COLUMBIA LIBRARIES OFFSITE HI Al III SMI Nf.l '-. MA U 1AI II J HX64094219 R154.Em6 .B 53 The birthday dinner BBHHHBBMHH BMmHilllltllllliliit(iiiiiHiiiiinnitr RECAP W j vi^h.mG £55 Columbia mtljeCitpoflemgork College of 3Pfjpatciang an& gmrgeonss Utorarp in tljp (Ettg nf Nnu fnrk (Eollrgr of pjyatriana and l&tmirotiB SUfrrenr? IGtbranj Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Open Knowledge Commons http://www.archive.org/details/birthdaydinnertoOOnewy BK IT KNOWN INTO A 1.1. MEN HV THESE PRESENTS. -A» You Like It F* or J4uU >LcJh~-€Lsy*Jp*f i^dSl^V^h^^ li^v*^ with the Compliments of £*Y Jl>LeJ&-t^4n^ (Xat&w*- ^M^r^nA. - •AND TIKE THE HEAKEK WITH A HOOK OF WORDS." Much Ado About Nothing. "VET MY (HMD WILL IS GREAT, THOK'.H THE GIFT SMALL."— Pericles. ^eA- , *uSk-. T 1 1 E HIKTIIDAY DINNER THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, M.D.,LL.D. %)i$ professional jfrtmtis AT DELMONICO'S, NEW YORK MAY 29, 1905 WITH AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVE N k w York THE BRADSTREET PRESS iqo5 - 4 N»«-^ "Welcome Him, Then, According to His Worth." Two Gentlemen of Verona. MEN OF ins \\ u SHOl LD BE MOST LIBERAL; THEY IRE SET HERE POR EXAMPLES." Henry vim >-c4£jh»c**-c4£jrW-c-45**t> PREFACE S the recipient of this birth dinner, I so fully appreciated the honor done me by my professional friends, that 1 obtained from each speaker his photograph and a written summary of so much as each could recall of his speech. To these were added some letters of congratulation from those who could not be present, the public reports of the proceeding's and references made to the event by the press, and in addition many appro- priate quotations from Shakespeare to illustrate the text, that as a whole the collection might be preserved. At the end has been placed the address prepared by me to be read at the dinner, but this was not done, and is now given as part of the history of my professional life. At the request of some who participated in the proceed- ings, it was decided that this collection should be printed in an edition sufficient to present each person who was present with a copy as a souvenir of the occasion. It is to be regretted that the speeches were not reported in full, as they were unusually good. Much that was said has been unavoidably lost, and even what has been preserved could only be gotten together afterwards in a disconnected manner, thus failing to do full justice to any of the speakers. The sentiment indicated by the collection could not be expressed better than in the words of a dedication to "'The History of the Emmet Family, Etc.," which I wrote some 3k:u.*5 years ago for my children and their descendants, as follows: 1 ' With ray love I dedicate this volume to my children, and«do so with the hope that they may realize a just pride in the record of those who in the past have so honestly filled their station in life. A sentiment which, if properly appreciated, must needs bear good fruit from the example thus set forth for emulation." THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. "THIS STORY SHALL THE GOOD MAN TEACH HIS SON."-Henry V. 4 COME, LET is TO THE BANQUBT."-Mach Ado About Kothlng. &$L*a^J2%&3%& ^be /Ifcenu <^.^L^S»^S> A GOOD DIGESTION TO vol ALL."— Henry viu 5 "WILL YOU DIME WITH ME ... - AY, IP I BB ALIVE, AMD TOUR MIND HOLD, AND rOUB DINNEB WORTH THE BATING." |ol . DtNNKH <;i \ i:.\ in IIONOB OF DR. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET OM ins sk\ i:.ntvsi:\ i;mm BIRTHDAY BY ins MEDICAL FRIENDS .Monday EVENING, MAY T\v i:nt v-m nth. isos AT HALF AFTEH NKVEN O'CLOCK DELHONICO'H I-I.KASK t'BESKXT Tlll-i IAKII ^/' /UV. /Zt ^bJL/ ?A^'-y TAHI.E M: ADMISSION CARD 4Y. cTK^~, /Zdcl* hu^,JT7 card designating seat SAW VOU XOT, EVEN NOW, A BLESSED TROOP INVITE ME TO A BAXOLET? Henrv VIII. TIS A GOODLY CREDIT I <»K VOU."— Merry Wive* of Wladaor. r / ■ / '/' '///// ' /// f '/7tf> - /v/v//y f //////< / /// ///.). /?///////.),/,////. />////,/,, "/ 'S/i ry //'.) TITLE PAGFOFTHE MENU "GIVE ME YOUR HAND; WE MUST NEEDS DINE TOGETHER." Tiroon of Athens. BAT M) ONIONS NOR GARLIC, FOR w B IRE ro UTTER SU BET BREATH." Miilsuimin-t -Ni. <*MENU*> LUCINES potages CONSOMME SOUVERAINE CREME St. Gf.KMAIN fjors 2>'Ocuvrc Radis Olives Celeri Ipoteson Truites de ruisseau a la Meuniere Concombres IReleves Selle d'agneau sauce Colbert Tomates farcies JEntrecs Ris de veau en caisses A l'Italienne Petti s pois franqais asperges nouvelles sauce hollandaise Sorbet au Kirsch IRotte PlGEONNEAUX SALADE DE LAITUES JEntremets Dc Douceur Glaces de fantaisie Petit fours Fromage Cafe Sauternes Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial St. Julien \Y 111 IE Rill K *r§fr*j<<-§&*j "SOME FOOD WE II A l> AND SOME FRESH WATER."— The Tempest 1 i II Tin: DRINK \<>i GIVI Ml TOUCH m\ PALATE ADVERSELY, I MAKE \ i ROOKED PACE AT IT." Corio «£LJ%*«^?LJ^ ^be Coasts «^««w» WE SHAI.I. DRINK TOGETHER; AND vol SHALL BEAR A BETTER WITNESS HACK THAN WORDS."— Coriolanus. l 3 AM) SO EVERY ONE ACCORDING TO Ills CUE." Mldmnnmer-Nlsrht' ifcxevtzs * TOASTS *> JlUroDtlCtton, Dr. E. C. Dudley, of Chicago " Dr. CntlUft, tljf &tirge01t " - - Dr. W. M. Polk, of New V..rk » Dl'. Cnuitft, tl)C cTfacl)Cr," - - - Dr. W. H. Baker, of Boston »« Dr. Cmmrt, trjr tBroical author," Dr. S. C. Gordon, of Portland, Maine »« Dr. Cmmct, tlK Litterateur," - Most Rev. Archbishop Farley " Dr. Cmmrt, tl)C ^rteUO," - Dr. Geo. T. Harrison, of New York " Dr. Cmmrt, trjr patriot," - - Dr. F. J. Quinlan, of New York *2 T 0n8f$* *S T * THESE FELLOWS WILL DO WELL."— 2 Henry IV. '5 "WHAT SHOULD WE SAY, . . . 7 WHY, ANYTHING, BUT TO THE PURPOSE."-Hamlat *<-£*»o^^h»o^£*»o |^roccc6tngs ^£**^<^£jh»t>*-c£*»*-> YOU SHALL HAVE NO CAUSE TO CURSE THE PAIR PROCEEDINGS OF THIS DAY."— King John. 17 i\ THE THANKSGIVING BEFORE HI \i ..sure. w< £**>»<• £*»o Gbc Divine Blessing was invofcefc b\> l)te ©race, 0)t jUost Eefcerettt) Joljn pu favltv, archbishop of 1Rew H?orh *-c^Nowc^ih>c/ 'PEACE HERE: GRACE AND GOOD COMPANY.' -Measure for Measure. 19 I AM MASTER 01 MY SPEECHES Cymbeltae. E. C. DUDLEY. M. D. THIS IS MY BIRTHDAY; IS THIS YEW DAI WAS CASSIUS BORN. Jlllil! "WELL: SPEAK ON. WHERE WERE YOl BORN?" Pei INTRODUCTION BY DR DUDLEY. . EMMET AX I) GENTLEMEN: One should always he able to make an accurate differential diagnosis between his own property and the property of another. I therefore congratulate Ur. Emmet on his judicious choice of a birthday, since the 29th of May was also the date of my entrance upon this mundane sphere. Now, the question is, whose birthday is it ? Nor do I know to whom this gavel belongs which I hold in my hand, but I am going to carry it home, ornament it with a silver tablet upon which shall be inscribed the name of Emmet, and then I am going to hand it down to my children and my children's children. When your facetious chairman of the committee of arrangements asked me to introduce the speakers at this dinner, he remarked that fashions travel west and that jokes travel east. The question before you then is, whether in thus referring to my journey east he had in mind myself or baggage ? There have been times in American gynecology when we have heard nothing but the name of Emmet, and the annual meeting of the American Gynecological Society, just held at Niagara Falls, would suggest the fact that those times have not altogether passed. It might therefore not be inappropriate in speaking here of Dr. Emmet to repeat much of what was said at that meet- ing, and, you know, there would be precedent for this, for 2 3 the Macedonians of old always discussed important subjects twice — once for reflection, when they were sober, and once for enthusiasm, when they were drunk. I had thought of addressing you in the original Latin, Greek and Hebrew; but, then, you are not familiar with those languages, and His Grace, the Archbishop, on my right, is familiar — two prohibitory reasons. If one were to speak of Dr. Emmet as a man and were to measure him on the criterion of greatness, modesty, philan- thropy, civic virtue, morality, mental integrity, and good deeds ; if by such a rule we were to measure him, he would stand up against the whole length of it. However, it would not be difficult to find numerous reasons why Dr. Emmet is such a man; he does not come of common stock, but of preferred stock, for his father, his grandfather, and his more remote antecedents were men of gentle blood and men of intellect. Seventy-seven years ago to-night our nourishing mother earth stood by the cradle of an infant, and thus she spoke: " Waken, my man child, and take from me, thy first mother, my gifts. Thou of all weather, and of out of doors, I give thee will and might and love of the undefiled. I give thee strength of my forests, my rivers, and my seas, my sunshine, my star- shine, and of my heart. I cleanse thee. The slime of the long years shall drop from thee. I start thee afresh, newborn. At night in my star-hung tent, the gods shall visit thee. In day thou shall walk in a way to become as a god thyself. I give thee scorn of the ignoble, trust in thy fellows, firm belief in thine own lusty muscle, and unconquerable will. I make thee familiar friend of hardship and content, spare and pure, and strong. I give thee joy in the earth, the sun, and wind, and belief in the Unseen. This is thy birthright." " IN THE DERIVATION OF MY BIRTH, AND IN OTHER PARTICULARS."— Henry V. 24 Numerous Letters and telegrams of congratulation sent by loving friends have been received from many parts of the world. Some oi these Dr. Polk read, as chairman. <-c£**>^^jh»*> I WARRANT HE HATH A THOUSAND OF THESE LETTERS, WRIT WITH BLANK SPACE FOR DIFFERENT NAMES."— Merry wives of Windsor. Dr. Polk read a number of letters and made a few remarks relating to them, before being- introduced by Dr. Dudley, to respond to the toast assigned to him. ^dfrzu^&xJ " VOL' MAY DO THE PART OF AN HONEST MAN IN IT."— Much Ado About Nothing. 25 THIS IS AN ART WHICH DOES MEND NATURE, CHANGE IT RATHER, THE ART ITSELF IS NATURE.— SO IT IS."-Winter's Tale. " ®r, (Emmet, ttyc burgeon/' DR. DUDLEY'S INTRODUCTION OF DR. POLK. SUPPOSE Dr. Polk has alluded to the characteristic modesty of Chicago in order to give me an opportunity of repeating the prophesy of a fellow townsman, that the time may come when the people of Chicago will think as much of Chicago as the people of New York think of — London ; but we are here, not to show that Chicago is greater than New York, for it is not; we only think it is greater. We are here to do honor to a man of the United States and of the world. On this programme we see the name of Emmet as the surgeon, as the teacher, as the medical author, as the litterateur, as the friend, as the patriot. These and other qualities indicate the different phases of his character, each even complete in itself, and yet we like to think of them in combination just as we like to consider, not one, but all the colors of the solar spectrum which combined made up the glorious white light, like the white light of truth. So the qualities of Emmet when put together are combined in the formation of a clean and pure man. Let us first consider Emmet as a surgeon ; and just at this point I must give way to Dr. Polk, for as Whister holds that the best critic of a work of art is one who is able to paint the best kind of picture himself, so Dr. Polk is quite prepared to criticise a great surgeon. "DO NOT PUT ME TO 'T; FOR I AM NOTHING, IF NOT CRITICAL."-Othello. 27 THE GENTLEMAN IS LEARN'D, AND A MOST RARE SPEAKER."— Henry VIII. W. M. POLK, M. D. 'WHAT I WOULD SPEAK OF CONCERNS HIM."— Much Ado About Nothing. '^%t5z~^tm DR. POLK'S RESPONSE TO THE TOAST, J®v. ctomet, t^e burgeon/' ALLED upon to respond to this toast, one quickly asks in which niche should Emmet be placed. The answer comes loud and clear, as the man of great operative skill, as the man of broad and sound judgment, and look where we may, we find none that surpassed and few that equaled him. As we pass in review the events of our Department of Surgery which have tran- spired during the past forty years, we see that the name of Emmet is associated more prominently with the great achieve- ments of that period than that of any one of his cotemporaries. He it was who worked out best the evils springing from lacerations of the cervix, and devised the lasting methods of meeting them. In the days of his youth that distressing lesion, vesicovaginal fistula, was at the fore, and the begin- nings of reputation based upon its cure by silver wire suture were looming above the horizon. But deep in the trials of an extensive hospital midwifery service Emmet found the greater cure in recognizing the way to obviate the evil. He it was who drove it so upon us that the obstetrical forceps was not the agent through which these trying breaches were produced, but, in fact, the agent of prevention, and that the prompt, not delayed, application of this instrument was the sure means of 3i obviating the fistula; that sloughing, due to prolonged pressure of the foetal head when long held in the lower pelvis, wa»> the cause of these false openings, and therefore that early appli- cation of the forceps to a delayed head when so placed was the crying need. Had he done naught else than this his name would deserve to go down to posterity clothed in lasting honor and covered with the gratitude of all mankind; yet he did more than even this for patients suffering motherhood, for look what his incomparable work upon the perineum has done for this same class of sufferers. In spite of many an attempt to improve upon the lines laid down by him for repair of the perineum, his operation to-day stands out as the best of all. When I entered upon work in the Department of Gyne- cology, pelvic inflammation was before us as an unsolved problem. The contest was sharp concerning its interpolation, and one of the most telling concessions in Emmet cases was made when at the meeting of the American Gynecological Society in Baltimore, in 1886, he reviewed the subject, and said that as in all questions, as upon a shield, there were two sides, he had been looking upon one, while his opponents looked upon another ; he had been regarding it mainly from the under side of the pelvic diaphragm, while they had seen it from the upper. But he laid down those wise and conservative rules of management which even the most radical of us have come to accept as the line to be followed in most of the cases of this disorder, and thus it has come to pass that whereas the time was when all inflamed uterine appendages were thought meet for sacrifice, we now see that Emmet's treatment leads the way to resolution in many a case, and even if operation has to be done at last, the improved conditions permit of operative con- servatism that saves many an ovary, and which then is good reason to believe may even further motherhood. The limits of such a speech warn me the time to close this just tribute has come, for there are others present impatiently waiting to do honor to so good a subject, and yet I cannot stop 3 2 without asking - , What of Emmet as a man and as an associate in his chosen field of activity? Would time permit, I would gladly dwell upon the sterling qualities of head and heart which he has always exhibited in dealing with his fellow man. Have any of you ever read the Fifteenth Psalm? * If not, turn to it to-night, and therein you will find David's definition of a "Gentleman," and all I would say of Dr. Emmet, and pondering those words and laying them beside the life history of this man you will realize, as I do now, that all of us have honored ourselves by coming here to-night, for we have lifted up and exalted one of our number whose life is an embodiment of that sublimest principle of earthly life, " TRUTH." * Latin Vulgate and translation, Psalm XIV. IF SPEAKING TRUTH IN THIS FINE AGE WERE NOT THOUGHT FLATTERY." 1 Henrv IV. 33 "HIS TRAINING SUCH, THAT HE MAY FURNISH AND INSTRUCT GREAT TEACHERS."— Henry VIII. ^r + cftnmct, ttic CcacIjctV INTRODUCTION OF DR. BAKER BY DR. DUDLEY. i/VBjN I gGSS Ipllllll COULD speak at length about Emmet as a teacher to whom all of us owe much ; but my friend, Dr. Polk, has reminded me that the function of a toastmaster is to keep the ball rolling, to keep order, and to keep quiet. When we think of Emmet as a teacher we think of him also as a hospital chief under whom we did not always lead the simple life, unless we consider the simple life as interpreted by our Phila- delphia friends to be "the pace that kills." How familiar the memory, " Sponge, doctor, sponge ; why don't you sponge ? " "Sponge every time you get a chance." "Let her live a little longer, will you, doctor?" "I wish I could have some one who would assist me the way I used to assist Sims." He was a rare chief, a rare teacher. In the presence of his pupils, "he would not smile, and smile, and smile, and be a villain still "; on the contrary, his frown was always recognized as an act of friendship. That pupil is fortunate who receives his discipline from a friend. The history of gynecology in New England is the history of a pupil of Emmet, and the next toast, therefore, " Emmet as a Teacher," will be responded to by Dr. William H. Baker, of Boston. «y LET US NOT BURDEN OUR REMEMBRANCE WITH A HEAVINESS THAT'S GONE." — The Tempest. 35 IN THY FACE I SEE THE MAP OF HONOUR, TRUTH AND LOYALTY.'' 2 Henry VI. WM. H. BAKER, M. D. "WHAT, WILL THESE HANDS NEVER BE CLEAN?"— Othello. "IN ANY CASE, LETTHISBE HAVE CLEAN LINEN."— Midsummer-Night's Dream. «%r-s£»«%r"5£»i DR. BAKER'S RESPONSE TO THE TOAST, "&V. (Emmet, tyt Ccac^cr/' ^Sv^S W£SL ill iM^^s^ ^H HAVE always esteemed it one of the greatest privileges in my professional career to testify to the teaching of Dr. Emmet, and during the lapse of time I have selected the choicest parts of my knowledge which experience has proved to be of the greatest value, and have found myself more and more indebted to the teachings of our highly honored friend. It is then most gratifying to me, Mr. Chairman, to respond to your call to speak of the high qualities of Dr. Emmet as a teacher. One of the necessary elements of a successful teacher is the possession of a thorough knowledge of the subject taught ; another and not less important, from a humanitarian point of view, and last, the relation of the subject taught to other branches of learning of a more or less remote origin. No one who had the good fortune to listen to the lectures, to follow through the hospital wards, or assist in the operating room, and thus come in daily contact with our illustrious friend, can gainsay that he possessed in an eminent degree all these quali- ties, and I am sure that I voice the feelings of all his pupils when I say that for originality of thought, thoroughness of working out the principles, as well as the ingenuity and skill shown in the practical application of such principles, Dr. Emmet's work was preeminent. 39 It is impossible to estimate the enormous value and extent of his influence as a teacher through the various channels of instruction given by his pupils, who have and are still holding the highest positions in medical schools of this and other countries. His literary work also is a most important factor of instruction. In these strenuous days, when we are accustomed to gain quick results by carrying out many of the teachings of our early and faithful instructor, we sometimes forget the laborious toil and patient persevering work which he expended before he perfected the application which led to the adoption of his methods. Nor can the thousands of women who are now being cured all over the world realize how much they owe in their recovery to the teaching of Dr. Emmet ; but we of the medical profession know and most gratefully acknowledge to him all honor in this direction. As an illustration of his individual perseverance, I recall his joy, when visiting the hospital one day, in telling me of a bedridden case which, after nine years of persistent work, he had finally cured ; and again I had the pleasure of assisting him at an operation in plastic surgery, which was the twenty- sixth performed under ether upon this one patient for the same trouble, and which resulted in her cure. How many of us possess such a degree of patience? or, again, how many of us could keep our patient through such a course of treatment ? Yet, from such cases as these I learned the lesson of never yielding to defeat, when sure of the right treatment. Thirty-three years ago the casual observer paid but little heed to the teachings of Dr. Emmet in regards to the impor- tance of cleanliness in surgery, both of the operator and patient, and it was not until the importance of the deleterious effects upon surgical wounds, by the disregard of such teaching, as proved by the theories of Pasteur, that the profession was ready 40 to accept and adopt such, teaching and practices. Yet, I ask you to-day, looking back over that period of time and recalling the preparation of patients for plastic surgery by Dr. Emmet's instruction, which consisted in the hot-water douches, which T heard at that time characterized as "boiling the patient," and again in following his method in the preparation of the oper- ator, by scrubbing the hands and arms with soap and hot water, I repeat and ask you to-day, how much short of your accepted technique does the teaching of Dr. Emmet leave you ? I am glad to see on yonder Cathedral Heights the stones being laid for the new hospital building; yet its foundation cannot be stronger than the principles which Dr. Emmet has taught us, and its superstructure, with all its utility and ele- gance, must always remain a memorial to his life work and teaching. And now, my beloved teacher and friend, I congratulate you on this your anniversary day, upon that which has gone before, and upon the present honorable and festive occasion. That the crowning years of your life may be full of peace, joy, happiness, and a just recognition of the highest appreciation of your profession, and that your heart will be filled with our love, is the wish of us all. "I WEIGH MY FRIEND'S AFFECTION WITH MINE OWX."