m M. it iM UfflTEESITT OF MICHIGAN. A MEMORIAL DISCOURSE LIFE ^JSTJD SERVICES Alonzo Benjamin Palmer, K D., LL. D., Professor in the University from 1852 to 1887; Dean of the Department of Medicine and Surgery. Delivered in University Hall, by request of tlqe Senate, Aprii d'.'l BY Ooz^ttidoilt I_i. Fobid, “MI. HD., XjZj- ZD. PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY, 1QQ8. * TOTIYEESITY OF MICHIGAN A MEMORIAL DISCOURSE ON THE LIFE EEISTID SEEVIOES OF Alonzo Benjamin Palmer, 1 . D., LL. D., Professor in the University from 1852 to 1887; Dean of the Department of Medicine and Surgery. Delivered in University Hall, by request of tlqe Senate, April 8. 1888, Coetdon I_i_ IXoirid, XX- ID., X-jX-j- XD. PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY, lees. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/memorialdiscoursOOford Proceedings of the ITniyersity Senate. On the death of Or. Palmer, the President called a special meeting of the University Senate. The meeting was held in the President’s room on the afternoon of December 26, 1887. A tribute to the memory of Dr. Palmer, prepared by a com- mittee of the Senate, was adopted and ordered to be entered on the records. The Secretary was directed to transmit a copy of this tribute to Mrs. Palmer, and to furnish the press with copies for publication. Preliminary arrangements were also made at this meeting for the delivery of a memorial address. The following is a copy of the memorial tribute, taken from the Senate records : Professor Alonzo B. Palmer, M. D., LL. D:, Professor of Pathol- ogy and the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the Department of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Michigan, died at liis resi- dence in this city, on Friday, the 23rd of December, 1887, in the sev- enty-third year of his age. To the majority of people, even his acquaintances and intimate friends, this event was wholly unanticipated until within a few hours of his decease, but to the practiced medical observer it had been for more than a year apparent that Dr. Palmer was slowly failing in physical strength and vigor, and, for some months past, disease had stamped itself upon his features in such a manner — impossible to describe in words, and incapable of recognition or interpretation except by the observant phy- sician— as to indicate that it was organic in its nature, and would soon terminate his life. For a long time he had a constant and overwhelming dread of becoming incapacitated for active work by the infirmities incident to advanced age, and therefore relegated to a life of inactivity in which he would be a mere incumbrance and burden upon others, and where he would be compelled, with regretful eyes, to look upon some younger and more active laborer taking up the line of work which had been his life s duty and pleasure. His wishes and his prayer were that ne might be spared this infliction. And so, with entire propriety, we may esteem it a subject for rejoicing, rather than for mourning, that his desires in this 4 Senate Proceedings. respect were not disappointed ; for, while he was still in the active dis- charge of full duty, “ God’s finger touched him and he died.” Dr. Palmer was associated with the University for more than thirty-five years. In 1852 he was appointed Professor of Anatomy ; in 1854 he was transferred to the mixed chair of Materia Medica and Ther- apeutics and the Diseases of Women and Children. And again, in 1860, he was assigned to the Professorship of Pathology and the Theory and Practice of Medicine, which position he held up to the time of his death. During this long service — which almost covers the life history of the Department of Medicine and Surgery, — and engaged as he was in teaching therein several branches of medicine, — he had a large influence in shaping the general policy of the Medical Department, and contributed very materially to its unbroken success; and it was his rare good fortune to see the College which had started as a feeble organization, limited in patronage and weak in influence and power, steadily develop into one of the largest and most prominent medical colleges of the country, and to realize that he could, with strict justice, assume to himself no little credit for his efforts in contributing to this end. His success and his reputation as a teacher were not limited to the bounds of our own University, and he was tendered appointments in other institutions. The arrangement of the annual term of lectures in the Medical Department was then such that a portion of each year was unoccupied in his professional work here, and he therefore, in 1863, accepted an appointment to the same chair which he filled here, in the flourishing Berkshire Medical College, at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and in 1869 a similar position in the Medical Department of Bowdoin Col- lege, at Brunswick, Maine. These engagements were terminated — at Pittsfield by the gradual decline and ultimate dissolution of the Berkshire school, and at Bowdoin College by the adoption in our own University, in 1877, of the graded system of medical education, and the extension of the lecture term to the full collegiate year of nine months, which necessitated his continued residence here. Dr. Palmer’s devotion to teaching was remarkable ; it was not simply a duty, nor was it a labor perfunctorily gone through with in obedience to the requirements of the position he occupied, but it was the inspiration and the chief pleasure of his life. Actuated by those motives, it creates no surprise to know that his fondness for the lecture room was something phenomenal. And so, whenever from illness or other exigency, a colleague was temporarily absent, he was ever ready and glad to step in and fill the hour, as it enlarged his opportunity for engaging in his favorite work. In the different colleges in which he was engaged, it is probable that from eight thousand to ten thousand students have sat under his teachings. The large majority of them entered into practice, and it is simply impossible to estimate the influence which our late colleague Senate Pjroceedings. 