ST. JOHH 
 
 >C ~/C ~r\ 7C 7K ft 
 
 An Introductory Address... 185'/ 
 
?y)~^io& 
 
 : Z ' 
 
 Columbia <Hntoer*itp 
 
 College of ^i)p$itim& anb burgeons 
 Hibrarp 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 Open Knowledge Commons 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/introductoryaddrOOstjo 
 
AN 
 
 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS, 
 
 DELIVERED AT TDK 
 
 OPEMINO 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ANNUAL COURSE OF LECTURES 
 
 COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SUltGEONS, 
 
 IX THE CITY OF NEW YOU 
 
 OCTOBER 19th, 1357. 
 
 SAMUEL ST. JOHN, M. D. 
 
 Professor of Chemistry. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 WYNKOOP, HALLENBECK & THOMAS, PRINTERS, 
 
 No. 113 Fulton Street. 
 
 18 5 8. 
 
M- 
 
 Y~ 
 
 
 74T 
 
At a meeting of the Class of 1857 and 1858, of the College of Physicians and 
 Surgeons, held October 21st, on motion of Mr. R. H. Hinman, Mr. C. P. Russel 
 was appointed Chairman and Mr. R. F. "Weir Secretary of the meeting. The fol 
 lowing resolutions were then adopted : 
 
 1st. To appoint a Committee to confer with Professor Samuel St. John, and to 
 solicit for publication the manuscript of his Introductory Address, delivered Octo- 
 ber 19th. 
 
 2d. That Messrs. E. P. Whitney, C. Phelps and J. H. Thompson be that Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 Agreeably to the above resolutions, the following correspondence was entered 
 into: 
 
 Prof. Samuel St. John : 
 
 Sir: — As representatives of the Class of 1857-8 of the College of Physicians 
 and Surgeons, we have been delegated to request from you, for publication, a copy 
 of the Introductory Address pronounced before us on the evening of the 19th inst. 
 Should the request be honored by your approval, we shall take great pleasure in 
 communicating the result. 
 
 CH. PHELPS, 
 EDWARD P. WHITNEY, 
 J. HARRY THOMPSON. 
 October 26th, 1857. 
 
 Messrs. Ch. Phelps, Edward P. Whitney, J. Harry Thompson: 
 
 Gentlemen: — I accede to the request of the Class, expressed through their Com- 
 mittee, for the publication of the Address, with the hope that it may serve to 
 illustrate, in some humble measure, the fitness and importance of mental discipline 
 in the student's preparation for the responsibilities of professional life. 
 
 SAMUEL ST. JOHN. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen : 
 
 On an occasion like the present, I might be expected to com- 
 mend to your favorable regard that branch of Science with whose 
 supervision and administration, in this Institution, I am honored. 
 
 If this branch of Education were new, or if the general senti- 
 ment of the profession and of mankind had riot been decidedly 
 expressed in its favor, I should feel it incumbent upon me to 
 attempt a plea in its defense. But, since it is neither novel nor 
 destitute of public favor, I have deemed it not inappropriate to 
 ask your attention to the general philosophy of the processes of 
 Education — a topic of vital interest to the well-being of society, 
 and which has elicited the widest discussion, not only with the 
 view of improving details, but of placing the whole system upon 
 a rational foundation, in accordance with the spirit of the age, and 
 the constitution of the human mind. 
 
 I propose, briefly, to consider the peculiar claims which Natural 
 Science has to be considered a branch of liberal Education, and 
 the important purposes it may subserve in training the mind for 
 efficient action. 
 
 It may be viewed: I. In reference to the immediate discipline 
 of the powers of the mind. II. With reference to certain intel- 
 lectual habits which the study is fitted to form and strengthen ; and, 
 III. In its manifold relations with the useful arts and the econo- 
 my of life. 
 
 I. The physical sciences are not only pleasing subjects of 
 
6 ADDRESS. 
 
 contemplation to the mind, but they conduce to its thorough 
 discipline and fit it for successful action. The most obvious 
 thought, suggested by reflection upon the intellectual relation 
 which man sustains to the material universe, is, that he com- 
 mences his existence entirely destitute of knowledge, but endowed 
 with a mental appetite, and surrounded by objects fitted to stimu- 
 late and gratify inquiry. The object of Education is, to render 
 the mind an efficient instrument for the discovery and application 
 of the laws to which the Creator has subjected the universe. 
 That it is practicable to train the mind to greater skill in the dis- 
 covery and application of these laws, appears from the fact that 
 the human mind is so constituted that certain processes of thought 
 are better adapted to the discovery of truth than others, and that 
 the reasoning powers are rendered more efficient by exercise. Just 
 in proportion as the student acquires skill in the use of his reason, 
 is his progress in knowledge. It is not merely the knowledge 
 which physical science conveys, and the value and extent of its 
 applications, but from the nature of its methods and reasonings, 
 from the power and energy of the agents employed, and from the 
 striking character of the phenomena, all eminently calculated to 
 awaken curiosity and fix the attention, the mind of the student, 
 instead of being forced to a compulsory exercise, is led, by the 
 interest it feels in the subject, to exert itself in a way eminently 
 calculated to invigorate its powers of attention, observation and 
 reasoning. Every one, who is at all practically acquainted with 
 the business of education, is well aware of the difficulty of fixing 
 the attention of the student. The vivacity of the youthful mind, 
 arising from the acuteness of its sensations, continually attracts it 
 to external objects. Now, in the study of natural science, the 
 senses are made purveyors to the mind, and facts and principles, 
 deduced, as it were, by its own observation, give the greatest accu- 
 racy and precision to the ideas thus acquired. Natural history 
 has been termed a science of observation, and such, in a restricted 
 