— Timon of Athens. 41 "I THANK GOD AND THEE; HE WAS THE AUTHOR, THOU THE INSTRUMENT."— 3 Henry VI. "C§bh*J*c§fr*J T&t. «£mmet, ttye ^eDtcal author*" INTRODUCTION OF DR. GORDON BY DR. DUDLEY. O man is in a stronger position than Dr. Gordon to prophesy that when the fog and smoke and haze of the literature of gyne- cology clears away, no matter how distant the past, Emmet's writings, Emmet's book on ' ' The Principles and Practice of Gyne- cology," will stand out as a star of the first magnitude, shining, not by pale reflection, but by its own light. It will be remembered that Grant's "Memoirs of the Civil War," written with almost superhuman fortitude in the face of fatal disease, was received by the critics as an example of strong, terse, clear English composition. A single adverse criticism appeared from the pen of a professor of rhetoric, the review of a critical rhetorician of the work of a constructive rhetorician. The professor took exception to Grant's writing because in some respects he thought it did not conform to conventional standards of English composition. Mark Twain reviewed the review in words somewhat as follows: "If we should climb the Matterhorn and find strawberries growing on top, we might be surprised and gratified ; but, great God, we do not climb the Matterhorn for strawberries." Dr. Gordon, of Portland, Maine. ^§fr*J*G%**J THE STRAWBERRY GROWS UNDERNEATH THE NETTLE. "-Henry V. 43 HERE IS A MAN— BUT— 'TIS BEFORE HIS FACE; I WILL BE SILENT.'' Troilus and Cressida. S. C. GORDON, M. D. HERE IS MY HAND.— AND MINE, WITH MY HEART IN 'T."— The Tempest. DR. GORDON'S RESPONSE TO THE TOAST, " l®x. (Emmet, t^c Metrical Author/' R. TOASTMASTER AND FRIENDS : I came from the far North, where, as some speaker has said, the moon is hung with icicles and where it looks no larger than a dinner plate. That same moon which smiles upon Florida and Louisiana may look colder in Maine, but it is just as large to us as to the people of warmer climes. I have lived in both latitudes and know whereof I speak. And while we may, as Mark Twain may have said, have nine months of winter and three months late in the fall, yet I bring to our old friend Dr. Emmet, to-night, just as warm a heart and just as hearty a grasp of the hand as the sons of the Southland. I extend to him, in behalf of the profession of the North, the most cordial congratulations on this his seventy-seventh birthday. Many of us were his pupils to a greater or less degree, and we have kept a warm place in our hearts for him as a teacher. If I may be allowed, for a moment, to depart from the spirit of the sentiment, permit me to say that I, in company with Dr. Tewksbur5 T of my city, made frequent visits to the Woman's Hospital in the eighth decade of the last century, and day after day sat at Dr. Emmet's feet, like Saul at the feet of Gamaliel, and learned wisdom at his lips, while we watched that careful, systematic detail of his plastic operations, 47 performed in a manner that no man excelled and few equaled. It was this strict attention to details that pervades everything that he ever wrote. His work, " The Principles and Practice of Gynecology, " is but a faithful record of his daily clinical work, written in a manner that the merest tyro in medicine could fully comprehend. There was nothing omitted from the book that was done in the Woman's Hospital or in his private prac- tice. It is the model upon which all treatises on gynecology have been based, and few of the modern text-books contain much that is new, except in the illustrations. If everything was not fully developed it was predicted, and the predictions are not far behind the fulfillment. I remember so well long ago, when the brilliant and fascinating lecturer, T. Gaillard Thomas, was revising his book, I was driving with him one day while he was making some drawings illustrative of the operation for complete laceration of the perineum through the sphincter ani, and I was admiring it, he said : ' ' Oh, that is all Emmet; I was simply copying him." These were the days when the giants in gynecology were in their glory : the learned Peaslee, the greatest American pathologist of his day; the indefatigable and dogmatic Bozeman, who did most excellent work, and a little later the lovely and loved Lee. But the careful painstaking work embodied in the "Prin- ciples and Practice" of our guest to-night will forever remain as the one to which we shall all turn as the classic in this department of medical knowledge and science. If I were to sum up briefly my estimate of Dr. Emmet as a medical writer, it would be somewhat in this way. Some- where in his book he says : "As I advance in life I place a much lower estimate on the common sense of the average individual." Taking this as a text, I would say that, with an honest, intelligent earnestness of purpose, he combined an indefatigable industry in an unbounded field of clinical ma- terial, and, carefully discriminating, recorded the results of that industry in the most simple common sense style. Wherever 48 gynecology is known or taught, there is Emmet's book, and will ever be as one of the foundation stones of the science. It is a monument to him more significant than brass or marble. There was no attempt at rhetorical effort, no exaggerated descriptions of symptoms or technic, no reports of results that would challenge criticism nor engender skepticism, but a plain statement of the causes, symptoms, and treatment, that com- mends itself to the student of gynecology throughout the civilized world. This assembly to-night, composed of all classes of medical men, voices the general sentiment of thousands who cannot be present, but who wish you all that life can possibly give you. A short time before the death of Pope Leo XIII one of his cardinals called upon him, and on bidding him good-by said : ' ' Holy Father, I hope you may live to be a hundred years old; " to which he replied, " My son, why limit me? " So, bidding you good-night, I will not limit you in years, but will assure you of the best wishes of all present and a hope that you may live just so long as you can fully enjoy both peace of mind and comfort of body. "I CAN NOT GIVE THEE LESS, TO BE CALL'D GRATEFUL." All's Well That Ends Well. 49 "A COMFORT OP RETIREMENT LIVES IN THIS."— 1 Henry IV. ©r. (Emmet, tyz litterateur:' DR. DUDLEY'S INTRODUCTION OF HIS GRACE, THE ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK. | EN, like trees, may die at the top, but not so with our friend. Having- laid aside the labors of surgery, he has become the scholar and the man of affairs, broad enough to look beyond the narrow confines of his calling, to appreciate the relations of things out- side ; he puts his profession on a high plane, but he puts the world higher. If we would not die at the top, we must not surrender to the sordidness and discontent of old age, but, forgetful of self, we must cultivate larger interests, and so, like our friend, we may gladden the world, and even though we shall become the last leaf on the tree, having survived the winter's blast to the second spring, we may be, not seared and yellow, but still green and filled with the fire and enthusiasm of youth. Some years ago when Froude visited the United States, and when at the same time Canon Kingsley was so much in evidence, an Irish poet gave forth the following couplets : "Froude informs the Scottish youth That parsons have no care for truth; While Canon Kingsley loudly cries, That history is a pack of lies. What cause for discord so malign? A little thought would solve the mystery; Froude thinks Kingsley a divine, While Kingsley goes to Froude for history." 5 1 We know that the Archbishop with all confidence may go to Emmet for history as we may call upon the Archbishop, not only for theology, but as well for an estimate of his friend, " Emmet as a Litterateur." I therefore have the honor of introducing His Grace, The Most Reverend John Farley, Archbishop of New York, whose literary mind has withstood the shock of a theological education. 'THAT'S NOT AN OFFICE FOR A FRIEND."— Julius C^sar. 52 THAT SAME NOBLE PRELATE, WELL BELOVED, THE ARCHBISHOP." 1 Henry IV. THE MOST REV. ARCHBISHOP FARLEY 'THIS IS ABOUT THAT WHICH THE BISHOP SPOKE. "-Henry VIII. REMARKS OF ARCHBISHOP FARLEY. R. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN: I believe that I am the only layman pres- ent, the only person not a physician, a fact which only adds to the happiness I feel in rising - to pay my humble but heartfelt trib- ute to your eminent guest and my friend of many years — Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, the Litterateur. What he has accomplished in his chosen field and in the profession, at the head of which he has stood for more than a generation, as you gentlemen are here to testify, were more than sufficient to render illustrious the life of any one man, and to win for him a deathless memory among his colleagues, and to earn for him the largest measure of that distinction which Ecclesiasticus warns us to bestow on the least of the members of your noble profession, when he says: " Honor the physician for the need thou hast of him. His skill shall lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he shall be praised." But, full as has been his life of purely professional work, he has found time to devote to literature and to historic re- search, in which he has been so successful that I question if there are not many who, if choice were given, would as gladly be credited with the authorship of his purely literary work, as of the medical and surgical labors which have placed him where he stands to-night, the leading physician of the land. It were too long, however pleasing a task, to review here and now all that has come from his facile and fruitful pen. 55 Besides being the author of numerous papers and ad- dresses in connection with the history of Ireland and of Jdiis, his own country, he has left us two books by which his name shall always be remembered : ' ' The Emmet Family, With Some Incidents Relating to Irish History," a voluminous work issued in 1898; and "Ireland Under English Rule, or a Plea for the Plaintiff," published in 1902. The former, "The Emmet Family," has been pronounced a model, and the most complete family history ever written. The exhaustive story it contains of Dr. Emmet's father gives rise to the question in the mind of the reader, as to what one should admire more — the pure and lofty character of the elder Emmet so vividly portrayed, or the affection which prompted this labor of love and of legitimate pride on the part of a devoted son. The work of Dr. Emmet, however, which has naturally attracted most attention is "Ireland Under English Rule." Perhaps more than any other of his writings, this book seems to show his wondrous versatility of intellect, and that, while physicians may hail him as their leader, he was easily -master of many things having little affinity with his life's work. An American born, bearing in his veins the. tide of Ire- land's best blood on which nothing could long float that is t not freighted with the love of that fair land, he has shown in this work in what light men of Irish faith and Irish ancestry must ever regard the part England has played for centuries in the misgovernment of Ireland. While noblesse oblige is the legend one reads between the lines of every page of the "Plea for the Plaintiff," the leading incentive in writing this history was, doubtless, to lay bare the truth to those whom it most con- cerns — the people of Ireland themselves. Over nine hundred volumes, the learned author has told me, were consulted in the composition of this monumental work. It may fairly be claimed for Dr. Emmet's labor in this history that he has probably pronounced the last word on the 56 subject which can be said to the purpose in this generation. His conclusions are that England will one day do penance for her misrule in Ireland, and " sue to be forgiven" ; and that the Irish people must be united and patient, as the outlook for Erin in the near future was never brighter. But I must close. . . . Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the honor of your invitation to speak to the toast so much after my own heart, how poorly soever I have responded ; I thank you, gentlemen, for your patient and courteous hearing, and permit me to greet you, sir, our guest, the noblest Roman of them all, with heart and soul in the greeting, ad multos, permultos annos. "GOD BLESS YOUR GRACE WITH HEALTH AND HAPPY DAYS."— Richard III. 57 " HE IS MY VERY GOOD FRIEND, AND AN HONOURABLE GENTLEMAN." Timon of Athens. ©r. (Emmet, ttye tfrfenD/' INTRODUCTION BY DR. DUDLEY OF DR. GEORGE T. HARRISON. HY can't we make friends like Emmet ? The answer is clear: There is only one Emmet. I have great pleasure in intro- ducing Dr. Harrison, a friend who knows all about us and still likes us, who has something more than a capacity, who has a genius for friendship — "If thou are at Friendship's sacred ca', Wad life itself resign, mon ? 4 This were a kinsman o' thy ane, For 'Emmet' is a true mon." I present Dr. George T. Harrison, of New York. MY VERY WORTHY COUSIN."-Measure for Measure. 59 WHO HATH A STORY READY FOR YOUR EAR."— Measure for Measure. GEORGE T. HARRISON. M. D. " HE'S A LEARNED MAN."-Henry VIII. DR. HARRISON'S RESPONSE TO THE TOAST, " ©r. €mmet 5 t^c fivicnb." T is with peculiar pleasure that I rise to respond to this toast, for it is redolent of many sweet memories. There is no word in the English language that has suffered such abuse in its mode of application as the term ' ' friend. " In its true signification and proper use, however, there is none that evokes more tender and touching associations. Says St. Augustine: "The friendship of men is dearly sweet by the union of many souls together." Sailust declares that to live in friendship is to have the same desires and the same aversions; "idem velle et idem nolle, ea demun firma amicitia est." It has been happily said there can be no friendship without confidence, and no confi- dence without integrity. Many men are absolutely incapable of friendship. As Dr. Johnson remarks : "So many qualities are in- deed required to the possibility of friendship, and so many accidents must concur to its rise and its continuance, that the greatest part of mankind content themselves without it, and supply its place as they can, with interest and dependence." It has been reckoned as one of the many claims to our admira- tion on the part of that ornament of the Elizabethan age, Sir Philip Sidney, that he was famous for inviolable friendship. When Socrates, it is narrated, was building himself a house 63 at Athens, being asked by one that observed the littleness of the design, why a man so eminent would not have an a&ode more suitable to his dignity, he replied that he should think himself sufficiently accommodated if he could see that narrow habitation filled with real friends. By which words, I take it, the great philosopher simply wished to discriminate between his true friends and the vast multitudes who thronged around him attracted by idle curiosity or other ignoble motives. The comparison made by La Fontain between love and friendship is as true as it is beautiful : ' ' Love is the shadow of the morning which decreases as the day advances; friendship is the shadow of the morning which strengthens with the setting sun of life." It is the singular good fortune of our honored guest of the evening that he has realized the words of wisdom spoken by Polonius to Laertes : " The friends thou hast and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel." Let me call the muster roll of the alumni of the Woman's Hospital, and sure I am that if the question were asked what name rises first on the lips, in recalling their most delightful experiences during their pupilage in that noble institution, the answer would come back with one voice — Thomas Addis Emmet. The reason is not far to seek, because the name is a syno- nym of perfect integrity and exalted character. And while to-night all here assembled unite to crown him with laurel for the splendor of his scientific achievement, it is especially as the friend that we salute him and lay at his feet the offering of our love, esteem, and reverence. NEITHER DO I LABOUR FOR A GREATER ESTEEM. "-As You Like It. 64 CONSIDER YOU WHAT SERVICES HE HAS DONE FOR HIS COUNTRY?" Coriolanus. ^gr ©r. (Cmmet, t^e patriot INTRODUCTION OF DR. QUINLAN BY DR. DUDLEY. HE next speaker is eminently qualified to tell us of the most worthy representative of the young patriot who, dying, said: "Let no man write my epitaph until Ireland is free." Dr. Quinlan, of New York. HE HATH DESERVED WORTHILY OF HIS COUNTRY."— Coriolanus. 65 EVERY MAN HAS HIS FAULT, AND HONESTY IS HIS. "— Timon of Athens. F. J. QUTMLAN, M. D. 'NOW FOR OUR IRISH WARS: WE MUST SUPPLANT THOSE ROUGH RUG-HEADED KERNS."— Richard II. syg DR. QUINLAN'S RESPONSE TO THE TOAST, ©r. (Emmet, t^e patriot/' (( HAVE been requested to say a few words in response to the toast — "Doctor Emmet, the Patriot." I feel that any words of mine on such a theme must indeed be superfluous, since it is an historical fact well known to all my professional brethren here to-night that the name of Emmet stands for all that is highest and holiest in the sacred cause of patriotism. The truest test of exalted love of country is tersely expressed in the words of the old Roman maxim — "Pro patria mori. " And who does not know the history of that noble hero, that close kinsman of our distinguished and revered guest, who sacrificed his young life in his country's behalf ? His name and his deeds are on the lips of every schoolboy, and his pathetic history is embalmed forever in the immortal lines of Erin's best beloved bard — Thomas Moore. Who of us has not paid the tribute of his tears and his heart- felt admiration to the patriot hero — Robert Emmet, that noble scion of a noble race ? No more convincing testimony to the patriotism of the Emmet family could be produced than the following eloquent words of the youthful patriot himself: "If the spirits of the illustrious dead participate in the concerns and cares of those 69 dear to them in this transitory life, O ever dear and venerated shade of my departed father, look down with scrutiny u^on the conduct of thy suffering son, and see if I have ever for a moment deviated from those principles of morality and patriotism which it was thy care to instill into my youthful mind, and for which I am now to offer up my life." Perhaps it may not be so well known to all here that a namesake of our honored guest, another Thomas Addis Emmet, a brother of Robert, proved his patriotism by enduring the horrors and humiliation of a long imprisonment for the holy cause. Indeed, were it not for this love of country, so character- istic of the Emmets, it is quite possible that our guest would not be with us to-night. For his ancestor and namesake, accused of conspiracy and driven from his native land, joined that grand army of worthy Irishmen who, forced by English tyranny to leave their beloved fatherland, sought a home and a refuge in this land of the free, and who by their brains and their brawn have contributed more than any other nation to the mental and material development of our glorious country. The patriotic spirit which distinguished the Emmets in the old land did not fail to assert itself in the new, and so we find the same Thomas Addis Emmet commanding an Irish regiment in the war of 1812, and his eldest son, the late Judge Robert Emmet, at the same time a captain in a cavalry regiment, and the third son, Lieut. Temple Emmet, served under Decatur in the navy, all of whom warmly espoused the cause of their adopted country. Dr. John Patten Emmet, the father of our guest and also Irish by birth, entered the United States Military Academy at West Point about the same time to fit himself for a military career, but after a few years was compelled by ill health to abandon the strenuous profession of arms for the more peace- ful, though not less heroic, profession of medicine. Here the Emmets lay aside the sword as the instrument of their patriot- ism for that mightier and more potent weapon, the pen. The 70 o profound erudition and marvelous versatility of John Patten Emmet were recognized by no less distinguished an authority than the great Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, who honored him with the professorship of Natural History, and afterwards of Chemistry and Materia Medica, in the celebrated University of Virginia, of which Jefferson was the founder. It was at this period in his distinguished father's career that our honored guest was born at Charlottesville, Virginia. How eminently worthy to hand down the noble heritage of patriotism, learning, practical philanthropy, and professional skill, he has proved himself by his own high achievements, the preceding speakers have eloquently informed us. I shall mention but a few of the many practical proofs of his love for the land of his forefathers, for whose betterment he has been ever ready to labor ardently, to write eloquently, and to contribute generously. He was one of the Mansion House Committee, which was the custodian, and called to- gether the great relief committees during the early seventies, which sent many thousands of dollars to the famine-stricken populations of Ireland, thus saving many from the horrors of starvation and death. He was an early member of the Hoff- man House Committee to aid Parnell, and was afterwards president for about eight years of the Irish National Federation of America, where he was instrumental in collecting and for- warding large sums of money for the use of the National cause and to forward the Home Rule movement. He has in many instances proved himself a gallant knight of the pen, ever ready to enter the lists in defense of his beloved Erin. In his articles, "Ireland — Past, Present, and Future"; ' ' Irish Emigration During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries," a paper read before the American Irish Historical Society; "England's Destruction of Ireland's Manufactories, Commerce, and Population," a public address delivered at the Cooper Union ; ' ' Why Ireland Has Never Prospered Under 7i English Rule, " a magazine article; "The Emmet Family, With Some Incidents Relating to Irish History, Etc.," a work of over four hundred pages, which has been judged to be the best family history ever written; and recently, "Ireland Under English Rule, Etc.," in two volumes, a work which has already been accepted as an authority, together with other papers and addresses, all of which plead Ireland's wrongs to the world with an eloquent cogency born of the most ardent patriotism. It is eminently fitting, therefore, that we do honor to-night Dr. Emmet as a patriot, whose lofty love of country is worthy to rank with those other brilliant qualities and notable achieve- ments in the medical profession, which place him in the foremost rank of humanity's greatest benefactor. "DISDAIN AND DISCORD SHALL BESTREW THE UNION. . . . "-The Tempest. 