like those who, in the midst of unending waters, die of thirst, 
 we, having all that earth's bounty can give, have lost the secret 
 and the art of leading a worthy and a happy life, because we 
 have ceased to be either willing or able to believe that souls live 
 by faith, hope, love and imagination, in the light of high ideals, 
 and in the glow and warmth of self-devotion to what is forever 
 true, and good and fair. We measure human worth by mechani- 
 cal standards, the value of life by the opportunities, it affords 
 for the indulgence of appetite or vanity. We are feverish, rest- 
 less, timid and uncertain. In our verv strength and energy there 
 seems to be something akin to disease. AA'e can neither work 
 nor plav in moderation. The wisdom of those who are content 
 with what suffices is in our eyes folly. Hence it is easy for us 
 to become gamblers, promoters, givers or takers of bribes, drunk- 
 ards, and suicides ; and in the midst of the dazzling spectacle of 
 our national progress, it is a question whether our millionaires, 
 or our toiling, hard-driven wage-earners, are more discontented 
 and unhappy. 
 
 AMth us everything improves — mechanical devices, the breeds 
 of domestic animals, the qualities of vegetables and fruits — man 
 alone is stationary or retrograde, because his nature, being es- 
 sentially moral and religious, the worship of vulgar success, the 
 indulgence of appetite, the preference of the external and tran- 
 sitory to the real abiding world within, make religion and morality 
 impossible. 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICE 135 
 
 From the midst of such a world, a man like Dr. Davis rises, 
 like one inspired, to proclaim by word and deed, that righteous- 
 ness is life, that the wages of sin is death, tliat whatsoever thing 
 a man soweth that shall he reap, that. sin or culpable ignorance 
 or nealect, which is sin, is the cause of nearly all the diseases, 
 ills and miseries by which we are brought to ruin. 
 
 To the learned professions especially, liis teaching and his 
 example declare that they rest not more on a basis of knowl- 
 edge and skill, than on a foundation of principle, honor and 
 benevolence. His view is generous and comprehensive. Xot for 
 his clients alone does the lawyer exist, nor for his penitents, the 
 priest; nor for his patients, the physician. 
 
 God makes sages and saints that they may be fountain-heads 
 of wisdom and virtue for all who yearn and aspire; and who- 
 ever has superior knowledge or ability is thereby committed to 
 .more effectual and unselfish service of his fellow-men. If the 
 love of fame be but an infirmity of noble minds, the craving for 
 professional reputation is but conceit and vanity. To be of 
 help, and to be of help not to mere animals, but to immortal, 
 pure, loving spirits — this is the noblest earthly fate, this, the 
 highest good fortune. In the light of this ideal Dr. Davis l>e- 
 lieved, hoped, loved, worked, suffered, died and triumphed. 
 When the politicians, the captains of industry, the inventors of 
 mechanical devices, the lavishers of millions to promote what- 
 ever ends, shall have sunk into oblivion or be remembered with 
 the contempt of indifference, he shall remain as a witness to 
 right human life, as an influence and encouragement to all who 
 have faith in God, in truth, in justice, in plain, unselfish living, 
 in brave endeavor, in purity and love; a principle of hope and 
 courage, an inextinguishable light to beings who wander amid 
 the labyrinths of time and space, and feel and are certain that 
 their true home is with the Eternal Father who makes and up- 
 bears the Universe that beings like unto Tlimself may be born 
 and grow forever. 
 
 Before the Royal College of Surgeons of London, there is 
 delivered an address, each year, to commemorate the life and 
 work of John Hunter. Let the physicians and the medical 
 schools of Chicago bear witness to their love of worth and ap- 
 preciation of excellence, by making a similar foundation to per- 
 petuate the memory of Nathan Smith Davis. 
 
136 MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 The second address was by the late Rev. Stephen M. Merrill, D. D., 
 LL. D., Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Churchy of which Dr. Davis was 
 a member for more than sevent}^ years. Bishop Merrill knew Dr. Davis 
 intimately; in fact, they were a couple of congenial spirits, while they were 
 yet in the f^esh, and who shall say that they are not far more cong^enial, now 
 that they are disburdened of their tenements of clay? Bishop Merrill's ad- 
 dress is peculiarly appropriate, because it is an authoritative declaration of 
 Dr. Davis' religious viev/s and faith. That portion of the address which 
 simply states facts relating to Dr. Davis' personal and professional history 
 that have been embodied in previous chapters, is omitted ; otherwise it is 
 quoted verbatim : 
 
 The honored practice of pronouncing eulogies for the de- 
 parted is ancient and well nigh universal. It accords well with 
 the better instincts of our natures, and no doubt originated in 
 impulses of the heart which are in themselves noble and en- 
 nobling. It makes us better men to think- well of those who 
 have been with us and have gone away, and it cannot and should 
 not be pleasant to hear words of censure or disparagement 
 spoken of any who have left us. The injunction to speak noth- 
 ing but good of the dead is the mandate of nature — the formula- 
 tion in words of a sentiment which flows spontaneoush' from 
 hearts unbiased by passion. 
 
 It is a blessed thing when the lives of our friends whose ab- 
 sence we mourn, have been such that, when recalled in memory, 
 they afford material for pleasant thoughts and approving words. 
 Such lives never leave us. They abide with us in hallowed 
 association, as cherished ideals, and as uplifting incentives to 
 lofty aims and heroic endurance. 
 
 There is something beautiful in the fact that in our thoughts 
 of the dead we instinctively turn to the better qualities of their 
 lives, and find pleasure only in the good "things we can recall. 
 We should deem it a mark of degeneracy in ourselves if we 
 could find com.fort in remarking or emphasizing the defects, or 
 vices, or deformities of any sort, that might be discovered by 
 critical analysis, or by inordinate searching for them in the im- 
 perfect knowledge we possess of the motives and actions of 
 those who have fought their battles and finished their courses. 
 As "charity covers a multitude of sins," so does the normal hu- 
 man heart spread this mantle over the imperfections of those who 
 have gained life's goal in advance of us. 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICE 1 3; 
 
 We owe it to onr friends who have gone to speak well of 
 them; and we owe it no less to our friends who are alive, and 
 whom we shall leave behind us, to live such lives and to develop 
 such virtues that those who love us may have unmixed pleasure 
 in recalling what we have been and what we have done. As in 
 our memory of those we have loved and lost, we find the great- 
 est satisfaction in recalling those qualities of mind and heart 
 which most nearly allied them to our best conceptions of moral 
 goodness and a happy destiny, so are we bound by the most 
 sacred obligations to leave to our loved ones the priceless heri- 
 tage of a good name — a treasure that will be a delight and not 
 a burden to them — a memory of faith, of purity, of philanthropy, 
 and of loyalty to God, to home, to country, and to all that is 
 praiseworthy and of good report. 
 
 I am glad that to-day we are not to speak merely of the 
 ideal man, but of a real man, of one whom we have known and 
 honored and loved; a man the memory of whose life now that 
 he has gone, is a repository of good things, a delight and a joy 
 to his own, and an inspiration to his fellow-men, and especially 
 to his associates in the profession which so greatly absorbed 
 him, and to which he devoted his time and talents with such 
 restless industry and such untiring zeal. Dr. Nathan Smith 
 Davis was a man among men, a public-spirited citizen among 
 his fellow citizens, and a physician always and everywhere — a 
 physician who loved his profession, and sought to honor and 
 exalt it by every possible means, and at any cost of labor or 
 sacrifice. The proof that he did all this is in the record of his 
 life. His life was long and full of incident, and especially full 
 of efforts for the advancement of the science of medicine, and 
 for the enlargement of the sphere of its usefulness. He looked 
 upon it not merely as a science, but as an agency for the allevia- 
 tion of sufifering, as the servant of mankind, as a benediction 
 to the human race. 
 
 It is scarcely guesswork to assert that it was the idea enter- 
 tained by him of the philanthropic character of the work of the 
 physician that intensified his love for it, and that induced him 
 to devote himself to it with such unremitting persistence. Be- 
 fore his mind this calling stood out distinctly as clothed with 
 all the sacredness of a divinely appointed agency for bringing 
 relief from God to suffering men. With this high conception 
 of his profession, and with a proper appreciation of the respon- 
 
138 MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 sibilities involved in accepting it as a life-work, it was not pos- 
 sible for him to do other\vise than take a broad view of the 
 privileges and obligations accompanying it, nor could he fail to 
 put a high estimate upon the sciences which underlie it and 
 are so necessary to all who would successfully practice the heal- 
 ing art. 
 
 He was himself a student — a diligent and patient student 
 — and with his appreciation of the value of a complete equip- 
 ment for the work, he wanted all doctors to be students and 
 to have access to all the helps that could be secured or created 
 for the prosecution of studies in those branches of learning 
 which were necessary to proficiency in the great profession, or 
 lielpful or tributary to its elevation and improvement. He was 
 therefore the promoter of colleges — colleges of Liberal Arts 
 and Medical Colleges — and may be justly regarded as a pioneer 
 in this line of work in this city 
 
 It has been said that the study of medicine as a science tends 
 to make men skeptical — that such constant and intimate con- 
 tact with the laws and forces of nature as tliis study requires, 
 leads to materialistic conceptions of the universe, and shuts out 
 thoughts of things spiritual and divine. Sad indeed if this were 
 true. Then there would be conflict between Christianity and 
 science ; between the disclosures of men's inner consciousness 
 and the impressions gained from personal contact with the world 
 through the media of the senses. To my nrlnd this statement 
 is not well founded — it is not in harmony with experience or 
 •observation; for facts warrant the assertion that among no class 
 of thinking men are there to be found a larger percentage of 
 believers in God and in the virtues of the Christian faith, than 
 among those who give their lives to this study. It is true that 
 men of no other class come into closer touch Avith the laws 
 .and forces of nature than do physicians ; and if God be revealed 
 in his laws and if his wisdom and power be traceable in his 
 works, then to the honest student of nature there must come in- 
 timations of infinite wisdom and power, and of high moral pur- 
 pose, such as do not come necessarily to men engaged in other 
 pursuits. There is no more materialism in science, not falsely 
 so-called, than there is in trade and traffic. There is nothing- 
 more engrossing to the senses in this profession than there is in 
 banking and finance. Rather it would seem that men who came 
 :nearest to God's laws come nearest to God himself. If it be 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICE 1 39 
 
 true, as has been said, that an "iindevout astronomer is mad," 
 it must be true that the man who masters the intricacies of 
 nature's laws to the extent necessary to become respectable in 
 the medical profession, and _vet becomes a disbeliever in God, has 
 at least missed great opportunities, and failed to follow the truest 
 impulses of his own personality. The doctor is not necessarily 
 a skeptic. In no profession have there appeared men of stronger 
 faith or of more intelligent devotion to Christian principles than 
 among physicians. 
 
 The remark has also been made that men who have gained 
 eminence in this profession have lost sympathy with men — have 
 followed a single line of thought till they have lost sight of the 
 great world with its push and rush in the lines of business and 
 of general and social progress, and have come to live in a little 
 world of their own — a world c[uite apart from the real world of 
 actual humanity — with the result that they have become narrow 
 and selfish. If there is much truth in this it furnishes an argu- 
 ment against specialties and specialists in any profession and in 
 any calling. There are doubtless examples to be found which 
 illustrate this statement, and which taken alone w^ould seem to 
 indicate that concentration of mind tends to narrowness. But 
 it is not wise to take exceptions for the rule. Indeed the man 
 largely determines the tendency of his own habits in this re- 
 gard. If he be narrow and selfish in the primary qualities of 
 nature, the concentration of his thoughts upon a given 
 line of study will be very likely to intensify his selfish- 
 ness and to make conspicuous his lack of breadth and 
 generous sympathy. There are such in all professions. In 
 the minitry the}' become fanatics, and in medicine they become 
 fadists. We disparage either profession by treating such as il- 
 lustrations of general tendencies. We rather take it that a man 
 of great faculties can never become little. He seeks and de- 
 mands a large world. "No pent up Utica confines his powers." 
 He wants room, and finds it where great facts aAvait his com- 
 ing, and where great forces await the touch of his genius to 
 bring them into harmonious relations, and to set them to the 
 accomplishment of the beneficent purposes of their mission. Then 
 we take it, further, that greatness and littleness are relative 
 terms — that the things which these terms represent are not to 
 be confounded with bulk or space. A great world may not re- 
 cjuire large space. The man with the microscope lives in as 
 
140 MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 vast a universe as does the one with the telescope. The latter 
 sweeps immensity and measures stars and the orbits of worlds, 
 while the other detects hidden minutiae and reveals activities and 
 forces which give greatness to bulk. "Without the little things 
 . of the world, no world could be great : and without the minutest 
 details of life, no life could reach its proper measure of great- 
 ness. 
 
 He whose life we commemorate to-day was not little. While 
 he busied himself with the details of the substance, structure, 
 organs and functions of the human body and sought to know 
 the properties of the mineral and vegetable substances which con- 
 stitute the mighty aggregation of materia vicdica, he was to 
 some extent shut in from the leisure and pleasure of a less in- 
 tense life ; but this did not destroy his sympathy with his fellow- 
 men. He was neither a recluse nor a cynic. He kept in touch 
 with the currents of popular thought. While not altogether of 
 the world, he was in it and with it in the fellowship of its higher 
 life, and especially with it in its struggles for the betterment of 
 the intellectual, moral, and social conditions 01 the masses. He 
 readilv ioined with others in pushing enterprises for the public 
 weal ; and in his efforts to build institutions for the advancement 
 of science he was neither visionary nor abstruse, but wise in 
 counsel, and practical in plans and methods. 
 
 There was, however, another aspect of his life which it has 
 been deemed desirable to have represented, and for that reason 
 mainlv is due my invitation to be present. He was not only a 
 scientist, a physician, a philanthropist, but he was also a Chris- 
 tian. AMth all the skepticism of our times, which spreads a pall 
 of darkness over the brightest hopes of men, there is still an 
 atmosphere about us of cheerfulness and hope which could not 
 exist without the inspirations of the Christian faith. It is this 
 that gives tone and character to the civihzation of our day, and 
 distinguishes it as superior to all other civilizations, ^^'e do well 
 therefore to emphasize our Christianity, to assert its claims, and 
 to give it honor as the chief element of our greatness and power 
 as a people. But when we simply say that a man was a Chris- 
 tian, we say but little about him personally, or little that con- 
 veys a distinct idea of his religious life. If we go into the land 
 of another civilization, as in a pagan or ^Mohammedan countr}-, 
 and speak of a man as a Christian, we simply indicate that he 
 is from a land where the Christian religion is the dominant 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICE I4I 
 
 faith, and give no idea of his personal character. With the peo- 
 ple of those countries all who are from America are Christians, 
 regardless of the lives they lead, and this fact is not a small 
 obstacle in the way of the propagation of the faith. IJnt here 
 when we say of a man that he is a Christian, we convey the 
 idea that he has in some way avowed his personal belief in God,, 
 and in His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and such is our educa- 
 tion that we expect those who have made this avowal to live 
 according to the high standards of Christian morality. We 
 account no one a Christian who does not conform in character 
 and life to the demands of the Christian faith. 
 
 In this country, if we would be sure of the c|ualities of a 
 man's Christian profession and Christian life, we want to go a 
 little farther and ascertain his denominational bearings. A man 
 may be a Christian and a Roman Catholic, or a Lutheran, or a 
 Presbyterian, or a Baptist, or a Methodist. When we know his 
 denomination, we know in a general way the distinguishing feat- 
 ures of his personal beliefs. 
 
 Dr. N. S. Davis was a Methodist. In early life he professed 
 faith in Christ, and united with the Methodist Episcopal church, 
 and lived in full fellowship and communion with that. church for 
 more than half a century. His profession was therefore specific. 
 He accepted the doctrines and usages of his church and sought 
 to live the life his profession required. We therefore know 
 where to find him religiously. He was true and loyal to his 
 church, but he was neither narrow nor bigoted. He could not 
 be and be a consistent Methodist; but he must be positive in 
 his convictions and broad in his sympathies. 
 