ADDRESS. 7 
 
 sense, it undoubtedly is — as a definition, however, it is partial and 
 insufficient. Should the naturalist confine his attention to the 
 external forms of objects, to the compilation of a dictionary of 
 their names, together with the uses to which they might be ap- 
 plied, he would manifestly overlook the essential philosophy, the 
 splendid truths which give dignity to the science. All branches 
 of science, however varied may be their materials, or diversified 
 their nature, have but one object in view — the discovery of the 
 primary laws of nature. By a series of legitimate deductions 
 and generalizations, the science, which, in the early state of devel- 
 opment, was one of observation, becomes one of demonstration, 
 and as such claims kindred influence with the mathematics in de- 
 veloping and disciplining the reasoning powers. The remarks of 
 Baron Cuvier, on the influence of this class of study in forming 
 habits of mental discipline, are striking and pertinent. "The 
 habit naturally acquired," says that great man, "in the study of 
 natural history, in the mental classification of a great number of 
 ideas, is one of the advantages of the science that has seldom 
 been observed, and which, when it shall have been generally in- 
 troduced into the system of education, cannot fail to be appre- 
 ciated. By it the student is exercised in that part of logic which 
 is termed method, just as he is by geometry in that of syllogism. 
 ISTow, this art of method, once well acquired, may be applied with 
 infinite advantage to studies the most foreign to natural history. 
 Every discussion which supposes a classification of facts, every 
 research which demands a distribution of topics, is performed ac- 
 cording to the same laws." A notable instance, in which the 
 fitness of these studies for awakening the dormant faculties and 
 developing a disciplined and well furnished mind, has within a 
 few years engaged public attention, in the case of Mr. J. P. Nor- 
 ton, late Professor of Agricultural Chemistry in Yale College. 
 " We were much interested," says a writer of a biographical 
 sketch in the New Englander, "in the account of his first scien- 
 
8 ADDRESS. 
 
 tific study, which we received from Theodore D wight, Esq., who 
 had the direction of his studies the first winter he was sent from 
 home. Mr. Dwight says, 'In my first interview with him, I found 
 he had a decided aversion to every branch of study, especially 
 Latin and Greek. I sought for some pursuit in which he. might 
 feel some interest, but went through the whole range of sciences 
 and literature without success, when at last I mentioned min- 
 eralogy. There I found him alive and willing to answer ques- 
 tions, and I soon learned that for two years or more he had appro- 
 priated his money to the purchase of minerals, and had a large 
 collection. I inquired anxiously how he had arranged them, and 
 he replied that he had made three attempts to arrange them ac- 
 cording to their colors and names, and found that they could not 
 be classified at all. I assured him of the contrary, and told him 
 that the proper principle was that of their composition. He im- 
 mediately inquired how any one could know what stones were 
 made of. I explained, in a simple manner, analysis and synthesis, 
 and promised him that he should begin the next day to decom- 
 pose minerals, and (what pleased him more, although he did not 
 half believe it possible) compound and form some for himself. 
 Henceforth there w r as no want of interest in his studies, and from 
 the hour of this conversation he became one of the most hard- 
 working scholars of his time.' Professor Andrews adds, (Ohio 
 Journal of Education, vol. II., p. 12) : ' His previous studies of 
 grammar and arithmetic, Latin and Greek, had all been to no 
 purpose, because the vibrating chord of his intellect had not 
 been touched. This once touched, and there were sympathetic 
 vibrations through his whole soul. From his mineralogy he 
 passed on from one science to another, and from the acquisition 
 of one language to another, until his attainments were most en- 
 viable, and at the early age of twenty -four he was chosen Pro- 
 fessor of Agricultural Chemistry in Yale College. Although his 
 career was very brief, he was doubtless the ablest teacher in that 
 
