MOTT 7C 7\- -«• i- 7\- /f ■«■ Reminis censes of Medical Teaching and Teachers in New lork ir)-R7'/7.cy Hibrarp Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Open Knowledge Commons http://www.archive.org/details/addressintroduct02mott //j\\ EBinim0ceii3e3 of MMtal di^rcrjiiiig aulr l^eacjiBrH in Mm -l^ark. AN ilXJ ADDRESS INTRODUCTORY TO A COURSE OF LECTURES, AT THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, SESSION OF 1 860 — 61. BY VALENTOE MOTT, M. D. EMERITUS PROFKSSOR OF ()PER*TtVK SUROEKY AND SURGICAL ANATOMY, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1850. PUBLISHED BY THE CLASS I ^a))0 N E W Y O R K : JOSEPH H. JENNINGS, PRINTER, 122 N A S S A U, STR EET . 1850. EmmiEMFB nf 3}lciiirni€wrlimg niik €wrjiE0iii Mm '^A AN INTRODUCTORY TO A COURSE OF LECTURES, AT THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, SESSION OF 1 830 — 51. BY YALENTIIE MOTT, 1. B. EMERITUS PROFESSOR. OF OPERATIVE SURGERY AND SURGICAL ANATOMY, THURSDAY, MOVEMBER 7, 1850. PUBLISHED BY THE CLASS, NEW YORK: JOSEPH H. JENNIjNGS, PRINTER, 122 N A S S A U. S T R E E T . 1650, In lHrBH0. Gentlemen : Before I proceed to deliver the remarks introduc- tory to the few lectures which I am to deliver to you, I cannot refrain from expressing the satisfaction I feel in once again addressing the class of the College ' of Physicians and Surgeons, as one of its Professors, nor from acknowledging the kindness of my present Colleagues, of the Trustees and Regents, who have so willingly conferred upon me the rank which enables me to assume the responsible duty of instructing you. A considerable period of time has elapsed since my last connection with its Faculty ceased ; and if, during that time, I have been placed in the position of an opponent to its success, believe me to be can- did in saying that I have witnessed its successful struggles against powerful competition with pleasure, and with all the interest and enthusiasm of an Alum- nus, for such, almost, I am, have marked its gradual progress in usefulness, and in the esteem and favor of the profession. Among its Professors and Trus- tees are many of my oldest and most valued friends and pupils, and I should be callous to the best feel- ings of our nature, could I reflect upon my past con- nection with this School, and not rejoice in its pros- perity, or feel pleasure in. my re-association with its interests and occupations, I have arrived. Gentlemen, at that period of life when, to look back, is more pleasant than to specu- late on the future ; you, on the contrary, redolent of the present, look on the past only as a matter of amusing contrast and idle curiosity. Intimately as- sociated as I have been with the progress of this Col- lege — sole survivor, with one exception, of the orig- inal Faculty — sole survivor of that Faculty of Colum- bia College, which, merged in it, may be justly consid- ered as its immediate predecessor, and in some sort its origin, I shall not, I trust, be charged either with se- nile garrulit}^, or personal egotism, if I occupy a por- tion of your time this evening with a brief notice of the early history of the Institution of which you are proud to rank yourselves as among the Alumni and Students; of some of those who accompanied me in its formation and progress ; of the scenes and persons, " quceque ipse felicissime vidi et quorum pars magna fui ;" of the School, with which after so long an inter- regnum, I again happily find myself associated. There are facts connected with the subject, which I am vain enough to think that I alone can detail — facts, which, as matters of Medical History, ought not, I think, to remain unrecorded, and which will be new to many — nay, even to most of those who now hear, me, many of whom have been my pupils, a few per- haps my contemporaries, and more to whom they are novelties, even as to the very names of the dramatis personcB. I cannot think, then, that either to those who review the past, contrast the present, or specu- late on the future, they can be devoid of interest ; and I will further venture to indulge the hope that the name of him who details them, whose voice can- not, in the course of natural events, very long con- tinue to be heard, will not detract from their intrin- sic interest in the breasts of his hearers. The patriarch who relates the scenes of our revolutionary struggle, while paying a due tribute to the glories of a Washington, a Putman, a Gates, and a Lee, to whose genius the victory of which he boasts may be due, can tell, after all, but little of the conflicts in which he participated, save the part which lie immediately played, and the leader under whom he acted. But I have never heard this called egotism, and no such charge, I trust, will be brought against me, even thoudi I use the ego ijjse somewhat frequently during the following remarks. I graduated in the year 1306, a student of the Medical Faculty of Columbia College, in this city, at that time the only Medical School, and which had then existed for many years. It was originally called King's College, but at the close of the war, received the name of Columbia College, a.nd the organiza- tion of its Medical Faculty was completed in 1792. The Faculty at the time of my attendance, was con- stituted as follows I The President, and Professor of Anatomy and Surgery, was Dr. Wright Post ; Dr. D. Hosack occupied the chair of Materia Medica and Botany ; Dr. Hamersley, that of the Institutes and Practice ; Dr, Stringham, that of Chemistry ; and Dr. J= R. B. Rogers, that of Midwifery and the Diseases of Women and Children. The reputation of the two former of these gentle- men is matter of Medical History, but of all of them I shall briefly relate my personal reminiscences. Wright Post was at that time a man of about forty years of age, tall, handsome, and of fashionable ex- terior, wore long whiskers and his hair powdered and turned back and tied in a queue. Those who recollect his thin worn figure in his later years^ wrapped in a furred surtout, could scarcely have re- cognised in him the elegant gentleman of my early 6 days. Dr. Post had at this time attained to the very highest rank in his profession, both as a physician and surgeon, and although equalled in the extent and renown of his surgical practice by his distinguished colleague in the New York Hospital, Dr. R. S. Kis- sam, he stood, perhaps, alone in its lucrative prac- tice and in the estimation and confidence of the higher walks of society. He was unrivalled as an anatomist, a most beautiful dissector, and one of the most luminous and perspicuous teachers I have ever listened to, either at home or