5 must have exercised upon the working members of the medical profes- sion in this country, and it is simply appalling to think of the limitless disaster that must come from one not governed by high and manly motives, and pure and elevating principles, in association with such a large number of young men. But there can be no doubt on this score in Dr. Palmer’s career, for he was pre-eminently a man of principle. His Christian life and character were beautiful and elevating in effect, and they were known and read by every one who came into association with him. Outside of his chief work as a teacher, his fixed principles led him to other efforts at doing good. He was a stern and uncompromising oppo- nent of the use of alcoholic or other stimulating or narcotic agents. His devotion to fixed convictions of duty in these matters was firm and con- stant, and so he was always found in the front rank of the workers for reform, urging with all his strength others to join in the work, and encouraging by his advice, his personal example, and his aid in support- ing organizations formed for such purposes. No one for an instant could question his sincerity and his honesty of views, and, while they may not always have carried conviction, they invariably commanded respect for the advocate, and admiration for his devotion to principle. This mental characteristic led him to an earnest opposition to what he deemed erroneous views in ethics, in science, or in medicine. In the literature of medicine Dr. Palmer contributed many fugi- tive essays of interest and value. Beside these, he published Lectures on Homoeopathy in permanent book form, and a text-book for schools entitled Temperance Teachings of Science , which has had a wide circula- tion. As the crowning work of his life he published in two large octavo volumes a complete treatise on The Science and Practice of Medicine. In preparation for this work he was many years collecting materials, and just previous to the immediate work of composition he spent over a year in Europe in the colleges and hospitals, to avail himself of the most recent advances in medical science and art. It will remain a monument to his industry, his ability, and his devotion to duty, and his intense desire to aid in the advance of the study and work of his life — practical medicine. The esteem in which his ability and attainments were held by his brethren in the profession, is indicated by the fact that in the Interna- tional Medical Congress, which recently met at Washington, he occupied the important position of Chairman of the Section of Pathology, and in that capacity gave an address in the general session of the Congress ; and in the American Medical Association he held at the time of his death the office of Chairman of the Section on the Practice of Medicine. The members of the University Senate, with a profound sense of the loss which they have suffered in the decease of their venerable and eminent colleague, desire to express their deep and tender sympathy with his bereaved wife. I * ALONZO BENJAMIN PALMER. .A. MEMORIAL ADDRESS, BY PROFESSOR CORYDOH L. FORD, M. D., LL. D. In complying with a request to speak at a memorial ser- vice held as a tribute to the memory of Dr. Palmer, who has been identified with this University longer than any man, except the late venerable Dr. Williams, I am called to a duty which I never thought possible, for we always looked upon him as physically the model man of the Faculty, destined to out-work and out-last all his colleagues ; and the blow came with a sudden surprise, not looked for by any of his friends and daily associates, except, perhaps, a very few T , whose pro- fessional eye saw danger in the less elastic step and paling face. Had I anticipated any such sad duty, I could easily have known more of his early life than it is possible now to obtain. Happily anything associated with his youthful days is of less importance, and possesses less interest for those gathered here, than what he was and what he did as a man occupying an honorable and responsible position before the public. Dr. Palmer’s ancestors were from Hew England, which freely contributed earnest and enterprising families to eastern and central Hew York, whose influence in making Hew Y~ork what it is, needs no mention here. 8 Memorial Address. Dr. Alonzo Benjamin Palmer was born in Richfield, Otsego County, New York, on the 6th day of October, 1815, and died in the seventy-third year of his age, on December 23, 1887. He had by inheritance a good constitution, which served him so well that, by rational regard to the laws of health, which have been his life study, he attained and enjoyed a vig- orous manhood, and reached the allotted period of human life, with an apparent vigor that promised yet many years of active usefulness. It is now known that for sometime he had recog- nized the quiet progress of a disease that disappointed our expectations that he might reach his four score years. In youth he had the advantages of such schools as then were general in that State — the common schools and acade- mies — and, like so many of the public men now passing away, he had not the benefit of a college education, which fact may be a matter of encouragement to others with similar disad- vantages. Lacking the results of a thorough college training, still, by perseverance, prompted by an honorable ambition, he devoted himself so earnestly to his profession and to general culture, that he became, as we all know, such a proficient as to do credit by his scholarship as well as by his professional attainments to the profession which he has adorned. In rec- ognition of this the degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him some thirty years ago, and in 1881 the University which he has honored for more than thirty years honored him by conferring upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. In January, 1839, he graduated at the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons of the Western District of New York, located in Fairfield, Herkimer County. Michigan had recently become a State and the movement of the young and enterprising was westward. Going west in those days was a very different matter from what it is at pres- ent, when railroads, to a large extent, precede and carry the new settler. Memorial Address. 9 We next hear of our young M. D. at Tecumseh, where he has opened an office and is duly heralded as the “new doc- tor.” What circumstances induced him to locate there I have no means of ascertaining. It is enough that the new country and the coming people needed doctors, and this pleasant loca- tion and prospective village prompted him to cast his lot among them. We may reasonably believe that the active life of the next ten years had an important influence in confirming the vigor- ous health that characterized the man for most of the ensuing fifty years; for his has been an example of remarkable vigor up to the three score years and ten. Knowing the traveling facilities and infelicities in Michi- gan nearly fifty years ago, it is easy, in imagination, to recog- nize our recent graduate mounting his horse, with the tradi- tional saddle bags of former days astride the saddle and kept in position by the weight of the owner. He is summoned to the relief of some unfortunate victim of accident or disease, and with the energy characteristic of the man he proceeds with due celerity to the scene of his trial and his triumph. With youthful vigor and enterprise he is breasting the storms of winter and braving the heat of summer, earnestly intent on the errand of his chosen profession — to relieve human suffering, to ward off* disease, to stay