 As a Methodist he believed in the authenticity, the authority, 
 and the inspiration of the canonical books of the Old and New 
 Testaments ; in the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures as the 
 rule of faith and practice ; in the summary of doctrines set forth 
 in the baptismal covenant and in the Apostles' Creed; and in 
 this faith he stood on ground common to all evangelical churches 
 in Christendom. As a Methodist he believed in the universal 
 reign of sin through the corruption of human nature ; in the in- 
 carnation of God in the person of his Son ; in the sacrifice of 
 Jesus Christ for the sins of men ; and in the sufficiency of that 
 sacrifice to make salvation possible to all men. He believed 
 also in justification by faith; in regeneration by the Holy Ghost; 
 in the witness of the Spirit to personal adoption ; in sanctification 
 
142 MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 through the blood of the everlasting covenant ; in the sufficiency 
 of grace to sustain behevers in perseverance to the end; in the 
 resurrection from the dead, and in rewards and punishments in 
 the Avorld to come. Standing intelHgently on this broad plat- 
 form, he could not be otherwise than Catholic in spirit, recogniz- 
 ing as brethren all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity 
 in any church and in all churches, and extending the hand of 
 fellowship to all such, regardless of ecclesiastical forms and 
 usages. In full accord with his church he regarded Christianit)^ 
 as much greater than Methodism, or any other ism, and could 
 not imagine the lines of the Kingdom of God as quadrating with 
 the lines of any ecclesiastical organization on the earth. 
 
 As a 2^Iethodist, he accepted the ten conmiandments and the 
 sermon on the mount as the divinely appointed standard of 
 morality, and held that our Lord's summary of these, enjoining 
 love to God with all the heart and soul, and love to our neigh- 
 bor as to ourselves, to be the supreme law of the Christian life, 
 and an indication of the highest possible attainment in grace. 
 
 This is enough. Religion, with Dr. Davis, was a perennial 
 fountain, a steadily flowing stream, nourishing inward virtues, 
 refreshing the spirit, and consecrating daily activities. It was 
 pre-eminently a spiritual force — not a form, nor a ceremony, nor 
 a sentiment, but a principle of life, animating, controlling, vivify- 
 ing and directing, both the inner states of the soul and the out- 
 ward conduct of life. 
 
 Then, if this estimate be at all just, there are lessons in such 
 a life for all classes. The physician will discern in it traits 
 worthy of imitation. Xot the least important will be unswerv- 
 ing devotion to the profession. Dr. X. S. Davis was wedded to 
 his calling. He believed in it, he loved it, he magnified it, and 
 therefore its duties and its sacrifices were a delight to him. Its 
 commercial aspects were not the attractions that held him to it. 
 He never determined its value by its revenues. From his young 
 manhood down to old age he saw it in its higher relations as the 
 servant of humanity. It was not a trade, but a philanthropic 
 movement, a storehouse of blessings for the afflicted, while the 
 physician was God's prepared almoner for the distribution of 
 these needed mercies. It was this exalted conception of the 
 profession that inspired his faithfulness and industry in it, and 
 it was his lov€ for the vprk and his industrv that brought him 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICE 1 43 
 
 to eminence and honor among his fellow workers in the same . 
 field. 
 
 Another lesson from this life is that manhood counts. This 
 is true in every profession, in every calling, and every sphere 
 of life. Genuineness in the man is always at a premium. Neither 
 learning, nor skill, nor polish, nor family, will be a substitute for 
 character. The doctor is nothing without genuineness. His 
 business and his relations with all classes of people demand it. 
 Dr. Davis could be trusted. His honor was above suspicion. He 
 was genuine. He v/as also kind of heart, a lover of good men, 
 tender towards the weak and erring, and a terror to quacks and 
 -pretenders. He was a good hater. He despised shams, and 
 fads, and meannesses. Towards these he v/as brusque. Hi? 
 speech was terse. To express his thoughts of things disagree- 
 able in professional life, required no visit to the circumlocution 
 •office. Even this terseness was a mark of his genuineness. 
 Hypocrisy was no part of his nature. In all things he was manly 
 .and true. 
 
 Let me add another lesson : Christian faith is not a detriment 
 in any calling. The man who loves God, and loves his fellow- 
 :men, and practices the moralities, and the self-denials, and chari- 
 ties, and the philanthropies of the gospel of the grace of God, is 
 better for it, more fully trusted, even by selfish and worldly men, 
 and has higher motives for unselfish labors, and stronger incen- 
 tives to the studies and duties which assure success, than he 
 could otherwise possibly have. The whole world will honor the 
 studious, successful, godly. Christian physician, and no one can 
 hold a higher place in the popular esteem. He is of necessity a 
 benefactor, and like all workers in lines of benevolence he finds 
 large compensation in the consciousness of doing good and of 
 being helpful to the sufifering and needy. He fives in the sun- 
 shine of God's favor and is cheered by the approval of his fellow- 
 men. 
 
 It was a great and spontaneous gathering of the fellow citizens of Dr. 
 'Davis, including all ranks and classes, and their attitude of deep respect 
 was gratifying evidence of their estimate of the man whose memory they 
 :^strove to honor. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Commemorative Tablet. 
 
 On the 24th of ]\Iarch, 1905, the graduating class of the Northwestern 
 University ^ledical School placed a bronze tablet, in memory of Dr. Davis, 
 in "Davis Hall" one of the buildings occupied by the medical school. The 
 exercises were attended by nearly the entire faculty and student body, and 
 were appropriate and interesting. 
 
 A photograph of the tablet is reproduced, and the commemorative ad- 
 dresses are quoted herewith : 
 
 By Dr. E. AA' yllys Andrews : — Dr. Davis was a many-sided 
 man. His career as a physician presents many phases which in- 
 terest us. We can learn most, perhaps, by dwelling to-day on 
 only one phase of that great life work. 
 
 His whole medical career seems to me so strongly to point 
 the moral of the absolute necessity for hard, intelligent work, 
 that everything else in his life, even his own brilliant and varied 
 talents, sink into insignificance in comparison. Is it not 
 well to put before ourselves plainl}- what we all secretly 
 admit — that nothing but strenuous, imremitting work can bring 
 about such a career? Is there a great business or institution in 
 - the world which has been built up or which will stay built up 
 except on the foundation of somebody's ceaseless toil? Can you 
 march an army or an exhibition a thousand miles without taking 
 one by one the millions of steps which make up the distance? 
 
 Dr. Davis reached the goal before most of his competitors 
 because he took the first and second and every succeeding step 
 earlier than they. He took the first step in the right direction 
 because he had more faith in his conipass — which was principle 
 and trust in right for right's sake. 
 
 He did hard, detail, scientific work in early life which 
 brought him recognition all over the country. He continued, 
 after the age when Dr. Osier says men should retire, to do 
 an amount of work which would put most of us up-to-date, 
 but ease-loving, workers to shame. It is not a man's years, 
 but the quantity and the quality of his intellectual output which 
 
COMMEMORATIVE '1 AliEEl' 
 
 decides the question of how old he is. judged by this test manv 
 youno- men have premature atheroma and arterio-sclerosis. 
 
 This is why men Hke Dr. Davis (it is perhaps as well for 
 our comfort there are very few of them) soon pass us com- 
 moner and short-sighted fellows. A'ery few of us have the 
 long view. We have no very accurate chart of our future 
 course. We have to earn and enjoy a fair living and rest 
 when we are old, but we see no clear picture beyond the near 
 distance. 
 
 Of course we are unconsciously moulded by the average 
 
 145 
 
 NM 
 
 -^■-^■f MEMOKx 
 
 TH-DAVIS 
 
 1817—1904 
 
 y 4in' "^-t^ ?jfV •'*.•; 
 
 
 ,'J%,'^, kw 
 
 tone of our colleagues, and we grow to be like them — average in 
 everything. Our professional standards are a composite of the 
 impressions left by the better class of physicians who live the 
 blameless professional life and pass away in honor. 
 
 But more than that mere silent or negative influence, the 
 silent lives of men like Davis create new standards. He wrote 
 the Code of Ethics which rules our conduct, but he did more than 
 live this code. It savs "Thou shalt not" do certain things. Davis 
 was not merely a man of negatives, but lived the strenuous, 
 creative life of a pioneer. 
 
 Pioneers need to be stalwart men. It required a bold mind 
 
146 COMMEMORATIVE TABLET 
 
 to conceive and carry out the Lewis and Clark expedition from- 
 the Mississippi to the Oregon coast a century ago. It sounded. 
 hke an impossible dream and it would have been impossible 
 to most leaders. There was something of the pioneering spirit- 
 about Dr. Davis. He saw things which no one around him had 
 thought of. He saw in the far future a handful of half-educated- 
 provincial doctors transformed into the organized great profes- 
 sion of modern America. He saw paltr}- one-year medical 
 schools developing into the modern university, and he strove with- 
 out ceasing for sixty years to bring it about. 
 
 Had he not the same prophetic vision as Lewis and Clark 
 of the far-away modern ocean of his hopes, and the same in- 
 spiring courage in the face of obstacles? Is this mere poetical 
 license, or was it not rather the simple, accurate picture of the 
 world strenuous life work of Dr. Davis? Can you put your 
 finger on a minute when he was not hurrying, striving and urg- 
 ing others toward the sunset shore whose image he saw iit 
 early life? 
 
 There he was in New York, a young physician, urging, be- 
 seeching, driving the indifferent doctors of his state to organize,. 
 to define and regulate medical education. They thought he was. 
 a one-ideaed man and were pretty slow to follow him. 
 
 There he was in middle life, still organizing state and na- 
 tional societies and even visiting Europe to further international 
 unions. Xow, he was carrying out his ideas of medical gradsd 
 education in a school founded for this sole purpose, the only 
 one of its kind in America. 
 
 There he was again in advanced years still hammering on 
 the same .anvil, still the acknowledged leader and Nestor of 
 the American profession, the real spirit and motive power of 
 the American ^Medical Association as lie had been ever since- 
 it was founded by his hand. 
 
 When past sixty he undertook the tremendous task of pub- 
 lishing and editing the Journal of the American JMedical Asso- 
 ciation, now the largest journal in the world. For years he 
 managed and edited this journal, and its form has never been 
 changed since he founded it. There, in the councils of this great 
 Association, he is to-day, though not in the flesh; for the strenu- 
 ous fight which the Association Council is making to raise medi- 
 cal education, to bind together the scattered profession of this 
 land, is the Davis spirit, still- marching on after his body is in 
 the erave. 
 
COMMEMORATIVE TABLET 
 
 Talk about your bronze tablet ! That Association is a greater 
 and more enduring monument than the finest bronze. This 
 school and the principles it represents, will outlive all build- 
 ings, monuments, and men now living and many yet to come. 
 Is there any man like Davis now among us? If there is any 
 one of us with such leadership of men, tenacity of purpose and 
 high ideals, he too, will go far, endure long, and rise high in 
 this or any other honorable career. 
 
 DR. N. S. DAVIS AND MEDICAL EDUCATION. 
 
 By George W. Webster, M. D. : — Any estimate of the value 
 of the service rendered by Dr. Davis to the cause of Medical 
 Education must be based on a very broad view of the sub- 
 ject and must include a knowledge of conditions, especially as 
 they obtained in the first half of the last century, and must also 
 be looked at from his viewpoint. 
 
 At the time of the achievement of the Independence of the 
 States in 1776, the population of the 13 Colonies was about three 
 millions. Scattered among these Colonies from Massachusetts 
 to Georgia were about 3,500 men engaged in the practice of med- 
 icine. Of these, approximately 400 had received the degree of 
 M. D. There were two medical colleges, the Medical College 
 of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania, 1765, and 
 the Medical Department of Kings (now Columbia College), in 
 New York, 1768. Prior to the Revolution, both these schools 
 had conferred only 51 medical degrees, and active operations 
 in both colleges were suspended by the progress of the war. 
 Only three medical societies are known to have been organized 
 during the colonial period of our history. In only two colonies 
 were there any laws or rules regulating the practice of medi- 
 cine. Thus, in 1776, there were 3,400 practitioners supplying 
 three million people scattered over 13 states, two medical col- 
 leges and two medical societies. 
 
 In the period from 1776 to 18 10, seven medical colleges 
 were organized. In the next 30 years, 26 new medical schools 
 appeared, making the total 35. Between 1830 and 1845, the 
 number more than doubled, leading to active rivalry, and a com- 
 petition which aimed mostly at an increased number of students, 
 
 147 
 
Students. 
 
 Graduates. 
 
 Colleges, 
 
 650 
 
 100 
 
 7 
 
 2,500 
 
 800 
 
 35 
 
 6,500 
 
 2,200 
 
 64 
 157 
 
 148 COMMEMORATIVE TABLET 
 
 and fees for -the pockets of the teachers. These schools were 
 generally private enterprises, at times openly and avowedly busi- 
 ness ventures ; at times they took on the guise of departments of 
 some established seat of learning; rarely endowed, and, by their 
 very nature, little calculated to give their graduates more than 
 the merest smattering of the knowledge of the Science and Art 
 of Medicine. 
 
 Population of Colonies 
 
 1810 7,239,881 
 
 1840 17,069,453 
 
 1876 40,000,000 
 
 1904 75,000,000 
 
 The report of the committee on Medical Education, of the 
 Mechcal Association, 1850, said: "^Medical Education is de- 
 fective because there are too manv medical schools ; the teach- 
 ers are too few. There are too many students. The cjuantity of 
 medicine taught is too limited ; the quality is too superficial, 
 and the mode of bestowal of the honors of medicine too pro- 
 fuse and unrestricted." This, bear in mind, W'as at a time when 
 the science and art of medicine occupied a narrow, a very 
 narrow field ; when obstetrics was almost wholly in the hands of 
 midwives ; surgery was an appendage of anatomy ; chemistry, 
 physiology and pathology, and histology scarcely known at all, 
 bacteriology, antiseptics and anaesthetics not even dreamed of, 
 the course consisted of two repetitional courses of 13 to 16 
 weeks, and the diploma everywhere conferred the right to prac- 
 tice medicine, and for many long years afterwards, namely, 
 1877, even this was not demanded. So much for the condi- 
 tions. Now, how did he view them, and' what did he do to im- 
 prove them ? In this connection, I cannot do better than to quote 
 some of his own words. On page 17, of the history of the 
 American ]\Iedical Association, publish in 1855, he says, "So, 
 too, bv the association of mind with mind, in the rapidly recur- 
 ring anniversary of meetings of the learned, not only in thought 
 made to elicit thought, and the generous ambition of one made 
 to kindle a kindred impulse in another, but the rich and varied 
 fruits of many intellects are brought to a common storehouse, 
 and made the common property of all ; for intellectual treasures, 
 unlike those of a material nature, neither became monopolized 
 
COMMEMORATIVE TABLET I49 
 
 by conceiitratioh, lost by use, nor diminished by diffusion or com- 
 munication to others." 
 
 Again he says in his report on Medical Education in the 
 United States to the United States Commissioner of Education, 
 published in 1877: "No apology is necessary for including 
 Medical Societies among the educational institutions of 
 our profession ; for whatever increases the enterprise, stimu- 
 lates the spirit of philosophical investigation, or adds an item to 
 the stock of knowledge possessed by the profession, or what- 
 ever elevates it in the scale of social existence, is as truly a part 
 of its educational means as is the study of the text books and the 
 frequenting of the schools." "The latter may, indeed, consti- 
 tute the foundation, but many other things are required to com- 
 plete the superstructure of a fair medical education." "And 
 among these other things, no one is of greater importance than 
 well organized organizations, admitting of frequent communica- 
 tion and free interchange of thought among their members. 
 Such association not only elicit observations, stimulate investi- 
 gations, and save from oblivion numberless facts ; but they coun- 
 teract the selfish feelings of individuality, they diffuse knowl- 
 edge, they elevate the social feelings, and they embody and gen- 
 eralize facts that would otherwise remain isolated and useless." 
 