abroad. His manners were grave and dignified ; he seldom smiled, and never trifled with the serious and responsible duties in which he was engaged, and which no man ever more solemnlj^ respected. His delivery was precise, slow and clear, qualities inestimable in a teacher, and peculiarly adapting his instructions to the ad- vancem.ent of the junior portion of the class. He w^as one of the first American pupils (preceding Dr. Physick) of the celebrated John Hunter, of London, from whose lips and those of Mr. Shelton, he im- bibed those principles of practice which he after- wards so ably and usefully applied in the course of his brilliant career. As an operator he was careful, slow and elegant, and competent to any emergenc}' contemplated by the then existing state of Surgical Science. Two great achievements are upon record to attest his powers. He was the first in this country to tie, successfully, on the Hunterian principle, the femoral artery for popliteal aneurism. On the second mem- orable occasion, I had the honor to assist him ; it was a case of ligature of the subclavian artery above the clavicle, without the scaleni muscles, for an aneurism of the brachial, involving the axilla. The patient came to me from New Haven, in company with an intimate professional friend of mine, the late Dr. Gilbert ; the aneurism was cracked and oozing, and supported by layers of adhesive plaster, by which its rupture was prevented, and life maintained until the time of the operation. The brother of the patient, a merchant of this city, whose family Dr. Post attended, naturally preferred that he should perform the operation, as I was then quite young. To this wish I cheerfully acceded, but lost thus the chance of gaining a surgical laurel for my brow — the operation never having been performed in this country before, and but once in Europe, and then unsuccessfully, by its first projector, Mr. Ramsden, of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London. This is now, happily, a well recognised surgical procedure, which six times I have successfully performed. In this operation, the American needle for the ligature of deep-seated arteries was first used in this city, and it belonged to me. Dr. Post was equally eminent as a physician ; his mind was well stored with clinical facts, a peculiar characteristic of the truly great practitioner. He was a calm observer and eminently practical ; and for strict punctuality, and courtesy towards his jun- iors and a scrupulous regard for truth, was never exceeded. After a career of forty years as a Pro- fessor of Anatomy, he retired into private profes- sional life, in which he continued active, with occasional intervals of ill health, until his death, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. He died univer- sally esteemed, deeply regretted, and his name belongs to posterity. I shall next pay a passing tribute to the memory of his distinguised colleague, cotemporary and medical 8 rival — would that I could say his friend — Dr. David Hosack. A pupil of the celebrated Bard, in this city, and abroad the favorite of CuUen, Chisholm, Blane and Gregory, no man, in his day, was more eminent for his varied learning, his luminous writings, always plausible, if not profound — and the very high standing he held, both at home and abroad, in his profession, and in the estimation of the public. Dr. Hosack read his lectures, and no man was ever more emphatic, impressive and instructive. His tall and bulky form, his piercing black eye, his sonorous voice, and the dignity of his bearing, stamped him at once as a remarkable man, and fully qualiJSed him for the pre-eminence to which, as a lecturer and physician, he proudly aspired, and to which he fully attained. No one better maintained the dignity of his calling, nor preserved more com- pletely the decorum of the lecture room, nor sus- tained the attention of the student. Punctual to a moment, he was most impatient of interruption after his lecture had commenced, and no one ventured to enter his room five minutes after the appointed hour, without receiving a severe and well-merited rebuke* Fixing his fierce eye sternly on the tardy student,, he w^ould invite him down lower and lower towards the desk, and then, after an awful pause, advise him to " get his buckwheat cakes a little earlier in the morning." For any enterprise calculated to advance the in- terests of the profession, or the public welfare, he was always ready 5 his skill as an orator and his tact for presiding, on all public occasions, was un- surpassed, and at the bedside, his intimate acquaint- ance with disease, his accurate diagnosis, his won- derfully quick perception and his ready resources 9 stamped him a practitioner of the highest class. In the decline of his life, he retired from the active du- ties of his profession to his beautiful country seat at Hyde Park, which he adorned with exquisite taste, and enjoyed in his retirement his favorite pursuit of horticulture, which, with the science of botany, was his greatest hobby ; and while in the full possession of health, strength and intellect, neglectful of the warnings to which he had so energetically directed others, fell a victim to apoplexy, leaving behind him a reputation second to none of the luminaries of our country. The name of Dr. Edward Miller, Professor of Practice, stands among the highest in the list of American contributors to Medical Science^ His writings are voluminous. On the subject of Yellow Fever he is an eminent authority. He strongly sup- ported the theory of Non-contagion, in direct oppo- sition to the views of his distinguished colleague. Dr. Hosack. A report upon the health of the city, transmitted by him to the then Governor of the State, in which he developed at length his views on this and other epidemic and endemic diseases, their causes, &c, ranks as one of the ablest contributions ever made to the history of these important subjects. His Essay on Cholera Infantum evinces great prac- tical and pathological sagacity ; and the numerous productions of his pen, in the form of reviews and monographs, to be seen in the New York Medical Repository, of which, with Mitchill and Smith, he was a co-editor, are durable monuments of his talents, his industry and his fame. He was of middle stature, very handsome, wore powder, and was singularly neat in his attire ; a ba- chelor, and his manners were peculiarly mild and 10 bland, and to all he was exceeding!