the ebbing sands of life, to hurry back to health and usefulness the victim of accident or misfortune. Whether the message come by night or by day, he is ready. He does not stop to enquire who will pay the bills. It is enough that human suffering seeks relief, that some unfortunate one asks the benefit, the blessing of the skill he is supposed to possess. In many a place where he must find the cabin of the new comer to the “wilds of Michigan,” no carriage can convey the coming messen- ger of relief. He soon learns the highways and the by- ways, and goes alike by the one or the other, where the sum- mons commands. Nor does he play the drone in going. The messenger of mercy regards the cry of anguish and hastens 10 Memorial Address. with relief. Year by year lie is the servant of the sufferer by the unsanitary conditions of this new country. He learns to arrest the progress of disease, to- turn the tide and bid return the bloom of health to the victim of malaria. But let us go to this young Doctor’s office. What shall we find, and what shall we miss in our search? We shall find books — professional books — books that give evidence of hav- ing been used. We shall miss all evidences of mental or moral dissipation. We shall miss all evidence that it is the resort of such as have too much leisure on hand, and want a place and a man to help them kill time. We are dealing with a man of leisure, because a man of system. And what did he do with his leisure? The first broken limb demanding his attention furnished the occasion for carefully reviewing in his library the best methods of deal- ing with the case that comes to him for consideration, and so different from his anticipations. The first dislocation does not conform in appearance to what he remembers, and now lie studies the subject with an interest quite different from that of the time when his professor described it in the lecture room. And so of the cases of fever, or colic, or pneumonia. Hitherto he has studied books, now he studies disease. He compares the teaching of books and professors with the teach- ings of disease. He sees disease in a different light. His knowledge is increased, and the more he knows the more clearly does he appreciate the magnitude of the unknown. Thus years passed. He has visited nearly every house and family within a radius of many miles. He can remember the places and the occasions of the crushing anxiety and responsibility that oppressed him, as he saw the healer’s art was vain; and he recalls, with lasting pleasure and delight, the results of devotion and skill that turned the tide of disease, and saved that mother, who seemed about to enter the unknown land, and gave to a helpless family a guardian angel. Thus passed several years of a busy and useful life. He was prized, respected, and honored. He had the love, the high Memorial Address. 11 regard, and lasting gratitude of those hundreds, I may say thousands, to whom in time of agony and anguish he was a messenger of relief. He was true to humanity, true to their needs. He was the model man, the model physician. He honored the profession, he honored himself, and he honored his God. The much that he had learned increased his desire to know more. After these eight or nine years of practice where he first located, he decided to profit by the opportunities of a large city, with ample hospitals ; to see disease in variety and in circumstances not possible in an ordinary country practice. So, in the winters of 1847-8 and 1848-9, Dr. Palmer spent several months in attendance upon lectures and in hos- pitals, doubtless in anticipation of an enlarged sphere of usefulness, and better to qualify him for any position that might open before him. Those were profitable months and his career for the almost forty years that followed has been largely influenced by such opportunities. In these ten years Dr. Palmer has seen disease, has stud- * ied disease, has mingled with physicians of wider experience and in more exalted position, as the world estimates station. His ambition is stirred, he desires a larger field, and the stimulus of association with more men in kindred pursuits. The great and growing city of Chicago tempts him, and he decides to give up the comparative quiet of a country prac- tice and engage in the bustle and tussle of business in that city of excitement. Accordingly, in 1850, he enters Chicago and boldly strikes for his share of the work to be done in the healing art. For two years he was associated with Dr. N. S. Davis, in general practice, and in 1852 he was appointed City Phy- sician, and was the official medical adviser of the health officer of the city. In that capacity he had a large experience in caring for those who suffered from cholera during the fearful epidemic. From the official report which he made of its severity and extent, and his pains in investigating the inception 12 Memorial Address. and progress of the disease, it is evident, that with character- istic energy and fidelity 4 he devoted himself to .the care of the unfortunate victims of a disease, then much more alarming and fatal in its attacks than at a later period; for at that time the condition of the city was favorable in many respects for the terrific ravages which marked its progress. Dr. Palmer’s careful observation and large experience during the three years devoted to that duty, was admirable preparation for producing the valuable work on cholera, which everywhere exhibits the character and devotion of the man. Dr. Palmer also had other aspirations, and held himself in readiness to assume the responsibilities of a professor in the University of Michigan, for which the time spent in New York and Philadelphia was energetically employed, for he believed he had capacity, and a mission in behalf of others seeking to enter the profession that engaged all his energies; and he was willing to surrender the bright prospects opening before him in Chicago, after these five years of ceaseless activity, for the more quiet life here, because of the opportunity for study and the enjoyment of imparting truth to others, helping them to the intellectual pleasure of education, and the ability to com- fort and bless mankind. For just one-third of a century have Dr. Palmer and myself been colleagues — fellow workers in the Department of Medicine and Surgery, in this University. Our first meet- ing was as we simultaneously began our labors here, on the first of October, in 1854. This brought us together for what has proved an unusu- ally long period of labor. Animated by a common purpose, we soon became friends, and during these more than thirty years of united service, though sometimes differing as to the expediency of this or that particular measure, nothing has ever disturbed our confidence; and the recollection of our pleasant and harmonious relations will permanently remain as a fre- quent reminder of the hearty co-operation in all that could Memorial Address. 