ADDRESS. 9 
 
 department in our country, and made his influence felt through- 
 out the land, by awakening an unceasing interest in scientific 
 agriculture.' " It should ever be remembered, that the senses are 
 the immediate purveyors of the mental powers. As the Creator 
 has formed the universe partly for the education of the human 
 soul, He has completed his plan by giving to the soul the senses, 
 to act as its instruments in receiving education. Accordingly, the 
 various sciences which are used for developing the intellectual 
 powers are based upon the intercourse which the mind, through 
 the senses, holds with the material universe. Now, the only way 
 in which these sciences can be well understood, is by mingling, 
 with the study of books, a sufficient leaven of original observation 
 and experience to imbue the whole with life. The studies of our 
 school-boy days are to a great extent abstractions, employing in 
 a slight degree the evidences of the senses, while the natural 
 sciences, by training the mind to habits of watchfulness and atten- 
 tion, tend to impart that power of discrimination which consti- 
 tutes, in no small degree, mental superiority. We know that ac- 
 curacy and activity in business, that skill in every art, that the 
 correctness and life of most literary and scientific description and 
 illustration, depend upon the training of the senses ; and that 
 throughout the student's whole life, whether it be when, as a 
 lively child, he is attentive only to feeling and the works of na- 
 ture, or when he has become an adult, and mingles reflection with 
 observation, or when the man has lost the acuteness and strength 
 of his bodily organs in the infirmities of age, and lives only in 
 memory and meditation, the character and condition of his mind 
 are most decisively influenced by the intercourse he has held, 
 through the medium of his senses, with external nature. Do we, 
 then, exaggerate the importance of those sciences, as branches of 
 education, which strengthen and sharpen the senses, and thus give 
 vigor and keenness to the mind, enlarging the sphere of its use- 
 fulness and enjoyment? 
 
10 ADDRESS. 
 
 II. I proceed to consider the relation of this study to certain 
 intellectual habits, which it is fitted to form and strengthen, with- 
 out which little can be expected from the richest native gifts of 
 mind. There is a philosophic spirit or habitude of mind which 
 is far more valuable than any limited acquirements of knowledge. 
 The acquirements will fade from the memory, unless their impres- 
 sion be frequently renewed, but the disposition or character of 
 mind to which they give birth will be enduring. As in chemis- 
 try two substances combine and produce a new body, different 
 from each of the constituents, so our aptitude for the attainment, 
 appreciation and enjoyment of knowledge combines with the 
 human soul, constituting a portion of its spiritual power, and is 
 as imperishable as the mind itself. 
 
 1. This study tends to establish the habit of patient thought, 
 of fixing the attention upon any subject of investigation, and of 
 retaining it in mind till all its various bearings and relations have 
 been fully examined — of holding it in the focal point of illumina- 
 tion till it glows and burns. This constitutes the genius of inves- 
 tigation and reasoning on all subjects. 'Not is there, probably, 
 any habit of mind more prolific in discovery and invention — 
 more truly characteristic of a great and powerful mind. 
 
 2. A second habit of mind, necessarily induced by this study, 
 and allied to the former, is that of accurate and persevering ob- 
 servation ; a quick, discernment, accustomed by practice to distin- 
 guish differences which an ordinary observer would overlook. 
 The importance of this habit and of its early formation is apparent, 
 from the fact that the want of it proves fatal to all high attain- 
 ments. As no pursuit requires more observation or greater nicety 
 of discrimination than that of Natural Science, it is pre-eminently 
 fitted to qualify the mind for the application of the acuteness and 
 judgment, thus acquired, to the pursuits of subsequent life, which 
 may call for the exercise of sound reason and just discrimination. 
 The student, who has been taught to receive as true only what is 
 
ADDRESS. 11 
 
 the result of observation or experiment, will be in little danger of 
 being led away by the insidious arts of sophistry, or of having 
 his mind bewildered by fanaticism or superstition. The knowl- 
 edge of facts is what he is taught to esteem ; and no reasoning, 
 however specious, will induce him to receive as true what appears 
 incongruous, or can not be enforced by demonstration. 
 
 3. Another habit of mind, naturally consequent upon this pur- 
 suit, is that of enthusiasm, the foundation of an ardent, inquiring 
 mind. There is an inexpressible satisfaction, an intellectual de- 
 light, in the pursuit of truth, which few but the philosopher can 
 understand. This luxury of the soul, as it has been well termed, 
 belongs especially to the pursuit of Natural Science. He who 
 studies the forms of Nature has before him models of perfection. 
 He has not to consult popular taste or arbitrary opinion as to the 
 value or importance of his pursuits. He has before him truth : 
 his sole business is to analyze and classify all the parts and rela- 
 tions of that truth. If, indeed, all truth be not attained, yet, with 
 superior minds, the very difficulty of attainment serves but to in- 
 crease the ardor of its pursuit. Whoever enters upon this study 
 with proper views, and pursues it with intelligence and success, 
 rarely looks back, but is continually urged on by the discovery of 
 new and wonderful truths which fill his mind with ennobling: 
 emotions. Nature has her history written on her very lineaments ; 
 a history so interesting that the most splendid fictions of human 
 imagination sink into insignificance when compared with it, as 
 human productions must when compared with the works of the 
 Creator. The study of Nature leads its real votaries, by the plea- 
 sure derived from the observation of her ordinary phenomena, to 
 the deeper delight afforded by the contemplation of the unity of 
 design and the harmony of all her relations. Then it is that new 
 susceptibilities to some of the purest and most exquisite mental 
 pleasures awaken in the breast, and we become conscious of senti- 
 ments and powers before dormant and unknown. A wide survey 
 