}^ affable. He was, in short, a perfect gentleman, and a man of sin- gularly pure morals. As a physician he was of high repute. His practice, if not the largest in the city, was at least unsurpassed by that of any one of his contemporaries in respectability and lucrative- ness ; and his advice in counsel was anxiously sought for by those of his brethren, especially, who, at a time when Medical theory was discussed with a zeal that created a truly partizan spirit, espoused the cause which he so ably and successfully maintained. His connection with the Faculty of Columbia Col- lege was brief, and he refused to participate in the coalition of the schools. He died of some acute affection of the chest, at the age of about sixty years, leaving an enviable and enduring reputation. Dr. James S. Stringham, though perhaps to most of you scarcely known by name, was, nevertheless, an amiable and worthy gentleman of great accom- plishments. Born in New York, he graduated in Edinburgh, and was a pupil of the celebrated Black, of that city, and for the time at which he taught, a chemist of the highest order. He was a very pleas- ing and perspicuous lecturer, and the first teacher and professor of Medical Jurisprudence in this coun- try. A premature death, in 1817, of disease of the heart, at St. Croix, blasted the promise given by his early years. The Professor of Practice, Dr. Hamersley, a gra- duate of Edinburgh, was a man of talent, a logical and eloquent expounder of the theories of the day, but irascible in temper, eccentric in his habits and manner of teaching, and, like many other learned theorists, an indifferent practitioner : requiescat in pace ! I well remember that on one bitter winter's 11 morning, in the midst of a terrible snow storm, I alone, of all the class, had awaited for half an hour, the arrival of the usually very punctual Prof. Ham- ersley. As I was going away in despair of his com- ing, I met him at the gates, battling with the storm, his arms extended before him, according to custom, and his hands clothed with enormous furred gloves. " How is the Thermometer to day," said he — his customary salutation, for the state of the atmosphere, as a cause of disease, was a great hobby of his — and then, learning that I was the only one of the class who had braved the inclemency of the weather to hear him ; " Come back," said he, " and I will give you the lecture, as a reward for your perseverance and punctuality." This, however, I stoutly refused to allow him to do, assuring him that I could not consent selfishly to appropriate to myself alone, the valuable doctrines which were so well calculated to benefit the profession generally. He, I believe, was not a little disappointed, and I not a little pleased at my escape. He was an honest man. The Obstetrical Department of the faculty of Columbia College was confided to Dr. J. R, B. Rod- gers, the father of the present eminent surgeon. Dr. J. Kearny Rodgers, so many years my colleague in the New York Hospital, and now one of the Trustees of this College. In person Dr. R. was small, grace- ful, had a face of extreme interest, and was of very accomplished manners. He was a graduate of Edin- burgh, a practitioner of eminence and peculiarly skilled in his own department. Dr. Rodgers was also a physician to the Hospital, and better clinical teachings than his have I never heard anywhere. The facts there observed by him were carefully re- corded, and made from time to time the subject of 12 distinct clinical lectures with able comments, at his own house in Cortlandt street, where the obstetrical lectures were always delivered to a class varying from fifteen to twenty students, of whom, belonging to this city, I believe that the highly respected Drs. Manley, Jno. Neilson, and your worthy Vice Presi- dent, Dr. Thomas Cock, with myself, alone remain to tell of by-gone days. The lectures in those days were delivered in the old edifice of the College, where it now stands — then a body without wings, and which has since been remodeled. It consisted of three apartments — one for the Chemistry lectures, which the Senior class of the College attended, and well arranged for the period ; one for the Theory and Practice, of very moderate size ; a small Anatomical Theatre, and some smaller apartments for the Museum and dissect- ing rooms. Materiel for dissection was scarce, and could only be obtained by individual enterprise, and in many such, now happily by the existing state of things, rendered unnecessary to your advance- ment in knowlege, have I been engaged. I well remember on one occasion driving, in disguise, a cart containing eleven subjects, from the old Pot- ter's field burying ground, sitting on the subjects, and proud enough of my trophies ; but we were not always so fortunate, being on many occasions dis- covered and pursued, and obhged to leave our spoils behind us, with only our hard labor for our pains. One little incident pf the times, also, oc- curs to me. A German, who had been hung, w^as given to the College for dissection, and with the colored porter, I went in a carriage in the evening, to get the body. My other associate was a Doc- 13 tor Buchanan, a Scotchman, and Professor of Ob- stetrics in the College, residing in the city. On calling at his rooms to take him up, I found him arranging his pistols, and complaining of feel- ing very agueish, and with difficulty pursuaded him to proceed. The night was cold, and on arriving on the ground, the Doctor's ague increased so rapidly and his valor oozed, like Bob Acres', in the Rivals, so freely from the tips of his fingers, that he deci- ded to return home, begging strongly for the use of the carriage, which I peremptorily refused him. With great difficulty we exhumed the body, but then my colored associate also deserted me, declar- ing he could not touch the subject, on account of his having been hung. I had, therefore, to lug the body, attired in its white robes, by my own strength, to the carriage — for I had great strength in those days — and partly by force and partly by mena^ ces, compelled the man to assist me in getting the body into the carriage — and what was still more difficult, to get in along with it, so thoroughly was he terrified. On arriving at the College, I found my valorous associate slowly recovering from his ague fit, by the aid of a strong glass of brandy toddy, and deeply lamenting his inability to assist me on the occasion. At this time I was Demonstrator of Anatomy to Dr. Post, a fact which may account for some of my zeal in these resurrection adventures. I made ^ra- tuitously, all the dissections for the course of Anato- my and Surgery, on which latter subject, by the way, I should observe, that only twelve lectures were delivered on practical matters, and the operations not performed before the