13 promote the prosperity of the department of the University with which we have been so long identified. As Dr. Palmer had the benefit of several years’ experience in the practice of his profession, he entered upon his duties with a high ideal of the qualifications of a teacher who assumes the position of an instructor of those who are to become the guardians of the community in the matter of public and indi- vidual health. Dr. Palmer’s connection with the University began in 1852, when he was appointed Professor of Anatomy, with the expectation that, as soon as the slowly accumulating funds would allow, he would be called to active duty. Meanwhile Professor Gunn taught anatomy and surgery. In view of this anticipated work, his devotion to the requisite preparation in reviewing and perfecting his knowl- edge of anatomy was laying a good foundation for the earnest and successful work he was destined to do in pathology and practical medicine. He never lectured on anatomy, for when the expected time arrived he was assigned to other duty. Owing to a change in the Faculty, in 1854, Dr. Palmer was appointed Professor of Materia Medica, Therapeutics, and Diseases of Women and Children. For the ensuing six years he gave instruction, with most complete satisfaction, in the branches here indicated. The value of these six years’ experience in teaching those branches will not be over-estima- ted in relation to his future work. The death of Prof. Samuel Denton, in September, 1860, made vacant the chair of Practice, and Dr. Palmer was trans- ferred, and became Professor of Pathology and the Practice of Medicine, which professorship he has occupied for the last twenty-seven years with a success which has largely contributed to give this University a reputation wherever medical science is taught or valued. The few days before the opening of the next session afforded no time to seek a new professor, and to avoid unwise, 14 Memorial Address. because hasty, action, in making an appointment, it was arranged that in addition to his new duties, he should continue for the session to lecture on materia medica and therapeutics; and here was illustrated his willingness and capacity for work, as well as earnest desire that the instruction of the session should be complete, when I state that a carefully kept record of daily duty shows that, during the session of 1860-61, Dr. Palmer gave 193 lectures, while the usual number did not exceed 100. I deem it but justice to say, that although his labor was nearly doubled, and he thus largely contributed to save to the Uni- versity the salary of a professor, his reward for such extra labor never exceeded thanks, and the gratitude of students. By the appointment of Prof. S. G. Armor, in 1861, Dr. Palmer was enabled to devote his energies to the more com- plete development of his own department of labor, which he accomplished with such success as to be an important element in the constantly enlarging reputation of the Medical College, whose increasing numbers extended the name and fame of the University. Dr. Palmer’s interest in the students and zeal for their improvement, were illustrated in devising additional means of instruction and widening the range of their acquirements, and to this end he prepared, and in the evening gave some lectures on botany. His powers of endurance and capacity for labor seemed to be equalled only by anxiety to employ every means that could promote the welfare of students, and he appeared never weary in well-doing, and was what I may properly call a u minute man,” ever ready to till an hour made vacant by ill- ness, or some mishap of a colleague. He believed in carrying out the programme by the Faculty as well as by students, an example of fidelity, characteristic of the man in all official duties. Students from the University go east as well as west, and one who graduated here in 1855, remembering his ability and fidelity, promptly acquiesced in the suggestion that wdiile Memorial Address. I 15 unoccupied in the University, he might be secured for a pro- fessorship made vacant in derangements caused by the war; and as a result Dr. Palmer was invited to give the lectures on Materia Medica in the Berkshire Medical Institution at Pittsfield, Mass., in the fall of 1863, and he also gave the cburse on Practice for that and the four succeeding years. Probably as a result of this work in the east, in 1869 he was appointed to the chair of Practice in the Medical School of Maine, in Bowdoin College, at Brunswick. He continued to lecture there with great satisfaction till the extension of the term in this institution to nine months required his presence here, and his resignation was reluctantly accepted by the trustees of Bowdoin College. In all colleges interruptions of labor occur by reason of sickness or death among its members, and I recall a time when the illness of Dr. Sager caused an interruption of his work, and Dr. Palmer, true to himself and the institution he has served, came to the rescue, and by extra lectures, cheerfully undertaken, did much to supplement the labor interrupted, and to insure satisfaction in that important department of instruc- tion, for which his duties during the first six years proved an admirable preparation; and I may appropriately say the Uni- versity has been singularly fortunate in having a man, so fitted by health, varied experience, zeal for students’ welfare, and love of work, that could so readily and so successfully take up the labor so required by the failure of others. The importance of extending our facilities for clinical instruction was fully appreciated by Dr. Palmer, and the enter- prise received his cordial support and co-operation; and although he understood that his individual labor might be doubled thereby, his zeal in this direction received no chill from the full realization of this fact, and the Hdelity of his service there is fully attested by those who sometimes found the hours prolonged, while for him, they were quite generally too short. And surely no man has ever labored more earnestly than he to make certain the qualifications of those whom we 16 Memorial Address. have educated and sent forth bearing the honors and endorse- ment of the University. I know from repeated conversation with him the high value he placed upon bringing student and patient face to face, and with what delight he improved every opportunity to make sure that the student had more than a slight acquaintance with every important disease. Indeed, justice to his efforts in this direction calls for the statement that in 1858 Dr. Palmer went to Detroit, after the session closed here, and for some months taught a class of students from the University, at St. Mary’s Hospital, in the hope that by some permanent arrangement there adequate pro- vision might be made to give that needed instruction to all graduates after the close