12 ADDRESS. 
 
 of the operations of Nature, in their sublimities and beauties, fur 
 nishes such a conception of the wisdom displayed in their origin 
 and maintenance as compels our admiration. The demonstra- 
 tions of power, evinced by the desolating tornado and terrific 
 earthquake, strike us with awe, but are scarcely more convincing 
 than the skill and wisdom manifested in the silent combination of 
 the gases, in the exquisitely graceful figures of crystals, and the 
 perfection of organization discernible in some of the minutest 
 forms of vegetable and animal life. Chemistry teaches us that 
 the oxygen which kindles ordinary combustion is the same 
 principle which purifies our blood, evolving animal heat, and 
 sustaining the steady flame of life ; while the same particles of 
 carbon are found successively in the mineral, vegetable and animal 
 kingdoms, coursing a ceaseless round, illustrative of Nature's 
 method of maintaining stability by incessant change. If we 
 minutely examine a drop of water by the aid of the microscope, 
 we find it crowded with myriads of animalcules, deriving suste- 
 nance and finding ample scope amid its uncounted particles ; 
 and if we proceed to analyze it by superior attraction, we find 
 that in the mild bosom of its compound state there are locked up 
 two of the most energetic elements known — oxygen, the supporter 
 of combustion, and hydrogen, the most combustible of all sub- 
 stances. To the eye of cultivated intellect, every part of creation, 
 beams with rays of light, and glory, and beauty. The enthusi- 
 astic zeal of every true student of science testifies that his pursuits 
 are of the highest interest, and is a sure promise to the beginner, 
 who sees but dimly into the system of Nature, that knowledge 
 will, in itself, be a sufficient reward. For the highest success in 
 the pursuit of any object, there must be a sincere love of the object 
 itself. The student, the thinker, the author, who is true to his 
 vocation, loves the truth which he seeks to develop, embody and 
 enunciate. He labors not for mere subsistence nor for fame pri- 
 marily. These may, indeed, result from his labors, and he may 
 
ADDRESS. 13 
 
 welcome them, but truth is higher and dearer in his estimation 
 than the j. Newton, sitting half a day on his bedside, with his 
 fast unbroken, rapt in a problem of fluxions ; Bacon, taking his 
 death-chill in an experiment to test the preserving qualities of 
 snow ; Linnaeus, studying the Flora of the Arctic Circle in place ; 
 Cuvier, a lordlier Adam than he of Eden, naming the whole ani- 
 mal kingdom in his museum, and reading the very thought of 
 the Creator after him, in their wondrous mechanism ; Pelletier, 
 laying down his life in an attempt to demonstrate the fitness of 
 Chlorine for respiration ; Franklin and Davy, wresting the secrets 
 of Nature from their inmost hiding-places ; these, and hundreds 
 of others similar, attest the power of these studies to elicit enthu 
 siasm, and engage the hand and heart in the service of Truth — 
 he Truth as she appears in the works of God, as seen in her sub- 
 limities or her beauties, in her world-poising might, as she moves 
 among the spheres, in the mysterious laws that combine a uni- 
 verse, and spell it to harmony ; or in her seeming trivialities, as 
 she condenses the damps of the summer evening in glittering 
 dew-drops, or paints with tints of lustrous beauty the tiny insect 
 that floats in the sunbeam. Truth is, indeed, the one legitimate 
 object of all intellectual effort; to discover and apprehend, to 
 establish, present and commend it, are the processes and end of 
 study. To discern the things that really are, to distinguish reality 
 from appearance and illusion, is the business of educated mind. 
 It is one of the most insteresting facts in the history of science, 
 that almost every great and central truth which we now possess 
 has been secured by the enthusiasm of some gifted man, upon 
 whom its discovery has conferred immortality. To discover it, 
 years have been consumed in the study and laboratory, until the 
 siugle truth shone forth with established lustre. Galileo spent his 
 life in vindicating the Copernican system, and perfecting the tel- 
 escope ; Harvey, in defending the circulation of the blood ; Jen- 
 ner, in the defense of the theory of vaccination; Lavoisier, in 
 
14 ADDRESS. 
 
 establishing the correct view of combustion. A burning love of 
 the truth, for the truth's own sake, inspired them, and such an 
 enthusiasm it is one of the benign effects of the pursuit of science 
 to awaken in noble minds. 
 
 111. The third branch of the topic named was, the numerous 
 and varied relations which this study bears to the economic arts 
 and the welfare of mankind. 
 
 It has been said, with classic beauty and truth, that every vista 
 in the ample domain of science should lead to a temple dedicated 
 to the benefit of man. 
 
