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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratioa. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartas, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmte A des taux de reduction diff Arents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est filmA A partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut an bas, an pranant la nombre d'imagas nAcessaire. Las diagrammes suivants iliustrant la mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 i ,f ^^ K==!^ IJIOGRArniC AL SK ETCH OF TllK I.ATK A. F. HOLMES, M.D., LL.D., ^ ilv INCJ-LDINO A SUMMAEY HISTORY OF ;|ilcbica( Jcpartnuut of |il(03ill (toKcge. liY xVRCIIIBALI) HALL, M.D. VlBLl'^III'D 1!Y THE rXIVKRSITY :\li;niCAL STVM-NTis' ASSOCIATION () I' M((;il,I, COLl.l-Gi;. p^outrcnl : PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST. NICHOLAS STREET. 18G(». =^§;;S^" 2i BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE LATE A. F. HOLMES, M.D., LL.D., INCLUDING A SUMMARY HISTORY OF BtisM §tpxhmt of iltii Co%f. BY ARCHIBALD HALL, M.D. PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION OF McGILL COLLEGE. PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST. NICHOLAS STREET. 1860. Session 1800-Cl. ARCH. HALL, M.D. : SiE,— At n, meeting of "The University ^ledical Students' Association," held on Fridiiy Evening the 9th inst., Mr. Duncan McGregor in the chair, the Resolution whicli is now placed in your hands was submitted and unanimously passed : — " That ' The Association,' impressed with the importance of preserving in more enduring form, the excellent Introductory delivered by Dr. Hall, respectfully request that it be placed at their disposal for publication ; and that a Committee, named by the President, be instructed to wait upon him to solicit his consent." In accordance with the terms of the above Resolution, we have now the honour of addressing you, and respectfully request your acquiescence. (Signed) F. D. SUTHERLAND, W. W. SQUIRE, E. H. TRENHOLME. F. D. Sutherland, Secy. U. M. S. A. 18 Victoria Square, Nov. 21st, 18G0. Gentlemen,— I received, yesterday, your letter, conveying to me a Resolution adopted by the "University Medical Students' Association," requesting a copy of my Introductory Lecture for publication. That lecture contained a biographical sketch of the life and labours of Dr. Holmes, our late Professor of the Principles and Practice of Medicine, and one of the founders of this School. While I feel sensible that it is marked by many defects, yet expressing my gratification at the estimate put upon it by the class, and which I question much if it merits, I neve, theless place the MS. at your disposal. With the sincerest wishes for the prosperity of every member of the class. Believe me. Yours faithfully, A. HALL. To Messrs. F. D. Sutherland, W. W. Squire, E. H. Tbenholme. INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. Gentlemen, — Allow me to offer to you my salutations, as well as those of my colleagues, and to extend to you all a most cordial welcome to the halls of this University. You have met together for the purposes of inst ruction and self improvement, and in the full hope that the great and funda- mental principles of our noble profession, as transmitted to- ns by venerable sages and learned fathers, will be here pro- mulgated with fidelity, and in a manner equal to, if not superior to what they may be in the other halls of medical learning in this Province. I have used the word superior, for I doubt not that it is the advantages, which this town and School of Medicine offer in a superior manner to that of other places in Canada, wliich have proved the sources of attrac- tion. These thoughts render our position one of increased responsibility. The duties which, on such considerations, devolve upon us, and which our position necessarily calls upon us to discharge, are far too sacred to be regarded lightly, for they involve consequences momentous not only to your- selves, but to those also who are hereafter to be confided to your professional care. In this School, then, you are to 6 » * I learn the principles which arc to piide you in tho treatment of (lisoases ; and may they, in tho hour of peril, when all around is gloom and darkness, prove beacon-li<^ht8 to illumine your path ; may they, under those tryin;^ circumstances, which are to be encountered in tho career of every physician, redeem the pled<5e which wo make to you this day, to spare no effort, to shrink from no labour necessary for the zealous and faithful perfonnance of the trust imposed on us as your instructoi-s. To the Faculty of Medicine of this University has been delegated the high privilege of preparing you for the emergencies of professional life. Soon you will be called upon to exhibit, through your acts, testimony of the fidelity with which you have pursued your studies ; testimony, too, of the manner in which we, your teachers, have discharged our duty. These are considerations which, I know full well, no member of this Faculty can contemplate, Avithout appre- ciating to the full extent the great responsibility of his posi- tion ; and whatever may be the feelings of my colleagues on this subject — I know they are deep and abiding, and were especially so in one who is now no more, — allow me to say for myself personally, that I never enter upon tho perform- ance of ray annual duties without a sentiment of apprehension and distrust. It will, however, be my earnest care to conse- crate to your service every energy of my mind ; and, feeling as I do a deep interest m your prosperity, you may rely on my best endeavours to impress upon you the principles and practice of the department assigned to me in this Institution. Gentlemen, I have alluded to one who is now no more, a cherished friend, and trusted and well-tried colleague ; and I feel that I, who have been associated with him for a (juar- ter of a century in the duties of this Faculty, would prove recreant to my duty, and faithless to every sentiment of esteem and friendship, were I to pass over his demise lightly, ^-one who was one of the early founders of this School, and to the hour, nay minute of his death, its steadfast friend and most laborious and indcfatigahlo worker. As Dr. Holmes' name is so intimately blended with this School of M?dicino as the foremost work of his life, a history of the one embraces also that of the