of lectures here. The desire was, not to supersede instruction here, but to supplement it by a special post-graduate training in the directly practical branches. The embarrassments in the way of success there could not be overcome, and the effort was not resumed another year. In 1859 Dr. Palmer spent several months in Europe in medical observation and improvement, the results of which he highly prized, and by which great numbers have profited. One who recalls the curriculum in most medical colleges thirty or forty years ago, and contrasts it with our present long course, will at once appreciate the urgent reasons for extending our term from six to nine months. The Univer- sity took the lead in college sessions of long terms by making our course six months at its organization in 1850, and, having added to the original requirements for students study in the anatomical laboratory and in the chemical, and at a later period in the histological, none of which were originally ciemanded, the urgency of an extension of the term became more mani- fest; and not without some apprehension as to the result, it was finally decided in 1878, that the session should be extended to the full nine months now required in all departments of the University. Although this rendered necessary, on the part of Dr. Memorial Address. IT Palmer, the surrender of remunerative labor elsewhere, he not only cheerfully acquiesced, but was foremost in urging the extension, and ever rejoiced at the opportunity thus secured, to give fuller instruction in some subjects than here- tofore, or to take up some new phase of our ever-widening science, and only those who know his zeal to have this depart- ment fully in the .front rank in everything, are aware how fully he was devoted to the work of promoting its interests, and how near the truth Was the playful remark sometimes made, that he was wedded to the University. His love of this service originally induced him to surrender his pros- pects for professional success in Chicago and identify himself with this, then young, institution. As I am the only remaining member of the old Faculty on duty, and as we are commemorating the services of one so long a member of the same, it seems eminently appropriate to recall in this connection, by a brief notice, the names and ser- vices of the men who, with him, taught in the University and contributed by a like fidelity of service and earnest work to the prosperity and reputation of the Medical College, and i name them mainly in the order in which their life work was completed. They were true and earnest fnen, of whom it is a pleasure to speak in w T ords of commendation, and where more properly than as associated with the man we honor and mourn to-day ? The first was Dr. Samuel Denton, who participated in the original organization of the Medical Department, and for ten years held the chair of Practical Medicine, and who, for that time, bore an honorable part in shaping the policy and giving reputation to the school which was destined soon to create, by its success, so rapidly rising to fame, no little sensation in the medical world. In September, 1860 , he closed his ten years of successful service in the college. He died in Ann Arbor, his home for many years. Dr. Henry S. Cheever was a graduate of the University in the Department of Literature, Science, and the Arts, in 18 Memorial Address. 1863, and of the Department of Medicine and Surgery, in 1866. He became, in succession, assistant in the Chemical Laboratory in 1866, Demonstrator of Anatomy in 1867, Pro- fessor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in 1868, to which was added, in 1872, the Professorship of Physiology, and after an eminently successful career of ten years, was com- pelled, on account of failing health, to resign his position in 1876, and died in March, 1877, at the early age of 39, with a record of faithful service and eminently successful teaching of a difficult branch. He is remembered with delight by the hun- dreds who, by his intelligent and zealous labor, creditable alike to himself and the College, were stimulated to higher achieve- ments, still bearing noble fruit in the service of humanity. The next to pass away was Professor Abram Sager, who, though compelled by failing health to resign his professorship, so that he did not die in the service of the State, deserves hon- orable mention here, because of a service in the University from 1812, till the time of his resignation in 1875, a faithful labor of thirty-three years. Of this long period, twenty-five years were employed in the Department of Medicine and Surgery, where his wealth of learning and wide medical scholarship, and eminent service in his department of instruction, did much to give character to the institution and qualify many to do work which has largely blessed humanity and reflected honor upon their alma mater. He died in August, 1877, in the sixty- seventh year of his age. In 1869 Professor A. B. Crosby, an accomplished scholar and skillful surgeon, became a member of this Faculty, and for two years made the lecture room attractive, where he held the undivided attention of the crowds that were charmed alike by his matter and his manner. After such brief service here, all too brief according to the wishes of those who rejoiced in the prosperity of the University, his reputation drew him to a large city, where he finished his life work in 1875, in the forty-fourth year of his age, leaving there, as well as here, a name and fame, well and justly earned. Memorial Address. 19 William Warren Greene graduated from this Department in 1855, and by liis brilliant talents and zeal soon entered upon a career of such unusual success that he was invited to a pro- fessorship of Surgery in an eastern college, and on the resig- nation of Professor Gunn in 1867, he was appointed to the chair of Surgery in this institution, and in one year of duty established a reputation as a lecturer and an operator seldom attained by so young a man, which is remembered with great interest by all who shared the benefit of his teaching. His pre-eminent talents were shown by the rare combination which enabled him to lecture with exceptional clearness and ease, make an operation and conduct a clinic, so that students used to say he excels in each. His life work was completed in 1881, in the forty-third year of his age. In 1861 Professor Samuel G. Armor became a member of the Medical Faculty, and speedily justified the wisdom of his selection by the interest felt in materia medica and the insti- tutes of medicine, which in his hands meant applied physiology. His enthusiastic earnestness, his interest in the students, his profound knowledge of the subjects he was called to teach, speedily made him a favorite with students and the Faculty, who, with entire unanimity regretted his resignation in 1868 for what promised a wider field of usefulness, in the