 Devotion to works of practical utility seems to have been a 
 striking feature of the Saxon race ever since their character was 
 distinctly developed by the progress of civilization. The Ger- 
 mans have been chiefly remarkable for patient study, profound 
 research, abstruse speculation, and critical analysis, in all subjects 
 which can afford material, slight or solid, for intellect to work 
 upon ; the French have addicted themselves very much to the 
 pursuit of the agreeable, the beautiful, the exhilarating in man- 
 ners, literature and life; while the English have been distinguished 
 rather for sober and laborious attention to whatever is substan- 
 tially useful to man, as a physical, intellectual and social being. 
 They have not, indeed, neglected the elegances of literature, nor 
 the pursuit of pure science ; but they have left upon them the 
 strong impress of a passion for utility. And for the Anglo-Saxons 
 in America we may, perhaps, without vanity, challenge the honor 
 of having improved somewhat on the parent English utilitarian 
 stock, the very circumstances of our origin and history as a 
 people having tended strongly to develop this characteristic. 
 
 The difference, between man in a state of nature and in a state 
 of advanced science, is almost as great as that between distinct 
 orders of beings. With the former, the visible world is filled 
 with prodigies, and the invisible with imaginary beings. Objects 
 and events, which, familiar to us from our childhood, create no 
 
ADDRESS. 15 
 
 apprehension, fill his mind with dread and amazement. Every 
 event becomes a mystery to him whose canse he knows not, and 
 whose tendency he has no means of anticipating. Diseases attack 
 him, from causes which he does not understand, and carry their 
 fearful desolations through his frame in a manner which he can 
 neither trace nor control. The thunder rolls and the lightning 
 rives the sturdy oak by an invisible influence which he cannot 
 explain. An earthquake or volcano is equally an object of dread, 
 whose origin is inscrutable. To his view, the stars of night shine 
 with unmeaning splendor or merely excite inquiry whether they 
 exert an occult influence over the fates of men. But when science 
 has shed its light upon his mind, each one of the objects which 
 once affrighted him takes its place among the things known to be 
 adapted to promote his welfare, and to furnish him security and 
 happiness. Nature, no longer full of gloom and terror, has turned 
 her fiends to friends. The restless spirits of superstition are dis- 
 cerned to be the vapors of a mind oppressed by its own imagin- 
 ings. Eelieved of this incubus, man begins to examine the 
 changes in the world around him — which he attributes to some 
 secret and malign influence of invisible beings — traces them to 
 their true causes, and makes them tributary to his comfort and 
 intellectual advancement. The once much dreaded eclipse is now 
 accurately predicted, and intently watched to determine great 
 problems of astronomy and navigation. The elements he subjects 
 to his control ; and on every hand innumerable agents rise up, 
 with greater precision and power than those of living beings, to 
 aid him in the accomplishment of his purposes. Disease and 
 danger he learns, by the aid of science, to evade or control, while 
 he scrutinizes the heavens and the earth, the mineral, vegetable, 
 and animal kingdoms, to make all tributary to the expansion of 
 his mental powers, and to the advancement of his social welfare. 
 This difference, between man in a state of barbarism and man 
 aided by the powers which modern science has placed at his dis 
 
16 ADDRESS. 
 
 posal, we are prone to forget, for at our birth we have been. intro- 
 duced into all the benefits which have resulted from the scientific 
 discoveries of past times. We have not been witnesses of the 
 slow growth of science, of the struggles and conflicts which each 
 of its principles has encountered, before it has been enabled to 
 acquire the ascendancy, and exert its appropriate influence on 
 the welfare of society. 
 
 The contrast presented by ancient and modern philosophy, in 
 their direct influence upon the physical welfare of mankind, is 
 most striking; and to the modern views of the object of science, 
 as well as the modes of pursuing it, we owe nearly all its rapid 
 advancement. The differences of physical and medical science in 
 ancient times and at the present day are traceable almost exclu- 
 sively to this. Until the time of Lord Bacon, the true object of 
 science seems not to have been recognized, and the fundamental 
 tenet of his inductive philosophy was hailed as an innovation 
 upon the lethargic systems of ancient philosojDhy. While the 
 ancient philosophers busied themselves with discussions respect- 
 ing profound, mystic, ideal schemes, and endless abstract theories 
 of perfection, disdaining all contemplation of processes of nature 
 or art which might be made to minister to the physical benefit 
 and comfort of mankind, Bacon affirmed the true object of 
 science to be, the advancement of the welfare of man, the mitiga- 
 tion of the annoyances of human life, and the accumulation of 
 scientific discoveries and achievements for enriching the human 
 race. Utility, which was ignored or scorned, as degrading ancient 
 philosophy, became the dominant purpose of modern science, and 
 has ever since proved the mainspring of its progress. Nor can 
 we attribute its rapid advancement to the superior endowments of 
 its cultivators. The ancient philosophers have left abundant 
 proofs of intellectual powers adequate to the successful investiga- 
 tion of the laws of nature — admirable specimens of logical and 
 rhetorical skill — but, amid all the treasures of classic lore, we seek 
 