class. A strong contrast. Gentlemen, to the thorough manner in which sur- 14 gery is taught at the present day. As to the Mu- seum, it was contained in two rooms, one small, for wet, and one large, for dry preparations, and was well supplied. Most of the specimens Dr. Post brought with him from Europe, and the rest were furnished by the zeal of the students and Alumni. There are even now in your Museum, a part of which is the same, specimens of my own industry in the way of minute dissection, a pursuit to which I was very partial and strongly recommend you to follow — a preparation of the nervous system in a small subject and some of the arteries and veins. Immediately on graduating, I set out for London, in company with the late distinguished Dr. John Watts, of this city, at one time President of this In- stitution, Avith the intention of profiting by the in- structions of the eminent men who at that time held the most prominent rank in the surgical profession in that great Metropolis; among whom may be nam- ed the two Clines, Sir Astley Cooper, John Aber- nethy, the two Bhzards, and Sir Everard Home, not one of whom, I grieve to say, survives. Soon after my arrival, I entered myself as a pupil to the cele- brated Sir A. Cooper, then Surgeon to Guy's Hos- pital, from whom I received marked private atten- tions and kindnesses never to be forgotten, and to whose precepts and example I owe the fondness for surgery, which, increasing with my years, has given me my present position, and which I will relinquish only with my life. Although I have ceased to practice it from necessity, I still feel for the noble art of Surgery all the love, and in its pursuit, I experience all the pleasure and interest of my ear- lier days. 15 After two years, I repaired to Edinburgh, then the great seat of Medical learning in Europe, and there re-joining Dr. Watts, who had gone thither for his degree, and in company with Dr. Gibson, of Phi- ladelphia, now the eminent professor in the^ Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, and perhaps others, whom I have forgotten, listened to the great lessons of Gregory, Home, Duncan, Hope, Murray, Playfair, Jamieson and the justly venerated John Thompson, the author of the best monograph yet published on Inflammation. Furnished with a letter of protection from Dr. Jen- ner, whom I knew, and who assured me that it would be sufficient for my purpose, I made a fruitless at- tempt to be smuggled in a fishing boat to Holland, intending to walk thence to the Hague, with my pack on my back. War was then raging most fiercely between France and Great Britain, and the precau- tions taken by Napoleon to prevent the entrance of foreigners into France were so rigid, that my friends restrained me almost by force from my purpose, and fortunately for me, as I thereby, probably, es- caped a long captivity at Verdun. Permit me to digress for a moment. Five and thirty years elapsed before 1 saw again my respect- ed friend. Sir A. Cooper. I called upon him im- mediately on arriving in London, but he was not at home. I purposely left no card, but called again on the following morning. I found him at home, and awaited my turn with several in an ante-room, before being ushered into his study — rather a shabby one. As I entered I walked up to him, and said, holding out my hand, " do you recollect me ?" He looked at me very intently. " Do not tell me," said he, and in a moment afterwards added, " Dr. Mott.'' 16 The scene that followed I shall leave you to im- agine. Sir A. Cooper, indeed, stood before me^ but alas ! how changed. He was, when I last saw him, magnificently handsome, his hair pow- dered, and his beard very black. Now he was infirm from gout, his hair and beard gray and dishevelled, and careless in his attire. He was now about sixty-eight years of age, and still much engaged in practice, I received much kind attention from him, and even saw him again on my second visit to England. The last time I ever saw him, he called upon me at my lodgings, and presented me with a new forceps which he had invented, for extracting calculi from the urethra, which I still retain as a memento of one who is closely associated with my earliest and most pleasant recollections. He was a polished gentle- man, and his surgical reputation is engraven in in- delible characters on the pages of Medical History. On my return to New York, in the following spring, occurred, Gentlemen, an event in my Hfe, to which I refer with much pleasure, and for alluding to which, I must ask your good-natured pardon. With the consent of the Faculty, I obtained permis- sion from the trustees of Columbia College to de- liver, in the anatomical room of the Medical School, a course of lectures and demonstrations on Oper- ative Surgery. The course, though a beginning for me, was a thorough one, and the materiel was obtained by my own exertions. Nothing of the kind had ever before been attempted in this city : and I may, there- fore, Gentlemen, justly claim to have been the first person to deliver private lectures on any medical subject, and the first to demonstrate to a class the steps of Surgical operations, as then taught and prac- tised by the highest professional authorities. 17 Among those who did me the honor to attend my prelections, were the celebrated Dr. Edward Miller, who occupies the highest rank among the physicians and authors of our country, and a gentleman well known to all for his high professional attainments. Dr. John W. Francis ; who in after years, as my colleague in this and another institution, for a long period discharged the duties of Obstetric Professor, with credit to himself and advantage to his hearers. I trust that I shall be excused for this allusion to my early essay in teaching, upon which, at this remote period, imperfectly as no doubt I performed the duty, I confess that I look back with great pleasure. I owe to it, undoubtedly, the subsequent honor of a professorship of Surgery in this College. Within a year of the period of my graduation, (April 3d, 1807,) was established, through the active instrumentality of its first President and Professor of the Institutes, Dr. Nicholas Romayne, the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons in this city. The other members of the Faculty consisted, if I remem- ber rightly, of Dr. Ed. Miller, Professor of Theory and Practice ; Dr. Jno. Aug. Smith, Professor of Anatomy and Surgery; Mitchill, Hosack, Bruce, Dewitt and McNeven. The College, which was opened in Robinson street, then considered a cen- tral part of the city, afterwards held its sessions in a small two story house in Pearl