offered facilities for clinical teaching, while in the University we had very little. His genial manner and earnestness secured him life-long friends of all who listened to his instruction. Dr. Armor was a clear, logical thinker and teacher, who 'classified truths, and made them mentally tangible, while he charmed the listener by his manner. Few men have attained a wider fame as a teacher than Professor Armor, who died in Brooklyn, N. Y.. in October, 1885, in the sixty-eightli year of his age. Of those who have aided to make the College what it has been and still remains, who have finished their course, there yej remains, what I may almost call the pioneer in all this enterprise. Dr. Moses Gunn received his diploma in my pres- 20 Memorial Address. ence, in January, 1846, at Geneva College. He was an Ontario County man, educated in Canandaigua, both in classical and medical studies. As an illustration of his enterprise, I mention that he left his home on the Monday following the day of his gradu- ation, and arrived in Ann Arbor on the 6th day of February, and in two weeks from the day he left home he had made arrangements, and commenced a course of lectures on anatomy in this city, for which his previous earnest devotion to dissec- tion had made admirable preparation, and that' thorough study ever after inspired the confidence with which he undertook for- midable operations, with a self-reliance, based on accurate knowledge. Here he began his professional life and surgical career. His facility in lecturing, and manifest acquaintance with the science he had undertaken to teach attracted attention, and marked him as no ordinary man, and on succeeding seasons he repeated lectures on anatomy, accompanied by dissections and demonstrations, the first ever given in Ann Arbor, if not in Michigan. The Department of Arts and Sciences was already in successful operation. The charter provided for a medical col- lege. Dr. Gunn had demonstrated his ability to teach, and soon engaged with Drs. Sager and Douglas, who were already members of the Faculty, in the Department of Arts and Sciences, in securing the organization of the Department of Medicine and Surgery. As a result of these efforts, and the presence of men ready for the contemplated work, the Re- gents proceeded to organize the College, and the first course of lectures was commenced on the first of October, 1850, and was given with a success that astonished everyone as they became acquainted with the fact that ninety students attended the first course of lectures in this new college. For four years he taught anatomy and surgery with a suc- cess that placed him at once in the front rank of teachers. # I may say of him, he had a u teaching diathesis He grasped Memorial Address. 21 truth clearly, believed it firmly, and stated it impressively, so that, as has been said, with him truth had horns, there is some- thing to lay hold of, something to hold on to. One is sure he believes it ; and is convinced that he knows it. In 1852 Dr. Gunn removed to Detroit, that he might have a larger field for surgical practice, and thus do greater service to the institution and give to students the benefits of a wider experience. He resided in Detroit, and came to Ann Arbor to lecture till 1867, when he resigned and removed to Chicago, where he spent twenty years as Professor of Surgery in Push Medical College, and in successful surgical practice in that city. His honorable and useful life closed Nov. 4, 1887, in the sixty- sixth year of his age, after almost forty-two years of service in his profession. Dr. Palmer’s readiness to devise extra means or plans for benefiting students is well known, not asking how little will be satisfactory, but how much can we do in their behalf, and I should neglect a pleasant duty, if I failed in this connection to mention his hearty approval of every suggestion and effort, originating with others, for improving our teaching facilities. I have spoken of the members of the old Faculty (and others who have passed away), and as I am writing it seems eminently proper to speak of the only one besides myself that lingers, and he perhaps near the gate, one who was appointed in the University in 1845, and to whose genius and energy the institution is indebted for the inception and construction of the chemical laboratory, almost the pioneer effort in this country, which Dr. Douglas planned in 1855. I well remember a Faculty meeting in that year, where the interests of more complete education were considered. I remember the unfolding of a plan to furnish facilities for the practical study of chemistry. The plan seemed feasible, and all agreed was desirable. We were asked if the Faculty would favor the enterprise; all approved the effort, and none more heartily than the man we honor to-day. We anticipated its future success, and an advance beyond our student days. A 22 Memorial Address. small room in the Medical College admitted six students the first year. The next year saw over a dozen crowded into the basement of the Medical College, a place so totally unfit that in 1856 the first laboratory building was erected, which pro- vided accommodations for fifty or sixty students. This was speedily and fully occupied. Again and again was the building enlarged, till by the latest additions nearly three hundred may be engaged at the same time in practical work. Every member of the Faculty rejoiced in its great success, and gave due credit to Dr. Douglas, and none more heartily than Dr. Palmer, who frequently utilized its facilities for inves- tigating certain forms of disease requiring the means here provided. I have seen another laboratory develop from very humble beginnings. It began in a small room with two microscopes as the only equipment, but this awakened interest in the study of tissues, and on the 6th day of February, 1877, a legisla- tive committee, on a visit to the University, while going around the building, entered the room where half a dozen stu- dents were at work, with microscopes borrowed for a few days. Happily, here was an opportunity that an intelligent committee could appreciate, and the appropriation which fol- lowed made possible the establishment of a histological lab- oratory worthy of the name. With the means thus provided microscopes were purchased, a room was fitted, for use, tables and needed facilities were secured, and an instructor appointed to direct the work and give proper shape to the new undertaking. From repeated conference with Dr. Palmer in relation to all these, I became fully aware of his deep interest in the enterprise, and desire for its prosperity, and his cordial co-op- eration from the inception of the plan. The recognized success of the histological laboratory, only stimulated the desire for the complement of that, viz., the pathological, the third laboratory. The one had made familiar the normal tissues of the body, and it remained for Memorial Address. 