ADDBESS. 17 
 
 in vain for any rational explanation of the phenomena of nature, 
 with a view to the physical welfare of mankind. In the healing 
 art, what was more obvious than the study of the human frame 
 by dissection, educing the laws of its normal structure, constituting 
 the sciences of anatomy and physiology ? Yet, so far as we can 
 learn, dissection was not practiced by the ancients. What system 
 of investigation was more promising than that which accumulates 
 and collates facts respecting diseases, arranges them by patient 
 induction, discovers their laws and furnishes the basis for attempts 
 to restore to a state of health ? Instead of this, ancient medicine 
 consisted in attempts to ward off disease, and, failing in this, its 
 efforts to cure the sick were rare and impotent. Another differ- 
 ence between ancient and modern science is conspicuous in their 
 relations to the mass of the people. The former was confined 
 to certain privileged classes, constituting a philosophical caste, 
 wholly isolated from the interests and sympathies of the commu- 
 nity, and the knowledge of scientific truths was perpetually liable 
 to perish with their discoverers. But the scientific discoverers of 
 the present day find ready access to the public mind ; incorpora- 
 ting themselves in its thoughts and feelings, and modifying its 
 acts, they can never be obliterated. It is related of Phidias, the 
 famous Grecian sculptor, that in carving the statue of Minerva, 
 the tutelar divinity of Athens, he so engraved his own image 
 upon her shield that it could never be effaced without destroying 
 the shield and essentially marring the statue. In like manner 
 the principles of modern science are deeply graven upon the fea- 
 tures of society, and so pervade its texture that they can never 
 be removed without its destruction. How can the knowledge of 
 Sir Humphry Davy's safety-lamp ever perish ? Not only does it 
 daily guide ten thousand miners in safety amid the explosive fire- 
 damps of the mines, but, as a guardian angel, warns them of their 
 approach to danger. How can the knowledge of the mariner's 
 
 compass be blotted from the memory of man ? Every hour it 
 2 
 
18 ADDRESS. 
 
 guides the vessels of all nations with unerring certainty. When 
 can the knowledge of the use of steam be forgotten? Every 
 ocean, lake, and river, every art and nation acknowledge its power, 
 and the plans of all civilized nations, whether for war or peace, 
 for commerce or manufactures, for ambition or pleasure, involve 
 its use. When shall the knowledge of that property of electricity 
 become obsolete, which as the swift messenger, in the electro-mag- 
 netic telegraph, proclaims its utility by annihilating space and 
 time? 
 
 The science of chemistry affords as striking illustrations as any 
 which can be adduced of the value of a proper aim and correct 
 method of investigation. It was formerly an occult art, full of 
 mysterious and anomalous processes, based upon absurd theories, 
 and seeking to accomplish contradictory results. Instead of a 
 tissue of absurdities, incapable of reduction to any rational prin- 
 ciples, it is now, in the highest sense, a science. Its laws have 
 been examined and ascertained with great accuracy, and are sus- 
 ceptible of demonstration with as much clearness and facility as 
 the laws of mechanical philosophy. So eminently practical has 
 it become, that its beneficial effects are realized in almost every 
 department of life. By its aid, medicinal compounds have been 
 purified and concentrated, until no excuse remains for the incom- 
 patible nostrums with which the apothecary's art formerly abound- 
 ed. By analysis it reveals the dangerous nature of the choke- 
 damp of wells, mines and illy -ventilated apartments, while its 
 safety -lamps have arrested the fearful waste of human life, for- 
 merly involved in the extraction of coal. It lights up our dwell- 
 ings with brilliant gas, reduces the ores of valuable metals, 
 bleaches or imparts the never-fading tint, and, with the aid of the 
 subtle sunbeam, perpetuates the most fleeting forms. It discloses 
 the nature of air, earth, fire and water — of the products of vegeta- 
 ble and animal life. It has not, indeed, yet discovered that ignis 
 fatuus of the alchemists, the philosopher's stone, which was to 
 
ADDRESS. 19 
 
 transmute all substances into gold, but it has accomplished for us 
 far more valuable results, in improving art, in the departments of 
 medicine, agriculture and manufactures, and in disciplining our 
 mental powers, by the study of its phenomena and laws. The 
 secret science (as it was called) has escaped from the mysterious 
 closets of the monks, and become an habitual accompaniment of 
 every department of life, revealing its presence in the atmosphere 
 we breathe, and in all the • processes of domestic economy. Less 
 than a century ago, the composition of the atmosphere and ocean 
 were unknown to philosophy ; the identity of electricity with 
 lightning was scarcely established ; the wonders of galvanism and 
 electro-magnetism were not conceived, and that the same agent is 
 the basis of chemical action was not conjectured. It is unneces- 
 sary to trace in detail the causes which led to these changes in the 
 object and pursuit of the science. The principle of that philoso- 
 phy, which aspires to render science useful to man, runs through 
 them all, and no sooner had chemistry renounced the vain and 
 chimerical dreams of alchemy, than, fearless of the public gaze, 
 she abandoned her hiding-places and stood forth in the broad 
 light of science. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Medical Class : 
 