 We thus see clearly that the conditions obtained at the time 
 lie began the practice of medicine in 1840, were such as to dis- 
 hearten anyone of less courage or less enthusiasm. We also 
 see equally clear that he apprehended perfectly the conditions 
 which obtained, and that he realized fully, and seemed to be 
 one of the first to realize, that the education of the physician is 
 a problem which does not begin in or end in the medical school ; 
 that his education before he enters the medical school is as im- 
 portant as is his course of training in the latter ; and that his 
 education after he leaves the medical school is a more important 
 and difficult problem than either; and that this could be suc- 
 cessfully accomplished only by the organization of the medical 
 profession into national, state and local medical societies ; and 
 that the licensing power should be distinct from the teaching 
 function. He realized that the man who is the greatest teacher 
 and does the most for medical education, is not the man who 
 teaches well his own little class; he is the man who enunciates 
 principles, raises, establishes and maintains standards, organ- 
 izes societies or does well his part in those already organized ; 
 
150 COAIAIEMORATIVE TABLET 
 
 who does not follow precedent, blindly, but establishes new pre- 
 cedents; is not a follower but a leader of strong men and a 
 ruler of weak ones ; who is not simply the result of his environ- 
 ment, but makes, creates new environment and thus creates new 
 conditions. * * '■' 
 
 These facts, together with his native ability, explain in some 
 measure his breadth of view, solidity of argument, fluency of 
 speech and aptness of illustration which contributed so much to 
 his fame as an orator, as a clinical teacher, and as an organizer. 
 
 ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Let us then not merely recite his precepts and catalogue his 
 attainments and virtues, but let us rather emulate his example. 
 Let us here highly resolve to take an interest, a human interest 
 in correlated branches of knowledge, and let us study the 
 social organisms as well as the human organism; let us cultivate 
 anything which will bring us nearer to our fellow men, broaden 
 our intelligence and widen our humanity and extend our in- 
 fluence. 
 
 You will, perhaps, little know nor long remember what I 
 say here, but you must never forget what he did here. Monu- 
 ments, tablets and eulogy are for the dead, but no words of 
 ours, no human speech can add anything to his fame, augment 
 the gratitude, the grateful homage which we here offer as a 
 loving tribute to his memory. 
 
 And now, at last, the evening of life has come, the shadows 
 are lengthening along the land, the "embers of red are turn- 
 ing to ashes of gray," with one hand clasped in the hand of her 
 who, throughout life had been his comfort, his hope, his solace, 
 his very life, he lies down to his last long sleep. The silver 
 cord is loosed, the golden bowl broken, and the spirit has re- 
 turned to the God who gave it. 
 
 NATHAN SMITH DAVIS AS A MAN. 
 
 By E. C. Dudley: — Great men are modest. It is said that 
 when the King of France sent his courtiers to decorate ]\Iichael 
 Faraday for the great discoveries in science which he had made 
 they found in an attic, seated on a rough board by the side of 
 a rude table, a man of plain appearance, of simple garb and of 
 primitive, though gentle manner. Judging him by their 
 
COMMEMORATIVE TABLET I5I 
 
 own artificial standards they directed him to conduct them to 
 the great scientist, Michael Faraday, when he replied, "I am 
 Faraday." The courtiers, thinking to make amends for an un- 
 fortunate blunder, then continued, "Will the great scientist 
 show us his laboratory, and will he show us the instruments and 
 appliances with which he has made his wonderful discoveries?" 
 Whereupon Faraday replied, "This is my laboratory," and point- 
 ing to some copper wire, a few fragments of carbon, a block of 
 zinc and some jars containing acids and other chemicals, "these 
 are the appliances with which my discoveries were made." 
 
 So many of the greatest achievements, whether in litera- 
 ture, art, commerce, statesmanship, philanthropy or science have 
 been realized by men of primitive environment, of humble ante- 
 cedents, of meagre equipment, of apparently inadequate pre- 
 liminary training, that the question may well be raised, to what 
 extent are environment, training, equipment and appliances with 
 all their well-known value essential to success in the pursuit of 
 high purpose? In reply to this question it may be sufficient to 
 say that the honest, simple, clear, truthful man, whose memory 
 we cherish, whose achievements depended upon few advantages, 
 of conventional early education was, in his capacity as one of the 
 founders of this school, foremost to insist upon a high degree of 
 general and technical training as prerequisite to professional 
 study. It is clear, therefore, that even though he may have rec- 
 ognized a definite compensation in character and physique for 
 the man of native power whose early life is passed close to na- 
 ture outside the great scholastic centers, yet his very deficien- 
 cies would have made him the last to consider his own remarkable 
 career as a possible protest against broad, generous scholar- 
 ship. In speculating on the relative result which might have 
 followed had Dr. Davis been a product of the metropolis, and 
 the great university instead of the farm and district school, and 
 in estimating what essential advantage undergraduate college 
 training might have given him, we must draw a differential be- 
 tween two classes of individuals: First, the many of average 
 intellectual power, who with adequate equipment and work may 
 hope to attain a degree of usefulness and distinction; second, 
 the few of highest natural endowment, who by force of mere 
 intellect and sheer ability and industry must of necessity rise 
 to the ve"ry top — on the one hand there is a possible eleva- 
 tion of mediocrity by which the valley may be leveled and filled ; 
 
152 COMMEMORATIVE TABLET 
 
 on the other, there is an exalted genius, which regardless of 
 trappings and of what to it might be only superficial adornment, 
 always takes its proper place as does the mountain top in the 
 clear Avhite light above the clouds. To the second royal class ■ 
 belongs Dr. Davis. 
 
 The King is no subject; he is to be judged neither by per- 
 spective nor by tradition, nor by fashion nor by conventionali- 
 ties, for he makes perspective; he makes tradition; he makes 
 fashion; he makes conventionaHties. There is then less of es- 
 sential value in conventionalities, in fashion for such a man. be- 
 cause the vantage ground on which the force of intellect and 
 the genius of industry place him, makes him singularly independ- 
 ent of the ordinary and current scholastic polish which, for the 
 most of us would appear to be indispensable. 
 
 Grant's ^Memoirs of the Civil War, written on his death- 
 bed, with almost superhuman fortitude against fatal and wasting 
 disease, at once commanded the admiration of scholars as a 
 rugged, terse, vigorous, clear-cut example of English composi- 
 tion. A single adverse review, however, came from the pen of 
 a professor of rhetoric, who appeared to imagine that he was 
 doing the world a service in pointing out certain- passages of 
 Grant's book, which to his mind, did not conform to scholastic 
 usage. This review was an estimate by a critical rhetorician of 
 the work of a constructive rhetorician. 'Mr. Clemens reviewed 
 the review in words somewhat as follows : If we should climb 
 the IMatterhorn and find strawberries growing on the top, we 
 might be surprised and gratified, but. Great God, we do not 
 cUmb the ISIatterhorn for strawberries. 
 
 Emerson must have had in mind a man like Dr. Davis 
 when he said, "I wish I could teach my children the world's 
 greatest lesson, absence of pretension." If -any one of us should 
 raise the question whether it is ever justifiable to give a nervous 
 patient a placebo — for example, a hypodermic of water, pre- 
 tending that it was morphine, or by inference to create the im- 
 pression that he had made an accurate diagnosis when he knew 
 he had not. or to venture upon a favorable prognosis in a doubt- 
 ful case, or to pav or to receive a commission for the purchase 
 or sale of a patient, or to undertake the responsible treatment 
 of a case when he knew another would be more efficient, or to 
 pose in anv way for the mere eft'ect upon the multitude, let him 
 ask himself: What would have been Dr. Davis' answer? 
 
COMMEMORATIVE TABLET 
 
 The extraordinary mental integrity o^f this man was dn 
 large degree owing to the habit which he must have formed 
 early in life of never deceiving anyone, least of all himself; of 
 never pursuing the indirect method ; of never wanting the cour- 
 age of his convictions ; of never stopping short of the point, 
 for '"it doth follow as the night the day" that mental integrity 
 and a closely associated brain and nerve nutrition are in very 
 large measure dependent upon truth and directness and brav- 
 ery. The influence of such integrity on the life and efficiency of 
 the individual is incalculable, it is a solace in time of trial ; it is 
 a resource against calamity; it is the unic[ue and telling quality 
 of a great man by which he estimates men and things at their 
 true value ; by which he pricks bubbles ; by which he check- 
 mates the false player and bankrupts the selfseeker ; by which he 
 strikes things like a bullet between the eyes. By virtue of this 
 quality he has a clear advantage in the realization of two essen- 
 tial criteria of a successful life — advanced age without handi- 
 cap, and achievement without embarrassment. We go to the 
 house of such a man not to see his draperies and ornaments, nor 
 even his pictures and books ; these are all subordinate — we go 
 to see him. As was said of a Spanish prince : "The more you 
 take from him, the more he appears to have, the greater he ap- 
 pears to be." 
 
 Dr. Davis was more creative than speculative; his intel- 
 lectual processes more concrete than abstract; his work usu- 
 ally constructive, seldom destructive ; he never talked about 
 what he was going to do^ he did it. He joined the rugged, 
 primitive, simple qualities of the traditional pioneer to the civ- 
 ilization of the scholar, the teacher and the man of affairs. He 
 was broad enough to look beyond the narrow confines of his 
 calling, to appreciate the relation of things outside, and, putting 
 his profession on a high plane, to put the world even higher. 
 Education owes him much ; the university owes him much ; 
 the world owes him much. Although for some time he had 
 ceased to fill his accustomed chair, the students of the medical 
 school could look to him as a living example, as a guide, as a 
 sympathetic friend. 
 
 Those of us members of the faculty, who to him were once 
 the younger, as to you we are now the older members, have 
 endured a loss not greater but more personal than yours, for he 
 had kept in touch v/ith us from the first. He had rejoiced in 
 
 i5s 
 
154 COMAIEMORATIVE TABLET 
 
 our triumphs, were they few or many, and he had mourned over 
 our faults. 
 
 Men, Hke trees, may die at the top, not necessarily from 
 recognized pathological degeneration of the brain, but from dis- 
 use of the brain, and consequent arrest of growth, and so, al- 
 though mentally reduced almost to the vanishing point, may live 
 on, and on, and on, with little or no impairment of the general 
 nutrition. But fortunately there is no fixed period even in the 
 longest life when the mental faculties of man recede so far as nec- 
 essarily to shut out new thought, to render the individual in- 
 capable of rising to new heights. As the leaves under favor- 
 able conditions of nutrition may continue green on the topmost 
 branch of the old tree which long ago became hollow in the 
 trunk, and which now is drawing its sap mostly through the 
 bark, so any man, young or old, who would not die at the top 
 must make the conditions favorable, must strive to forget self 
 and to cultivate interests larger than themselves. He must take 
 care to remain mentally young, and still "blooming at the top 
 amid the frost of years," he must not surrender to the sordidness 
 and discontent, the garrulity and inertia of a decaying old age, 
 and thus like our old friend he may gladden the world, "the 
 last leaf on the tree," having survived the winter blast and in 
 the second spring, not seared and mellow, but still green and 
 iilled with the fare and enthusiasm of youth. 
 
 To epitomize from some of the appreciations which the life 
 and death of this man have brought out : We have seen him 
 a youth of sixteen following the plough, and for a single session 
 ■only going to the village academy; serving as an apprentice 
 with a country doctor, and in 1837, after a period of less than 
 three 3^ears of study, taking the degree of Doctor of Medicine at 
 the age of twenty ; displaying strength of mind and character 
 and refusing to be misled by his great natural gifts, refusing to 
 imagine that even genius without adequate education can make 
 a competent physician; "early gathered about him in Bingham- 
 ton, X. Y., a following of medical students whom he instructed 
 and inspired;" in 1843, serving his County Society as a dele- 
 gate at the annual meeting of the New York ^Medical Associa- 
 tion, and breaking new ground by making his first appeal for 
 a higher standard of medical education ; leading a national con- 
 A^ention of delegates from hospitals and medical colleges who 
 came from all parts of the United States to deliberate on the best 
 
COMMEMORATIVE TABLET i:^:; 
 
 measures to improve medical education and thus founding- the 
 American Aledical Association ; becoming President and the 
 most distinguished leader of that organization; in 1849 settling 
 in Chicago and early and strongly identifying himself with the 
 educational, moral, scientific and sanitary progress of the city; 
 filling a professorship at Rush Medical College; taking a lead- 
 ing part in the councils both on the floor and in the Presidential 
 chair of the Illinois State Medical Society ; establishing the 
 Journal of the American Medical Association, and placing it 
 on a substantial scientific, literary and financial basis ; presiding 
 at the first. meeting of the International Medical Congress held 
 in the United States, in the midst of the onerous duties of a large 
 private practice, in the midst of unremitting ministrations in 
 times of epidemic, continuing to teach, to write, to edit and to co- 
 operate "in all movements for the common good in which his 
 attention was claimed;" taking part in the formation of the 
 Northwestern University, The Chicago Academy of Sciences, 
 the Illinois State Microscopical Society, the Union College of 
 Law, and the Washingtonian Home ; being himself "greater than 
 his knowledge, than his deeds, than his reputation;" "teach- 
 ing by his life as well as by his works ;" having abundant oppor- 
 tunity to accumulate riches, but like Agassiz, never having time 
 to get money, and declaring" that he would be humiliated to die 
 in possession of great riches. 
 
 We are commanded "to renew unutterable grief,", for we 
 shall see him no m.ore. Our distinguished leader has passed 
 over into the unknown, leaving behind him the goodly her- 
 itage of a long and useful and honorable life ; a striking exam- 
 ple of new-world manhood; honest, aggressive, faithful, fear- 
 less, efficient, adequate ; full of well-directed energy ; raising him- 
 self to the highest plane of human endeavor and at the same 
 time drawing others up with him. 
 
 Behold, in the man whom this tablet symbolizes an epic in 
 courage, integrity and achievement. 
 
 DEDICATORY ADDRESS. 
 
 By WilHam O. Krohn, Ph. D. : — The Declaration of Ameri- 
 can Independence is commonly believed to have been promul- 
 gated July 4, 1776, when in fact the real "declaration of inde- 
 pendence" — independence of thought and action — the Greater 
 
156 COMMEMORATIVE TABLET 
 
 •American Independence dates from Aug. 31, 1837 — the day on 
 which Ralph Waldo Emerson gave to the world his master ora- 
 tion — "The American Scholar." As we glance at the history of 
 medicine in this country, can we not also say that the "declara- 
 tion of independence" within the medical profession was pro- 
 mulgated when such men as the one whom we this day meet 
 to honor, by heroic united effort, blazed the trail that led their 
 fellows and followers in the medical profession along new paths 
 entirely and forever disassociated from mysticism, superstition 
 and tradition into the positivism of science? 
 
 The heroic pioneers in the world's history are not only the 
 explorers. Cabot, Columbus, 3.1agellan ; they are not only those 
 "hewers of wood and drawers of water" who founded our Re- 
 public, the Adamses, Washington, Hamilton, but must of neces- 
 sity include those other brave spirits — those other leaders of 
 thought and action who broke away from servile worship of 
 the past and heroically took advanced position so that the}^ might 
 the better seek out that which would make their chosen line of 
 work of greater use in the world. 
 
 You recall the inscription over the peristyle at our World's 
 Fair in 1893, the words of which were dedicated to the pioneers 
 of civil and religious liberty : 
 
 "But bolder they who first off-cast 
 Their moorings from the habitable past 
 And ventured chartless on the sea 
 Of storm-engendering liberty." 
 
 Do not these words also apply full well to men who, like 
 Nathan Smith Davis, in the pioneer days of their particular 
 branch of science led the way to higher and better things? 
 
 The members of this class have been told to-day of the qual- 
 ities of heart and brain that made for success in the life of Dr. 
 Davis — qualities which in crowning his life with success, en- 
 riched the lives of others and gave to the honored profession of 
 medicine, new vantage ground. It may be the boldest presump- 
 tion on my part to attempt to add one word of encomium, but 
 with my classmen I cannot avoid taking note of two or three con- 
 spicuous attributes of the personality of Dr. Davis that not only 
 brought him the joys of victory, but will just as surely make for 
 ^ our success in the same chosen profession. 
 
COMMEMORATIVE TABLET I 57 
 
 First — enthusiasm. I do not mean the enthusiasm of mere 
 noise that makes it so akin to idle l)oastin,^'. Some medieal men 
 - — Hke some steamboats — u?e much of their steam U> run the 
 whistle. The rather do I mean that quite effective enthusiasm 
 that shows itself in deeds accomplished. This quality of enthu- 
 siasm in Dr. Davis had much to do in the foimding- of the Ameri- 
 can Medical Association, the betterment of hospital facilities in 
 this city, and the improvement of medical education. This en- 
 thusiasm so cjuietly manifested, was the continual dropping' that 
 finally wore away the stones of opposition in his pathway as 
 he was striving- for better things in his chosen sphere of action. 
 Without such enthusiasm as an impelling force, not one of us 
 can expect to succeed. 
 