23 this, the pathological laboratory, to carry to completion Dr. Pal- mer’s urgent desire for all the facilities needed for studying every form of disease that can be elucidated by the skilled hand and trained eye of the experienced microscopist. We ail know how zealously he sought the means of carry- ing out his ideal plan for studying all the changes in the tissues normal to the human body, and all the irregular growths engrafted upon these by accident or disease, and where, also, bacteriology can be studied, and where every other agent that the microscope can find, shall be compelled to reveal the mys- tery of its mischief. For this he thought and planned, till finally the hope came so near succeeding that it lightened the load of his later days, for only the week before his lecturing was done we talked of the present and the future of this, in which he took so deep an interest. 1 know from personal intercourse how he prized the results of the two laboratories in successful operation, and how he anticipated, with pleasure, the success of the third. In all these I am sure that none but the noblest motives stimu- lated his ambition. He realized the imperfections of his early education, and sought all the facilities of the three laboratories to widen the range of study for the students of these and the coming years. It is a' pleasure to bear testimony to the zeal of Dr. Pal- mer in all his University work. In the lecture room he sought earnestly to impress truth, to enable others to see it as clearly as he saw it, and to establish principles to guide through all the labyrinths of disease. As a writer he had capacity to present his views in clear and forcible language. He thought clearly, and expressed his well-considered views so as to leave no occasion for misunder- standing him. Dr. Palmer has been an active participant by papers and discussion, in county , state, national and international medical associations , and Prof. N. S. Davis, the President of the Ninth International Medical Congress, in noticing his death, 24 Memorial Address. in a recent number of the Journal of the American Medical Association, said of him : “ A conscientious and skillful prac- titioner, an able writer, an earnest and successful teacher, and above all, a most estimable citizen and Christian. For more than forty years he has tilled an important place in the profes- sion of this country. One of the last prominent services he rendered the profession was in ably discharging his duties as President of the Section of Pathology in the Ninth Interna- tional Medical Congress, at Washington, D. C., though in impaired health at the time. Ripe in years and in fruitful labors, he has truly entered into rest.” At the last meeting of the American Medical Association, at Chicago, he was chosen Chairman of the Section on Prac- tice for the next meeting at Cincinnati. Besides the miscellaneous work done as editor of the medical journals for a number of years, Dr. Palmer published several pamphlets, among which are “ A full report of the Chi- cago Cholera Epidemic in 1852,” *one on “ Asiatic Cholera,” based on personal observation, and one “On Sulphate of Qui- nine,” for which his early Michigan experience was valuable preparation. “The Temperance Teaching^ of Science,” is a neat and useful volume. The publication on which his reputation as an author will rest was “The Science and Practice of Medicine,” which appeared in 1882. I regard it a fortunate circumstance that Dr. Palmer had the training and experience that I have noticed. He had ten years of general practice, seeing all kinds of disease in a new country, which compelled him to be self-reliant ; his training, therefore, was general, not one-sided, confined to a certain class of diseases only. He was of necessity a student. He then prepared to teach anatomy. Next he' taught materia medica for several years. He then lectured on the practice of medicine for twenty years ; saw diseases in various localities, and, what 1 deem of great importance, his knowledge of dis- ease and treatment was not based exclusively, or largely, on Memorial Address. 25 the class of diseases seen in hospitals, often the results of vicious habits, or inadequate nourishment, but among a popu- lation, largely living in comparative comfort, and to a great extent free from the depressing influence of dissipation and unsanitary conditions. It appears to me rational that a book written from such a point of observation and experience, will be a safer guide in the practice of medicine, among a population similarly situ- ated, than one whose lessons are largely based on obser- vation of disease and treatment at the opposite extreme of conditions in life. Dr. Palmer has been a life-long advocate of temperance, or I may say of total abstinence from all alcoholic stimulants and narcotics. This has led him carefully to observe their influence on the human system, and if he has sometimes taken extreme views, he has had ample opportunities to study their use and non-use in practice. His positive views, with their earnest and persistent defence, shared by many able men in other places and professions, compel attention. The subject of such frequent use of alcohol has been investigated, and the dangers of a remedy, often more surely fatal than the dis- ease, have been held up to public gaze. I think it a boon to the profession to have a work on practice, wherein a man, emancipated from all reverence for alcohol as a universal panacea, has, in earnest language, set before the profession well-considered views, based on fifty years of intelligent observation of diseases and their remedies. The eminent Dr. Kichardson, of London, in an address on “The Scientific Basis of the Temperance Deformation,” in quoting certain views of Dr. Palmer on alcohol, speaks of his work on Practice as “the most truly practical volumes that have appeared on the subject since Watson’s famous lectures.” He also says “I often turn to your Practice of Medicine, and always with satisfaction and delight. It is a fine classical and scholarly work.” That is high endorsement. 