 In performing the pleasing duty assigned me, of welcoming you 
 to this Institution at the commencement of its annual course of 
 instruction, it seemed to me that no more appropriate theme for 
 reflection could be suggested, than that which would fix your 
 attention on the course of training to which you purpose to sub- 
 ject yourselves, and which is to be the great work of your lives. 
 You resort to this Institution for what purpose? To prepare 
 yourselves, you will, perhaps, reply, to become physicians. But 
 has it occurred to you to inquire into the fitness or design of your 
 exercises here? Have you become personally convinced that the 
 
20 ADDRESS. 
 
 great principles of medical education are the true ones? — that 
 they are true because they are founded in the intellectual nature 
 of man ? Do you, in your daily mental exercises, reflect that by 
 these processes eminent success is attained, and human knowledge 
 and happiness advanced. The design of these exercises is, whether 
 you are aware of it or not, to render your minds fitter instruments 
 for discovering and applying the laws of the Creator. This de- 
 sign is accomplished whenever the original powers of the mind 
 are thoroughly cultivated by use. But the improvement of the 
 memory, which to some of you, perhaps, seems the whole object of 
 education, does not of necessity strengthen the power of discrimi- 
 nation or induction. The law on this subject is universal, that 
 every separate faculty is strengthened and rendered more perfect 
 exactly in proportion as it is subjected to habitual and active ex- 
 ercise. The sciences which you here pursue are of peculiar 
 utility in this point of view, from the very manner in which 
 they must be investigated. They can be pursued with success 
 only by patient examination of facts ; their object is unalterable 
 truth, to be derived from oft-repeated observations, and accurate 
 deductions, imparting to the mind a habit of observation, most 
 difficult to acquire, but of inestimable value. Valuable as the 
 information may be, with which you may store your minds whilst 
 pursuing your studies, it is as nothing when compared with the 
 invigoration of the powers of your understanding, and their in- 
 creased aptitude for application, which will be the certain results 
 of an assiduous and enlightened training of those powers. Your 
 mental habits are of more importance than your acquisitions. 
 The importance of mental discipline, in connection with profes- 
 sional reputation and success, has been too little regarded ; and 
 especially in this advanced period of the history of professional 
 science is it a great error in any young man to suppose that he 
 can rise above mediocrity without a thorough cultivation of his 
 intellectual powers. The general principles of the profession — 
 
ADDRESS. 21 
 
 results as they are of the study, experience and wisdom of suc- 
 cessive generations — are, to a great extent, settled upon so firm a 
 basis that they are in very little clanger of being overthrown, by 
 dreamy speculations or visionary theories. Medical philosophy is 
 a science in the strictest sense of that term — classified facts ; the 
 result of the most rigid induction of facts gathered by the most 
 careful experiment and accurate observation. Its practice involves 
 processes of the most severe logic. Too long, for the interests 
 of humanity, has it been believed, that, while thorough intellect- 
 ual culture and mental discipline were indispensable to success in 
 other professions, the issues of life and death might daily hang 
 upon the inconclusive reasoning of an untutored mind, which has 
 spent a few months in undirected medical reading. But, it may 
 be asked, if an accurate memory and diligent reading have fur- 
 nished that mind with the requisite facts, is it not fitted for action ? 
 By no means. Of what service would the best furnished armory 
 be to him who knows not how to use a single piece ? A mind 
 filled to repletion with facts, without that skill in the use of them 
 which is the result of mental discipline, is deplorably imbecile in 
 all its efforts — an elaborate piece of machinery with no moving- 
 power. Every year is adding to the amount of learning connected 
 with the profession. It is idle to pretend that there are not, at 
 this day, valuable sources of information, to the examination of 
 which the most industrious life is hardly equal, and without an 
 acquaintance with which no one of the profession ought to hope 
 to secure the confidence and command the respect of his fellow- 
 men. A knowledge of diseases and their remedies, or an acquaint- 
 ance with the writings of those who have been distinguished in 
 the various departments of the profession, never has been, and 
 never will be, attained by intuition. ISTor can it be the work of 
 a day or a year — it is the labor of a life. The last half century 
 has produced a great change in the medical profession. It has 
 opened new sources of instruction of the most valuable character, 
 