7 2 "HE WAS FAMOUS, SIR, IN HIS PROFESSION. "—All's Well That Ends Well. INTRODUCTION BY DR. DUDLEY OF SIR WILLIAM HINGSTON. HERE is a unanimous call for a few words from the great surgeon of Canada — Sir William Hingston. WELCOME, . . . TO THIS BRAVE TOWN OF YORK."— 3 Henry VI. 73 I KNOW THE GENTLEMAN TO BE OF WORTH."— Two Gentlemen of Verona. SIR WM. HINGSTON "THE PUREST TREASURE MORTAL TIMES AFFORD IS SPOTLESS REPUTATION."— Richard II. r**$4»nc§£]h*j SIR WILLIAM HINGSTON'S RESPONSE. jT was a pleasure and a privilege for me to accept the invitation extended to me by your committee to be present at this dinner to honor Dr. Emmet, as, apart from the reverence I hold for his scientific work, to know him was to love and respect him. In traveling over Europe I have found that no name was so frequently mentioned in continental clinics as that of Emmet. This was true not only in the larger cities, but even in the smaller university towns. Practical gynecologists thought no encomium too high to pay to his worth as a man and surgeon. Personal friends of his, living in the same city with him, know that he well deserves the expression which the French inhabitants of Canada sometimes use with regard to one whom they thoroughly respect — "He is white all through" — "II est blanc partout. " It is not his books — and they are most valuable — nor his many important methods of treatment and operations, which have counted most in Emmet's honorable career. But it is the example of his sterling honesty in his professional life, and in the fact that he was never addicted to the doing of anything small or petty. Never did he do an operation for the sake of doing it, nor for the eclat or profit to which its successful performance might bring to him. 77 With regard to one operation which has been much vulgar- ized in recent years, Dr. Emmet once said to me that he would rather a few women should have suffered without alleviation than that so many should have been operated upon without reason and without necessity, and that he would almost prefer not to have been the originator of the operation. In Canada, Dr. Emmet is held in as high estimation as in his native country, and the tribute of respect meted out to him here fairly represents the feeling of the profession across the line. WE KNOW HIM FOR NO LESS, THOUGH WE ARE BUT STRANGERS TO HIM. ' Timon of Athens. 78 "'TIS MY PICTURE: REFUSE IT NOT; IT HATH NO TONGUE TO VEX YOU." Twelfth Night. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. M. D. "HIS HEALTH WAS NEVER BETTER WORTH THAN NOW."-l Henry IV. INTRODUCTION OF DR. EMMET BY DR. DUDLEY. HERE is, perhaps, a question as to whether it is good form for one to drink to his own health. Let us, however, propose the health of our beloved leader in such a way that he will have to join us: When we are seventy-seven, may we, mentally, morally, and physically, stand as straight as he does now. [Dr. Emmet's response will be found in the public report, and to avoid repetition it is not given here.] fw m isi ksbh "I THANK YOU: I AM NOT OF MANY WORDS, BUT 1 THANK YOU." Much Ado About Nothing. 81 'HOW SHALL I HONOUR THEE FOR THIS SUCCESS ?"— 1 Henry VI. ^%**J*cffr*J R. EMMET was so much gratified at the remarkable success of the dinner in every respect, that he addressed a letter of thanks to Dr. Coe, as the Chairman of the Dinner Committee, and received the following - reply. ^£**><-C$#*^ TO WHOM WE ALL REST GENERALLY BEHOLDING."— Taming of the Shrew. 83 GENTLE MASTER MINE, I AM IN ALL AFFECTED AS YOURSELF." Taming of the Shrew. My Dear Friend and Master: I am deeply touched by your letter, and when I read it I felt that I had been richly repaid for my work in connection with the dinner. It was purely a labor of love, and might have been a larger and more widely advertised gathering, like the Osier banquet ; but I can assure you that every man there came gladly and without urging, while at least one hundred more would have been present if the time of year had not been unpropitious. I send a few letters which may be of interest to you. Had I known that the speeches would be so good I would have provided a medical reporter to take them down verbatim. I did have a reporter, but after drinking his bottle of champagne he skipped, without waiting for the toasts. Let me assure you of my unchanging affection and respect, and wish you may continue to grow old gracefully for many years to come. Cordially yours, HENRY C. COE. "IT IS EXCELLENTLY WELL PENNED."— Twelfth Night. 85 " DELIVER'D LETTERS, . . . WHICH PRESENTLY THEY READ."— King Lear. etters "FROM WHOM HE BRINGETH SENSIBLE REGRETS."— Merchant of Venice. 8 7 MOST FAIR RETURN OF GREETINGS AND DESIRES. "-Hamlet. HE following letters and telegrams were received either by Dr. Coe, the Chairman of the Dinner Committee, or by Dr. Emmet. Unfortunately, a number of letters, of which a portion were read at the dinner, were mislaid, or on that occasion passed into the hands of some autograph collector. Consequently it is not possible to give even the names of the writers. EPBSJSyPfl ba£^j T 111 KSH "TO THE UNKNOWN BELOVED, THIS, AND MY GOOD WISHES. "-Twelfth Night. 89 "OP WHOM I HAVE RECEIVED. . . . "-The Tempest. Boston, May 6, 1905. Dear Dr. Coe: You don't know how sorry I am that I cannot attend the banquet to Dr. Emmet. I am still in the hands of a nurse, and cannot walk after a lapse of nearly two years. I have the highest respect, veneration, and love for Dr. Emmet, and I hope the banquet will be in every way a most brilliant success. With many regrets that I cannot be present, I am, very truly yours, WALTER L. BURRAGE. Boston, May 7, 1905. My Dear Dr. Coe: I have postponed replying to your invitation to attend the dinner to the Grand Old Man Emmet until I could be sure. I am now convinced that it will be impossible for me to absent myself from Boston on that date. Give my warmest regards to Emmet. I owed much to him in the early days and would have liked to acknowledge it now. Faithfully yours, JAMES R. CHADWICK. Nashville, Tenn., May 11, 1905. Dear Dr. Coe: I received your invitation to the Emmet dinner, and beg to thank you for your thoughtfulness in remembering me. I appreciate very highly the notification, and regret exceedingly that I shall be unable to come to New York at this season. I assure you that nothing would have given me more pleasure than to join in the honor which you are doing our master, and shall write him my personal regrets at being unable to attend. Yours sincerely, W. D. HAGGARD. 9 1 [telegram.] Nashville, Term. , May 29, 190.5. Dr. Thos. Addis Emmet: Congratulations upon your birthday. The world owes you an undy- ing debt of gratitude. Regret that I cannot join in doing you honor to-night. W. D. HAGGARD. Milwaukee, Wis., May 26, 1905. Dr. H. C. Coe, New York. My Dear Friend : I am exceedingly sorry I will not be able to join you in doing deserved honor to our good friend and teacher, Dr. T. A. Emmet. You must especially give him my sincerest and heartiest respects and well wishes for his health and welfare. Tell him that I daily think of him in my work here in treatment of the diseases of women. We are reorganizing the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons just now, and this needs me here. Very sincerely yours, GUSTAVE A. KLETZSCH. Baltimore, Md. , May 20, 1905. Dear Dr. Coe: It is with feelings of profound regret that, owing to protracted and severe illness, I am unable to accept the invitation to the dinner, to be given on the 29th inst, to Dr. Thos. Addis Emmet, which you have sent me with marked courtesy and consideration. It was in the autumn of 1868 that I was introduced to Dr. Emmet by a mutual friend, the lamented Dr. J. C. Nott. The great New York Woman's Hospital was then under Dr. Emmet's sole charge, Dr. Sims having gone abroad. Here they had for years worked together in peace and harmony, and established the Sims-Emmet School, which not only revolutionized, but created gynecology as a science. Their names must be forever linked together, and irradiate and enlighten all succeeding ages. The invention of Sims' speculum, like the hatchet of a pioneer, blazed the way in an untrodden forest, and created new methods in the examination and treatment of many of the diseases and accidents of the female genitalia, the value and extent of which no man can ever estimate. Their discoveries and methods have now become so interwoven with the lesions and practice of all gynecologists all over the world as to have become common property. 92 But Emmet was not a mere cequer and copyist. He was a bold, original, and profound thinker. What Emmet himself achieved — and that will live forever — must be known to every gynecologist at all worthy of the name. Sincerely yours, W. T. HOWARD. New York, May 28, 1905. Dear Dr. Emmet: Permit me to congratulate you in advance on the attainment of your seventy-seventh birthday. I have begged leave to participate in the dinner of the 29th inst. , and my only regret is that I have not had more opportunities to feel the personal influence of your supreme philirishry. I had the honor to address you in verse at the Celtic Medical Society dinner, and although almost unknown to you, I could not let the oppor- tunity go by for writing to express my respects. Yours sincerely, GEORGE B. McAULIFFE. Louisville, Ky., May 24, 1905. My Dear Dr. Coe: I keenly regret that uncompromising obligations here will deprive me of the pleasure of attending the complimentary dinner to honor Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet on the occasion of his seventy-seventh birthday. It is most appropriate that such a tribute of respect, esteem, and honor should be paid our great master in gynecology by his friends and former pupils at this time. To those who have sat at his elbow and learned his lessons, and applied those lessons year after year in practice, his services to science are best known and appreciated. It is difficult to adequately express a proper appreciation of his services at a time when gynecology was scarcely recognized as a distinct and important department of surgery. His labor and teachings perfected and popularized operative procedures to a degree that doubtless will never be modified or superseded. His years, indeed, are full of honors, and I can only imagine the pleasure he will have in having around him at this time so many distinguished pupils who have followed in his footsteps. Permit me to join in the wish of all that he may have many more years amid the scenes of his labors and triumphs. Sincerely yours, LEWIS S. McMURTRY. 93 Buffalo, N. Y., May 5, 1905. My Dear Dr. Coe: I regret greatly that I shall be unable to be present at the dinnar to be given in honor of Dr. Emmet on May 29. We are going to have great doings here at that time in connection with the opening of our new art gallery, and, as I am one of the directors, it will be impossible for me to get away. Kindly express my congratulations to Dr. Emmet at his having attained so great and honorable an age. There is no one in our branch of the profession whom I hold in so high respect as I do him. With kind regards, I remain, yours very truly, MATTHEW D. MANN. Detroit, May 19, 1905. My Dear Dr. Coe: It gives me the greatest pleasure to join in the proposed dinner to Dr. Emmet, and to assist in honoring the man who has done so much for American gynecology and to whom we all owe a debt of gratitude for his pioneer work, which has placed this country at the head of the specialty he has so long and successfully represented. I regret exceedingly that other engagements will prevent me from being present at the dinner and personally participating in the pleasures of the occasion. Very sincerely yours, W. P. MANTON. 1524 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, May 23, 1905. My Dear Dr. Coe: Only implacable fate could keep me from giving the small contribution of my personal presence toward honoring my old friend. My remembrances of this most distinguished physician go back to the days when we sat on the benches of the Jefferson Medical College, or when, as a guest in my father's house, he was the same courteous and socially interesting man he has always remained. Of the kindly interchanges which have kept alive the friendship of two very busy men, this is hardly the place to speak. Neither may I do more than acknowledge gratefully the time and cost he gave some years ago toward royally illustrating a book which his friendship regarded as worthy of so splendid a compliment. 94 We may, as physicians, feel thankful for a man whose scholarship is of so rare a quality, whose originative force has been so far felt and influ- ential, and whose life of uprightness, kindliness, and honor preserves the highest traditions of the physician and gentleman. I should like to have said all this and more, but this is not to be. I shall like my old friend to read between these lines a warmer confession of admiring affection than men are willing to put on paper in these reticent days. Yours very truly, S. WIER MITCHELL. Equitable Building, Memphis, Tenn. , May 29, 1905. Dr. Henry C. Coe. My Dear Doctor: I regret that I could not attend Dr. Emmet's dinner. It would have given me great pleasure, because I admire him. Please accept the inclosed check to help bear the expenses. With kind regards for yourself, Very sincerely, R. B. MAURY. [telegram.] Nashville, Tenn., May 29, 1905. Dr. Thos. Addis Emmet, Delmonico's, New York: I join with innumerable women throughout the world who, though absent, do vou honor in their hearts. KATHERIXE A. OLWILL. Cincinnati, Ohio, April 28, 1905. My Dear Dk. Coe: Accept my thanks for your kind invitation to attend the banquet in honor of the seventy-seventh birthday of our distinguished fellow, Dr. Thos. Addis Emmet. I sincerely regret my inability to attend. I regret it the more because of my high appreciation of the services rendered, not only to the American Gynecological Society, but for his contributions to American gynecology. His name will always go down to posterity because of the international recognition of the value of his signal services in gynecological plastic surgery. Though absent from you in body, believe me ever present with you in sentiment and spirit. Kindly remember me to all of my friends there present. I remain, yours very truly, CHAUNCEY D. PALMER. 95 Providence, R. I., May 30, 1905. My Dear Dr. Emmet: It was with sincere regret I was not able to attend the banquet in your honor last night. Please accept my congratulations and my wish that your life may still be prolonged many years, if not in active work, yet as- a stimulus to better work on the part of the younger gynecologists. Very sincerely yours, GEORGE WHIPPLE PORTER. New York, May 15, 1905. Dear Dr. Coe: The night chosen for the banquet to Dr. Emmet comes the day, or rather two days, after my intended departure for Europe, and I have re- mained silent, hoping I could secure a later passage in order to be present. But I find this impossible, unless I delay my passage until July, and the condition of my wife's health will not permit this. Therefore, I beg per- mission to secure a seat at the table and having my name on the list even if I cannot be present. I am in full sympathy with the promoters of the banquet, and deplore the fact that I must leave the country almost on the eve of its consumma- tion. There is every reason to suppose that the attendance will be large and harmonious. Yours very cordially, JOHN G. PERRY. Cincinnati, April 28, 1905. Dear Dr. Coe: Herewith find my check for the Emmet dinner. This day I am seventy-six, and could not engage in more agreeable or profitable work than contributing, even in an humble way, to the recognition of the great- ness and the goodness of Thos. Addis Emmet. He laid well the founda- tions. Few have equaled, none surpassed him in developing American gynecology. Recent advances in certain directions justify a revision of some of his teaching. But much of it must endure because essentially true. And then Dr. Emmet, in his noble individuality, stands for truth and honor. His name and his fame are secure. Give him my love, THAD. A. REAMY. P. S.— My health during the past eight months has been so bad that my attendance at the dinner is uncertain. 96 May 17, 1905. My Dear Dr. Emmet: It was with the keenest regret that I had to notify Dr. Coe this morn- ing of my inability to be present at your dinner. No word can express my anxiety to be present. No words can even faintly indicate my love for you, nor my appreciation of your noble character and your extraor- dinary life work. Your friendship has been a benediction to me; your professional example an inspiration; your teaching contributed more, infinitely more, than that of any other man to my professional equipment. I hoped to meet you at Niagara Falls. Dr. Dudley, however, informs me in a note just received that you cannot be present. I must see you again before either of us crosses the bar. Surely I shall. But if not, we shall renew our friendship on the other side, and we shall be happy — God bless you ! Ever sincerely your friend, THAD. A. REAMY. Dayton, Ohio, May 29, 1905. My Dear Dr. Emmet: I have just learned by merest accident that you have been tendered, or are about to be tendered, a dinner to celebrate your seventy-seventh birthday. I take the liberty of adding my congratulations and my good wishes on the occasion. As to the infliction of the dinner — -I use the word advisedly, because I am to undergo the same punishment on the 5th prox. , my seventy-ninth birthday. It is tendered me by the profession of the city where I have resided now over fifty years. I could be patient under the trial could I feel that I had done anything worthy of the honor. Had I, like you, been for years a teacher of gynecology, the author of distinct advances, the writer of standard works, then I would willingly have accepted the honor. But a few journal articles deserve no recognition. Excuse my writing, but I knew only of yourself as a "founder" in the American Gynecological Society. There are doubtless a few others, but I cannot name them. And now, my dear doctor, among the good wishes I send you is one that you are as well as I am. I have no aches or pains, no failure of sight or hearing, so far as I can myself observe. I walk nearly daily to my daughter's, one and a half miles, and so still enjoy life in a quiet way. I trust that your years may yet long be spared in the land of the living, and spared without suffering and without the feebleness of age. When these come I wish for you what I wish for myself — a speed} r departure. Honoring you for the good work you have done, holding you in grateful remembrance as a friend, I am, sincerely yours, J. C. REEVE. 