 Second — kindliness. It has been said that Dr. Davis was 
 essentially a gruff man — that at times he seemed even harsh of 
 manner. But those who knew him well maintain that this seem- 
 ing harshness of manner was due to his direct method of state- 
 ment arising from his desire to get at the gist of things. His 
 mind naturally was so keenly analytic that he deemed it suffi- 
 cient to state facts as he found them, shorn of any of the soften- 
 ing influences of rhetoric. Dr. Davis dealt with hard facts, with 
 little or no time for sentimental gush. As to his trait of kindli- 
 ness, it is much better to take the verdict of those who in child- 
 hood came in contact v/ith his ennobling life. Some of the solid 
 business men of Chicago tell me of Dr. Davis' acts of kindness 
 of which they had positive knowledge and personal experience 
 in their childhood — from actually coming in touch with his mag- 
 nificent personality, and these kindly acts were infinite in num- 
 ber. His whole life seemed aetuated by the one fundamental 
 purpose of doing good, and the love of the children for him 
 is the best possible indication of his real greatness of heart. 
 
 He loved the children — this is certain because they loved 
 him, which is in and of itself positive of his kindliness. The 
 words of the poet are certainly apropos of this man : 
 
 "Greatheart loveth a little child. 
 
 No matter how ragged and dirty, he 
 
 Opens his heart if a child it be. 
 
 He loves them all. They hold the key 
 
 To a heart for others all mystery. 
 
 Greatheart loveth a little child. 
 
158 COMMEMORATIVE TABLET 
 
 "Greatheart loveth a little child; 
 
 He knows them all and they all know him ; 
 
 To them he never seems to be grim 
 
 Or gruff or grouty. They know his whim, 
 
 Feeling that love fills his heart to the brim, 
 
 Greatheart loveth a little child/' 
 
 The third great characteristic was his definiteness of purpose, 
 coupled with an indomitable will. When a plan was once de- 
 vised he would not relax until fruition of that particular plan 
 was attained. To this one quality — determination, purposive 
 will — more than to any other single attribute, did Dr. Davis owe 
 his marvelous success. And in the field of medicine as in the 
 world at large, there is nothing so much needed as definiteness 
 of purpose backed by stronger, determined will. There is no 
 character so despicable as the weak-willed, vacillating individual, 
 utterly devoid of backbone, who drifts hither and thither down 
 the stream of time, blown about by the wind of other men's 
 breath — nothing more or less than a rudderless bark. The 
 world's greatest demand to-day, in medicine or any other field 
 of laudable activity, is for men of determination and unflinching 
 purpose — those men who by their force of character lift themselves 
 out of the entangdements that environ the weakling and "live 
 above the fog" in public duty and private thinking. This old 
 world of ours needs strength of will more than it needs passive 
 goodness — it needs monstrous engines of truth more than it 
 needs psalm singers. 
 
 "There is no chance, no destin}^, no fate, 
 
 Can circumvent, or hinder, or control 
 
 The firm resolve of a determined soul. 
 
 Gifts count for nothing- : Will alone is great. 
 
 All things give way before it soon or late. 
 
 What obstacle can stay the mighty force 
 
 Of the sea-seeking river in its course. 
 
 Or cause the ascending orb of day to wait? 
 
 "Each well-born soul must win what it deserves, 
 Let the fool prate of luck — the fortunate is he 
 Whose earnest purpose never swerves 
 The one great aim.. Why even Death stands still 
 And waits an hour sometimes, for such a will." 
 
COMMEMORATIVE TAIUJCT 159 
 
 Professor Plummer, the class of 1905 of Northwestern Uni- 
 -vrersity Medical School, has met with you and other members 
 •of the faculty this day to honor the memory of Dr. Nathan 
 Smith Davis, so long identified with this institution, which largely 
 through his effort has come to stand for all that is best in medi- 
 cal education. We all feel that in our endeavor to honor Dr. 
 Davis we in that very act honor ourselves. The class of 1905 
 consider it a peculiar privilege to have had the opportunity to 
 erect this bronze tablet to the sacred memory of one who accom- 
 plished so much for medical education in general, and for this 
 school in particular. Though but very few of us ever had the 
 joy of knowing this great and good man personally, we every 
 one of us appreciate the qualities that made his life so ennobling, 
 so enriching, so efficient, so wholesome, and to this end we all 
 join in the dedication of this tablet. 
 
 To you, Profesor Plummer, as Secretary of the Faculty of 
 "the Northwestern University Aledical School, and therefore its 
 executive officer, I, on behalf of the Class of 1905, present this 
 bronze Memorial. The entire class contributed to its erection 
 -with the laudable purpose that it might, to each successive class 
 in the many years of usefulness before this school, prove a re- 
 minder of those qualities of mind and heart that go to make up 
 the successful physician. As the students of the various classes 
 in succeeding years come under the tutelage of yourself and your 
 ■colleagues on the faculty, they should come face to face with 
 these superb qualities which we as a class admire and reverence 
 .as having been concreteh^ expressed in the long and useful life 
 ■ of Dr. Davis. Will you, therefore accept this tablet from us? 
 The Class of 1905 gives it to the school with a double meaning 
 — namely — as a token of our regard for this school, and in ten- 
 der, sacred memory' of Nathan Smith Davis, whose life, great 
 and good, continues to make the earth wholesome. 
 
 In accepting the memorial tablet Dr. Plummer spoke as 
 follows: 
 Air. Krohn and Members of the Class of 1905 : 
 
 In accepting, on behalf of the faculty of the Northwestern 
 University Medical School, this tablet in memory of Doctor 
 Nathan Smith Davis, presented by the class of 1905, I do so 
 with the realization that, by the action taken to-day, you have 
 made not only the faculty of this institution, but the alumni and 
 ^students, present and to come, your debtors. 
 
l6o / COMMEMORATIVE TABLET 
 
 It is a significant fact, to my mind, that, although you, as 
 a class, did not enjoy, as did so many classes before you, the 
 privilege of personal contact with Doctor Nathan Smith Davis, 
 you still felt inspired to erect this tablet to his memory. 
 
 Dr. Davis wielded an influence for his high ideals and en- 
 thusiasm in medicine, v/hich could not cease with his death, 
 but which will be potent with generations of students who will 
 follow you. 
 
 Not of him can it be said that the good which he did was 
 interred with his bones. "Good and great, he maketh the earth 
 wholesome." 
 
 I thank you, on behalf of the faculty, for this appropriate 
 memento. i 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Tributes of Respect from Friends and Former Pupils. 
 
 In this chapter the author has the pleasure of presenting- several tributes 
 of respect and appreciation, from surviving friends and former pupils of 
 Dr. Davis. A very much larger number could have been secured by simply 
 asking for them, but they would only have been repetitions or amplifications 
 of those here given, and it was deemed quite unnecessary. 
 
 The following from the Rev. M. C. Wilcox, Ph. D., a missionary of 
 the M. E. Church in Foochow, China, shows how Dr. Davis impressed 
 young theological students with his knowledge of the Scriptures. Dr. Wil- 
 cox is a scholar whose opinion is worth having: 
 
 "My dear Dr. Danforth : 
 
 It gave me great pleasure to learn that you are preparing a 
 "life" of the late Dr. N. S. Davis, because many memories of 
 my school life at Evanston w^ere thereby revived. For a time 
 I belonged to a Sunday School class' taught by Dr. Davis, and 
 even to the present time I continue to realize the benefit de- 
 rived from his method of Bible study. During more than a quar- 
 ter of a century of missionary work in China I have often re- 
 called this remarkable man — sometimes so severe and I might al- 
 most say rude in his personal bearing, but at the same time 
 really kind and sympathetic to those in any special need or 
 - sorrow. 
 
 I wish you great success in your labor of love in behalf 
 of- the great doctor's memory and remain, cordially yours, 
 
 M. C. Wilcox.'^ 
 
 The following tribute from the Rev. Robert H. Pooley, D. D., a prom- 
 inent minister of the M. E. Church, and at present Presiding Elder of 
 Joliet District of the Rock River Conference, is a graphic description of 
 Dr. Davis "in action" as a Sunday School teacher, in which capacity he 
 was eminently successful : 
 
 "The eminent Hegel is said to have had sixteen pupils, every- 
 one of whom understood his teaching differently, and the inter- 
 
l62 TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM FRIENDS AND FORMER PUPILS 
 
 pretation of everyone of these would have been repudiated b}^ 
 the teacher himself. This is not inspiring for any pupil now 
 to hasten to an estimate of his teacher, yet it will not stop' 
 judgments of the same as eminent men round up their genera- 
 tions and deposit with their personality all that is to continue 
 of abiding interest to history. 
 
 Human leadership must always be the absorbing topic because 
 character is to wear forever. When Boswell wrote the ideal 
 life of Samuel Johnson, he kept before us a character which was 
 as some vast mountain, rising from a plain, that could not lie,. 
 could not be taken in, and never hidden. 
 
 Soon after coming to Evanston, as a timid youngster from 
 Grant's old Galena home, one of the never-to-be-forgotten men 
 who took an interest in me vras Dr. Davis, vvho taught a Sun- 
 day School class, never being late, and almost never absent. 
 AA'hen I was longing for a young man's friend, both in body and 
 soul, I presented myself to the Methodist Sunday School, and 
 was conducted to a young men's class of eight, about my size^ 
 At once I found myself seated before a judge-like, austere, com- 
 manding-looking person, that remanded me of Alarcus Aurelius^^ 
 or one of the sages of the past. I could scarcely see the class 
 for the teacher, whose presence filled the circle like the sun. 
 the solar SA'Stem. Instantly he set his burning little eyes from 
 under those shaggy brows upon the new-comer, and they drew 
 like a magnet, going through my innermost soul. For a moment 
 I feared the man, but after his kindly voice addressed me, I 
 felt he was the 3-oung man's friend, and through the hour I 
 studied the teacher more than the lesson, even while he threw 
 to the foreground the attractions of the lesson and not him.self. 
 My first impression was, this man cares for bo3-3 ; secondly, he 
 is bigger than the lesson, knows it, and -can tell it, as he makes 
 the past live in the present. Evidently he knew how to preach 
 sermons as well as diagnose nerves and veins, and had he not 
 been a doctor would have been a clergyman. 1 saw that the man 
 behind the lesson counted like the man behind the gun, and that 
 a ereat teacher could not come out of a little man. The living 
 fountain of the teaching is after all in personality, and abstract 
 truths are little until they burn into character and cope thereby 
 with eternity. 
 
 The doctor impressed me that he was supernaturally great 
 as a man and naturallv great as a teacher, who found the greater 
 
TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM FRIENDS AND FORMER PUPILS 163 
 
 lesson always in his own soul. As he oathereJ into his own per- 
 son both heart and life of Jew and (Jentilc, he made the race 
 appear one and God as its reasonable Father. 
 
 So the great teacher gave us of his own soul through the les- 
 sons, without ever making a personal reference. 
 
 I felt he was approachable, my friend to do me good, but 
 the moment one came to the sacred border of his hidden char- 
 acter, he might as well strike against Gibralter to pass through. 
 A great man is always a mystery, hence always of interest. 
 
 The doctor was an adept in Old Testament history ; he knew 
 it in geography, biography, physiology and philosophy like a b c. 
 And while he was perfectly consumed by the lesson, he was more 
 interested in us boys. He knew values. The quality of wisdom 
 distinguishes the scholar from the mere learned man. He was 
 not teaching lessons, but boys, upon whom he set his heart, well 
 in his eyes, like a searchlight. He looked upon a boy not only 
 as a fact, but much more as a possibility. The boy he could 
 delightedly spend an hour with as a virtuous young man. was 
 the best asset of the country, because in the boy the Eternal was 
 the thing that was not seen. The doctor had the lesson on his 
 mind arid us boys on his heart. 
 
 I do not know whither the other boys liave drifted in the 
 world. I remember almost nothing of them, but the great teacher 
 whose mind was like the sky, and soul was like the ocean, abides 
 with me after thirty years, still impressing me with the strength 
 of his character, the wisdom of his mind and the granite of his 
 soul. 
 
 Neither did he discourage his class by the idea of spiritual 
 perfection that made it oppressive. Rousseau was fool enough 
 to think himself perfect, while his life roamed amid unnamable 
 practices ; but the impression left on me from my Sunday School 
 teacher was that the incapacity of the saints to discover their own 
 defects was in itself a fault, to be repented of. He told us the 
 ideal was something rather to be always approached, than to 
 ever be grasped, and that the Lord credited u.s, not so much by 
 what we had actually achieved, as by what we were attempting 
 and dared to pursue ; that the soul was the incalculable value, 
 and to bring that into proper relation to God became the true 
 end of noblest endeavor. The doctor was at home among large 
 thoughts. His teaching ever had the mark of Spiritual force and 
 his manner real power. 
 
164 TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM FRIENDS AND FORMER PUITLS 
 
 The Great Artist David was a sceptic, and Raphael a rake, 
 but our eminent teacher was a person always to be admired, and 
 never forgotten — a born teacher — a constitutional moralist, and 
 a wise man whom a thousand years hence might well recall." 
 
 R. H. POOLEY. 
 
 Dr. John Hamilcar Hollister, for many years the intimate friend and 
 colleague of Dr. Davis, has been kind enough to send me the just and 
 noble tribute that follows. There is probably no one else now living who 
 knew Dr. Davis so well and intimately as Dr. Hollister, and that gives an 
 added value to his generous and beautiful tribute: 
 
 Character sketching, like portrait painting, should only be 
 committed to a master hand. Only a somewhat intimate ac- 
 quaintance reaching back for fifty years warrants this reference 
 to the life of Dr. Nathan Smith Davis and the elements which 
 contributed to his eminent success. He was gifted with unusual 
 mental capacity. He had the power of quick and clear per- 
 ception of the relations of things. He was also by nature a logi- 
 cian. With premises clearly stated and accurately defined, his 
 reasonings carried conviction and rarely failed to reach logical 
 conclusions. 
 
 It is safe to say of him that rectitude of purpose was his 
 dominant characteristic, and he was so pronounced in his con- 
 victions that had occasion required he might easily have been a 
 martyr in their defense. Such ability and such intensity of 
 conviction were only equalled by his tireless industry. To him 
 few things came by chance. His plans were well thought out 
 and the means for their accomplishment well matured. His 
 knowledge of men was rarely at fault and he was quick to 
 discern those who could serve his purpose best. In legitimate 
 ways he was one of the strongest medical politicians in the pro- 
 fession. By private correspondence the scope and character 
 of a meeting of the American Medical Association was often well 
 outlined before its^session. This goes largely to explain the 
 phenomenal success to which the association has attained. Never 
 for a moment giving countenance to methods or deeds that were 
 unworthy, his measures vvcre approved by reason of inherent 
 worth. 
 
 Dr. Davis was strongly grounded in the Christian faith and 
 his views of professional and social ethics were founded upon 
 the Golden Rule. If he was subject to criticism it came from 
 
TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FRO:\[ FRIENDS AND FORMER PUI'ILS 165 
 
 those who knew him least. His strongest friends were tho<e 
 who knew him best. 
 
 His patience was sometimes over-taxed, and when an in- 
 vahd coming to him for treatment began to inform him of his or 
 her aihiient, what was needfnl for their cure, they were briefly 
 and sometimes tersely advised to go home and treat themselves, 
 and not trouble him by seeking advice they did not need. 
 
 Yet he carried within his breast a heart ever alive to suffer- 
 ing, and his sympathy for the poor cost him years of unre(|uited 
 toil, save the richer reward which money cannot buy. 
 
 His sympath}^ led him to special efforts to care for and if 
 possible reform inebriates, and the Washingtonian Home is a 
 monument to his memory. He had a specially kind regard for 
 indigent medical students, and not a few found material 
 help, of which no note was made aside from that which was 
 written in their hearts, along the line of private charity. There 
 are pages of unwritten history of the social events incident to a 
 nearly life-long acquaintance. A single one may suffice. It was 
 after a hot day in August after the bell had tolled the midnight 
 hour when, coming from the care of the sick the doctor and the 
 writer met, for their homes were opposite in the street. A gentle 
 breeze was coming from the lake and the moon full-orbed lent 
 its charm till we forgot the heat and turmoil of the day just 
 passed. For a full hour or more Dr. Davis in his happiest mood 
 stated three of the great purposes of his life, what he set before 
 himself to accomplish when he entered upon liis medical career. 
 