street, nearly opposite the Hospital, a few doors down on the right hand side, which is still standing. Its apartments consisted of a few benches and a table, at which sat the Pro- fessor, the dissections being carried on in the attics. This embryo state of your Alma Mater,. Gentle- men, contrasts remarkably with the amplitude,, coni- 2 18 fort and perfection of arrangement visible in every part of this noble edifice, in which I am again, after so long an absence, privileged to address a medical class. The course lasted then four months, and the class numbered from fifty to seventy ; and little could the early projectors of the College have dreamed of the numerous array of intelligent youth that now fills these long and closely packed benches, and gratifies the hearts and eyes of every friend of the School, and of those who so zealously and faith- fully devote themselves to your instruction ; nor of the improvements which the Science itself, and the means of imparting and demonstrating it, were des- tined to undergo. This Faculty continued the rival of that of Co- lumbia College for several years, with no very decided advance, until in 1813, a coalition was formed between the two, (as the committee of Re- gents declared in its report, " in the hope that it may tend to extinguish the feuds existing among the present Professors of the College of Physicians and Surgeons,") which led to this becoming the only School of Medicine in this city, (a position which, as you well know, it retained for many years,) and to a vast increase of its numbers and utility. The College was now removed to a building com- modiously arranged, in Barclay street, April, 1814. The Faculty, under the new arrangement, consisted of Dr. Samuel Bard, President ; Wright Post and Jno. Aug. Smith, joint Professors of Anatomy, Sur- gery and Physiology ; Dr. D. Hosack, Professor of Theory and Practice ; Dr. W. Hamersly, Professor of Clinical Practice ; Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, Pro fessor of Materia Medica and Botany ; Dr. John C Osborne, Professor of Obstetrics j Dr. Wm, 19 McNeven, Professor of Chemistry ; Dr. James S. Stringham, Professor of Medical Jurisprudence ; Dr. J. W. Francis, Professor of Materia Medica ; Dr. Benj. Dewitt, Vice-President, and Professor of Na- tural Philosophy ; and myself, of Surgery. This office I had latterly held in the Faculty of Columbia Col- lege, it having been conferred upon me, wholly un- solicited, through the kind intercession of my worthy friend. Dr. Post. Devoted, as I then was, to that department of the profession, and eager for distinc- tion, I leave you. Gentlemen, to imagine the delifrht which I experienced, when, meeting me in the street soon after the receipt of my appointment, Dr. Post got out of his gig, and announced to me the gratify- ing and wholly unexpected intelligence. Dr. iSamuel Bard, first President of this College after its re-organization in 1811, was advanced in Hfe, and had retired from a more lucrative and respectable practice than was enjoyed by any of his cotemporaries. He resided at his country seat at Hyde Park, and came to the city only occasionally in the discharge of his duties as President, and at intervals in consultation on cases of importance. He was small in stature, and hard-featured, but exemplary as a man and a Christian ; of vast expe- rience as a physician, and in his day considered the soundest in the city. To a " memorable discourse of his at the Medical Graduation in 1769," when Dean of the Faculty of Columbia College, " warmly and pathetically," as Dr. Middleton says, "setting forth the necessity and usefulness of a public infirm- ary," is due the establishment of the New York Hospital, a noble monument of his benevolence. Among his pupils, I may mention my father, who studied with him during the Revolution, and as I 30 have before said, Dr. Hosack. In manners he was austere, but dignified as a President. His public discourses were ably written, and displayed sound judgment and much good feeling. He was the author of a well-known and still valuable text-book on Obstetrics, and died at the age of 80 ; Dr. Post succeeding him in his office. Dr. Benjamin Dewitt, at one time Vice-President, and Professor of the Institutes, Materia Medica and Chemistry, was not long attached to the College. He was a man of talent, but of indolent habits ; easy in his circumstances, and devoted rather to the cul- tivation of the Natural Sciences, than of that of Medicine in particular. To his exertions the Col- lege owed the liberal grant of $30,000 from the Legislature. A successful politician, he obtained the situation of Port Physician, and died, in the performance of his duties, of yellow fever, at Sta- ten Island, in 1819. Of Dr. Romayne it may be said, that he was a man of much eloquence and talent; wealthy, and indifferent to the active duties of the Profession, but eager for its advancement and that of the inte- rests of Medical Science. To his influence and exertions is due the establishment of this College, the duties of Professor of the Institutes in which, he performed most creditably for a few years. In per- son he was tall and handsome, but extremely fleshy. He lectured extemporaneously with fluency and cflect. To him is also due the establishment of the State and County Medical Societies of New York, (July, 1806.) He was first President of the State Medical Society, at Albany, and of that of this ICounty, and it so happened that I was the first per- son examined, at his request, by its Censors, under 21 the new law of its organization. Dr. Milspaugh, of Orange county, was the second. To this ordeal I submitted, not from necessity, but from a desire to serve tlie interests of the new institution. The So- ciety convened, and the examinations were held in a room in the old Federal Hall in Wall street, situated about where the Custom House now stands, and in which, previous to the existence of the City Hall, the courts were held. The censors were Drs. Romayne, Post, Hosack, and other mag- nates, and the examinations were, I assure you, per- fectly honest and sufficiently rigid. The connection of Dr. John Aug. Smith with this Institution is so recent, as to render unnecessary any lengthened notice of him at my hands. Ap- pointed to the Professorship of Anatomy in 1808, he continued to lecture until 1814. After a retire- ment of some years, spent in other situations of trust and importance, from the Professorship of Anatomy in this College, Dr. Smith again (I think about the year 1833) assumed the duties of that chair, on the resignation of Dr. Post, who had been a lecturer on Anatomy in