97 New York, May 28, 1905. My Dear Dr. Coe: ^ I am prevented from being in my place at the dinner to Dr. Emmet, and I wish to express my high appreciation of his great qualities, and of the luster that shines from American medicine and surgery in consequence of his life of magnificent work. In common with all who know him, I wish for him many years of con- tinued happiness in the exercise of his great abilities and in the society of his family and countless friends. With many regrets that I shall not be able to take his hand on this great occasion, I am, dear Dr. Coe, yours sincerely, D. B. ST. JOHN ROOSA. Montreal, Canada, May 9, 1905. Dear Dr. Coe: I am very sorry that it is impossible for me to attend the banquet to Dr. Emmet in New York on the 29th inst. It is all I can do to get away for the Niagara meeting. With my best wishes for its success and for many years more of health and happiness for the Grand Old Man of Gynecology, I remain, yours very truly, A. LAPTHORN SMITH. Hartford, Conn. My Dear Dr. Emmet: I am exceedingly sorry to state that an enforced rest and absence from home obliged me to give up being present at your birthday dinner on May the twenty-ninth It would have given me the greatest of pleasure to have met you again, to have congratulated you as I do now on the happy occasion, and to wish you long life, with a full realization of the gratitude of our profes- sion and of womankind for the benefits you have conferred by your great life work. Most sincerely yours, CHARLES E. TAFT. Baltimore, May 13, 1905. My Dear Dr. Coe: On account of my absence for a few days your letter of the ninth came into my hands only to-day. I am much honored by the invitation to act as toastmaster at the Emmet dinner on May 29. While I do not believe that I have the requisite gifts for such an office, I am extremely sorry that I cannot even be at the dinner. I have engaged my passage for England on May 27, and as I am going to keep an imperative engagement in London early in June, I cannot defer sailing to a later date. There is no man in our profession more deserving of honor than Dr. Emmet. The dinner should be a great success, and I am particularly sorry that I cannot participate and show at least by my presence the regard and affection which I have for Dr. Emmet. Thanking you and the committee cordially for the invitation, I am, very sincerely yours, WILLIAM H. WELSH. Baltimore, May 14, 1905. My Dear Dr. Emmet: It is a great disappointment to me that I cannot be at the dinner in your honor on May 29, as I have already written Dr. Coe. I am obliged to sail for England before that date in order to keep an imperative engagement in London. There is no one in our profession more deserving, by his work and influence and personality, of such a tribute of esteem and affection from his colleagues and the general public. I recall with especial pleasure our personal intercourse, especially our conversations at Narragansett Pier, and I hope that I may have similar opportunities to see you in the future. Meantime, as I cannot be at the dinner, I wish to send these few lines of congratulation and appreciation of your great work, and my best wishes for your continued happiness and good health. Faithfully yours, WILLIAM H. WELSH. Chicago, May 4, 1905. Dr. H. C. Coe: My Dear Doctor : I am in receipt of your invitation to the banquet to be given to Dr. Thomas A. Emmet. I regret very much my inability to attend, as I would be greatly pleased to meet with others of the pro- fession to do honor to the man who has done the most for gynecology. I sincerely hope that the occasion will be a very enjoyable one, and beg to remain, Very sincerely yours, THOMAS J. WATKINS. 99 Louisville, Ky., May 22, 1905. Dr. Henry Clarke Coe: . «>. I had indulged the hope to the last moment of attending the dinner on the twenty -ninth in honor of the seventy-seventh birthday of our dear friend, Dr. Thos. Addis Emmet, but now find that conditions are such that it will be impossible for me to be away from home at that time ; in fact, I doubt if I will be able to be at the Falls. Kindly convey to dear Dr. Emmet my best wishes for many more years of happy life. He is one of the great and noble men of our profession and should be admired and loved by all. Very sincerely yours, W. H. WATHEN. New York, April 27, 1905. Mv Dear Dr. Coe: Nothing would be more agreeable than to be present at the proposed dinner to do honor to Dr. Emmet, whom we all love, admire, and respect. As you say, his services to gynecology have been great, and American medicine owes much to him. Unfortunately, I had already made plans to be out of town on that day, and for that reason, very regretfully, am forced to deny myself the honor of being with you. Truly yours, R. W. WILCOX. "FRIENDS AM I WITH YOU ALL, AND LOVE YOU ALL. "-Julius Caesar. 100 DINNER IS READY, . . . WELL, LET US GO IN."-Two Gentlemen of Verona. ^tehts^l&xj^Qtxj ncomplete Xtst of Zbo&c present at tbe ©inner >«fchi**4g*>L««Hg*>o I HAVE RECEIVED MUCH HONOUR BV VOUR PRESENCE."— Henry VIII. AS AN INDEX TO THE STORY WE LATE TALK'D OF."— Richard III. *C§fr*J"ef&*J ! N index of the names of those who were present at the dinner, so far as it has been possible to obtain them after taxing the recollection of many. The list is not com- plete, as about one hundred and twenty- five seats were taken. Unfortunately, the original list was destroyed immediately after the dinner, as it was not supposed it would be required. ^ftjh*c-r$jNc* WE KNOW EACH OTHER WELL."— Troilus and Cressida. 103 YOU WERE IN PRESENCE THEN ; AND YOU CAN WITNESS WITH ME THIS IS TRUE."— Richard II. *-c£*ac>> My Dear Dr. Emmet : I am having sent to you a copy of last week's ' ' Medical News," with an account of the Emmet dinner and our editorial tribute to the first great clinical teacher in America, and the first surgeon who made us widely known in Europe. I wish the tribute were more worthy of its subject. My best wishes go out to you for many years of happy, still useful, life — useful to yourself and others. Yours sincerely, JAMES J. WALSH. /T«*j>»>ne*J>>> AND YE SHALL FIND ME THANKFUL."— Henry VIII. 109 "IF IT BE A JUST AND TRUE REPORT THAT GOES OF HIS HAVING." Timon of Athens. THE MEDICAL NEWS, JUNE 3, 1905. EDITORIAL ON THE EMMET DINNER. HE testimonial dinner tendered to Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, of New York City, on his seventy- seventh birthday, on Monday, May 29, an account of which appears in another column of this week's Medical News, was a worthy tribute to a man who has merited well of two generations of American physicians. Dr. Emmet was one of those who first carried the fame of American surgery and especially of gynecology into European climes, and few men have ever been so widely known in the medical world or so favorably appreciated. His was not the work of a great genius, but of a supreme practical talent. His attention to the slightest details was the secret of his remarkable success as an operator, even in the most difficult cases, and even our modern advances in gynecology have not rendered his methods obsolete. More than any other he realized the truth of the maxim : ' ' Trifles make perfection, yet perfection is no trifle." To Dr. Emmet we owe, here in America, the first effective clinical teaching. At the Woman's Hospital he began and carried to perfection that genuine bedside training of pupils which constituted the corner stone of what is best and most progressive in our modern medical education. The success of his methods may be best appreciated from the fact that pupils of his are in control of many of the most important gynecological clinics in the United States. More than any formal system of teaching there was the magnetic personality of the man lifting his students up to that higher plane, where they viewed things from the standpoint of their own observation and not through the prejudices of preconceived notions or pet theories. For this the medical profession of America owes Dr. Emmet a debt that will never be adequately paid. It is in this that his highest and best influence was and will be for at least another generation surely felt. But it must not be thought for a moment that Emmet was lacking in originality. Long before the days of scientific asepsis, with its groundwork in the knowledge of bacteriology, Emmet insisted on a cleanliness of patient and physician that was a definite anticipation of what is most valuable in the modern methods. In the treatment of chronic gelvic inflammation Emmet occupied the conservative standpoint thirty years ago to which gynecologists have in recent years returned again after having tried the effect of operations of many kinds. After a period of partial eclipse Emmet's work is once more coming to be the illuminating principle of many procedures in gynecology. Dr. Emmet said at the conclusion of the banquet on Monday evening that every professional man should have a hobby and get all the fun possible out of it. His own hobby just now is the Gaelic or Irish language, which he began to learn at the age of seventy-five years — a record recall- ing Cato's application to Greek at eighty. Neither the guest of honor of the evening himself, nor any of those who made addresses, said anything of another hobby of Dr. Emmet's which has proved and will prove for many generations a valuable aid to the study of American history. We refer, of course, to the Emmet Collection of historical documents and printed books dealing with American history, which may be found in the Lenox Library of New York City. It may be said that if he had not made the collection some one else would; but, then, the world's work always gets itself done somehow, yet we cannot but feel grateful to the doers when the work has been of exceptional character. This collection of "Americana" will preserve the name of Emmet for all time in the annals of American bibliography, and it stands as a magnificent example of how useful a hobby may be made to others, while furnishing a maximum of pleasure and diverting interest to its rider. May Dr. Emmet long be with us as a reminder of how much a sincere, simple-hearted physician — a sympathetic teacher and a cultured gentle- man — can accomplish in a world that is not over pleasant at best, yet may be a poignant blank at its worst and can be changed to something not so far from the heart's desire by the unselfish efforts of the princes among men. REPORT OF DINNER TO DR. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. Over one hundred physicians assembled in the banquet hall of Delmonico's on Monday evening, May 29, in honor of the seventy- seventh birthday of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, the distinguished gyne- cologist, of New York, whose work attracted so much attention all over the medical world and brought American medical science to the notice of European clinics almost more than that of any other American surgeon of his time. The dinner was presided over by Dr. E. C. Dudley, of Chicago, who congratulated Dr. Emmet on the fact that he had been so judicious in the choice of a birthday, since the 29th day of May was also the date of his own entrance upon this mundane sphere. EMMET'S CHARACTER. Dr. Dudley said that while Dr. Emmet's scientific abilities, his patient investigation of difficult questions, and his ingenious application of his knowledge in the solution of them, had made him famous, it was for qualities of heart rather than of head that so many distinguished medical men from many parts of the country had gathered together to do him honor. Of the virtues that befit the physician, Emmet had exhibited all with a brilliancy that could not fail to attract attention. Modesty and philanthropy in the best sense of the word, kindliness toward friends and to his patients, gentleness to those in need, and sympathy for all those with whom he came in contact, were his most prominent characteristics. The roll of his good deeds, and long enough it is, is known by many, yet the number of those unknown are surely greater. Civic virtues, too, he exhibited in a way that makes his life an exemplar for the present and the coming generation. And yet there was in the midst of all this a simple humaneness of sympathy that attracted all those who knew him. As the spectrum contains all the brilliant colors, yet when combined gives only the mild radiance of pure white light, so Emmet the man seemed the brother and the teacher friend rather than the distant scientist and philanthropist to those who knew him. GENIUS OP INDUSTRY. Emmet came of preferred not common stock, and one of his most prominent traits of character is the absolute absence of all pettiness, as also of all pretense. He had the moral courage of his convictions, and the persistence of character that enabled him to follow out his ideas in a very wonderful way to happy issue. Above all, he had the faculty for hard work. Yet work did not seem hard to him, and after watching him you were always tempted to think that what he was doing was easy, even though it might be time-taking, until you tried it yourself. Emmet's work raised up the science of practical gynecology to a standard it had never reached before and his ideas were fruitful sources of further advances, though when the account is made up it will be surprising how little in reality has been added to the groundwork of science laid by Emmet. Dr. Dudley then introduced Dr. William M. Polk, of New York, who spoke of Dr. Emmet as a surgeon. SURGICAL CAREER. Dr. Polk said that all that Dr. Emmet had done for gynecology is even yet not appreciated. The reaction against operations in the more recent times has brought some of Emmet's ideas more into prominence than they have been at any time in the last thirty years. Above all, Emmet realized the limitations of surgery. While he could see many sides of the question and realize and be ready to recognize the value of the work of others along lines quite different to his own, he recognized more than any other when it was true of the art of surgery that it might be said, "Thus far shalt thou go and no further." With regard to many of the chronic forms of pelvic inflammation, he said long ago that not radical surgical treatment, but local treatment, m various forms and long continued, would eventually give the greatest measure of relief. This conclusion the gynecologists of to-day, after many years of experience with operative methods, are now ready to acknowledge as the most hopeful principle in treatment. Emmet thus anticipated modernity and the work of the generation of active workers following his own. "3 BEDSIDE TEACHING. Dr. Polk told the story of once having asked Dr. Emmet to do^some lecturing in a medical school. Dr. Emmet said that he was not a lecturer but a teacher. Those who for years from all the United States flocked to the Woman's Hospital to take advantage of his teaching realized this better than it can be told in words. If the modern method of teaching by means of actual demonstration from the patient has come to vogue in recent years, most of it is due to the example so well set by Dr. Emmet. His teaching was of the most practical and helpful character. Ideas that were obtained were not vague and indefinite, but just such as could be used with most advantage in the actual practice in medicine. Theories were not exploited, but observations were made and actualities demon- strated. In the history of the rise of medical education in America to its present high standard the name of no man stands higher than that of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet. DR. EMMET, THE LITTERATEUR. Most Rev. John Farley, Archbishop of New York, was then intro- duced and spoke to the toast of Emmet as a writer on subjects apart from medicine. He said that while he was the only non-medical man present, that fact only added to his readiness and his happiness to have the privi- lege of bringing his tribute to his friend, Dr. Emmet. The injunction of Ecclesiastes is, honor the physician, for in the day of illness you will fall into his hands. Dr. Emmet's literary work that has attracted most atten- tion is undoubtedly his "Ireland Under English Rule, or a Plea for the Plaintiff." This book serves to show very well that while physicians may greet him as a leader in his own profession, he knows many things apart from his life work. An American born, but with the blood of distinguished Irishmen in his veins, he set himself to show the world what were the reasons why men of Irish birth and Irish ancestry must ever hold in detes- tation the part that England has played in Ireland's history. While his ancestry made the motive noblesse oblige the principal motive of his book, the cause of truth must have been the main directing idea. Over nine hundred volumes were consulted in the preparation for it, and the last word on the subject is said for this generation. His conclusions are worthy of the greatness of soul of a really great man. He preaches patience to Ireland as a panacea for all her ills, and penance to England for her errors in the treatment of the Irish. DR. EMMET, THE TEACHER. Dr. W. H. Baker, of Boston, said that the striking characteristic of Emmet as a teacher was his originality of idea, his thoroughness of execu- tion, his ingenuity and skill in the application of right principles, and the magnetic personality by which his ideas were conveyed to his pupils in all their fullness. His success may very well be judged from the fact that his pupils are holding positions of importance and prominence all over this country, and that they are thus giving a wide sphere of influence to his teaching. Better than anything else for his pupils was Emmet's own example in his relations to his patients. Once upon a time he showed to 114 Dr. Baker a woman who had been bedridden for nine years and under treatment for many years, but who at last was completely cured. In another case over twenty operations had been done in his effort to cure an inveterate condition, and it was hard to understand which was most to be admired, the patience of the operator or the utter confidence of the patient which eventually allowed of a good result in the case. FIRST TEACHER OF ASEPSIS. One of the most admirable features of Emmet's teaching was his insistence on absolute cleanliness in the patient to a degree that was considered quite unnecessary at that time. The other feature was the cleanliness of the surgeon with cleansing of hands, that was most punc- tilious at a time long before Lister's ideas began to circulate, or before Pasteur had shown the necessity for such precautions. The Woman's Hospital in New York was for many years a monument to Emmet's infinite capacity for taking pains. The new Woman's Hospital that is rising on the Heights will be a memorial of his life work, for there would have been no Woman's Hospital but for what he showed could be accomplished. THE MEDICAL AUTHOR. Dr. S. C. Gordon, of Portland, Maine, said that the distinctive feature of Emmet's work at the Woman's Hospital was the permeation of all that he did by common sense. His method of teaching was typical of this quality. Only a few students were admitted to see the operations, but they literally sat at his feet and saw the wonderful work that he did close up and never so well done as he knew how to do it. This quality of common sense pervades Emmet's text-book on the practice of gynecology, and though now it is considered by the present generation as out of date, this is unfortunate, for it will be found to contain, either in actual teaching or practice, all that is taught to-day. In attention to detail there is no text-book on gynecology that can compare with it. Many a more modern text-book has been made out of it, more or less unconsciously at times, and very few of them contain more than Emmet's has, except in the matter of illustrations. Emmet was indefatigable in research, ceaseless in industry, and his text-book shows his power of observation. He told things as he saw them. Such observations are never out of date, and are always a source of interest. EMMET AS A FRIEND. Dr. George Tucker Harrison, of New York, said that Emmet's friends were literally bound to him, in the words of old Polonius, by hooks of steel. Besides this inner circle of friends, few men have ever had so many professional brethren who considered themselves as enjoying the privilege of friendship. His personality was such that all those who approached him felt the intimate sympathy of the man. All over this country there are students from the Woman's Hospital who feel a close relationship to Emmet, and who value this feeling as one of the privileges of their pro- fessional life. It is because of this that so many have gathered to honor him to-night, and that honor must represent the friendly feelings that all are so ready to exhibit on an occasion like this. JI 5 THE PATRIOT. Dr. Francis J. Quinlan, of New York, said that the Emmets hacL^been originally English who settled in Ireland some seven centuries ago, like so many other of the English who lived in Ireland, intermarried with the