22 ADDRESS. 
 
 and elevated Medical Science to a high and dignified position. 
 To the credit of the age, it may be said that more liberal views are 
 entertained, in regard to medical education and thorough qualifi- 
 cation for professional respectability and usefulness, than were 
 formerly cherished. It is now a common sentiment, that while 
 great pains are taken to secure the services of men of talents and 
 learning in the pulpit, and those of the most skill in the legal pro- 
 fession, it is unwise to entrust life and health to the guardianship 
 of ignorant pretenders. With any other views than those which 
 embrace the increasing responsibilities of stations you contemplate 
 occupying, you will degenerate into listless students, and mere 
 practitioners of habit and empiricism. As you value your own 
 success, and the lives and happiness of those who may be commit- 
 ted to your care, permit no opportunity to escape of thoroughly 
 disciplining your mental powers and securing all the knowledge 
 that is attainable by energetic and diligent study. Be assured 
 that the pleasure you will derive from the daily conviction that 
 vou are acting on the sure basis of conscious strength and inform- 
 ation, will be a source of perpetual enjoyment. Neither should 
 vou be content with garnering up the results of previous labors in 
 the cause of Science, but strive to bear at least some humble part 
 in enlarging that intellectual treasury whose magnificence and 
 wealth are freely opened to you. I have called your attention 
 to the fact that the Science of the present generation is the ac- 
 cumulated fruit of the patient study of thousands of minds all 
 guided to one end — the improvement of the human race. From 
 the period when the alchemist brooded over his mystic rites, 
 in indefatigable but vain search after the brilliant phantoms of 
 his dreams, to that in which Davy and Dalton have demonstrat- 
 ed not merely the quality but the definite proportions of the 
 elements of the most complex substances, the long interval 
 has been filled up, and the wonderful conclusions of science 
 attained by the incessant mental toil of numerous, acute, patient, 
 
ADDRESS. 23 
 
 and daring intellects through days of thought and nights of watch- 
 ing. Great men, during a long train of ages, have accumulated 
 and transmitted to you this more than regal heritage, through a 
 line far more illustrious than any ancestry ever blazoned by her- 
 aldry. Instead of inflating your vanity, let this consideration 
 incite you to high resolve and manly action. If you find your- 
 selves to be debtors to the past in an almost incalculable amount, 
 will you not feel stimulated to the desire of paying some part of 
 the debt, by services to the present and the future ? Others have 
 lived and toiled for us — it is for us to live and labor for others. 
 Do you say that you lack genius for such exploits? Yet these 
 achievements were wrought by minds like your own. In those 
 periods in which science has advanced with the greatest rapidity, 
 the same discovery has been made independently by several indi- 
 viduals at the same time. This teaches us that the laws then 
 discovered pointed out the next step in discovery, and thus that 
 talent common to many was able to accomplish what the highest 
 endowments in intellect had previously found to be impossible. 
 Men often possess a greater share of genius than they are willing 
 to give themselves credit for. Newton, the prince of philoso- 
 phers, owed his success, at least, in his own estimation, to his un- 
 tiring perseverance, rather than to any superiority of natural 
 gifts. Nor should the want of time be objected, when it is 
 remembered that many have acquired an honorable distinction as 
 men of scieuce, with whom philosophy has been only the recrea- 
 tion of their leisure hours. The pressing cares of a diplomatist, 
 and the consciousness that a nation's destiny was hanging, in an 
 important sense, upon the fidelity with which he served its inter- 
 ests, could not prevent Benjamin Franklin from turning aside 
 often to converse with Nature. That well-earned wreath which 
 he will ever continue to wear while experimental philosophy has 
 its votaries, or respect is paid to science, may be said literally to 
 have been woven of those remnants and shreds of time which 
 
24 ADDBESS. 
 
 by many are given to listless vacuity, to some trivial amusement, 
 or to the cravings of a vitiated appetite. There is no doubt that 
 those splendid attainments in astronomical science which made 
 our countryman, Dr. Bowditch, a denizen of both hemispheres, 
 which gave American science a name and place in European esti- 
 mation, and which caused his death to be so deeply deplored 
 throughout the scientific world, were owing to his untiring indus- 
 try and rigid economy of time. Instances of a similar nature 
 might be adduced from almost every walk of science. 
 
 The profession, gentlemen, to which you aspire is worthy of 
 your respect, because of its usefulness ; of your love, because of 
 its intimate alliance with the virtues which follow in the train of 
 benevolence : of your veneration, because it reckons among its 
 ornaments many of the most powerful minds, whose existence is 
 graven on the records of history, and because of the vast amount 
 of profound truth and sublime speculation which distinguish it as 
 a science, and signalize its achievements as an art. If, with such 
 a view of the calling, you labor with assiduity to fit yourselves 
 for its responsibilities, you cannot fail of your reward. Whether 
 wealth or poverty be your lot, whether you pass your lives sur- 
 rounded by a throng of admirers, or in the solitude of neglect, 
 whether you are loaded with distinction, or live obscurely use- 
 ful, you will enjoy the ineffable satisfaction of the assurance 
 that "the blessing of him that was ready to perish has come 
 upon you." 
 
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 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C28(23ft)M10O