this city for forty years. He subsequently, as you know, became its Presi- dent ; and still, though retired from professional life, public and private, lives to witness the continued prosperity and advance of the College in usefulness, and in the respect and confidence of the Profession. I cherish for the memory of none of my departed colleagues, a warmer and kindlier feeling of respect and attachment, than for that of the kind-hearted, celebrated and eccentric Saml. L. Mitchill. He was our national Humboldt ; his fame as a savant and naturalist is identified with the history of Ame- rican Science. The tenacity of his memory was n equalled only by his thirst for knowledge, of which, on every variety of subjects, he possessed an inex- haustible fund. As a lecturer, he was entertaining and instructive, but too discursive to be practical, for the reason that his teeming mind continually suggested to him new subjects for discussion, irrele vant to the matter in hand ; and too good-natured, familiar, unconstrained and even grotesque in his manner, to be dignified. Nevertheless he was a great favorite with the students, who listened with respectful wonder to the proofs he continually gave of his varied acquirements. His knowledge of the Materia Medica was profound, and his lectures, when he adhered to his text, eminently valuable. He was one of the attending physicians to the New York Hospital for many years ; and for accuracy of diagnosis, skill in the exhibition of remedies, and perspicuity as a clinical teacher, he had few equals. He belonged to the old Edinburgh school, and the character and pure Latinity of his prescriptions, for all such, even of diet, he invariably made in Latin, forcibly recalled to my mind the lessons of Home and Duncan, in the Infirmary of that great city, to which I had listened with so much pleasure and ad- vantage. To a gentleman who was boasting to him of the extent of his memory, he once gravely said, " Sir, I have forgotten more than you have ever known." And I remember him once asserting in an introductory, that whereas the great Cuvier had said, show him a bone and he could name the ani- mal — show him a scale and he could almost name the fish. For many years he was associated with Drs. Elihu Smith and Edward Miller, in the editor- ship of the first medical periodical of this city and country, the New York Medical Repository ; and 33 his many contributions to it and his voluminous writings on Medical and the Natural Sciences, suffi- ciently attest his vast industry, and the extent and mightiness of his attainments and intellect. He died at an advanced age, maintaining to the last his scientific oracularity, and leaving a name unsur- passed among his cotemporaries — perhaps by that of any of his successors — imperishable as the sci- ence he cultivated and adorned. Our Professor of Chemistry was Wm. Jas. Mc. Neven, a Native of Ireland. He participated largely in the laudable, but unsucessful attempt to establish the hberties of his unhappy country, in which the illustrious, but ill-fated patriot, Robert Emmet, fell a victim to his zeal in the cause of freedom, and to to the tyranny of the mother countrv ; and in com- pany with Thomas Emmet, William Sampson and Dr. Gumming, expiated his so called treason by a four year's captivity in the fort of Inverness, in the north of Scotland. These noble and talented men, being pardoned, on condition of self-expatriation, came together to this country about the year 1805 or 1806. I well remember meeting Dr. McNeven for the first time, at the New York Hospital, whither he came in company with Dr. J. R. B. Rogers, then one of the physicians of that Institution. He was then a young man, and though of short stature, his bearing was noble and prepossessing. His costume to an American eye was peculiar : he wore knee-breeches and top-boots, the dress of the English gentlemen at that period. Soon after his arrival here, Columbia College conferred upon him an honorary degree, in testimony of respect for his high professional attainments, and never was the honor better merited nor bestowed. His practice 24 was never extensive, but he was highly respected for his learning and integrity. He entered the are- na of politics — a strife congenial to his nature and attained to some important and responsible stations in the gift of the State, which he filled with credit to himself and advantage to the pubhc. After a residence here of several years, he was appointed to the chair of Chemistry in this Institution, a posi- tion for which his learning eminently qualified him, but in which his lack of dexterity as a manipulator detracted from his success as a lecturer. He subse- quently, as I shall have occasion to mention, taught the Materia Medica in this city, and in both capa- cities brought to bear, not only the accumulated stores of European learning which he had acquired from an intimate acquaintance with several of her lan- guages, but the cultivation and graces derived from a finished classical education. He died not many years ago in this city, leaving behind him the char- acter of an ardent patriot, a truly learned, upright and estimable man. There remains to be noticed only Dr. John C. Os- born. Professor of Midwifery, less known to poster- ity than perhaps any other of the Faculty. By birth a New Englander, he came here from the South, and by the great urbanity of his manner, and his great literary taste and acquirements, attained to a large and lucrative practice. He was a pleasing lecturer, excelling, I think, on the diseases of Women and Children ; was considered able in the peculiar de- partment in which he taught, and was often select- ed by the higher classes as consultant in cases of difficulty, rather to the chagrin of some of his co- temporaries. He was Professor for some years, but declining 25 health compelled him to retire, and he soon after died at St. Croix, of phthisis, in 1819. The lectures on Midwifery were then delivered by Dr. Hosack, until the appointment in 1820, of his faithful and attached friend and protege, Dr. J. W, Francis, the Professor of Institutes and Medical Jurisprudence on the resignation of Dr. Stringham, who for many years acceptably and usefully fulfilled the duties of Obstetrical Professor i n this city. Dr. Francis still enjoys an extensive practice and a prominent repu- tation, and is well known, both at home and abroad, as a man of ready wit and eloquence, the author of many learned and able public discourses and valuable contributions to Medical Science, and as possessing great general literary taste and erudition. Under this last named Faculty, Professors