natives, and became more Irish than the Irish themselves. Seven generations of the Emmets have been distinguished physicians. At the end of the eighteenth century it was an Emmet who led the first move- ment against English tyranny, and out of the sentiment created by the cause for which Robert Emmet died has sprung all of the modern move- ments that have benefited Ireland so much. When the Emmets came to America, in a generation they became as American as any of those who had been here for generations. Patriots they have been in both countries, well worthy the honor of their fellow citizens. Thomas Addis Emmet conferred honor on the land of his adoption, and the Emmet who is being honored to-night has, by his book on England's misrule of Ireland, done more to set Ireland's cause fairly before the world of letters than any man of his generation. For the men whose lives mean much for the countries in which they lived there cannot be too much honor, and so the tribute of this evening is only an expression of feelings pent up so long that at last they had to find issue. FAME ABROAD. Sir William Hingston, of Montreal, said it was a pleasure and a privilege for him to accept the invitation to be present at the dinner for Dr. Emmet, for besides the reverence for his scientific work, to know him was to love him and respect him. In traveling over Europe Dr. Hingston had found that no name was so commonly mentioned in continental clinics as that of Emmet. This was true not only in the larger cities, but even in the smaller university towns. Practical gynecologists thought no encomium too high to pay to his worth as a man and a physician. Personal friends of his know that he well deserves the expression that the French inhabit- ants of Canada sometimes use with regard to a man whom they thoroughly respect — "that he is white all through." It is not this operation or that; it is not his book that means most in Emmet's career, but it is the example of his sterling honesty in his profession and the fact that he has never done anything small or petty. Never did he do an operation for the sake of doing it. With regard to one operation which has been much vulgar- ized in recent years, Dr. Emmet once said to Dr. Hingston that he would rather that a few women should have suffered without alleviation than that so many should have been operated upon without reason, and that he would almost prefer not to have been the originator of the operation. Dr. Hingston said that in Canada Dr. Emmet's estimation is at least as high as in his native country, and the tribute he bears represents the feeling of the profession across the line. SOME MEMORIES. In his closing address, Dr. Emmet said that an Irish friend of his, who was very old, announced that he expected to see his friends only once more, and that at his funeral. Personally, he is very glad that he has the oppor- tunity to see his friends before the funeral. During the week that has 116 passed since he learned of the dinner that was to be given him, he has felt that if he were a woman he would go off into a corner and have a good cry- over it. Some of the memories of the past come crowding back, and per- haps there is nothing that he could tell of more interest. Since the age of thirteen he has had to hoe his own row. As a boy he had been a kind of a Buster Brown. He many a time had his ride through the streets of Charlottesville on a razor-back hog. As he grew older he preferred to roam the mountains with his gun to working at his books, until finally he was dismissed from college. Drink or cards meant no temptation to him, but the sunlight was irresistible. Dunglison desired him to study medicine. After he had heard his first medical lecture he knew there was something ahead of him. He lived on four dollars a week for his board and all his living expenses were kept under three hundred dollars a year for the four years at the Jefferson. Macneven suggested the taking of the examination for the Emigrant Hospital in New York, and there Dr. Emmet was placed in charge of two hundred and fifty patients ; one hundred were suffering from ship fever. In ten days he was down with the disease himself. After his recovery he interested himself in every detail of the hospital work. He volunteered to make the autopsies and made over one thousand. After his service as resident he was given a position of visiting physician, though he was twenty years the junior of the next man on the staff. His salary was four dollars a day and he got married on that. Then came Sims and the Woman's Hospital experience, and his vocation in life was decided. When he came to New York he had three hundred dollars and was very glad to make visits in the tenements for twenty-five cents a visit, and was especially rejoiced when the money was paid on the spot. He has been blessed beyond the average, and something of the blessings he has tried to pay back by helping young medical men when he could. At seventy-five he began the study of Irish, and has found it one of the consolations of his latter years. To all physicians he would say, have a hobby and get as much fun out of it as you can. A celebration like this to-night made him feel forty again, and the only thing that he could wish to all the friends who have been so kind to him is that life may flow on as full of sunshine for them to the end of a long, long life, as it has for him. NEW YORK MEDICAL JOURNAL, JUNE 3, 1905. THE EMMET DINNER. The dinner given at Delmonico's last Monday evening, in celebration of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet's seventy-seventh birthday, was even more largely attended than had been expected, and an enthusiastic spirit pre- vailed. In the formal toasts the various phases of Dr. Emmet's activities were specified, his career as a surgeon, his contributions to history, his achievements in art, etc. The proceedings constituted a well-merited tribute. 117 Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet was honored on his seventy-seventh birth- day, on May 29, at a dinner given at Delmonico's by his medical friends. About one hundred and twenty-five guests were present. Dr. T^mmet was escorted to the dinner by Archbishop Farley, who pronounced a bless- ing and also made a brief speech. Dr. E. C. Dudley, of Chicago, made the address of introduction. Others who spoke were Dr. W. M. Polk, Dr. W. H. Baker, of Boston ; Dr. S. C. Gordon, of Portland, Maine ; Dr. George T. Harrison, and Dr. F. J. Quinlan. In his remarks Archbishop Farley said: " I never felt more of a layman than I do at this dinner given to the emi- nent physician, Dr. Emmet. Honor is due to him who stands at the head of the medical profession. What he has achieved in literature, medicine, and surgery is more than sufficient for any one man. He has lifted up for himself a monument for work that will stand long after he is in his grave. " NEW YORK TIMES, MAY; 30, 1905. High praise of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet was uttered by Archbishop Farley at a dinner given in Delmonico's by the doctor's medical friends to mark the seventy-seventh anniversary of his birth. About one hundred and twenty-five guests were present. The room was decorated with American Beauties, a large Irish flag hung over the speakers' table, and Irish melodies were played. Dr. W. M. Polk spoke of Dr. Emmet as "The Surgeon," Dr. W. H. Baker as "The Teacher," Dr. S. C. Gordon as "The Medical Author," Archbishop Farley as "The Litterateur," Dr. George T. Harrison as "The Friend," and Dr. F. J. Quinlan as "The Patriot." "I am afraid many of you will be shocked," said the Arch- bishop, "when I say there are authors here and in the outside world who would be glad to be the author of ' Ireland Under English Rule, Etc.,' and carry the laurels that are on Dr. Emmet's head. His labors in literature and in the medical and surgical lines are more than sufficient for any one man." NEW YORK IRISH-AMERICAN, JUNE 3, 1905. A graceful but well deserved compliment was paid to the venerable Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet by his professional associates last Monday evening in the dinner tendered to him at Delmonico's. Since his illus- trious ancestor and namesake first came to this city a hundred years ago, the Emmets have been in the very first rank of its social, professional, and political life. In the honors they have won the worthy recipient of the present testimonial has not been the least prominent. He has been the guide, philosopher, and friend of a generation who hold him in profound and grateful veneration, and with his legion of other admirers now wish him the enjoyment of many years yet to come of his useful life. 118 Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet was honored on his seventy-seventh birth- day last Monday night at a dinner given at Delmonico's by his medical friends. About one hundred and twenty-five guests were present. Dr. Emmet was escorted to the dinner by Archbishop Farley, who pro- nounced the blessing and also made a brief speech. Dr. E. C. Dudley, of Chicago, made the address of introduction. Others who spoke were Dr. W. M. Polk, Dr. W. H. Baker, of Boston ; Dr. S. C. Gordon, of Portland, Maine; Dr. George T. Harrison, and Dr. F. J. Quinlan. In his remarks Archbishop Farley said: "I never felt more of a lay- man than I do at this dinner given to the eminent physician, Dr. Emmet. Honor is due to him who stands at the head of the medical profession. What he has achieved in literature, medicine, and surgery is more than sufficient for any one man. He has lifted up for himself a monument for work that will stand long after he is in his grave." THE IRISH WORLD, NEW YORK, JUNE 17, 1905, Reprinted the report from "The Medical News" of the dinner, with the heading, "A Well-Merited Tribute to Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, One of the Noblest of Men and the Most Distinguished Physician in America." NEW YORK FREEMAN'S JOURNAL. DR. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET AT A TESTIMONIAL DINNER. " The Medical News," a newspaper of New York, has an account of a testimonial dinner given to Dr. Emmet at Delmonico's on the 29th of May, his seventy-seventh birthday. Many of the celebrated doctors of the country were at it. Dr. E. C. Dudley, of Chicago, was the chairman. Many doctors were there, and so was the Most Reverend John Farley, Archbishop of New York. Many speeches were made by the many eminent men present. We let you see a little of what the Archbishop said, and of what Dr. Emmet himself said. The Archbishop, speaking to the toast of Dr. Emmet as a historian and writer, said: " That while he was the only non-medical man present, that fact only added to his readiness and his happiness to have the privi- lege of bringing his tribute to his friend, Dr. Emmet. The injunction of Ecclesiastes is, ' honor the physician, for in the days of illness you will fall into his hands.' Dr. Emmet's literary work that has attracted most attention is undoubtedly his work ' Ireland Under English Rule, Etc. ' This book serves to show very well that while physicians greet him as a leader in his own profession, he knows many things apart from his life work. An American born, but with the blood of distinguished Irishmen in 119 his veins, he set himself to show the world what were the reasons why men of Irish birth and Irish ancestry ever hold in detestation the part that England has played in Ireland's history. While his ancestry made the motive noblesse oblige the principal motive of his book, the cause of truth must have been the main directing idea. Nine hundred volumes were consulted in the preparation for it, and the last word on the subject is said for this generation. His conclusions are worthy of the greatness of soul of a really great man." We know Dr. Emmet has had of late years a professor of the Irish language teaching him Irish. In the following part of his speech, which we print, he wittily alludes to that fact. He said that an Irish friend of his, who was very old, announced that he expected to see his friends only once more, and that at his funeral. Personally, he is very glad that he has the opportunity to see his friends before the funeral. During the week that has passed since he learned of the dinner that was to be given him, he has felt that if he were a woman he would go off into a corner and have a good cry over it. Some of the memories of the past come crowd- ing back, and perhaps there is nothing that he could tell of more interest. Since the age of thirteen he has had to hoe his own row. As a boy he had been a kind of a Buster Brown. He had many a time had his ride through the streets of Charlottesville on a razor-back hog. As he grew older he preferred to roam the mountains with his gun to working at his books, until finally he was dismissed from college. Drink or cards meant no temptation to him, but the sunlight was irresistible. Dunglison desired him to study medicine. After he had heard his first medical lecture he knew there was something ahead of him. He lived on four dollars a week and all his expenses were keep under three hundred dollars a year for the four years at the Jefferson. MAKING FOUR DOLLARS A DAY WHEN HE MARRIED. Macneven suggested the taking of the examination for the Emigrant Hospital in New York, and Dr. Emmet had charge of two hundred and fifty patients, one hundred of whom were suffering from ship fever. In ten days he was down with the disease himself. After his recovery he interested himself in every detail of the hospital work. He volunteered to make the autopsies and made over one thousand. After his service as resident he was given a position of visiting physician, though he was twenty years the junior of the next man on the staff. He was given four dollars a day and got married on that. Then came Sims and the Woman's Hospital experience, and his vocation in life was decided. When he came to New York he had three hundred dollars and was very glad to make visits in the tenements for twenty-five cents a visit, and was especially rejoiced when the money was paid on the spot. He had been blessed beyond the average, and something of the bless- ings he has tried to pay for by helping young medical men whenever he could. At seventy-five he began the study of Irish, and has found it one of the consolations of his latter years. To all physicians he would say, have a hobby and get as much fun out of it as you can. A celebration like this to-night made him feel forty again, and the only thing that he could 120 wish to all the friends who have been so kind to him was that life might flow on as full of sunshine for them to the end of a long, long life, as it had for him. WEEKLY FREEMAN'S JOURNAL, DUBLIN, JULY 1, 1905. " He began and carried to perfection that genuine bedside training of pupils which constituted the corner stone of what is best and most pro- gressive in our modern medical education. For this the medical profession of America owes Dr. Emmet a debt that will never be adequately repaid." This is how the American " Medical News" writes about Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet in connection with the testimonial dinner given to him recently on his seventy-seventh birthday. The same writer states that Dr. Emmet ' ' was one of those who first carried the fame of American surgery and especially of gynecology into European climes, and few men have ever been so widely known in the medical world or so favorably appreciated. His was not the work of a great genius, but of a supreme practical talent." To Dr. Emmet, we are further told, America owes the first effective clinical teaching. Long before the days of scientific asepsis, with its groundwork in the knowledge of bacteriology, too, it is pointed out, Dr. Emmet " insisted on a cleanliness of patient and physician that was a definite anticipation of what is most valuable in the modern methods. In the treatment of chronic pelvic inflammation Emmet occupied the conservative standpoint thirty years ago to which gynecologists have in recent years returned again after having tried the effect of operations of many kinds. After a period of partial eclipse Emmet's work is once more coming to be the illuminating principle of many procedures in gynecology." The tribute paid to Dr. Emmet by his professional brethren of America must have been very grateful to him ; but it could not possibly be more grateful to him than it has been to what we may call his fellow countrymen in Ireland. For Dr. Emmet not only owns an historic Irish name, but lives it also. He is one of the best friends Ireland has, or has ever had, in the United States. At the conclusion of the banquet he stated that his hobby just now was the Gaelic language, which he began to learn at the age of seventy-five years. We may well say that if Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet is a credit to the medical profession in America, that he is surely also a credit and an honor to our race in that country, and an inspiration also to our people there, from the humblest to the highest. THE MESSENGER, NEW YORK, JULY, 1905. A DESERVED TRIBUTE. On Monday evening, May 29, over one hundred physicians from various parts of this country and Canada assembled at Delmonico's, New York, at a banquet in commemoration of the seventy-seventh birthday of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet. Dr. Emmet was undoubtedly one of the most distinguished physicians of the generation just past and the one to whom, most of all of those now living, America owes whatever reputation it has for progressive surgery. His name is probably better known in European clinics than that of any other fellow countryman, and to have been a pupil of his secures a welcome for the physician traveling in Europe better than any open sesame. Dr. Emmet has' lived to reap the reward of years of faithful service in his profession, and the present tribute is only a public manifestation of feelings that have long been cherished for the eminent surgeon, the broadly cultured scholar, the practical teacher to whom medi- cine and the medical profession in America owes so much, but above all for the courteous gentleman whom to know has always been to love and honor. Dr. Emmet came to New York, as a young man, on his own resources, with only his desire for work in his chosen profession, and a thorough knowledge of medicine of the time, as his capital. His first years of service were in the Emigrant Hospital. Like many another, he had his first experience of all that suffering could mean among the emigrants from Ireland, so many of whom came afflicted with ship fever, as the dread typhus was called at that time. Few of the young physicians of that period escaped infection with the disease, but this did not deter them from faithfully fulfilling their professional duties. Emmet had his turn with the disease in the first days of his professional career, but, far from dishearten- ing him, this only seemed to give him a larger sympathy for the poor sufferers, and a more intense desire to learn all possible about the maladies that were passing under his observation. He volunteered to make the autopsies at the hospital, and during his service actually made over one thousand. It is no wonder that, after professional zeal like this, when his term as resident physician was finished, he was offered, though twenty years the junior of any other member of the visiting staff, a position on that staff which had just become vacant. Even this much of his career sounds the keynote of Dr. Emmet's success. He had the genius for hard work, and no trouble was too much to take if it only promised to give him added knowledge. When the oppor- tunity came to assume a position at the Woman's Hospital in New York, this talent for unfailing application soon put him in the leading position in his specialty. His methods attracted attention first in this country and then before many years in every clinic in Europe. The Woman's Hospital of New York City was recognized by the medical world as one of the insti- tutions that was doing most for true progress in medicine. Emmet was not a lecturer, but a teacher. Only a limited number of students were admitted to his operations, but these were given every opportunity to study all the details of the cases, and took away with them such definite ideas as had never been given by a medical teacher before in America, at least. There is no doubt that to Emmet must be attributed the initiation of genuine bedside teaching in America, his work constituting the first oasis in the rather arid desert of medical education a half century ago. Dr. Emmet was more than a teacher ; he was an original investigator of high order. Long before Lord Lister insisted on the necessity for pre- 122 caution to prevent the external infection of patients, Emmet emphatically taught and practiced the custom of thoroughly cleansing all surfaces that were to be operated upon, and insisted that the surgeon himself should take special care in securing his own cleanliness. In more modern times this has become the almost sacrificial rubric known as asepsis in surgery. The important portions of this, however, had been very carefully laid down by Emmet almost half a century ago. In