26 Memorial Address. As a physician putting in practice the principles he has so earnestly taught, he was a success. That early experience developed self-confidence. The general practice compelled wide research in the realm of disease, induced him to consult the best authors, which he read with diligence, widening the range of mental vision, giving broader culture, enabling him to see truth from many sides, and developing a capacity and the habit of weighing evidence, and determining the relative value of the symptoms of disease demanding a diagnosis. In examining a patient he was methodical and thorough, and wdiere there was obscurity he did not hastily decide. He sought all the evidence that inherited traits, personal habits, and surroundings could supply to clear a doubt. He interro- gated every agent that could be held responsible for evil. Hor did he rest content with a pill or a powder. He sought to correct habits and practices that were in fault. He believed prevention better than cure. He did not deem duty ended by relief of present pain. He aimed to accomplish more. He was a faithful monitor in times when conscious suffering gives the unselfish advice of a medical attendant an influence for good, otherwise disregarded. Besides these qualities named, lie had a sympathetic nature — he had sympathy with the sufferer. It was more than a hurried call and cold-hearted word and hasty prescription. His cheerful and encouraging manner was often more than medicine, it was courage, it was hope, it was mental stimulus, it was an uplifting influence, leaving sunshine for darkness, cheerfulness for despair. Such was Dr. Palmer in full vigor, before disease had made its impress upon him, which often comes so insidiously that, like the waning of the day, we are startled that night is upon us. I have sketched his career as a worthy example for those who anxiously plan for the future. At the outbreak of our late civil war Dr. Palmer was early in the field as surgeon of the second regiment that went from this State, and saw almost the first blood shed in that pro- tracted contest. He returned to his duties here at the opening 27 Memorial Address. \ of the session, and subsequently went to the army only on some emergency demanding an increase of medical attend- ance. His services in that great struggle were mainly in the matter of educating others, numbers of whom went from the college to duty in the field or in the hospitals, many of whom bear sad traces of the perils and hardships endured, while others swell the roll call of the dead. After an unbroken service in the University for twenty- five years, in 1879 Hr. Palmer obtained leave of absence for a year, that he might again visit Europe for rest, pleasure, and professional observation, having in mind his work on Practice, which was published in 1882. In this anticipated rest he was sadly disappointed, for the provision made to supply his place failed and he crossed the ocean in mid-winter that he might per- form his full duty as announced, and no charge of neglect of assumed responsibility be possible from any failure on his part. I have spoken of Dr. Palmer as a teacher, as a practi- tioner, and as an earnest worker in whatever duty he engaged. What shall I say of him as a citizen? His life has been an open book, known and read of all. For over thirty years he has lived and done his life work in the midst of us. On all the great moral questions of the day he has had clear and positive convictions. He could not fail to witness the ruin of intemperance all along the pathway of professional and domestic life; and, seeing fashion working destruction to the noblest and the best, he refused to follow the fashion and had the manly independence to oppose its demands; and, seeing the over- mastering power of appetite, he has persistently opposed nurs- ing and encouraging an appetite for any agent whose influence is evil and only evil. He saw the danger of kindling a fire for the pleasure or glory of extinguishing the same, and, knowing how desire gro'ws by gratifying, he advised against the gratification. His knowledge of the human system and his reverence for the health-giving laws of the Lavymaker led him to oppose with 28 Memorial Address. sincerity and persistency the habitual use of an agent more destructive than the sword or pestilence. As laws are demanded to restrain and punish crimes against property and life, so he believed in repressing prac- tices full of peril to others, which reason and a sense of jus- tice cannot control. He could not be blind to the results of administering alcohol as a remedy for disease. Hence his constant opposition to the indiscriminate or common use of a remedy whose effects were worse than the disease. He occupied a position in the front rank of reform for the evils that affect humanity, the remedies for which he urged by precept and example. Neither could he, as a student of disease and its remedy, fail to witness the terrible results of indulging in the use of any unnatural stimulant or sedative. He believed the habitual use of either a crime against the body, a harm to the man wlio-indulges in their use, almost certain to come by and by, with a demand of a penalty for the damage done, either against the head , the heart , or the conscience , so that the throne of reason dies a premature death, or the heart stops without recognized warning, or the conscience refuses to stay the hand of violence, that carries the suicide to an end forbid den alike by reason and revelation. Dr. Palmer was a firm believer in the doctrines of Chris- tianity* and was interested in all the enterprises of the day for extending the influence of Christian principles over the human race, and as an active member of the Episcopal Church par- ticipated in all its movements for doing good, whether here or elsewhere ; whether in teaching a Bible class among its mem- bers, or contributing towards the construction of Hobart Hall, as a means of doing good to others. By precept and example he would commend the religion he professed. His religion was more than a creed. It was a life, and as that heart ceased to beat, it marked the close of a life worthy to be commended in its aims and its results to the careful consideration of those who honor this occasion by their presence. It was a rounded, Memorial Address. 29 a completed life. I do not claim perfection for him. Perfec- tion seldom dwells with humanity.. He had noble qualities which we approve and commend. He was ambitious. A man without ambition will be a failure. He was earnest , and the earnest man wins in the race. He was industrious , and such a man succeeds by using the opportunities that come to him and that he overtakes. He was prompt, and did duty when duty came. He was self-reliant , and he found it indispensable in times of trial. He was sympathetic, he craved sympathy and shared it with others. He was generous in giving service to the poor and needy. Many a student, struggling with adversity, shared his earnings, and gratefully praises his generous kindness. He was hind. He had a kindly nature. He rejoiced in the happiness of others. It was an element in his own, to assist others. He loved to be obliging to others, and of this I need no better evidence than that his last related deed of kindness was that he rose from his bed of suffering to oblige another, who had no special claim upon him, by writing an introduction to friends in Europe, for a gentleman going there. And it was the last line he wrote, and as he signed his name, the pen dropped from that trembling hand forever. “ Golden grain from harvest ripe Angel reapers gather in; Joy above, but grief below, Where the reaper’s steps have been.”