Post, Hosack, McNeven, Mitchill, Francis and myself, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, progressed for several years in harmony and prosperity ; the class yearly increasing, until it at length numbered be- tween two and three hundred, and the institution yearly growing in the confidence and regard of the Profession. I will venture in behalf of that Faculty to declare, that one and all, each in his degree, con- scientiously endeavored to do his duty, and that the degree was bestowed by them without fear or favor, and with a conscientious regard to the qualifications of the candidate. A change, however, was destined at length to come over the spirit of this pleasing dream. Poli- tics, which, like the exhalations from the fabled Upas tree, poisons every thing that comes within the reach of its baleful influences, obtained an en- trance into the councils of the College — and in no long time resulted in the enactment of certain reso- 26 lutions by the Regents, so unpopular with the Fa- cuky, that, in the year 1826, they very reluctantly resigned in a body. Determined, however, not to be idle, or to sit down quietly in their retirement, they set to work immediately and erected the building. No. 68 Duane street, known as Rutgers' College, so called be- cause endowed by Col. Rutgers, a distinguished patriot of the revolution, and also because it was first a branch of Rutgers' (classical) College in New Brunswick, N. J. and subsequently of Geneva College in this state. The removal of Dr. Mc- Neven to the Chair of Materia Medica in this new School, led to the appointment of Dr. Griscom to that of Chemistry, and the Anatomical chair was entrusted to the distinguished, learned and am- iable John D. Godman ; in the perfection of his ana- tomical knowledge, and in eloquence and efficiency as a lecturer, not surpassed in this, and perhaps not in any other country. He was one of the meteors whose brightness dazzles for a moment ere it fades, and leaves the darkness more visible than before. Ill health, accelerated by ceaseless mental and bod- ily toil, (for although lecturing and residing here, he edited and largely contributed to the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, published in Phila- delphia,) compelled him to resign his Professorship, the duties of which I fulfilled during the remainder of the term, together with those of my own chair, lecturing twice a day, and attending to my then ex- tensive private practice and to the Hospital. Dr. Godman, after a visit to the West Indies, returned to Philadelphia, where he, not long after, died of phthisis, maintaining himself and family to the last by the incessant labor of his pen ; and displaying at 27 the close of his short, but truly glorious career, an eminently Christian spirit, and contradicting, in his own person, the too common idea that Medical Science tends to Infidelity. This country, in my opinion, has produced few abler men in his profes- sion than the late John D. Godman. He was the most adroit dissector that I have ever seen, perform- ing all his dissections with precision and rapidity upon the subject on the table before the class, and as a teacher could not be surpassed ; vv^hile his gentle manners made him extremel}^ popular with the class. His place was supplied, in 1828, by Dr. George Bushe, an Irish gentleman, connected with the British army, of unquestionable professional attain- ments, but unamiable temper, who remained at- tached to Rutgers' Medical College until its close. He afterwards attained to an extensive private prac- tice in this city, and to some celebrity as a surgeon, but, like his predecessor, died of phthisis in a few years ; unlike him in every thing save his talents and his fate. Dr. John Griscom, our Professor of Chemistry, had long been a private teacher of that Science in this city, was a member of the Society of Friends, a man of science, an excellent practical chemist, and of irreproachable moral purity. After a prosperous existence of five years, an un- foreseen defect in the charter of Geneva College, conflicting with the laws regulating the practice of Medicine in this state, compelled the discontinuance of its medical branch in this city, by making its de- grees illegal. To return to the College of Physicians and Sur- geons. In 1826, upon the resignation of the old, a new Faculty was necessarily appointed b)^ the Re- gents, composed as follows : President and Profes- 2^ sor of Institutes, John Watts, M. D. ; Professor of Anatomy, Dr. John Augustine Smith ; Professor of Sur(;^ry, Dr. Alexander H. Stevens ; Professor of Practice, Dr. Joseph M. Smith ; Professor of Materia Medica, Dr. John B. Beck ; Professor of Obstetrics, Dr. Edward Delafield, and Dr. Dana, Professor of Chemistry. Dr. Dana died in the following year, and was succeeded by your present distinguished Pro- fessor, equally eminent for botanical and geological learning. Dr. John Torrey. About the year I83r, Dr. John R. Rhinelander was appointed Professor of Anatomy — Dr. John Aug. Smith confining himself to the duties of the chair of Physiology, and assum- ing, on the death of Dr. Watts, the Presidency of the College. About this time, also, I received the honor of an appointment in this College, as Profes- sor of Operative Surgery with Surgical and Path- ological Anatomy, and continued attached to it un- til the year 1834, when failing health, the result of nearly thirty years of continuous professional labor, unrelieved by change of scene, or recreation, com- pelled me abruptly to suspend my lectures and seek abroad for its restoration. My travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and my subsequent career, it is unnecessary for me to allude to. The tempting influences of opportunity, combin- ed with an ambition, not, I hope, wholly reprehensi- ble, to establish a new school, and an ardent fond- ness for the bu>iiness of medical teaching, so long my greatest pride and pleasure and one of the chief occupations of my life, will plead with every generous mind, I trust, for new associations and an estrange- ment from a connection so long and happily maintained a connection, broken it is true, but never forgotten. In 1837, Dr. Stevens retired from the chair of 29 Surgery, which was filled first, by the appointment of Dr. Goldsmith, as lecturer, and in 1840, by that of your present able and eloquent Professor, Dr. Park- er. In 1839, Dr. Watts replaced Dr. Rhinelander, and the present zealous and able incumbent of the Obstetrical chair, (Dr. Gilman,) succeeded Dr. Del- afield in 1841. Lastly I should not omit to say, that within a few