the matter of operating he has even a higher distinction. For many years he taught and practiced that certain forms of chronic inflammation could be best treated not by direct operative procedures, but by careful conservative measures tending to reduce the inflammation present, and increase the vitality of the patient in such a way as to bring about an absorption of inflammatory products. After having tried the radical operative procedures for many years, surgeons have now come to the recognition of the fact that Emmet's principle of teaching, enunciated so long ago, is the proper one. Some one has said that the really great man can be told even more readily from his avocation than from his vocation — that what a man does at his leisure is the best index of his character and culture. In this Dr. Emmet is indeed a model to all professional men. He spent much of his spare time and a large part of his fortune in the collection of books and documents illustrative of early American history. His collection is undoubtedly one of the best of its kind that was ever made. As the result of his hobby many precious documents that might have been lost are now preserved, since his interest was infectious, and others became attracted to this field of bibliography. A monument to this side of Dr. Emmet's char- acter is his collection, which may be seen at the Lenox Library in New York, as a manifestation of the generous patriotic spirit of an American physician. We can only wish Dr. Emmet many happy returns of the birthday that was celebrated so worthily and wish him all good things in the years that may be his. Bismarck, at the age of seventy-five, when asked what period of life he had found the happiest, is said to have replied that he used to think that all the good things of life were in the first seventy years ; but that now he knew that there were many supremely happy moments in the second seventy years of life. May Dr. Emmet find these supreme moments in profusion in his second seventy years. Quodfaustum vert at ! THE POST-GRADUATE, NEW YORK, JULY, 1905. The medical event of the month in New York was the dinner to Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, at Delmonico's, on the 29th of May. A large num- ber of guests were present. Dr. Emmet was escorted to his seat by Arch- bishop Farley, who made an address, among other things remarking that he never felt himself so much of a layman as in the presence of Dr. Emmet, who had not only distinguished himself in medicine but in litera- ture. Speeches were made by Dr. E. C. Dudley, of Chicago; Dr. W. H. 123 Baker, of Boston; Dr. Gordon, of Portland, Maine; Dr. George T. Harri- son; Dr. F. I. Quinlan, and Professor William M. Polk. Dr. Polk paid a high tribute to Dr. Emmet's scientific position, and also to his capacity of being able to progress constantly in his work, and change his opinions if necessary. Dr. Emmet was in the best of form, bearing his years abso- lutely well, and in his remarks brought up many reminiscences of the early days of medical practice in New York. Dr. Emmet's career is in so many respects such a distinguished one as to be worthy of most particular atten- tion. We have, therefore, presented his picture for our readers, while we dwell on a few points in his life and that of his ancestors. His great-uncle was the Robert Emmet who was executed for a political crime. His speech before execution remains one of the classics of our language. There have always been distinguished physicians in the Emmet family. Dr. Emmet's great-grandfather, Robert Emmet, the father of Thomas Addis Emmet, the lawyer in New York, was a physician of great prominence in Dublin. His grandfather, Thomas Addis Emmet, who sub- sequently became a lawyer of such marked national reputation, first studied medicine, and then changing his mind about a calling, became a lawyer. Being accused of rebellion for organizing the United Irishmen, he was placed for some time in Kilmainham jail, in Dublin, and was afterwards sent for two years to Fort George, in Scotland. After the English treaty with the French he was released, and went to France and Belgium. He came to New York in 1804. He was on his way to Ohio, which was then the great West; but Governor George Clinton, a north of Ireland man, married to an Ulster County Dutch woman, War Governor of the State of New York during the Revolution, urged him strongly to stay in New York, which he did. One of his sons was John Patten Emmet, who was a physi- cian studying medicine in New York, with the celebrated Dr. W. J. Macneven. He devoted himself specially to chemistry, which he taught in Charleston, South Carolina, and in the University of Virginia, where our Thomas Addis Emmet, the son of Dr. Patten Emmet, was born seventy- eight years ago. His grandfather was buried in St. Mark's Churchyard, Second Avenue, and his cenotaph is in St. Paul's Churchyard. The Emmet family has always had one or more members in medicine. Dr. Bache Emmet of our school is a son of William Colville Emmet, a younger brother of Professor Patten Emmet, while Dr. Duncan Emmet is a son of the subject of our sketch. After a thorough general training in the University of Virginia, Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet was graduated in medicine from Jefferson Medical College in 1850. He was at a very early date after that appointed visiting physician to the Emigrants' Refuge Hospital on Ward's Island, where he did a vast amount of excellent work. He became a pupil of Marion Sims and was made assistant surgeon to the Woman's Hospital in May, 1855. He succeeded Dr. Sims as surgeon-in-chief in 1S61, a position which he 124 ^ held until 1872, and from that time until very recently he has been visiting surgeon to the Woman's Hospital. As is well known, there is now an interregnum in the existence of the hospital, the former property having been sold, and the erection of the new btiilding has been going on for the last two years. Dr. Emmet's famous work on "The Principles and Practice of Gyne- cology " was received with applause throughout the medical world, was translated into German and French, and we are told on the very best of authority that many of his suggestions and ideas have been adopted, but not always with proper credit, so that sometimes European authorities have the name of what really belongs to Dr. Emmet. Certain it is that he achieved an exalted position in operative gynecology, especially in plastic operations, where he stood unrivaled, a science which his prede- cessor, Dr. Sims, may be said to have created. Dr. Emmet is a man of most versatile ability, exceedingly interesting as a conversationalist, and is always a welcome guest, while for years he has dispensed a hospitality about his own table which was unrivaled. The most celebrated men from Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York were to be found on those festive and interesting occasions. No dinner or reception given by Dr. Emmet ever failed to be a brilliant one. In another direction Dr. Emmet used his talents with remarkable success. He made a collection of "Americana" which was the very best in any country. Such authors as the late Benson J. Lossing and other his- torians, besides magazine writers, found much of their material in Dr. Emmet's library or in his collection. After years spent in gathering them together, the collection was purchased and is now repeating its excellent work. Dr. Emmet ever took an active interest in the prosperity of the country of his ancestors, where his great-uncle suffered a most ignominious death. He labored for the constitutional freedom of Ireland, and up to this very day his interest remains undiminished. He has lately published a history of that unhappy country, which reveals very much in the history of its oppression which has hitherto not been known. In fact, some of Dr. Emmet's friends insist that his devotion to the Green Isle is so fervent that he traces the most of the good in the world to the Celts of Brittany, Scotland, and Ireland. His latest effort is to prove that George Washington was really an Irishman and not of English parentage. He certainly makes out a very good case. He has shown that a large number of so-called English emigrants to this country were Irishmen, whose names were changed by the British Government when they were sent over here. Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet was present at the organization of the American Medical Association in 1847. When the struggle of the Medical Society of the State of New York occurred, as to liberality in consultations, and so forth, Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet took an active part with the majority, who successfully resisted the reenactment of the old Code in our State, and was a power of strength to the liberal side in that contention. 125 Dr. Emmet is a link to bind us to the Medical America of the fifties and sixties. Fortunately it is a very strong link, as the doctor retains his vigor of intellect and body. To the man who has contributed very much more than the ordinary, even among the very greatest of American mem- bers of the profession, the Post-Graduate pays this tribute to his ability, which did so much for the advance of American medicine, American history, and for a character which was so long that many years of usefulness may still be before him. BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, LONDON, AUGUST 12, 1905. A dinner was recently given in New York in honor of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet. The eminent gynecologist, who took his degree at Jefferson Medical College so long ago as in 1850, comes of a family many members of which have been distinguished in various spheres. Robert Emmet, whose name is famous in the political history of Ireland, was his great- uncle. His great-grandfather, Robert Emmet, the father of Thomas Addis Emmet, a well-known lawyer in New York, was a physician of great prominence in Dublin. His grandfather, Thomas Addis Emmet, who subsequently became a lawyer of great reputation, first studied medicine, and then turned to the law. Being accused of rebellion, he was placed for some time in Kilmainham gaol, in Dublin, and was afterwards sent for two years to Fort George, in Scotland. After the English treaty with the French he was released, and went to France and Belgium, and ultimately, in 1804, to New York. One of his sons was John Patten Emmet, a physician who devoted himself to chemistry, which he taught in Charleston, South Carolina, and in the University of Virginia. The present Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet was a pupil of Marion Sims, and was made assistant surgeon to the Woman's Hospital, New York, in May, 1855. He succeeded Dr. Sims as surgeon-in-chief in 1861, a position which he held until 1872. Dr. Emmet's "Principles and Practice of Gynecology" has been trans- lated into German and French. Dr. Emmet's professional labors have not absorbed all his energies. He made a collection of "Americana" which is said to be one of the most interesting things of the kind. The late Benson J. Lossing and other historians, besides magazine writers, found much of their material in his library and his collection. He has lately published a history of Ireland. Some of his friends, we learn from the New York " Post-Graduate," insist that his devotion to the Green Isle is so fer- vent that he traces the most of the good in the world to the Celts of Brittany, Scotland, and Ireland. His latest effort is to prove that George Washington was really an Irishman and not of English parentage. <-r$#*><-c^fc*> " IN HIS [THEIR] COMMENDATIONS I AM FED ; IT IS A BANQUET TO ME." Macbeth. 126 "I HAVE BROUGHT HIM A PRESENT."— Merchant of Venice. inner to tfje Committee antr tfje presentation of tfje Sloping Cup ^^m>^-~£^~^ti WELL, I PROMISED YOU A DINNER."— Merry Wives of Windsor. 127 "YOU HAVE MADE GOOD WORK, YOU AND YOUR APRON MEN."— Coriolanus. HENRY C. COE, M. D. I DO PROCLAIM ONE HONEST MAN— MISTAKE ME NOT— BUT ONE; NO MORE, I PRAY— AND HE'S A STEWARD."— Timon of Athens. «k Thursday Evening. Dear Dr. Emmet: Through the kindness of several friends who wished to show their affection for you, although they could not be present at the dinner, we came out so far ahead financially that I have ventured to put the surplus into a loving cup. This will serve as a constant reminder of the fact you have that which should accompany age — honor, love, obedience, and troops of friends. I would have called before, but have had an attack of the grippe. Cordially yours, H. C. COE. "WITH THIS REMEMBRANCE, THAT YOU USE THE SAME."— 2 Henry IV. 131 SOME UNEVEN AND UNWELCOMED NEWS CAME FROM THE NORTH." 1 Henry IV. neffy^neffy-a* Portland, Maine, June 13, 1905. Dear Dr. Emmet: I am sorry to write you that it will be impossible for me to be present at your dinner on the 20th inst. I am president of the Board of Trustees of an academy in my native town and our commencement exercises occur on the 20th, and I must be there. I am so glad you are to receive the "Loving Cup." We talked about it the night of your dinner, and I think it started then. I know how much you will appreciate it and how much good will accompanies the gift. They all remember how much gynecology is indebted to you. I can only renew my good wishes for good health and happiness so long as you live. I will send my manuscript very soon. Very sincerely yours, S. C. GORDON. r**3p*r**3fr^>> THE GIFT HAS MADE ME HAPPY."— Two Gentlemen of Verona. *33 WHAT'S TO COME IS STILL UNSURE: IN DELAY THERE LIES NO PLENTY." Twelfth Night. Boston, June 13, 1905. My Dear Dr. Emmet: I assure you nothing could give me greater pleasure than to dine with you next Tuesday, the 20th inst. Unfortunately, I shall be obliged to ask you to let me go in quietly a few moments after nine, for the following reason : Nearly two weeks ago I accepted an invitation to lunch at one o'clock on Tuesday, the 20th inst., to meet Sir William Mather, who comes from England to receive the degree of LL. D. from Princeton. As this lunch is given for the purpose of our meet- ing, I cannot default. After spending an hour at this lunch I shall be excused and take the 3 p.m. train for New York, which, if on time, would enable me to reach your house at a few moments after nine. I cannot tell you how glad I am that the consummation of the birthday banquet has taken the shape of the loving cup, which is most appropriate. With high appreciation of the honor you do me, and beg- ging your forbearance for being late at your dinner, I am, yours most gratefully and affectionately, WM. H. BAKER. "A GOOD TRAVELLER IS SOMETHING AT THE LATTER END OF A DINNER." All's Well That Ends Well. 135 "PEACE BE AT YOUR LABOUR, HONEST FISHERMAN."— Pericles, Prince of Tyre. '^^T^ Chicago, June 16, 1905. Dear Dr. Emmet: I am tied by the leg and can't leave Chicago next week without disregarding a number of very serious obligations; besides this, there is a very important case in court involving serious consequences for a personal friend, in which I expect to be in demand as an expert witness. I am sorry, for I had hoped to join you next Tuesday night. Please give my love to all the boys and accept for yourself the lion's share of it. I shall probably not be able to leave home until I start for the Big Horn Mountains, in Wyoming, a hun- dred miles east of Yellowstone, eight thousand five hundred feet above the sea level, and forty miles from railroad or tele- graph. The five-pound trout that inhabit this territory are particularly enterprising. I will bait my hook under my coat tails in order to keep them from jumping out and shaking hands with me on the banks of the stream. Please remember me most kindly to Mrs. Emmet and the other Emmets. Faithfully yours, E. C. DUDLEY. "WHAT HAVE WE HERE? A MAN OR A FISH?"— The Tempest. 137 "WHERETO I HAVE INVITED MANY A GUEST, SUCH AS I LOVE." Romeo and Juliet. NEW YORK IRISH WORLD, JUNE 24, 1905. ADDITIONAL HONOR FOR DR. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. When the committee had closed their account for the dinner given Dr. Emmet by his professional friends on his seventy-seventh birthday, May 29 last, a surplus remained. The committee invested this amount in a loving cup designed by Tiffany and engraved with an appropriate inscription in commemoration of the birthday dinner. This beautiful testimonial was presented, with fitting ceremony, at a dinner given by Dr. Emmet at his residence to the committee and others on June 20. It was a most enjoyable occasion, and we learn the following were Dr. Emmet's guests: Dr. Henry C. Coe, Dr. William M. Polk, Dr. George T. Harrison, Dr. Jarman, Dr. William H. Baker, of Boston ; Dr. Bache Emmet, Dr. Edebohls, Dr. Malcolm McLean, Dr. Boldt, Dr. Dudley, Dr. James J. Walsh, Dr. Richard H. Gibbons, Dr. John Aspell, Dr. Quinlan, Dr. Vineburg, Dr. Broun, Dr. George H. Mallett, Dr. J. N. West, and Dr. Duncan Emmet. NEW YORK IRISH-AMERICAN, JUNE 24, 1905. On Tuesday evening Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet entertained at dinner at his residence, in Madison Avenue, the members of the committee who organized the complimentary banquet tendered him at Delmonico's on May 29, in honor of his seventy-seventh birthday. It was an informal but most enjoyable gathering, and the venerable host was pleasurably surprised again by his guests, who presented him with a handsome silver loving cup suitably inscribed as a memento of the birthday dinner, and bearing upon it the names of the committee who got it up. "WITNESS THE ENTERTAINMENT THAT HE GAVE."— Venus and Adonis. J 39 "I'LL PLEDGE YOU ALL."— 2 Henry VI. LOVING CUP PRESENTED TO DR. EMMET BY THE DINNER COMMITTEE, JUNE 20TH, 1905 GIVE ME SOME WINE; PILL FULL. I DRINK TO THE GENERAL JOY 0' THE WHOLE TABLE."— Macbeth. " 1 DO DESIRE THY WORTHY COMPANY, UPON WHOSE FAITH AND HONOUR I REPOSE."— Two Gentlemen of Verona. inscription on t^c Losing Cup PRESENTED TO THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, M.D., LL.D. IN COMMEMORATION OF A BANQUET GIVEN BY HIS PROFESSIONAL FRIENDS ON HIS SEVENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY MAY 29TH, 1905 IN TOKEN OF THEIR ESTEEM AS EXPRESSED IN THE FOLLOWING TOASTS: INTRODUCTION, - - - - - Dr. E. C. Dudley, of Chicago. "DR. EMMET, THE SURGEON," - - Dr. W. M. Polk, of New York. "DR. EMMET, THE TEACHER," - - Dr. Wm. H. Baker, of Boston. "DR. EMMET, THE MEDICAL AUTHOR," Dr. S. C. Gordon, of Portland, Maine. "DR. EMMET, THE LITTERATEUR," His Grace, The Most Rev. Archbishop Farley. " DR. EMMET, THE FRIEND," Dr. George Tucker Harrison, of New York. "DR. EMMET, THE PATRIOT," - - Dr. F. J. Quinlan, of New York. Sir William Hingston, of Montreal, Canada. HENRY C. COE, M.D., GEORGE H. MALLETT, M.D., LE ROY M. BROUN, M.D., Committee. *C§#*>*-H|jNt> J 43 STAND FOR MY FATHER, AND EXAMINE ME UPON THE PARTICULARS OF MY LIFE."— 1 Henry IV. ON THE REVERSE SIDE. "To the Memory of My Father. To His Example and Early Training I owe My Success in Life: In Youth I Aimed to Merit His Approbation; In Manhood I have Striven to be Worthy of His Good Name." Taken from the dedication of Dr. Emmet's work, " The Principles and Practice of Gynecology," which he dedicated to the memory of his father. SHOW YOURSELF YOUR FATHER'S SON IN DEED MORE THAN IN WORDS." Hamlet. 144 'YOU HAVE SHOWED YOURSELF A WISE PHYSICIAN.»-Merry Wives of Windsor. "I MYSELF WILL BEAR WITNESS, IS PRAISEWORTHY." Much Ado About Nothing. GEORGE H. MALLETT. M. D. "WERE BUT HIS PICTURE LEFT AMONG YOU HERE . . . »— 1 Henry VI. ^^^wrf^t/ THE LIKENESS OF DR. LeROY M. BROUN, THE OTHER MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE, WAS NOT OBTAINED. rt**3§&>n* I AM BUT SORRY DELAY'D, BUT NOTHING ALTER'D." Winter's Tale. 151 THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, M. D. "I WOULD NOT BE AMBITIOUS IN MY WISH, TO WISH MYSELF MUCH BETTER." — Merchant of Venice. REMINISCENCES OF DR. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. EFORE entering upon my autobiographical narrative, which, it has been suggested, would be an appropriate and interesting form of response to your toast, I wish to express my fullest appreciation of the honor you have done me. I can say no more to give greater expression to the depth of my feelings than I thank you all, and with all my heart. This occasion I feel may prove a vindication of my work as well as the most important event of my life. I naturally asked for the names of those who were the prime movers in tendering me this dinner, and my surprise was great to learn that I had not been honored by my friends alone. There are a number among you who I will not say have been inimical, but who certainly lacked appreciation of my methods and who have long held that I was a teacher of false doctrine. Now possibly the pendulum has begun to swing the other way, as I have hoped and prayed for years it would; but, be this as it may, you are friendly nozv or you would not be here, and my heart warms equally to one and all of you. I have long fin- ished my life's work, and the desire now with me is peace and good will to all. It has been a surprise to me with advancing years how quickly have been forgotten the disagreeable inci- dents which I now realize must attend the professional course i55 of all men with decided opinions as I have held, and who stood, as I have always, ready to defend them. ** I was born at the University of Virginia, near Charlottes- ville, where my father was one of the original professors appointed by Mr. Jefferson to fill the chair of Natural History and afterwards of Chemistry. An effort to recall the incidents of my early life has nearly overpowered me with the vivid recollection of persons and events which had passed from my mind for so many years. Above all stands out the recollection of my father, Dr. John Patten Emmet, a remarkable man both in character and attainments. For years previous to his death he had been my constant companion. It is my belief few fathers ever made a more lasting impression upon the moral development and after- life of a son than he made upon mine. From my earliest age he seemed seldom to have spoken to me without attempting to teach me something which I readily understood, and of which I seemed to have retained the recollection. He taught me to think, and to think of the rights of others; to be careful in money matters ; to obey the laws of God and man from prin- ciple, and to realize to a full degree my duty to both. He taught me to be a close observer, and to seek the causes of things. Thus was laid the foundation of my success in after life as a pioneer in the development of the theory and practice of gynecology. On one occasion he taught me a very practical lesson. He overheard me finding fault, in an arrogant manner, with the negro whose business it was to clean my shoes. With a twinkle in his eye, which I well remember, and in a kindly manner as if conferring a privilege, he said : ' ' My boy, from this time forth, so long as you are under my roof, you shall clean your own shoes, and this will give you the satisfaction of always being able to have your shoes exactly in the condition you wish." This taught me to be self-reliant, and to this day I am reluctant to call upon any one to do for me what I can do for myself. I have gone through life with an increasing ambi- 156 tion to be worthy of his good name, and my first thought has been the gratification he would have experienced in the flesh, on every occasion where I have attained success or have been the recipient of some honor. My father, at his death, left me, at the age of fourteen, little more than his example and good name. From that time I have had to think for myself and practically to have paid my own way. A relative advanced me the money so long as I needed it, but all of this I repaid with interest as soon as pos- sible. In return for his kindness, it is one of the most gratify- ing incidents of my life to have had the privilege and ability years after to lighten his burden, when a reverse of fortune came upon him in his old age. After my father's death, I entered the University as a student, but the fact of my residence as the son of a professor, my youth, and a very rapid physical development, militated against any steady mental application. My gun, my dog, and my horse, the fields and the woods on the neighboring moun- tains, saw more of me than my professors, until finally, falling hopelessly behind in my classes, it was requested by the faculty that I should withdraw from the college. Dr. Robley Dunglison, of the Jefferson Medical School, Philadelphia, had been appointed a professor in the University of Virginia by Mr. Jefferson at the same time with my father, and they had been warm personal friends. Dr. Dunglison assisted at my birth, but had left the University before my recollection. I have always possessed the faculty of being able to decide quickly for myself in any emergency. Being thus suddenly stranded I wrote to Dr. Dunglison as to a stranger, telling him the circumstances and asking his advice as to the advisability of trying to study medicine. I received a prompt and generous response. The doctor fully understood my diffi- culty, and his advice was to make no effort to study, but to attend the medical lectures regularly and try to remember what I could. The first medical lecture I ever heard was i57 delivered by Dr. J. K. Mitchell, the professor of the theory and practice of medicine in the Jefferson, and from that hour I felt that my life's work was laid out for me. My course of study was an uneventful one with the excep- tion of an attack of smallpox and one of pneumonia, for which I was immediately bled, got a dose of calomel, and convalesced promptly. I led a frugal life, attended strictly to my work, and kept my living expenses and extravagances within three hun- dred dollars a year. At the ending of four years, and after the delay of a year to pass my twenty-first birthday, I graduated. In response to the action of the American Medical Associa- tion, which had been but recently organized, the examinations for graduation in medicine were said to have been particularly strict in 1849-50. I certainly passed a creditable examination, but without having dissected more than the sartorious muscle, without having written a prescription, or having attended an obstetrical case. I make this statement in no disparagement of the Jefferson medical faculty, as with advancing experience I have been impressed with the fact that these professors formed a remarkable body of men. Each was a host in himself, and I doubt if their equal as a whole were ever gotten together in any other medical school, at home or abroad. The system of teaching was defective in this respect then as it is to-day, and only those who were fortunate enough to obtain hospital appointments just after graduation were able to correct the defect by gaining the necessary practical experience. Other- wise the greater part of a lifetime must be spent in private practice to obtain what was necessary at the beginning. I knew thoroughly the theory of medicine, and by means of plates my knowledge of anatomy was perfect, nor can I recall having had the slightest difficulty in answering any important question. Among the medical men and their assistants with whom I was brought in contact at that time there was a great deal of common sense and appreciation of the practical value of what 158 should be taught, and yet there was no lack in estimation as to the value of detail and accurate knowledge where it was applicable. I attended each year the summer course in Phila- delphia, which was a repetition of the winter one given in the college. The lectures were delivered by younger men who were well trained, and all of those who lived became prominent later in life. On one occasion a Dr. Wallace, who already had a large surgical practice, was to lecture on hernia one hot July afternoon, when it was hot only as it can be sometimes in Philadelphia. The doctor weighed about three hundred pounds, and after divesting himself of all the clothing he could spare, came in with the trunk of a subject to make his demonstration. But the heat was too much for him, and, mopping himself between each word, he begin: "When you come to operate for hernia you will find little you have been taught to expect, and I cannot now enter into a fuller explana- tion, but it is in a nutshell : cut until you come to the gut, and you will be a damn fool if you cut it; good day." When the weather got cooler the doctor did the subject full justice in his usual affable manner, but to this hot day I was indebted for an important practical lesson being forcibly impressed upon me. Many times in after life, when I had lost my way in the abdom- inal cavity, where everything had become matted together by frequent attacks of peritonitis, and where often in the tissues there seemed but the thickness and consistency of damp tissue paper as the only barrier to some accident which might cause the death of the patient, I have felt a wave of demoralization pass through me down to my knees. I would suddenly think of the lecture on hernia, with the full details which I have not given, and with a smile not in keeping with the situation, I have had my faculties sharpened so that with care and time I have soon- worked out into a clearing, with no further difficulty before me. I do not cite this incident of the lecture on hernia as a reflection upon Dr. Wallace, but in appreciation of the terse J 59 and practical lesson the doctor wished to convey. Notwith- standing the accidental inelegant mode of expression, $t im- pressed every one who heard his few words with the necessity of self-reliance under every circumstance, and, above all, that the difficulties of the operation were exaggerated by the usual mode of teaching. Dr. Wallace had already gained a reputa- tion as a careful and successful surgeon before his death. On the day of graduation, after a long ceremony, I received my diploma and reached my lodgings late for dinner, but before I had finished I was summoned by a communication from the dean of the faculty to call upon him without delay. My first thought was that some mistake had been made about my diploma, and I answered the summons with a heavy heart. I was informed that through an agent of the Chilian govern- ment the faculty had been requested to select from the gradu- ating class some one fitted to take charge, as surgeon, of an expedition, and that I had received the appointment. The expedition was about to sail from New York under St. George Campbell, the engineer, who was to build the first railroad in Chili, for Meiggs, who afterwards became known as the railroad king. I was to receive three thousand dollars a year in gold and all my living and traveling expenses paid upon binding myself to remain until the completion of the road. This seemed a fabulous sum to one in my circumstances, and in relative value would be about equal to twelve thousand dollars at the present time. Without delay I called on the merchant in New York who had the fitting out of the expedition and was very cordially received as a person of some importance. I was explicitly informed by him that no expense should be spared in fitting out my department, or in consulting any one as an expert who could aid me. I learned that about eight hundred men, women and children were going, and as we would likely be about three years up among the Andes Mountains, unable to supply any deficiency, it was necessary that no mistake of omission should be made in supplying everything which would 160 be necessary in addition to medicines and surgical outfit. To make a beginning I was requested then and there to write out a requisition for medicines, to which I could make additions afterwards. I had no difficulty in writing out the names of a number of medicines, but soon I began to perspire freely on realizing for the first time the responsibility I was about to assume. After chewing for a short time upon the end of my quill pen, to aid my thoughts as to what I should do, I took up my hat, went out to the merchant, and told him I could not conscientiously accept the position. He looked at me as if he thought I was a fool, and I passed out without comment. I afterwards learned that a young graduate, who probably had not had my advantages, accepted the position ; but I was never able to ascertain how he " made out." I never had my sense of duty so severely taxed as on this occasion, where I had to put aside so completely every con- sideration of self interest, and it seemed at the time as if my decision was the wiping out of all future prospects. Within a short distance of the counting house I met Dr. Macneven, the only person I knew in the city outside of my family circle. He asked me what I was doing in New York, and I asked him what he was doing downtown at that hour. It was just after the frightful famine in Ireland when several hundred thousand immigrants had landed during the year in New York, and were dying in the streets of typhus, or ship fever, as it was called. Commissioners of Emigration were appointed, and they were erecting temporary buildings on Ward's Island for hospital purposes. A medical board of fifteen visiting physi- cians had been appointed, and Dr. Macneven was one of the number. He was on his way to the place of meeting to examine applicants for the position of resident physician, and I accompanied him. I was the first victim, and after an examination of four hours, during which each member of the board took a turn, I was judged competent and reported for duty on the following day. I had never seen a case of ship 161 fever, yet a building containing one hundred male cases was assigned to me, together with one hundred and fifty bfeds in addition for sick children and women, all of whom I had to visit regularly twice a day and as often as necessary to see any special case. I was also instructed to "go through" once a day a ward near my quarters containing about one hundred aged women. I was somewhat staggered at the responsibility put upon me, but I accepted the situation with a light heart as the only means by which I could gain experience in the practice of my profession. At an early hour next morning I began my work with the old women, feeling fully satisfied that I would accomplish what was expected of me if it could be done by my own efforts. I supposed all occupying beds in a hospital ward were sick, but when I was through, taking each woman in rotation, I had not a very clear idea of my morning's work, beyond having apparently cheered up greatly the spirits of the old women by my attentions. In my effort to do justice to the complaints of each and to use to their advantage the account of family or traditional ailments, which were communicated by each in con- fidence, I had written pages of prescriptions, having attempted to treat symptoms, singly and in groups. I was seen coming out of the building, weary and in want of food, and was accosted by one of the staff with the salutation : "In the name of Heaven, doctor, what have you been doing in there all day with those old women ? Don't you know that is part of the Refuge and all they need is a little tea and tobacco ? " Fortunately for the sick in my service that day when I was wanted and could not be found, another physician had been assigned to them and I was assisted each day thereafter. But further comment is unnecessary, in addition to what I have already expressed on our faulty method of teaching practice. At the end of some ten days I developed an attack of ship fever and escaped death by a very narrow margin, but I was back 162 again at work within a month after the fever left me, although a leave of absence was generally granted for three months to recuperate. Contrary to rule, I had a second attack thirteen months later, which was so virulent in character that to save my life it was necessary to move me from the hospital atmosphere, with my nurses, to the house of an uncle in the city, which he and his family vacated on a few hours' notice, and it took me two months to regain my strength sufficiently to resume my work. I served as a resident physician for three years, having had in that time under my charge about eleven thousand miscella- neous cases, including all the eruptive fevers among adults and children, with over nineteen hundred cases of adult males suf- fering from ship fever. I got also some surgical experience and served my time in the obstetrical department, where from five to ten women a day were delivered. The interne was in full charge of the practice for about twenty-two hours out of each day, and whenever the visiting physician was not on duty. I frequently volunteered in the pharmacy, and after my regular work was finished I served many hours at night in helping put up prescriptions. This experience was of great advantage when I began private practice, as a large number of physicians then still furnished their office patients with medicines, and I continued the custom for a number of years. A revival of the custom would be an offset to the prescribing druggists, and, from a pecuniary point, be of great advantage to the profession by stopping the repeating by druggists of old prescriptions for former patients and for all their friends on one office fee. In addition, as part of my volunteer work, I made fully one thou- sand post-mortem examinations. I thus familiarized myself with every pathological condition, with the exception of true yellow fever, of which I saw very few cases, but we had a number known as Chagres fever. At that time the Panama Railroad was being built, and at the beginning it was part of the duty of our staff to select with the greatest care the laborers, 16^ who were nearly all young Irishmen, and a finer set of men were never selected for any service. Making allowances^for all exaggeration, the mortality was frightful, and few returned but those who were brought back *sick to Ward's Island. It was said at the time that with an allowance of eighteen inches for each body, laid side by side, the railroad track could have been covered with the dead from ocean to ocean. During my service in the hospital I took no holiday, and, with the exception of about three months and a half, while I was sick with ship fever, I was on continuous duty for three years in a service from which a number died and many were obliged to resign in consequence of imperfect health. Yet I had a great deal of recreation, pleasure, and time for reading. During my first winter I built after my own design a sailboat about nineteen feet long, beginning with the centerboard box and building out from that to the stern and bow. I was said to have disregarded all rules applicable to boat building, and yet I turned out a so-called nondescript which I used for two years. She was so active in her movements that I christened her "Senna and Salts," a combination probably known to few of you in practice to-day, but one which was speedy in move- ment and decided in action. I should state that I have a nat- ural turn for mechanics, and at one time I possessed a collection of tools selected from almost every trade. I could carve in wood, and there was scarcely anything I wanted in wood or iron which I could not reproduce by some method of my own unless the skill of an expert was needed. I will have to refer again to how much a knowledge of mechanics aided me in the develop- ment of my work in plastic surgery. About two weeks before the expiration of my service as one of the resident physicians, my visiting physician resigned. To my astonishment and satisfaction I received in a few days an official communication from the Board of Commissioners of Emigration notifying me I had been appointed a member of the Visiting Board of Physicians, and I was informed that the 164 election had rested on my record of service. I was twenty years the junior of Dr. J. M. Carnochan, who had been the youngest member of the board, and at the first meeting I became the secretary. My salary as visiting physician was four dollars a day, on which I soon married. With the pros- pect of building up a practice I was fully contented, when I was so fortunate as to receive twenty-five cents cash for a visit among the tenement houses, then situated along the East River below Fourteenth Street. I received about fifty dollars for my first year's work in private practice, but after that time I advanced rapidly. Some six months after my appointment, and during the winter of 1853, I nearly lost my life in the discharge of my duty. There was a blizzard, with a fall of snow I have never seen equaled, and for two days there was scarcely an attempt made to travel on foot or by vehicle. I lived in Fourth Avenue near Twelfth Street, and in front of my door was the Harlem & New Haven Railroad, which had its depot then near the corner of Canal Street and in Broadway. Early in the morning of the third day a car passed with a steam snowplow to open the way. I decided it was my duty, as the youngest man of the Medical Board, to make an attempt to reach the hospital on Ward's Island, where I knew no visiting physician had been able to report for service for four days. I was two hours on this train reaching One Hundred and Tenth Street, and where the railroad crossed the Harlem flats there was an open waste covered with snow three or four feet deep, and frequently I found it in drifts over my head. It was several hours before I was able to reach the ferry house on the Harlem River, and, notwithstanding the thermometer was at zero, I was in a pro- fuse perspiration, in consequence of the great exertion I had made. The river had been frozen over, as well as the greater part of Hell Gate, but it was flood tide, and when I reached there the river was filled with large cakes of ice piling up on each other from the force of the current. I could induce no 165 one among - the ferrymen to accompany me in my effort to cross the river ; but this did not discourage me, as I was strong, self- reliant, and foolhardy. I took a light flat-bottom skiff with each oar secured in a grummet, crossed the river by dragging the boat from one piece of ice to another, and several times fell in, getting wet above the waist. I finally succeeded in landing on the island with my clothing frozen on me and in quite an exhausted condition. I got a drink of brandy and visited my own patients, together with a number in the other services, wherever my advice was