 The first was the unification of the medical profession by 
 the creation of an American Medical Association. 
 
 The second was the founding of a medical college with ex- 
 tended courses of study, and a more rational method of teach- 
 ing. 
 
 The third was the publishing of a text-book which should 
 embody his views of the theory and practice of medicine. The 
 moon was on the wane when the story was complete. He never 
 forgot his purpose, but lived to see his work fulfilled, and the 
 writer recalls the happy midnight hour when both of us should 
 have been in bed. J. H. Hollister. 
 
 Dr. John Bartlett, the septuagenarian practitioner of Chicago, was for 
 forty-five years an admirer of the high qualities and abilities of Dr. Davis. 
 Dr. Bartlett did not speak at the banquet referred to, but the following 
 
l66 TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM FRIENDS AND FOR>,IER PUPILS 
 
 tribute addressed to Dr. Davis by him on the day after the banquet has come 
 into the hands of the author ; and it is here printed. The appropriateness 
 of the letter in this connection will be at once recognized. 
 
 Chicago, April 13th, ic)02. 
 To Dr. Xathan S. Davis: 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 On Friday last my sister-in-law, 
 who seems to have acquired a proper appreciation of yourself, 
 chanced to call at my office. I told her of the "'Davis Banquet"* 
 and that while heartily approving of the homage to be paid you 
 by the occasion I hardly expected to attend. ]\ieanwhile, I related 
 some '"reminiscentia" of my own, showing your energy, your 
 constant attention to business and the endless demands on your 
 time. 
 
 Early the next morning my relative sent me an urgent re- 
 quest to attend the banquet. "Go," she said, "and voice your ap- 
 preciation of the occasion and of the man whose virtues, abilities 
 and singular pertinacity of purpose had invited this tribute." 
 
 By Avay evidently of givmg me an impetus in the right direc- 
 tion, she scribbled down these memoranda which strike me as 
 worth transmitting to you even at this late hour: "Yes."' she 
 urged, "go to the banquet and speak words fitting the opportunity. 
 Congratulate him on things personal, on his industrious use of 
 time — no waste of it or of energy on minor things — on his direct 
 advance toward his ends, in a manner typified in his practice 
 of hurrying to those in distress, often at night as well as day, 
 along the sidewalk, in a dog trot. 
 
 "As an illustration of his 'busy days' tell how he intrusted to 
 your care a patient, while he answered a call, requiring his absence 
 from the city a day or two ; how, on account of the increasing 
 urgency of the case, you advised a relative to meet Dr. Davis at 
 the incoming train and urge him to proceed directly to his 
 patient. State how the messenger returned sorely disappointed, 
 in that seven other messengers were at the depot to urge the 
 doctor in this and that direction. 
 
 "Xarrate how upon one occasion when asked by a medical 
 man who had long waited for an interview, if he had ten min- 
 utes to spare, the doctor, overwhelmed with work as he was, 
 replied a little testily, perhaps, 'I have not had ten minutes to 
 spare for the last ten years, and I do not expect to have in the 
 ten next to come !' 
 
 *Vide, chapter XIII. 
 
TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM FRIENDS AND FORMER PUPILS 1 67 
 
 "Do not forget to laud his life-long devotion to his ideals of 
 Temperance. Point out, how many younger and less experienced 
 practitioners his voice and example must have aroused to the 
 responsibilities involved in the thoughtless prescription of stimu- 
 lants. Assure him that his tireless labors in the good cause were 
 never so certain of their reward as to-day. 
 
 "Congratulate him that although it took him the great part 
 of a century to find the time, he had at last upon this evening 
 found that 'ten minutes of leisure' to receive the congratulations 
 of his confreres in medicine. Nature takes a rest after the heat 
 and stress of the growing season is over. Then comes the In- 
 dian summer of the year; to the aged doctor the Indian sum- 
 mer of life— a time to count the value of the harvest gathered 
 
 in." 
 
 In presenting the promptings of my relative I take occasion 
 to express my full endorsement of the handsome eulogiums passed 
 upon you last evening by your admiring colleagues. 
 
 Your admirable speech of acceptance, like your life, proved a 
 lesson to every physician present. Your earnest suggestion that 
 feelings of enmity toward any mortal should be habitually in- 
 hibited, coupled with the expression as to your positive good 
 will toward every human being, will tend much to freshen the 
 atmosphere of these days, tainted by man's malevolence and 
 selfish strife. To thousands of appreciative friends, who hope 
 for the realization of the cherished future of the Christians, your 
 reference to your work as completed, and to your house as in 
 readiness for the final call, tinged with sadness though it be, will 
 afiford a joyful satisfaction. Wishing you all happiness pertinent 
 to the perfect fruition of your Hfe, I am. 
 
 Your friend, Dr. John Bartlett. 
 
 From Roswell Park, M. D., LL. D., professor of surgery in the Uni- 
 versity of Buffalo, a former pupil and interne of Dr. Davis: 
 
 My acquaintance with Dr. N. S. Davis began when, as a 
 freshman student, in 1873, I first attended one of his clinics. The 
 impression then made and subsequently confirmed was that he 
 was a "gentleman of the old school." (He always wore a 
 swallow-tail coat.) He struck me by his dignified bearing and 
 the kindly yet austere manner in which he dealt with his patients 
 and those about him. He seemed always grave, apparently taking 
 the serious view of life, such sense of humor as he may really 
 
l68 TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM FRIENDS AND F0R:,IER PUPILS 
 
 have had being concealed Beneath the severity of his demeanor. 
 
 During the following years, as I came to know him better, 
 both as one of his inicnics and later as a member of the college 
 faculty, these impressions were in the main strengthened. No 
 matter how friendly he became he never forgot that cjuiet dignity 
 Avhich to many seemed actual coldness or indifference, but which 
 we who knew him, knew to be a species of self-repression behind 
 which he constantly veiled himself. Whether it was the out- 
 come of years of contact with irritating patients, or whether it 
 Avas a natural characteristic, we never quite learned. 
 
 When, as an interne, I came into close contact with him, I 
 more fully appreciated his keen insight into morbid processes, 
 and his comprehensive knowledge of internal diseases, as then 
 understood and taught. 
 
 A scholastic lecture by him was a marvel of compact presen- 
 tation of its subject matter. There were no attempts at oratory 
 or facetiousness, nor any of the useless verbiage wnth which 
 mauA- teachers obscure rather than clarify their teachings. Direct, 
 analytical and logical was his diction, and the most stupid could 
 not fail but follow it. Quite' similar was his presentation of a 
 case in clinic. No one could leave the room or ward after hear- 
 ing one of his clinical lectures wnthout taking much that was 
 worth remembering, that had been so driven home that it could 
 scarcely be lost. 
 
 Considering that those days when I knew him best were be- 
 fore we had the aid of bacteriology and of laboratory aids to 
 diagnosis, it seems to me that his skill and intLiition in this direc- 
 tion constituted a rare gift. Naturally throughout his teaching 
 his personality in manner and thought was never lost. His op- 
 position to alcohol, for example, tinctured all his therapeutics, 
 and his ingenuity in finding substitutes for it used to surprise 
 us. 
 
 To judge a man correctly some thirty years after close rela- 
 tions have ceased is not an easy matter. Yet my estimate of Dr. 
 Davis, as a man, is that he was ever the fearless champion of 
 what he thought elevating or right, either in professional or civil 
 life. His standards were rigorous and sometimes extreme, but 
 no one could for a moment doubt the sincerity of his purpose nor 
 the energy with which he would pursue it. As a teacher none 
 could excel him in vivid portrayal or terseness of presentation. 
 AVhatever he may have lacked in elegance of speech or grace of 
 
TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM FRIENDS AND FORMER PUPILS 169 
 
 oratory he more than atoned for by usin_ir a forceful, inteUijrible 
 EngHsh, without affectations of any kind. I'o his students he 
 was always kindly, even though the interviews were not pro- 
 longed. Everyone derived inspiration from contact with him, 
 and his influence upon his own and the succeeding generation 
 was most widespread and beneficial. 
 
 In the medical life of his day Dr. N. S. Davis zuas a giant. 
 
 RoswELL Park. 
 
 The following extract is taken from the oration on the "Life and Char- 
 acter" of Dr. Davis, delivered before the American Medical Association at its 
 meeting in Portland, Oregon, in 1905, by Henry O. Marcy, A. 'M., M. D., 
 J^L. D., of Boston. 
 
 Dr. Marcy was for many long years the intimate friend of Dr. Davis, 
 and his tribute has an added and more sacred value on that account. 
 
 The real secret of his wonderful power and influence is found 
 in its last analysis, in the one word service, indefatigable energy, 
 consecrated to the good of his fellow man. Without any preten- 
 sions to genius, with nothing dramatic or spectacular in his 
 character or career, his lamp burned with a pure and steady flame, 
 always lighting before him the path of duty made honorable. 
 
 He lived constantly under the solemn sense of the high re- 
 sponsibility of life, and surrendered himself to its demands with 
 utter and complete self-abnegation, in the single desire to make 
 right the duty of the hour. 
 
 We have sketched the early life work of Dr. Davis, that we 
 might the better observe the formative powers of his nature, 
 molded and strengthened by the years. A man of affairs and of 
 the world, the rare boon seemed bestowed upon him to go through 
 life unsullied by them. 
 
 He was not alone broad-cultured, high-minded, but a spiritual- 
 ly-guided man. He lived and thought upon a higher level than 
 is given to most men. So modest and unpretentious was he, that 
 he seemed to wear his public honors as a badge of service, rather 
 than of distinction. He often appeared to me to dwell in an 
 atmosphere of his own, quite above the mists and vapors of 
 earth. Other men's ideals were his verities, in the daily assur- 
 ance of his walk and conversation. 
 
 The spirituality of his early Christian teaching permeated his 
 whole life as a subtle essence, and his conduct was the outward 
 and visible sign of an inward spiritual grace. The world is richer 
 by the heritage of such a memory. 
 
170 TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM FRIENDS AND FORMER PUPILS 
 
 To Dr, Davis is due the organization of the medical editors 
 of America. I well remember his earnest enthusiasm, founded 
 upon the belief that out of it the medical journalism of America 
 would rise to a higher plane. He was its first President and I 
 had the honor for some years of being the Secretary of the or- 
 ganization. Every medical editor of America recognizes the 
 value of this service and the Association has deepened in inter- 
 est and strengthened in power with each of the succeeding years. 
 
 Few men of any profession have recognized more fully the 
 evils of intemperance and strenuously attempted their eradica- 
 tion than Dr. Davis. To him it made little difference that the 
 effort was unpopular with the rank and file of the medical men. 
 He sought not to correct the evil influence by specially dwelling 
 upon the crimes of intoxication, but rather by teaching that the 
 basic wrong was the injurious effect of alcohol upon the in- 
 dividual. He sought to convince men by first teaching them the 
 role of alcohol when taken in any form into the organism. This 
 organized effort for instruction, known as the National Temper- 
 ance Association, has wielded a power and is exercising an in- 
 fluence of immeasurable good, throughout the civilized world. I 
 am by no means sure but that Dr. Davis considered this the 
 highest fruitage of his entire life. His last scientific contribu- 
 tion, and certainly one of his best, was to this organization, read 
 at the last annual meeting, at the time when Dr. Davis lay upon 
 his bed of death. 
 
 From the editorial notice in the Journal of the American 
 Medical Association, July 25, IQ04, upon the death of Dr. Davis 
 we quote : 
 
 "Dr. Davis worked long and earnestly for high ideals in medi- 
 cine, and for the betterment of his profession in every way. 
 He represented before the people the best and purest in that 
 profession, and he always advocated that which he believed to 
 be for the welfare of his confreres and for the good of the peo- 
 ple. However, it was as a medical teacher that Dr. Davis was 
 best known, and thousands of men now in practice reverence his 
 name because of the influence he exerted on them during their 
 student days. No other man influenced the medical profession 
 as Dr. Davis influenced it. He did not belong to Chicago alone, 
 but to the whole country. Here, where he lived, his influence 
 was felt to a greater degree possibly than elsewhere, but his was 
 the kind of influence which reached out and permeated the pro- 
 
TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM FRIENDS AND FORMER PUPILS I /I 
 
 fession of the whole country, if not of the world ; and when the 
 true history of medicine in America is written, his name will 
 appear more prominently than that of any other man." 
 
 . These characteristics were recognized even by those who op- 
 posed him. So he was believed in and was trusted ; hence he 
 was a power. Dr. Davis was a man of whom it might be said, 
 "he loved his fellow-men," but he loved his profession best. 
 He lived a life of purest simplicity. He was a typical repre- 
 sentative of the old-school family physician : he had the con- 
 fidence of his patients, was loved, honored and respected by them, 
 and withal was a welcome friend and counselor in every family 
 in which he was known. His was a character to be emulated. 
 
 Would that there were more men in our profession like hira. 
 Wearing the crown of earthly honor as a simple exponent of 
 service, interested in the present, as in early manhood, seeing 
 the victories 3^et to be won in the field of science, as the vista 
 of the future opened before him, in the full ripeness of the many 
 years, the eternity of the present, blended harmoniously with 
 the eternity of the future, as he calmly awaited its dawn. 
 
 Firm in the assured hope with which the great Apostle to 
 the Gentiles was. persuaded that '"neither death, nor life, nor 
 angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
 things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 
 shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord," thus was the spirit freed from the 
 broken body, and June i6, 1904, we mourned Nathan S. Davis as 
 numbered with the dead. 
 
 The subject of personal relationship is almost too tender for 
 public expression. Thirty years acquaintanceship had ripened 
 into a friendship sweeter to me by far than to him, because of 
 the .personal profit of the relationship. If anything lasts over 
 into the great beyond, it will be such ties of congenial loving 
 friendship, which without a ripple ripened and strengthened to 
 the last. > 
 
 Let the tender associations of the home life be held sacred. 
 Let the city of his choice which had grown under his fostering 
 charge, from a struggling village to the second city of the con- 
 tinent, enshrine his memory in their hearts and perpetuate his 
 form in imperishable bronze, looking out upon the great lake 
 whose pure waters he gave to the public need. But above all 
 let the American Medical Association hold unsullied the example 
 
172 ■ TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM FRIEXDS AXD FORMER PUPILS 
 
 of his high and noble career, and perpetuate his memory during 
 the centuries to come, by imitating his glorious example of a 
 long life given to public service. 
 
 From Dr. Frank Billings, who needs no introduction to our reader*: 
 
 It was my fortune to sit on the benches as a student in the 
 Chicago ]\Iedical College and receive instruction in the theory 
 and practice of medicine from Prof. X. S. Davis. Later I was 
 also fortunate enough to be associated with him on the facu'ty 
 of the same institution for a period of over sixteen }ears. Dr. 
 Davis was uniformly considerate and kind to medical students 
 and to medical graduates. I and others went freely to him for 
 advice on many occasions and was always received and treated 
 as a father would advise a son. Dr. Davis by word and example 
 taught all those with whom he came in contact to do honest, 
 good and thorough work. He fried to bring out the best that 
 was in a man. 
 
 As a teacher of clinical medicine he had no peer. His word 
 pictures of disease made one actually see the patient suffering 
 before his eyes. His methods of diagnosis were not always sys- 
 tematic and classic, but they were rational always and always 
 sufficient to enable him to make a diagnosis. His prognostic 
 powers were co-equal with his skill of description and diagnosis. 
 
 I have never heard, in an}' country, another man who could 
 as clearlv describe a disease and demonstrate the condition in the 
 patient before him, as Dr. Davis. Frank Billixgs. 
 
 From Dr. Frank S. Johnson, a former pupil, and afterwards a colleague 
 of Dr. Davis in Northwestern University Medical School : 
 
 Dr. Davis was pre-eminently a man of force and a man of 
 high character. He added strength to any position he occupied. 
 As a teacher such a man has unusual influence, his normally 
 superior position relatively to his students, attains still greater 
 eminence with his occupancy. 
 