years, Alex. H. Stevens, M. D., formerly Professor of Surgery, was elected to the Presidency of this Institution, (on the retirement of Dr. Jno. Aug. Smith,) and appointed Emeritus Professor of Surgery, by the Regents : honors richly deserved and worthily bestowed ; and that Dr. Alonzo Clark, has lately succeeded to the chair of Physiology, which could not be more ably filled. But for the manifest indelicacy of eulogising them to their faces. Gentlemen, how willingly could I bear my testimony to the high literary attainments and practical superiority of your Professors of Practice (Joseph M. Smith) and the Materia Medica (J. B. Beck) — to the zeal and intimate knowledge of their several branches, and skill in demonstrating and teaching them, of your Profes- sors of Anatomy (Watts) and Physiology (Clark) all of whose diplomas, I believe, bear my name, and whom I delight, consequently, to rank among my pupils. But there is one whom I cannot refrain from mentioning — not to praise, for that is unneces- sary, but in the pure spirit of friendship and es- teem — your respected President — my greatest com- petitor in the arduous race for fame and fortune, and always and now, I am proud to say — though many attempts have been made at times to estrange us — my friend, and once again my colleague. I see him at your head, and at the head of his Profes- 30 sion. I see this College prospering under his wise and efficient administration, and with all my heart, I wish him length of days and health to preside over it, and the Institution itself all the success, to which a ceaseless zeal for the interests of the student and the Profession, on the part of its officers, and an un- varying rectitude of conduct amid the competition to which it has been subjected, so fully entitle it. Gentle3ien of the Class : I have so far protracted these, to me, agree- able reminiscences of my past connection with this College, as explanatory of the interest I take, and have ever taken, in its welfare, and the pleasure I feel in my re-association with it, that my remarks, introductory to my lectures, must be very brief. To-morrow, at eleven, I meet you, with the intention of commencing a demonstration of the Relative Anatomy of the more important re- gions which are the seats of capital surgical opera- tions, and the modes of performing them. No spe- cies of anatomical knowledge is as essential to the surgeon, as Relative Anatomy. Gifted with it, the knife penetrates safely and confidently into the most important parts ; errors and dangers are avoid- ed ; and the reputation of the surgeon, the success of the operation, and the life of the patient, are alike secure. Without it, the hand trembles — hesi- tates — vital structures are invaded — failure is the re- sult, and the Science suffers by the bungling of the pretender. Relative Anatomy is to the surgeon what the compass is to the mariner. Without it, his bark drifts unmanageable upon the waters, until stranded upon the nearest shore. With it, he ploughs in safety the fathomless and boundless 31 ocean to his destined haven, avoiding shoals and shores, in triumph and in safety. To all who de- sign to be surgeons, 1 commend, with all earnest- ness, its careful and assiduous study. Let no man, if he value the life of a patient, the interests of his profession, his OAvn reputation, and, dearer than all, his own peace of mind, venture to put a knife into a part with whose relative anatomy he is not as fa- miliar as with his alphabet. And why should you not all be surgeons ? It is true that certain physical requisites assist in ma- king one : a clear eye, a steady hand, a calm and imperturbable spirit. But these, Gentlemen, in at least a very great degree, may be acquired. It is not necessary to have the thews and sinews of a Liston to become a very useful operator. I know a very excellent surgeon, who is extremely near sighted ; and Dr. Physick himself never approached an operation without a feeling of trepidation. But when he began to cut, his nervousness vanished ! and why ? Because he had the relative anatomy of the parts at the ends of his fingers. It is this knowl- edge that will give firmness to your hands and courage to your hearts, and render you, with a little practice, competent to any emergency. Acquaint yourselves thoroughly, Gentlemen, with the rela- tive surgical anatomy of the parts concerned in gre^t operations, and with the steps necessary for performing them, and then go boldly on and suffer no opportunity of practice to escape you. You may never make a very great^ but you may make, what is of quite as much use in your generation, a very good surgeon- With the instruction you will here obtain, if dil- igent, I hope there is not one of you who will be 32 obliged to send for some one else, it / be miles off, to perform a surgical operatio ibr him in some pressing case : a duty, Gentlemen, which, as the profession is constituted in this country and as Surgery is here taught, he should have been able to have accomplished for himself. Ground your- selves then thoroughly here, and begin. If you nev- er begin, you can never go on. Dissect — dissect — minutely as you will, but never neglect your Rel- ative Anatomy. Remember that you must engrave this knowledge upon the minutest fibre of your nerve matter, so as to reproduce it instantly at will. You may not always have an opportunity to apply to your books, or plates, — less than all to the Cadaver. A strangulated Hernia may present itself in the dead of night, and at a great distance from your home : — or, from a gaping wound, may be issuing the pur- ple torrent of the life's blood, and the face of the sufferer paling in death before your eyes. There is no time for delay ; and I would have you leave these halls so thoroughly well educated as surgeons, as that, then and there, you could sit dow^n and calmly return the intestine, or lay bare the bleeding vessel, or its fountain head, and tie it — and so save your patient from delay and danger, yourselves from obloquy, and your Profession from reproach, I will not present to you the converse of this picture. I urge it on you all to strive to make yourself surgeons — good surgeons at least, and great ones if you please. Such you may be, and for the sake of your profession, yourselves, and the welfare of humanity, you ought to be. And it is my object to aid you in this endeavour to the best of my abili- ties. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as provided by the rules of the Library or by special ar- rangement with the Librarian in charge. DATE BORROWED DATE DUE DATE BORROWED DATE DUE 1 C28(23»)MI00 M85 oop«2 ieaohing \ --^