needed. I recrossed the river in the same manner, but with less exertion, as there were a number of open spaces where I was able to row. It was just growing dark when I reached the little railroad station on the viaduct, which I found empty, without a fire, and with the prospect of freezing to death before morning if no train passed. I should have remained at the hospital, but it was before the days of local telegraph or telephone, and I was unwilling to subject my family to so many additional hours of uncertainty. A train came up fortunately soon after and stopped on my signal, so that I reached home after twelve hours' exposure, with my strength greatly overtaxed and weak from fasting all day, as I had neither time nor thought at the hospital to take any food. I have detailed these circumstances, as my experience was an interesting one from a medical standpoint. To my surprise I took no cold and next day suffered only from fatigue, but after some days I developed rheumatic fever and lay for six weeks on cotton, during which time I believe not a joint in my body, except in my spine, escaped the inflammatory action. After I began to sit up I suffered for a few days from sudden attacks of palpitation and from syncope. Later on I twice dropped out of my chair unconscious for a moment in consequence of a draft of cold air caused by a window being opened suddenly behind me. But I convalesced rapidly, and from that time I have never been conscious of any heart disturbance beyond an 166 occasional intermitting- pulse not due to organic disease. I can at my age ascend a stairway, so far as my broken leg will allow me, with as little disturbance of my respiration as at any time in my life. My last service as visiting physician at the Emigrant Refuge Hospital was rendered in the early summer of 1854. The physician who had been on duty for the shortest time took charge, according to rule, of any emergency ward which had to be opened, and did so in addition to his regular work. I thus became responsible for a cholera ward where, during my six weeks' service, eight hundred cholera cases were admitted, generally in a state of collapse, as the greater portion were picked up in the slums of the city. I had a number of assist- ants, but the responsibility of my position was a fearful one. I spent about four hours a day going from one bed to another, aiding the attending physician, and was present at nearly all the post-mortem examinations. On two occasions, when a larger number of bad cases than usual had been admitted, I found next morning all the patients and the nurses had died since my last visit. Yet very few cases died in the hospital proper among the nurses or patients where they received proper and prompt treatment at the beginning. The nurses employed in the cholera wards were well paid for extra work, so that they were overworked, and they relied too much on stimulants to keep up their strength. Many priests died, and I believe no record was kept of the number who lost their lives at Ward's Island. My strength was greatly taxed, and I became so saturated with the poison that I was seldom free from some of the premonitory symptoms, but these were readily kept in check. My rest was greatly disturbed, as I would be often seized in my sleep with cramps in my fingers, toes, and in the calves of my legs. The physician who relieved me was very apprehensive for his safety and died in a week. He was the only physician who lost his life in this service. That I did not die during my service in the Emigrant Refuge 167 Hospital made me think afterwards that God probably pre- served my life for some other work. «* After I became associated with the Woman's Hospital I gradually realized that the chief work of my life was to be done there. What was required of me became evident. With a new field of study before me, and with a mass of material at my disposal greater than any one else had ever controlled, it was made evident that my mission was to teach. It would be but repetition should I attempt to give here any detail of my experience connected with that service. I have already done this in an address by me on ' ' Reminiscences of the Founders of the Woman's Hospital Association," pub- lished in the "New York Journal of Gynecology," May, 1893; and afterwards with some additions reprinted in the "American Gynecological and Obstetrical Journal," April, 1899. To a greater extent I have treated of the subject in a paper, ' ' Personal Reminiscences Associated with the Progress of Gynecology," read before the American Gynecological Society at the meeting in May, 1900, and published in the transactions of the society for that year, and which was also printed in the "American Gynecological and Obstetrical Journal" for May, 1900. In these papers I have also attempted to express my great obligation to my old friend Dr. J. Marion Sims, with whom, during our joint service of five years and a half at the Woman's Hospital, my relations were as close as that of a son. If he had not given us his speculum, which opened the way for investi- gation, a knowledge of the use of silver wire, and his perfect technic, I would never have been known to the world in con- nection with gynecology. Beyond the stated limit as to time, our work, however, lay on different lines and was viewed from different standpoints without the slightest connection one with the other. It is now necessary for me again to refer to my experience at the University of Virginia to make clearer some of the 168 difficulties which I managed to overcome to some extent in after life, and to show that even my limited tuition there proved of the greatest benefit. Mathematics was the especial stumbling-block in my course at the University, and yet I can now realize what advantage I would have gained from the aid of a tutor as is furnished to-day at our universities. I certainly am not totally deficient in the mathematical instinct ; although I have never learned the multiplication table, at least not having acquired it in early life, I have made no effort to accomplish it in later years, as by some mental process of my own I am able to get at what I need. After I had been some years in practice and a married man with children, I managed to find time to go over a college course with private teachers. Mathematics did not interest me as a whole, but I found the study of geometry very fascinating. That I learned to cipher is shown by the series of statistical tables which I prepared for my work on "The Theory and Practice of Gynecology," on which special work I spent nearly two years and made every calculation myself. These details go to show, I think, that defective teaching at the beginning is generally the cause of failure even with the most stupid child. The course of lectures on Natural Philosophy, as delivered by Prof. William B. Rogers, was the only one which interested me. Consequently this line of study occupied much of my attention when years after I went over the college course. I thus learned to test every operation in plastic surgery by some principle of mechanics and was frequently able to judge of the value of any procedure devised by myself or another, without having actually to perform the operation. In my experience no plastic operation has ever been perfected to be of any practical value until it could stand a mechanical test. I will state, in addition, my conviction that no one in plastic surgery has ever been a successful operator, nor able to repeat to advantage the successful work of others, without possessing a mechanical instinct. This statement will doubtless be criti- 169 cised, but by no one able to recognize the difference after a surgical procedure between a successful result «ind a failure. I received my first professional recognition by being made a member of the Berlin Obstetrical Society, after publishing my work on ' ' Vesico-vaginal Fistula from Parturition and Other Causes," in 1868, and shortly after I was elected a member of the Medical Society of Norway. My work on " The Principles and Practice of Gynecology " was published in 1879 and went through three editions in this country within fifteen months. All three editions were repro- duced in London and translations into German and French were printed in Leipzig and in Paris. I have been informed that one was also made into Spanish, but the manuscript was lost by some accident. Whatever may have been the value of the work, it was essentially original from cover to cover and it embodied the experience of the best part of my professional life. It was published, unfortunately, just before the full development or adoption of the aseptic treatment as applied to abdominal surgery. In this respect the work was considered by some not full enough in detail, and yet I am still of the opinion that I taught the essentials. Others judged me not to be sufficiently advanced in my teaching, as I did not fully indorse all the surgical procedures of the period, but time has certainly sustained my judgment. A fourth edition of this work was never called for, and fortunately, as I might have laid myself open to the charge of plagiarism. For everything I taught of special importance has gradually become absorbed into the practice of the profession during the past twenty-five years, and incorporated into every new book as common prop- erty, so that the origin of much has been lost. I sometimes greatly enjoy a joke in a quiet way. It has not been more than six months since a physician from the West visited New York "to perfect himself," as he expressed it, and who, happening to hear of me somewhere, called to see 170 me as one of the sights. As we had nothing in common, I turned the conversation on his practice. He was, of course, a specialist in gynecology, and for half an hour entertained me with an account of the advantage to be derived from hot-water vaginal douches, dwelling on the importance of the dorsal position. I showed so much interest that he left with a grati- fied expression in consequence of having taught a New York doctor something new. For writing "The Theory and Practice of Gynecology" I received the degree of Doctor of Laws from the Jefferson University, the trustees of the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, being the Governing Board. The Academical Department of this University, situated in Pennsylvania, has been in active operation for over a hundred years. This institution has conferred this degree, I have been informed, but five times, and I believe only on graduates from the medical department. This honor I share with Dr. Marion Sims, who graduated in 1836. In 1898 I issued "The Emmet Family, With Some Inci- dents Relating to Irish History, Etc." The work also contained an extended memoir of my father. For writing this book I had the honor of receiving the Laetare medal from the Uni- versity of Notre Dame, Indiana. In 1903 I published an extended work, " Ireland Under English Rule, Etc.," a labor of years and on the merits of which the public has yet to render a verdict. I have written a number of articles on professional subjects which have been published in the medical journals at home and abroad, and with which most of you are familiar. I have written various papers and addresses relating to American and Irish historical subjects, of which I have no record. It seems fitting on this occasion, probably the last with which I shall have any professional relation, that I should bring into more prominence certain points which I have omitted in the past from a feeling of delicacy, or the advisa- bility of referring to which has since become more evident, 171 I can claim that my earliest important contribution to surgery was in teaching the great necessity for cleaniiness, with regard to both patient and instruments, and this I taught to a degree for which none of my professional friends appreciated the need. With the aid of dear old Margaret Brennan, the nurse, I gained results in plastic surgery, thirty-five years ago, which in later years I found impossible with any trained nurse. She could give a glow of immaculate cleanliness to a vagina, in preparation for an operation, I have never seen equaled. She served God every moment of her life in her vocation as a nurse. All present who have ever served in the Woman's Hospital can recall her placid face, as she stood hour after hour holding the speculum immovable. I have sometimes seen a slight movement of her lips and I have said to her, in an undertone, "Margaret, who are you praying for now?" Her answer was: "For you and everybody," which was literally true, as her whole thought was for everybody but herself. For faithful and untiring service, skillful nursing, close observation and observance of detail, the world owes Margaret Brennan an unrecognized debt of gratitude, to an extent which can never be appreciated, for all she contributed toward the development of gynecology. My work on Gynecology gives full evidence of many remarkable results obtained in abdominal surgery with her assistance, and at a time when we had nothing but the skillful use of ordinary turpentine soap and hot water for preparing the patient, or the instruments. Those of you who are familiar with my early teaching at the Woman's Hospital have heard me reiterate in my clinics as an aphorism: "The death warrant of many a patient is carried under the finger nails of the operator." Before I ever heard of the existence of Lister, I taught this, and yet no man has ever appreciated more than I have the value of the former's work in educating the world as to the importance of asepsis. When the first Woman's Hospital building, at Forty-ninth Street and Park Avenue, New 172 York, was opened under my charge, in 1868, as surgeon-in- chief, I had a steam or Russian bath in operation for the purpose of cleansing and where every case was prepared by several baths for a laparotomy and with the free use of turpentine soap. In i8 7 r, when a medical board was formed to take charge of the service, none of my colleagues appreciated the necessity for any such preparation, and all voted against me when it was decided to tear out this bath to make a reception room for the patients of the outdoor clinic. Much good was accomplished by demonstrating the exist- ence of lacerated cervix and the close relation of the injury to epithelioma, if it be not the actual cause. The operation for repair filled an important place, but a still greater advance was made on showing the greater necessity for amputation, when it was discovered by me that in many cases the character of the lesion had become changed owing to the use of aseptic mid- wifery. Yet, it is difficult to determine if the good which has been obtained under all favorable circumstances counter- balances the evil from the great abuse which has existed from operating unnecessarily, as well as from neglect on the other hand where an operative procedure should have been employed The discovery of this injury and operation gave me a world- wide reputation, and yet I have never been satisfied From some unexplainable cause the profession at large has never mastered the subject in detail sufficiently to enable the good derived to compensate for the amount of injury resulting from ignorance or want of dexterity. My success from operating to cure the injury, and finally from having been the means of preventing the occurrence of vesicovaginal fistula, has given me far more gratification than I have ever had in connection with laceration of the cervix and yet the extent of my work in relation to the former is comparatively but little known. Dr. Sims made it possible by his teaching to close every fistula of any extent by means of silver wire wherever it was r 73 possible to bring the edges together free from tension. I developed the plastic methods by which nearly every c^se of greater injury could be cured in time, as I demonstrated in my book on this injury, published in 1868. Dr. Sims, after going abroad at the beginning of the Civil War, never had the oppor- tunity to advance beyond the work which he described in his remarkable paper read before the New York Academy of Medicine previous to his departure. I gained good results where others had failed; or, in other words, I cured the supposed incurable cases sent me, but found it difficult to transmit my methods. This would have been a lamentable result but for the fortunate circumstance that I was able to demonstrate the cause of fistula, and by the removal of this cause the injury has become of rare occurrence, or simple in character. I read a paper at the meeting of the American Gynecological Society, in 1878, at Philadelphia, and published in the transactions for that year, by which I showed the lesion was always the result of delay in delivery and not from "meddlesome midwifery," as was then the accepted belief; and I showed that where ergot had been used, which was the common practice, the injury was much greater. I then promulgated the important point that an attendant would be most culpable of neglect if delivery were not accomplished without delay in every case when the head ceased to recede after a pain. Unless impaction has taken place the head will recede after every pain except just at the moment after it has passed from the uterus, but it is then so high that no injury could result in a normal pelvis. This paper revolutionized the then accepted obstetrical practice throughout the world, and ergot itself has ceased to be used. Fifty years or more ago this frightful injury was so common that the Woman's Hospital was established for its cure, and to-day it may be said that it should never occur, unless such a degree of deformity exists that delivery cannot be accomplished, or an abdominal section is impossible. i74 I introduced the use of scissors into the surgical work of gynecology as a substitute for the knife, and devised nearly all the different forms now in use, although others have gone over the same ground since. Without the aid of these instruments there would have been but little advance made in plastic surgery. There will be a reaction and a return to the proper use and administration of hot-water vaginal douches; and also in the use of pessaries, which never fail to be of benefit when em- ployed to restore the pelvic circulation rather than the version, and when fitted with a mechanical instinct to give the needed support. Since the last edition of my work on Gynecology was pub- lished I have made two contributions which are worthy of note. First, the introduction of a ready method for establishing a permanent opening above the pubes for the otherwise unreliev- able cases of vesico-vaginal fistula, a procedure now fortunately seldom needed, but could be utilized for the relief of certain conditions existing in the male bladder. A paper read by me before the New York Obstetrical Society, ' ' Incurable Vesico- vaginal Fistula, Etc.," was published in the "American Journal of Obstetrics," May, 1895. The other subject was more important: "Inclined Decu- bitus, Etc.," to be used for restoring the normal circu- lation in the female pelvis and for the cure of pelvic inflam- matory conditions. During the last fifteen or twenty years of my professional work I owed a greater degree of my success to this agent than I was ever able to gain by any other means. It is a remarkable circumstance that so simple a procedure, and one which must appeal to the good judgment of every one on investigation, should be entirely unappreciated by the pro- fession. I hope some one may yet give this subject due thought and be able to popularize so important an aid in the treatment of the diseases of women. i75 In 1892 I contributed an article on this subject to the February number of the "New York Journal of Gyne&ology and Obstetrics," which is well worth the attention of some enterprising medical journal to reprint, as it has been forgotten. There are other points which, in justice to myself, should be properly presented, and much which may hereafter be placed to the credit of American surgery, but I have said enough to indicate the course for further information. This dinner has already given me a new lease of life, and I feel as young as I did at the age of forty, but, unfortunately, my injured leg brings me down to close bearing and to the gait of a very old man. I, however, am enjoying life and every hour of it. I have been fortunate in having always had some hobby in active operation. I urge all of you to cultivate such an accomplishment as an investment for your old age, which will never cease to bear interest, and to try to get all the fun you can out of it. My present hobby is the study of the Irish language, which I began after my seventy-fifth year, and it has not only afforded me steady occupation, but intense enjoyment. In saying farewell to you, one and all, it is my sincere prayer that as you advance in years it may be your good fortune to have your life pass on to the end with as smooth and restful a current as has been mine so far. I bid you farewell, and to many from different and distant sections of the country it must, I fear, be for the last time. " HERE MUST END THE STORY OF MY LIFE. "-Comedy of Errors. 176 Date Due f R154.Em6 B53 The birthday dinner to Thomas Addis Emmet