 In person he was a thin, spare man, with a full, large forehead, 
 dark, somewhat bushy hair, keen eyes, a firm mouth, and even 
 in repose his face wore an expression of alertness and determi- 
 nation. His chief -characteristic was energy, and behind it was 
 an orderlv mind. His mental operations were prompt and posi- 
 tive. In the classroom, and at the bedside clinic his quick ob- 
 
TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM FRIENDS AND FORMER PUPILS 1 73 
 
 servation and fine discrimination were in themselves a splendid 
 lesson, a revelation of attainment in method and in practice. His 
 descriptions of disease were vivid, and his plans of methodically 
 managing its varying phases were characteristic of a mind that 
 as far as possible pursued all problems to a positive conclusion. 
 His personal relations with his students were very pleasant. He 
 encouraged every earnest worker by kindly help and wise advice 
 — but to the willful wrongdoer he meted out a full measure of his 
 indignation. 
 
 As a teacher of young men his efforts passed beyond the 
 bounds of medicine. He thoroughly believed that a physician 
 should represent the highest type of manhood and at every oppor- 
 tunity he endeavored to instill into the minds of his students high 
 appreciations of life and of duty, and to fire them with an enthu- 
 siasm that would fully develop each one's latent powers. 
 
 Frank Johnson. 
 
 From Prof. William E. Quine, M. D., LL. D., a former colleague of 
 Dr. Davis in the Chicago Medical College : 
 
 Dr. Davis was the greatest physician and teacher of medi- 
 cine I have ever known. He was great as a diagnostician, great 
 as a therapist, great as to benevolence of nature, great as to dig- 
 nity of ideals, great in respect to fidelity to duty, great as to 
 capacity for public utterance, and great as an explainer of the 
 complexities of science. 
 
 In no unimportant measure his greatness was owing to sin- 
 cerity and purity of purpose, to capacity for initiative and to a 
 powerful, dominant, convincing and compelling personality. 
 
 As a medical teacher his value to the medical profession and 
 to society depended more upon the power of his character and 
 his example, than upon his capacity to expound the facts and 
 theories of medical science. 
 
 His pupils have had to unlearn and forget many of the lessons 
 of the class-room ; but the influence of his nature upon theirs will 
 live and bear fruit as long as they live, and, in many instances, be 
 transmitted by them to oncoming medical classes — and througli 
 these to generations yet unborn. 
 
 He was a great exemplar. That he could be a violent partisan 
 and, on occasions, even intolerant and rancorous, will not be 
 denied by any who have been in close relations with him ; but his 
 
174 TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM FRIENDS AND FORMER PUPILS 
 
 heart was soft, his sincerity splendid, and his courage equal to 
 any demand upon it. 
 
 He was slavishly good to the poor — good to the point o£ self- 
 immolation to God's poor and to the devil's — with impartial favor ; 
 and the poor were his most valued friends and his most loving 
 mourners. 
 
 Dr. Davis has done more good and less harm than any physi- 
 cian I have ever known. Wm. E. Quine. 
 
 In the following words, Prof. John Henr}- Wigmore, A. ^I., LL. B., 
 Dean of the Northwestern University Law School, refers to Dr. Davis : 
 
 "On June i6th, 1904, the morning of commencement, Dr. Na- 
 than Smith Davis, Sr., formerly lecturer in the Law School on 
 Medical Jurisprudence, died at his home in Huron street, Chicago. 
 He was eighty-eight years old. For thirty years, with but slight 
 interruptions, he lectured on Medical Jurisprudence in the school, 
 beginning about 1866 (when it was the LTiion College of Law), 
 and delivered the course for the last time in 1895, when the School 
 quarters were in the ]\Iasonic Temple. His frankness and firm- 
 ness of character, his moral earnestness and h.is breadth of view, 
 gave his lectures an individuality and interest far greater than 
 such a course usually can possess. The course, indeed, existed for 
 Dr. Davis and ivas Dr. Davis, and those who had the privilege of 
 attending it gained the inspiration of the man, the scholar, and 
 the reformer. Dr. Davis' relations of service to the University, to 
 his profession and to Chicago and the West, were important and 
 inanifold. He was a leader and a tireless laborer in every good 
 work relating to his profession. His last appearance before the 
 School was on May 23, 1902, at the farewell reception, at the 
 University Club, given by the students of the School to Dr. 
 Harvey B. Hurd, on the occasion of his retirement from active 
 work in the School. Dr. Davis was especially invited, as Dr. 
 Hurd's oldest colleague, to be present and recount something of 
 his recollections of old times." His special theme was his recol- 
 lections of Senator Douglas, who was his personal friend, and 
 whom he attended in his last illness. 
 
 A brief extract from Dr. Davis' "Recollections of Old Times," 
 will show his estimate of Stephen A. Douglas, of whom he was a 
 great admirer : "I\Ir. Douglas had remarkable power, as a speaker, 
 to control men's opinions, if they listened to him. There was 
 
TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM FRIENDS AND FORMER PUPILS 1 75 
 
 ■something- so magnetic about him that when he could gain the 
 attention of a popular audience, he was very sure to bring thcni 
 to agree with his own views. The secret of it was that he had 
 planted himself from the beginning of his career upon the great 
 fundamental principle of free government. It was absolute home- 
 rule that he advocated, and when they listened to him he car- 
 ried the populace with him, in spite of all reverses. He believed 
 in a free government, a free people, free institutions, free trade, 
 and the right of every man or nation to decide and act for him- 
 self or themselves, with the utmost freedom." And this was the 
 political platform of Dr. Davis. 
 
 From Otto Raymond Barnett, Esq., a prominent member of the Chicago 
 Bar, and a former pupil of Dr. Davis, in the Northwestern University 
 School of Law : 
 
 "Nathan S. Davis, Sr., a teacher of profound learning com- 
 bined with great simplicity of manner, gentle, kindly, equally free 
 from scholastic phraseology, oratorical pose or dogmatic asser- 
 tion, his delivery was deliberate, his exposition of a subject in 
 non-technical terms was illuminating and his knowledge of that 
 whereof he spoke v/as complete. His convictions as to matters 
 of right and wrong were stated in no uncertain terms. His ha- 
 tred of wrong was ever intense and outspoken. In his later days 
 his ever welcome, strong, kind, quiet face, white hair and slightly 
 stooped figure seemed that of the typical old-time family doctor, 
 the counsellor and friend as well as the physician. 
 
 "As one who had been close to humanity's weaknesses, temp- 
 tations and struggles, he taught the young not only from his 
 knowledge of medical s'cience but continually through it all he 
 taught kindness, gentleness, manhood, good citizenship and the 
 higher ideals of everyday living, as one who having travelled far 
 through life felt it to be his duty, as it was undoubtedly his 
 pleasure, to inspire those who followed to live up to the best that 
 was in them. Such was Nathan S. Davis, Sr., the teacher whom 
 -we hold in tender, reverent memory. Otto R. Barnett.'' 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Personal and Reminiscent. 
 
 We have already noticed the fact that Dr. Davis, in his callow days,. 
 was somewhat o:iven to politics, and that he "stumped" Broome County, 
 New York — where he then resided — in the interests of Martin Van Buren 
 for the Presidenc}^ in the campaign of 1839-40. But the ''land-slide" from 
 Jackson and Van Buren to the hero of Tippecanoe, and the consequent col- 
 lapse of the old "National Democratic Party" seems to have cooled his 
 political ardor, and we hear no more of "stump" political efforts. He was 
 a Democrat all his life, but he never obtruded his political opinions, or took 
 any active or public part in political campaigns. On more than one occa- 
 sion, after he came to Chicago, he was urged to "run" for Congress, but 
 declined, and we well remember that his name was prominently and se- 
 riously considered as the candidate of his party for Governor of Illinois,. 
 but he gave no encouragement to the proposition. 
 
 On the 1 8th of April, 1861, we find him on the platform in Bryan 
 Hall, with Brainard, Boone and other medical men, on the occasion of a 
 rnass meeting, or "war meeting," as such gatherings were called, for the 
 purpose of arousing the enthusiasm and stirring the patriotism of the peo- 
 ple in support of the government in its efforts to "put down the rebellion," 
 as we used to express it in those strenuous days. None of the physicians 
 present seem to have been called upon for any patriotic eloquence. 
 
 After the fire of 1871, the physicians of the country contributed a fund 
 for the relief of Chicago physicians who were burnt out, and needed finan- 
 cial aid. Dr. Davis was treasurer of the fund, which amounted to $10,- 
 ^81.08. In his final report, the treasurer shows where and how he dis- 
 bursed $10,781.00 only, and we try to imagine what sort of extravagance 
 he was tempted to indulge in by the possession of that elusive eight cents. 
 
 There was also a Special Relief Committee for the help of burned 
 out church members, and Dr. Davis represented the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church on that committee. 
 
 On Thursday, Jany. 20, 1887, being the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. 
 Davis' entrance to the medical profession, the students of the Chicago- 
 Medical College presented him with a "magnificent arm chair, and a val- 
 uable and beautiful revolving set of reference shelves."* 
 
 *Jour. A. M. A., Jan'y 29, i^ 
 
PERSONAL AND KEMINISCENT 1/7 
 
 Dr. Davis visited England twice, but did not extend his travels to the 
 continent. 
 
 His first trip was in 1886, after his selection as the candidate for the 
 Presidency of the approaching International Medical Congress, in 1887. 
 He went as one of the delegates from the American Medical Association, 
 who were authorized to invite the members of the British Medical Asso- 
 ciation to attend the Congress, and as Dr. Davis was prospective President 
 of the Congress, his appointment as delegate to the British Association was 
 peculiarly appropriate. The British Medical Association met at Brighton. 
 August 1 2th, 1886, and our delegates v^^ere treated with great courtesy 
 and kindness by their trans-Atlantic brethren. On the third day of the 
 session, they were given a public reception, and an opportunity to state 
 the object of their mission. Dr. Davis was selected as the spokesman, 
 and he delivered an address which did credit to himself and his country, 
 and which was received with unusual enthusiasm by our sober English 
 confreres. The invitation was accepted on the spot, and a large delegation 
 of the most eminent medical men in the United Kingdom attended the 
 International Medical Congress at Washington in 1887. 
 
 On the morning of Friday, Aug. 13, 1886, at the "Royal Pavilion," 
 Brighton, the "National Temperance League" gave a breakfast at which 
 Dr. Davis was a guest of honor. Mr. John Taylor — whoever he may have 
 been— one of those who "supported" Mr. Marriage Wallis, J. P. (just 
 why Mr. Marriage Wallis, J. P., needed to be "supported" at a temperance 
 breakfast we are not informed), "regretted the absence of the Lord Bishop 
 of London. It was quite his Lordship's intention to have presided over 
 the meeting, but the early breaking up of Parliament had altered all his 
 arrangements." And then in concluding one of those speeches in the 
 delivery of which a courteous Englishman is the peer of all the world, 
 Mr. John Taylor said, "they had amongst them a distinguished American, 
 Dr. Davis (loud cheers), and he begged to move the following resolution:" 
 " 'That this company of members of the British Medical Association, as- 
 sembled at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, on the invitation of the National 
 Temperance League, welcomes the presence of Dr. Nathan S. Davis 
 and his companion delegates from the American Medical Association, and 
 congratulates Professor Davis on his ardent and consistent practice of 
 total abstinence for over half a century, and trusts he may long be spared 
 in his intelligent and earnest advocacy of the sacred cause of Temperance" 
 (loud applause).* Dr. Norman Kerr seconded the resolution "in felici- 
 • tous terms," and it was carried by acclamation. Then the guest of honor 
 took the floor, and then he "took" the audience. For more than half an 
 
 ^Sussex (England) Daily Nezvs, Aug. 14, 1886. 
 
178 PERSONAL AND REMINISCENT 
 
 hour he spoke with his accustomed fluency and power, and King Alcohol 
 never got a more vigorous scoring than was administered then and there. 
 It was a great event in the life of a great man; a man who was great 
 enough for the occasion. It was an hour in which every American medical 
 man ought to feel a personal pride. "The conclusion of Dr. Davis' address 
 was the signal for long-continued applause."* 
 
 The address was punctuated by frequent outbursts of applause, and 
 the speaker evidently had what the older Methodist preachers used to call 
 "a. good time." 
 
 After attending the British Medical Association to its close and after 
 also attending several of the social gatherings, which always enliven the 
 meetings of the British Medical Association, as well as our own, Dr. 
 Davis visited London, and was the guest of the late Sir Benjamin Ward 
 Richardson, who was one of the medical "lions" of London, and who richly 
 deserved to occupy the high eminence he attained. These two men, so like 
 and so unlike, would find many topics upon which they would meet on a 
 common and very familiar ground, and it need not be doubted that it was- 
 a season of unalloyed enjoyment to them both. 
 
 After a few days in London he went to Cambridge, and visited the 
 ancient University, whereof England is so justly proud. He was accom- 
 panied by Dr. W. H. Pancoast, of Philadelphia, and they were entertained 
 by some of the distinguished medical men of Cambridge, in an informal but 
 very cordial manner. 
 
 He arrived at home after about six weeks' absence, greatly benefited 
 by the rest and novelty, and this was the longest vacation that he had ever 
 taken. 
 
 Man}^ of us Americans, when we get over to Europe, find very great 
 difficulty in procuring drinking water that agrees w^ith our delicate ''prima? 
 viae," and we find ourselves forced to resort to wine or some other beverage 
 of like nature, which we rigidly eschew and perhaps vociferously denounce 
 at home. But it is perfectly safe to assert that Dr. Davis experienced no 
 difficulty in finding his favorite beverage, "aqua pura," and that he came 
 home as innocent of the taste of wine as when he started. 
 
 In 1888 he was again abroad, and in attendance upon the British Medi- 
 cal Association at its meeting in Glasgow, largest, finest and thriftiest of 
 the Scottish cities. This time, although he went as pl^in "Dr. Davis," he 
 was the recipient of much attention, and many individual acts of kindness 
 and courtesy from the English and Scotch medical fraternity. 
 
 After the adjournment of the British Medical Association at Glas- 
 gow, he went to Edinburgh by way of the "Trossachs" and Stirling Castle^. 
 
PERSONAL AND REMINISCENT I/O 
 
 and it wotilcl be interesting^ if we coukl know how deeply the emotions of 
 this severely practical man were stirred, as he made this romantic jour- 
 ney, where history and tragedy and romance and i^oetry, jostle each other 
 at every turn. 
 
 After a brief visit to Edinburgh, wiiich was made {)leasant and profit- 
 able by the medical men of that beautiful and picturesque old city, so famous 
 in history, theology, law, literature and medicine, he returned home, and 
 never saw Europe again. 
 
 In January, 1886, at a time when he was burdened with the duties 
 incident to his official position in the approaching International Medical 
 Congress, and while he was at the same time editing the Journal of 
 the American Mcdica! Association, attending to his enormous office prac- 
 tice, and to his duties in Mercy Hospital and the Chicago Medical College, 
 he was stricken by an attack of cerebral hemorrhage, and nearly complete 
 right hemiplegia resulted. At that time the writer was a member of the 
 faculty of the college, and he has a vivid recollection of the shock which 
 the first announcement of Prof. Davis' illness gave the faculty, and the 
 insurmountable difficulties we expected to encounter in filling his place — 
 for we supposed his work on earth was done. But he rallied w'ith unex- 
 pected rapidity, and in a few weeks was out again. On a certain day the 
 rumor reached the college that Prof. Davis would lecture that afternoon, 
 and immediately his class bestirred themselves in preparing to give their 
 distinguished Professor a royal reception. The decorations were all in 
 place; the lecture room was crow^ded with an eager and expectant band 
 of students, every one nearly bursting with suppressed applause ; the silence 
 grew more and more oppressive, as the slow-going hands on the clock 
 seeined to purposely lag and linger; but the anxious moment arrived, the 
 bell rang, the door slowly opened and the Professor appeared, and then 
 pandemonium broke forth; the applause was deafening, prolonged, and 
 continuous ; the Professor stood calmly, patiently, wdthout moving a muscle 
 or uttering a word, until the "boys" had exhausted themselves by their ex- 
 uberant welcome, when he quietly began his lecture at exactly the point 
 where he had left off several weeks previously, just as though nothing had 
 happened. Prof. Davis lectured ten years longer in the college, but mean- 
 time several of the members of that faculty, who expected to select his suc- 
 cessor, had gone to their long account. 
 
 In June, i8q8, he resigned as Dean of the Northwestern University 
 Medical School*— the successor of the Chicago Medical College— and his 
 work as a teacher of medicine, extending over half a century, and from 
 the "dark ages" to the noondav sun of medical science, was forever finished. 
 
 *He was, however, Emeritus Dean and Professor, until his death, and I am told 
 that he even delivered an occasional lecture after his resignation. 
 
l80 PERSONAL A.ND REMTNISCEXT 
 
 On the thirteenth day of ]\Iay,, 1905, "Davis Square," Chicago, was 
 dedicated to the uses of the pubHc in perpetuity. It was a post mortem 
 honor paid to the late Dr. X. S. Davis and a pecuharly appropriate honor 
 it was and is. Davis Square is in reahty one of the small parks which our 
 broad-minded Park Commissioners have recently been establishing in the 
 poorer and over-crowded districts where the children have absolutely no 
 playground but the hot and dusty street in summer or the filthy muddy 
 street in winter. 
 
 It is worth one's while to make a pilgrimage to this crowded neighbor- 
 hood on a summer afternoon, just to see the groups of happy children at 
 their wild and noisy sports, away from the dirt and peril of the street, with 
 its vices and temptations, and who shall say that the benignant spirit of 
 him after whom this breathing place is named, does not hover over the 
 scene ? 
 
 Not far distant from the "Square," stands the "Davis School," a 
 modern school edifice, of the commodious and attractive type, wisely adopted 
 a few" years since by the Chicago Board of Education. This school house 
 is not like the one its namesake attended eighty years ago, nor are the 
 methods of instruction like those then in vogue. In the Davis School, of 
 Chicago, the swash of the birch twig is not heard, as it viciously curls around 
 the legs of the howling victim. "Corporeal punishment" is one of the relics 
 of the past, and the Davis School is an advanced example of the advanced 
 methods of common school instruction and discipline of to-day. 
 
 Some time during the year 1900, I have not been able to get the exact 
 date. Dr. Davis delivered a short address to the so-called "Hundred Year 
 Club," composed of a few aged people w^ho had conceived an ambition to 
 be centenarians, but it is painful to be obliged to announce that now (1907), 
 seven years after the doctor's address, nearly all of the members of that 
 club have given up the ghost, and likewise their hope of washes of "many 
 happy returns" on their hundredth birthday. Among those present on that 
 unique occasion were Dr. Adam Miller, Dr. J. B. \^^alker and "Aunt" Lizzie 
 Aiken, the latter so well known to all the old soldiers. As Dr. Davis' 
 address was quite short, and as it was one of the last if not the last of his 
 public addresses, we reproduce it entire. It is as follows, and of course it is 
 entirely extemporary : 
 
 "There is no patent right for the promotion of longevity. To lay down 
 arbitrary rules on this subject is sheer nonsense; what would be judicious 
 for one would not be for another. The way to promote longevity is simply 
 to promote good health by obeying the laws which God has given to man. 
 The first steps toward maintaining good health in obedience to God's laws 
 are to eat good, simple, plain, wholesome food ; to exercise the body in 
 
PERSONAL AND REMINISCENT l8l 
 
 a rational manner; to breathe fresh, pure air; to drink good, pure water, 
 and let everything else alone — rigidly. 
 
 "Nature's great restorer is sleep. Individuals vary as to the amount 
 of sleep required. For one engaged in active manual labor, eight hours are 
 about the average ; for one less actively engaged in physical exertion, an 
 hour or an hour and a half less. Regularity should be observed in the man- 
 ner of living so far as possible. Eating, sleeping, working, taking recreation, 
 etc., should be reduced to as systematic a basis as can be established with pro- 
 priety. Regularity in these things conduces to long life. 
 
 "The average duration of life has been considerably increased, particu- 
 larly in the last two centuries — perhaps more during the nineteenth cen- 
 tury than in any time before. But there is a reason for this growth in 
 longevity. During all the centuries from the beginning of the Christian 
 era down to the eighteenth century, what was called the civilized part of 
 the world was scourged annually by sweeping epidemics and almost con- 
 stant wars. Devastating wars pave the way for poverty, wretchedness 
 and famine. Then comes the plague. Before the discovery of vaccination 
 smallpox almost depopulated Europe. 
 
 "In the present state of society it is not possible to apply any set of rules 
 which would enable a man to live lOO years or longer. But if we could 
 take a state as a thing apart, erect a high wall around it, and regulate the 
 food, the work, the sleep, the exercise, the recreation, the habits of daily 
 life, and above all the propagation of the species, we could without doubt 
 steadily increase the vigor of the population, so that after a century of 
 experiment the majority of the people would live beyond lOO years. But 
 tobacco and alcohol would have to be excluded absolutely from this state. 
 
 "We can never produce a race of centenarians as long as the evils of 
 tobacco and alcohol and heredity are present to combat and nullify the 
 efforts of those who obey the laws of God. One family may live right, in 
 obedience to hygiene and temperance ; a neighbor family may have children 
 conceived by parents impregnated with alcohol, nicotine and tobacco oil; 
 the children of the two families intermarry, and this knocks in the head 
 every tendency toward long life. 
 
 "As for myself, I am past 83, and I have one brother who is just past 
 85. My father lived to be 90. It may be said that I belong to what is 
 called a long-lived family. Many of the family lived to be from 75 to 85. 
 and my ancestors, generally speaking, were above the average in tenacity 
 of life! 
 
 "Work has not killed me. Indeed, few are killed by work. When you 
 hear that this or that man has broken down and died from overwork, you 
 
l82 PERSONAL AND REMINISCENT 
 
 may be sure that it was not the work that killed, but worr}- or excesses 
 in living. 
 
 "I have always been a great walker, and still take to that form of exer- 
 cise, walking to my office, a distance of a mile or more, and home again,, 
 winter and summer. When I reach the office building I don't wait for the 
 elevator. At the foot of the stairs I pause long enough to take a long, 
 deep breath, then mount the flight, after which I feel but little fatigue. I 
 used to beat the old-fashioned street cars and omnibuses in Chicago on 
 foot, but I wouldn't like to try to do it now. The cars have gained in speed, 
 while I have dovibtless gone back. 
 
 "But I used to walk and walk and walk day and night in pursuit of 
 my calling, hardly ever reaching homie until ii or 12 at night. I have al- 
 ways eaten what was set before me, whether animal or vegetable food, the 
 chief point being- not to eat too much. Outdoor exercise prepares a man 
 for good food. All my life I have made it a rule to begin the day with a 
 good, hearty breakfast. It has always been one of the best meals to me. 
 I have never had any use for the fashionable breakfast, consisting of a cup 
 .of coffee and a roll." 
 ' (For the privilege of printing the foregoing address, I am indebted 
 to Mrs. Harriet Taylor of the Newberry Library. — I. N. D.) 
 
 Nearly all of Dr. Davis' autograph manuscript, and all the letters ac- 
 cumulated through his extensive correspondence with medical men, except 
 half a dozen or so, which are of no special value, have been destro^^ed ; a 
 fact which has handicapped and embarrassed his biographer to no small 
 degree. A public man's life is revealed more fully and accurately by his 
 correspondence, than through any other source, and it is a loss to the world 
 when such a direct and authentic source of information is inaccessible. But 
 one manuscript, supposed to have been lost, has been discovered by the 
 writer, namely, the original draft of his Presidential address, before the 
 International Medical Congress of 1887, and the photographer has repro- 
 duced the closing sentence in fac simile.'" 
 
 Dr. Davis left but a small estate, in spite of his very large and really 
 lucrative practice. And no wonder. He gave away money right and left, 
 and without that exercise of good judgment which distinguished liim in 
 other matters. He was frugal in his personal expenses, and while he always 
 maintained his family in a style of liberal and wholesome comfort, no unwise 
 or unnecessary extravagances were indulged in or even desired. His home 
 life was ideal; no more perfect example of what a home should be could 
 be found anywhere than the home of Dr. and Mrs. N. S. Davis. But as a 
 
 *See following page. 
 

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184 PERSONAL AND REMINISCENT 
 
 financier the doctor was about on a par with the great majority of us medi- 
 cal men. 
 
 It is very interesting as well as remarkable that up to within ten days 
 of his death he earned a good professional income, notwithstanding he was 
 ■87 years old. 
 
 At the meeting of the American Medical Association in Portland, Ore- 
 gon, July, 1905, a committee was appointed "to secure a proper memorial of 
 Dr. Davis" and Dr. H. O. Marcy, of Boston, was made chairman. 
 
 The committee consists of one member from each State, and Dr. Wm. 
 E. Quine, of Chicago, who is vice chairman of the committee, represents Illi- 
 nois. It is the desire of the committee to raise not less than thirty thous- 
 and dollars, to be invested as a memorial fund, the annual interest to be 
 used in the promotion of original investigations in the field of pathology 
 or some cognate subject; or to be expended for the erection of a permanent 
 monument, which shall be a memorial of Dr. Davis. If the matter could be 
 left to the beneficiary himself, anybody can tell which of the two objects he 
 would choose, but the Association will doubtless make a wise decision, as 
 soon as the money is forthcoming. It is a project that does honor to it^ 
 projector. Dr. Marcy, for many years an intimate friend of Dr. Davis. Dr. 
 Marcy delivered an eloquent and exhaustive oration on the "Life and 
 Character" of Dr. Davis at the Portland meeting of the American Medical 
 Association in 1905, from which an extract is printed in Chap. XVII. 
 
 The author must again express his regret that he has been unable 
 to trace the ancestry of Dr. Davis beyond his father, Dow Davis, although 
 he has made strenuous eft"orts, with the aid of a genealogical expert, Mrs. 
 Harriet Taylor, in the Newberry Library to do so. But there is reasonable 
 ground for the conjecture that he was of Puritan descent, that his direct 
 ancestors emigrated from England to the "Bay Colony," along with the 
 many thousands that fled from the Stuart persecutions between 1630 and 
 1640, and that less remote ancestors subsequently emigrated from ]\Iassa- 
 chusetts Bay to the vicinity of the present site of Troy, New York. There 
 the trail, indistinct and doubtful at best, seems at the present time to be 
 hopelessly lost. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 A Character Study. 
 
 When we study the personaHty of N. S. Davis, we are confronted 
 with a puzzling medley of incompatibilities, which are, at first glance, in- 
 explicable. Here we see a man of the highest type of character, who en- 
 joys and richly merits the absolute confidence of his fellow men, and whose 
 kindness of heart is so well known that it has passed into a proverb; yet 
 who is liable to passionate outbursts of temper and violent torrents of 
 invective, that ill-become a truly great character, but in a spirit of charity 
 are forgiven by his friends, because they are "peculiarities" of Dr. Davis. 
 
 His biographer is not called upon to apologize for, or to pass over in 
 silence, the weaknesses and foibles of his subject, any more than he is 
 called upon to unduly magnify or unjustly minimize his truly great quali- 
 ties ; but it is his duty to account for, or admit his inability to account for, 
 the asperities of the otherwise ideal character he has endeavored to por- 
 tray. We shall try to explain, so far as an explanation is possible, the 
 temperamental "peculiarities" of the great man, whose unique personality 
 commands our increasing admiration, as our familiarity therewith becomes 
 more and more perfect. 
 
 As a bold and striking object lesson, in the study of evolution con- 
 sidered from the standpoint of anthropology, no better example could be 
 found than Dr. N. S. Davis, and his rugged, stalwart, transparent character. 
 
 However self-poised and independent a man may be, he is more or 
 less influenced by his environment, and he cannot help himself. Alore- 
 over, the old saw, "as the twig is bent the tree is inclined," is just as true 
 to-day as it ever was, which means that it is absolutely true. A man is 
 influenced to his dying day by the scenes and experiences of his child- 
 hood, although he may not know it, or may even refuse to admit it. A 
 striking example of this we have already noted, in the far-reaching influ- 
 ence of the promise the child N. S. Davis— then only seven years old- 
 made to his dying mother. 
 
 Let us glance at his childhood, not as sentimentalists, but as students. 
 He was born amidst forbiddmg and depressing surroundings. He first 
 .saw the light— although not very much of it— through the diminutive 
 windows of a log house, which stood in a sparsely settled neighborhood. 
 
1 86 A CHARACTER STUDY 
 
 surrounded by the virgin forest, which cast its gloomy shadows athwart 
 the sky. There is something weird and solemn about the forest, and as 
 the child gazed into its mysterious depths, its indefinable influence was 
 ielt, unconsciously of course, but none the less really, and it became one 
 of the formative factors of the sober-minded future man. At the tender 
 age of seven years he lost his mother, and he was thus deprived of the 
 gentle touch and refining influences, which only a mother can impart. It 
 may be laid down as an axiom that the child who passes his early years 
 without maternal discipline and guidance, is deprived of something for 
 which no adequate substitute can be provided. It is during the early years 
 if ever, and under a mother's wise and unerring discipline, that control 
 of the passions is acquired, and that an unruly temper is brought under 
 subjection. Thus the childhood of young Davis lacked two factors that 
 -are absolutely essential, if the foundation of a symmetrical character is to 
 be laid, namely, a home and an environment such as a log cabin, in 
 the midst of a frowning wilderness could not furnish, and the care and 
 discipline, which only a mother's love can inspire. 
 
 As the years go by, and he becomes a youth, it is a sad picture that 
 comes before us. Here is a boy with a precocious mind and a precocious 
 •conscience, spurred b}^ an ambition for knowledge and education, but fet- 
 tered by poverty and his ideas of "duty," which bind him to the monotony 
 of the plough and the harrow. His days are a round of labor; his nights 
 are passed in the gloomy log house, without books or pictures- or any of 
 the accessories of home, which we now deem necessities, and absolutely 
 without cheerful or congenial companionship. Is it any wonder that the 
 rough diamond retained many of its angularities through life, in spite of 
 -its being a diamond of the "first water?" 
 
 At the present day we are paying great attention to our public schools. 
 We insist upon commodious, cleanly, well-ventilated buildings, with some 
 pretentions to architectural beauty; we provide adequate means for illus- 
 tration, in the way of m.aps, globes, pictures, apparatus, and whatever else 
 modern ideas of the education of children may require. We also insist 
 that teachers shall be properly qualified for their work, that they shall 
 be imbued with that degree of enthusiasm and love for their work that 
 ensures results, and we also ordain that the old-fashioned rawhide, the 
 ruler, the well tanned "birch rod," and other implements of "corporeal pun- 
 ishment" shall be banished from the school room, absolutely and forever.* 
 
 *In his childhood days, the writer "went to school" to a "master" who always 
 kept a rawhide hanging over his desk ; that is, when it was not "in use." The memory 
 •of that instrument of torture is still vividly impressed on the writer's mind — and else- 
 where. 
 
A CHAKACTKR STUDY 187 
 
 But the public schools of eighty years ago, and from that lime down 
 to fifty, or even forty years ago, were a standing disgrace. The' school 
 houses were ugly, dirty, empty and forbidding; no means of illustration 
 beyond a blackboard were furnished ; the teachers were generally strangers 
 to the "committee man'' and everybody else, and they were employed for 
 a single term, without mucli regard to their educational qualifications, ex- 
 cept a capacity for "governing," and that was simply a question of brawn 
 and muscle; corporeal punishment was of almost daily occurrence, and 
 he was the hero of the school who could take a "licking" with tjie greatest 
 fortitude, while the actual teaching was pretty much limited to the three 
 "R's," with perhaps a smattering of history and geography. 
 A false idea of honor prevailed ; not the best student, but the 
 best fighter; not he who could "parse" a sentence from the "Vil- 
 lage Blacksmith" most correctly, but he who could organize and lead 
 a mob of the "biggest boys," while they pitched the "schoolmaster" into a 
 snow bank; he was the real hero of the school, upon whom the "small 
 boys" looked with both adoration and envy.''" Could there be anything 
 refining or elevating in attendance upon such schools as I have described.^ 
 Take the case of a boy like young Davis; serious and thoughtful ; hungering 
 for knowledge, but without a bit of the "rougii and tumble" hghting spirit, 
 which possessed most of the country lads of that day ; without congenial 
 companionship, and limited to the slender resources of tlie iiu-m, the 
 "meeting house" and the school; what wonder that he wrapped the mantle 
 of his reserve more closely about him, and communed only with nature 
 and his God. 
 
 Another factor in the life of Dr. Davis had much to do with develop- 
 ing his innate pugnacity, and placing him always on the defensive, namely, 
 pretty much all his life he was rowing against the current, and the current 
 sometimes might appropriately be called the "rapids." During his very 
 first course of medical lectures, the absurdity of the methods of teaching 
 medicine struck him so forcibly, that he at once resolved on a campaign 
 in the interests of higher general and medical education. And shortly 
 after he began that long and strenuous series of efforts, in the face of de- 
 termined opposition, which resulted in the organization of the American 
 Medical Association and its endorsement of its founder's ideas as to a 
 radical change in the theory and practice of educating young men for the 
 medical profession. But it was no easy task, and its effects on the young 
 man who marshalled the forces, was what might be expected ; it stififened his 
 
 *0f course I am speaking of remote country schools, in the sparsely settled dis- 
 tricts of northern New England and central New York, and not of schools m the 
 larger cities, though they were nothing to brag of, half a century ago.— I. >.. D. 
 
1 88 A CHARACTER STUDY 
 
 mental backbone, which needed no stiffening, and hardened an imperiou: 
 will, which needed influences in the opposite direction. 
 
 When he came to Chicago and entered the faculty of Rush Medica 
 College, he found exactly the educational methods in vogue that he had s( 
 severely condemned in other schools; and now he found himself a partici 
 pant in just these methods. And then he began that campaign whicl 
 eventuated in the disruption of the faculty of Rush Medical College, anc 
 the establishment of the Chicago Medical College along the lines of Dr 
 Davis' own ideas ; but this cost a hot controversy with that other imperiou; 
 autocrat, Dr. Daniel Brainard, and the feud between these tv.-o grea 
 men remained an open sore, until the death of the latter in 1866. Durin^ 
 this period of disputation, Dr. Davis was rowing against the rapids witl 
 a vengeance, and nothing but his iron will and unconquerable determina 
 tion, enabled him to stem the current, and reach comparatively calme: 
 waters. But there were no softening or refining influences to be gottei 
 out of a contest so strenuous and prolonged. 
 
 Quite early in his professional life he commenced an active campaigi 
 against intemperance, and thus arrayed against himself the liquor selle 
 and the liquor consumer. In his temperance work, Dr. Davis was alway 
 very radical and uncompromising; he demanded absolute "teetotalism, 
 and he included all forms of intoxicants, under whatever name or guis' 
 they might appear.* Of course so radical a departure from the habit 
 and customs which long use had sanctioned, brought him into controvers; 
 with older men of all classes and callings, and again, alone and unaided 
 he was rowing against the tide of public and professional opinion. AA'i 
 cannot help admiring the oaken toughness of fibre which it took for ; 
 young man to stand, like Luther at the Diet of Worms, in defiance of popu 
 lar and professional opinion, at the bidding of his conscience, and his ex 
 alted ideas of duty; but we must consider also that while he was fightim 
 King Alcohol, he was not acquiring a spirit of compromise, or a sunn; 
 temper. 
 
 Of course beneath all these external and accidental causes was th 
 underlying fact that Dr. Davis was by nature a man of iron will, of posi 
 five opinions, and unyielding determination; when these innate attribute 
 are made to pass through the trials V\-e have recounted, the result is th 
 unique personality, known in the flesh as N. S. Davis. 
 
 In early life, however, young Davis encountered two softening, re 
 
 *I once saw him, while he was conversing with a friend at a banquet, uncon 
 sciously taste of a frozen mixture, which came on "in course," called, I think, "Ro 
 man punch" ; it contained, or he thought it contained, some form of spirituous liquoi 
 and I remember the smile that went around the table, as the Doctor pushed aside th 
 glass in deep disgust. — I. N. D. 
 
A CHARACTER STUDY jgc) 
 
 -fining- and elevating- factors, both of which accompanied him to his dying 
 lionr, and exerted an incalculable influence for good in the shaping of his 
 rugged character. 
 
 The first of these was the Christian religion, which he embraced at the 
 age of sixteen, while attending the Cazenovia Seminary. Whatever 
 may have been his spiritual experiences, we may be sure that he had a 
 -clear and convincing intellectual apprehension of the eternal verities of the 
 Teligion of the Bible, and that his "conversion" was not the mere senti- 
 mental or emotional whim of a callow youth. At all events, he never 
 ■faltered or wavered or doubted, but to the last moment of his life his con- 
 "viction was perfectly clear that he "knew in whom he had trusted." 
 
 The other, and equally momentous event, was his marriage to Anna 
 Maria Parker, March 5th, 1838, daughter of Hon. John Parker, -of Vienna, 
 TMew York. 
 
 Anna Maria Parker was a descendant, in the seventh generation, of 
 Anthony Stoddard, who "emigrated from England and came to Boston 
 about 1639," was made a "Freeman" in 1640, and thenceforth took an 
 -active part. in town matters. He was evidently a Puritan, who came to the 
 "Bay Colony" along with twenty thousand more of the best blood of 
 -England, to escape the Stuart persecutions, and let us, who have descended 
 from those stalwart Puritans, not forget to return thanks to the House of 
 Stuart for the expatriation of our ancestors ! 
 
 When Nathan S. Davis and Anna Maria Parker were married he was 
 barely twenty-one, and she was not quite eighteen. But she developed into 
 a strong, self-poised woman, and from the day of that happy marriage until 
 liis death, she was his constant helper and counsellor, and never-failing com- 
 forter. Her influence over him was so unobtrusive and gentle that it never 
 became unwelcome, in fact was scarcely felt, but who will dare try to esti- 
 mate its aggregate and ultimate result? 
 
 This brings us to that period of Dr. Davis' life when he was at the 
 zenith of his intellectual strength ; when his character and personality had 
 reached their full maturity; and when we have before us the fully-developed 
 and fully-equipped man, at the summit of his active and fruitful career. 
 -And what are the leading elements of this strong and rugged character? 
 
 First. He was an honest man. By this I do not mean that he paid 
 such taxes as he could not escape, and charged his patients no more visits 
 than he made. I do not mean that he was what is so aptly called "law 
 honest," and therefore never got caught doing wrong. A great many of 
 us could measure up to that standard. But his standard of honesty was 
 of that lofty type, that he would not even deceive himself. He held him- 
 -self to a strict account, and his severely exacting conscience was his ma.s- 
 
igO A CHARAC'JER STUDY 
 
 ter. If a thing was right he endorsed it; if a thing was wrong he con- 
 demned it. 
 
 Nor was he governed or even influenced by any considerations of 
 "policy" or the eft'ect of his conduct on his personal interests. The ques- 
 tion of right or wrong was the paramount question; so long as he was 
 right, or believed he was right, he went ahead and left consequences to 
 take care of themselves. Of course he made enemies ; such men always 
 do; of course he had many opponents and many a parliamentary battle at 
 the meetings of the various organizations to which he belonged. But how- 
 ever radicallv his friends or professional brethren might dissent from his 
 conclusions, his thorough-going honesty of purpose, and his conscientious 
 .desire to say and do the right thing, were never questioned. Few indeed 
 are the men of whom so sweeping an assertion can be made. 
 
 Secondly. Dr. Davis was a fearless man. He could not be frightened 
 or driven from a position or conviction which he felt called upon to de- 
 fend. He did not act hastily; he v^'as the very antipodes of a creature of 
 impulse, in spite of his occasional temperamental storms ; his conclusions 
 were carefully thought out, and arrived at deliberately ; but wdien he ar- 
 rived at a definite conclusion as to whither his duty led him, he was as 
 immovable as the eternal granite. Many times I have heard him called 
 "pig-headed," "obstinate" and "opinionated," all of wdiich seemed true to 
 the persons uttering these epithets, because they could not compass the 
 mental processes through v.diich Dr. Davis reached his anchorage. Many 
 times was he assailed in public debate, through the medical and secular 
 press, and bv popular clamor, on account of something which he had said 
 or written or done, but unless he was convinced that he was wrong, he was 
 never known to haul down his colors or spike his guns, and it is scarcely 
 necessary to say that he never fired blank cartridges. Neither was he 
 boastfuUv or offensively aggressive; he had absolutely nothing of the 
 noisy, blatant, "who's afraid" manner of the half-doubting man, who has 
 to whistle or shout to keep up his courage. Dr. Davis had profound faith 
 in himself, and fearlessness that is grounded upon faith is as invincible 
 to-dav as it was in the days of the Christian martyrs. Nee temcre nee 
 t'unidc, might well have been the motto of this stalwart man. 
 
 Third. He was a broad-gauged man. He was also, and perhaps more 
 properly, a far-sighted man. His plans were never made for to-day merely, 
 but for to-morrow and the far off future as well. The most conspicuous 
 example of his long-range vision, is the 'American Medical Association of 
 to-day, as compared with its feeble and halting beginning. From the very 
 inception of the movement which culminated in the successful organiza- 
 tion of the Association, down to his last year of active participation in its 
 
A CHARACTF.R STUDY '9^ 
 
 councils. Dr. Davis kei)t in mind and urL;x-d ui)i)n the Association from year 
 to year, his views with regard to higher medical education, and he lived 
 long enough to see his ideas adopted by every medical scIumjI in good stand- 
 ing in the country. He was pre-eminently a man of hard common sense ; 
 he was never a dreamer or a visionary ; consequently his plans were always 
 carefully considered and thoroughly matured, before they were presented 
 for the consideration of others. Of course he was always sure to have 
 a respectful hearing, and he rarely failed to carry conviction and achieve 
 his object. Because he was broad-gauged, he was generally s^tccessful in 
 his enterprises, although his superb confidence in himself inspired the con- 
 fidence of others, and thus increased his power and influence. More than 
 once or twice have the old Chicago Medical College, Mercy Hospital and 
 the Washingtonian Home had occasion to rejoice in the support of this 
 strong, undaunted man, with his resourceful tact and masterful confidence, 
 when the clouds were gathering over them, and the breakers were dead 
 ahead. One such personality in a Board of Directors or a college faculty, 
 dififuses its strength through the whole body, and acts as a saving tonic in 
 times of weakness. 
 
 Fourth. Dr. Davis was an altruist. An altruist, says the Century Dic- 
 tionary, and dear old Noah Webster's unabridged, "is a person devoted to 
 the welfare of others." Backed by these eminent authorities, I make bold 
 to pronounce the late Nathan Smith Davis an "unabridged" altruist. 1 
 believe this rather unusual term was first employed bv the French philos- 
 opher, Comte, to distinguish a person who was the antithesis of an egotist. 
 It therefore applies to Dr. Davis with special aptness, for with all his 
 stalwart self-confidence, he was no egotist. There is no hyperbole m the 
 proposition that Dr. Davis "devoted himself to the welfare of others." Not 
 a sino-le one of the various enterprises in which he was engaged, pronnsed 
 or vielded anv pecuniary profit, and most of them cost him considerable 
 sums of raonev. I remember hearing him remark, however, on one occa- 
 sion when he was urged to give up a certain professorship, that he telt he 
 must retain that particular position, because it was the only one that paid 
 or ever had paid him anything. Of course his immense labors n. n.ed.cal 
 teaching and hospital service were altogether gratuitous. an<l he wa. tor- 
 tunate if gratuitous services did not have to be seasoned every now and 
 then with a gratuity of money. The gratuitous services that he rendered 
 to poor patients in his office and at their homes, will never be known in 
 this world, and certainly Dr. Davis never knew hmiselt. He was con- 
 stantly giving awav money to this, that and the other object, keepmg no 
 account of his benevolences, and many times without being able to recall 
 the object of his gratuity himself. He was tenderly regardtul ot the 
 
192 A CHARACTER STUDY 
 
 financial ability of his patients, in the matter of fees for his services. In- 
 deed it was frequenth' a matter of complaint and criticism among his pro- 
 fessional contemporaries — myself among the rest — that he was needlessly 
 and unwisely moderate in his charges, when the real value of his services- 
 was considered. 
 
 The Divine Altruist "went about doing good," and he frequently 
 charged the recipients of his benefactions, "that they should tell no man." 
 In this regard, as in many others. Dr. Davis was an humble, and, it may 
 be, unconscious follower of the Master to whose service he consecrated his 
 life while he was yet in his early teens. 
 
 Fifth. Dr. Davis vs^as a public-spirited citizen. lie gave his services,, 
 his time, his counsel, and his money to any and every cause that appealed 
 to his judgment as a good and worthy cause, and likely to benefit his fellow- 
 men. As we heard him say, in an after-dinner address in 1901, when he 
 was eighty- four years of age: "Whatever comes up that seems to be im- 
 portant and will improve my fellow men, my impulse is to do what I can to 
 help it along." And that was the rule of his life from early boyhood until,, 
 burdened with years and infirmities of body, he entered into rest. 
 
 In a previous chapter I have pointed out the various scientific and: 
 eleemosynary institutions that he was active either in founding or main- 
 taining, or both. Most of these are still in existence, and are a part of the 
 legacy he left to his fellovv? citizens, at the close of his long and fruitful 
 life; a life, as I have already had occasion to remark more than once, beau- 
 tiful for its symmetry, its consistency and its ceaseless activity. 
 
 Sixth. As we have already seen. Dr. Davis was a Christian, and this 
 in no idle or passive sense. When but a child of seven years, he promised 
 his dying mother "to be a good boy, to learn to worship God and to do 
 good to his fellow men." That solemn death-bed scene made a deep im- 
 pression upon the plastic mind of this grave and thoughtful child, and it 
 became a permanent increment in his mental make up. In fact the upward 
 current of his life seemed to start from that scene of sorrow. We can 
 easily imagine the lonely little boy, seriously pondering over that farewell 
 promise, with an appreciation of its meaning far beyond his years. His 
 mother was a Methodist, and consequently Nathan's early childhood was 
 passed in an atmosphere of religious training, and this fact would give to 
 the promise made to his mother, under such solemn circumstances, a pe- 
 culiar and accentuated emphasis. 
 
 When young Davis was sixteen years old he attended the Cazenovia 
 
 Seminary for about six months, and here he was brought under strong 
 
 reHgious influences, as "Cazenovia" was a Methodist school, and in those 
 
 • days the "conversion" of the student was deemed quite as important as his 
 
A CHARACTER STUDY I9J 
 
 education. It was during this period of attendance at Cazenovia Seminary 
 that he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he remained a loyal, 
 active and devoted member of that communion as -long as he lived. 
 
 His services to the church of his choice and to its institutions are re- 
 ferred to in another chapter, therefore in this connection it only remains tO' 
 say a few words about his Christian character. Dr. Davis was not a noisy 
 Christian ; he was not a shouting Christian. He did not require a safety- 
 valve in the shape of explosive "hallelujahs" and "amens," which seems so 
 necessary to those whose religion is only "skin deep." Neither was his . 
 religion like a kind of surplice, to be worn only on special occasions, and 
 then to be carefully hung away and kept "unspotted from the world." But 
 his Christianity was just like the man himself; genuine, pervasive, a fact 
 and factor of his daily life. He was a Christologist ; he knew in whom he 
 trusted and the reasons why. It was not a matter of speculative philoso- 
 phy; it was a matter of deep, abiding faith, as the result of calm and dis- 
 passionate investigation. But behind and above all this, was the hunger 
 of soul which impels every candid, honest and thoughtful man to consider 
 his relations to his Creator and his destiny in that "bourne from which no 
 traveller returns." 
 
 Dr. Davis did not "wear" his religion; he assimlated it, and it became 
 a part, and a large part, of the man, on Sundays and week-days, in pros- 
 perity and adversity, in joy and sorrow, in youth, in middle life and espe- 
 cially in his last years, when, with prophetic illuminism, lie saw the harlx)r 
 lisfhts of his eternal home. 
 
APPENDIX, 
 
 NOTE-The following letter from Hon. William Jeonin-s Bryan, was received too late for insertion 
 in its proper place, but I take great pleasure in adding an exact photographic copy as an appendix. 
 
 I. N. D. 
 
 William J. Brtan 
 Kdivom Ajn> Pkoprjvtdr 
 
 Richard X^ Metoalfb 
 
 ASBOOXATB £dXTOB 
 
 The Commoner 
 
 CiiJLai,nm W. UuTAM 
 
 ■ fAi. ROOMH Attn llt.-»iiti«a Or 
 3=4-330 So. ICtu Misivf 
 
 Lincoln, Neb^ 
 
 ^-^^Jly CVCflL-^Ly^ 
 
 
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