other. About the year 1813 or 1814, two young men left this city to pursue and complete their medical studies in Edin- burgh, then, and until very recently, the foremost medical school in the world ; and if that school does not now possess the same elevated character, it is solely due to the greater prac- tical advantages which are conferred upon the student by the more extensive hospitals of London. These two young men wore Andrew Ferdinand Holmes and John Stephenson ; and thither they repaired to obtain that knowledge of their pro- fession which could not, at that time, be secured in this country. During their residence in the Mother Country, they took advantage of their opportunities, and spent a por- tion of their four or five years' residence in visiting Dublin, London, and Paris, following the Hospitals and attending the lectures in each of these celebrated cities. On the 2nd August, 1819, Dr. Holmes graduated at the University of Edinburgh ; and, if I mistake not, Dr. Stephenson did the same. They returned, I believe, together to this country the same year, and established themselves in practice ; the subject of our sketch having entered into partnership with his former preceptor, the late Dr. Amoldi, which continued for about five years. It was about this time, that, recognising the difficulties which they themselves encountered in their own professional education, and desirous of smoothing the path for other young men who wished to study and practice, a combination was effected between four of the then principal physicians in this city, for the purpose of giving courses of lectures on the most important of the branches of medical knowledge. These four physicians were Drs. Robertson, Caldwell, Stephenson, ^d Holmes ; and in 1824 was delivered, under the name of ^:l 8 the Montreal Medical Institution, the first course of lectures in the Canadas, forming the session of 182-1-25. The branches were apportioned as follow : jNIidwifery and the Diseases of Women and Children, by Dr. Robertson ; Prin- ciples and Practice of Medicine, by Dr. Caldwell ; Surgery, Anatomy, and Physiology, by Dr. Stephenson ; and Materia Medica, and Chemistry, by Dr. Holmes. The numl)er of students in attendance on this first session was 25 ; and of these I beUeve only three are now living, — Dr. Weilbrenner of Boucherville, Dr. B^lin of L'Assomption, and Dr. Badg- Icy, now of Malvern in England ; and it was not until the year 1844 that the number of students reached 50. I need not say that it could not have been private emolument which could have induced those founders of this School thus to work year after year with receipts barely sufficient to cover their annual expenditure. A higher principle was at work, one which was Dr. Holmes' most striking characteristic — the conscientious discharge of duty. Knowing the privations which, as a student, he himself had to suffer, his grand oljject was to lessen them for those who were to follow ; and well do I remember the fidelity with which he worked in those days, when little else than the approbation of his own conscience was his reward. We have now to consider another incident occurring about the same time. In the year 1810, " from the increase in the population of this town, the Hotel Dieu nunnery was found to be inadequate to the reception of the indigent sick ; an inconvenience further augmented by the gi*eat influx of emigrants from the United Kingdom, some of them labouiing under fevers of a contagious nature, and other diseases that vt-ere not admissible into that Hospital." I quote this from the first Annual Report of the IMontreal General Hospital. Accordingly, that year a subscription was taken up for hiring a house to serve as an Hospital; and the Report further says, " that though this was only on a small scale, the good 9 effected by it was, aftei* one year's trial, so evident, that it was deemed an object highly desirable to erect a building which might give permanency to the establishment." Accord- ingly, ground was purchased ; subscriptions were opened to raise the sum of £2,200; and, in January 1821, a special committee, appointed for the purpose, contracted for the erection of the building now known as the Montreal General Hospital. The building, however, cost £3,688, and was finished for the reception of patients in 1822 ; and that there must have existed an nrgent necessity for its erection, is proved from the fact, that, between May 1822 and May 1823, 421 in-door and 397 out-door patients received medical assistance at this original Institution. The medical officers at this time were Drs. Robertson, Caldwell, Holmes, Laedel, Stephenson, and Lyons. So that, with the organization of the School, an Hospital was already at hand wherein clinical instruction might be given — a matter of the highest impor- tance to every medical school. The benefits which this Institution has conferred upon the town and country, since this period of time, are incalculable. To the comparatively small central builduig, which was first erected, two large and capacious wings have since been added, forming, the lleid and Richardson wings, names given from two of its princi- pal benefactors. Not less than 400 patients can now be comfortably accouunodated within its walls; and I think I am not wrong in stating, that, for benefits conferred upon the sick poor, or for its means of clinical information, it can safely compare with any similar Institution on tliis continent. To this Hospital Dr. Holmes served as one of the attending physicians for nearly twenty years, performing his duties with marked ability, when he I'etired upon the consulting-staflF, to make way for some junior member of the profession who aspired to his place. But we have a third incident to recall to mind, occun'ing about the same time, and which aflected this School to a 10 i' '<\l marked extent. About the year 1811, there died in this city a wealthy merchant, the Hon. James McGill, who bequeathed a most valuable property for the purpose of endowing a College to be known afterwards by his name. I must observe that an opinion prevailed about the commence- ment of this century, and for many years aftenvards, that the British Government contemplated the erection of a Uni- versity on a most liberal scale in this city ; and Mr. McGill laboured under the impression, that, in his bequest, he was but endowing a College in this University, which was to be called by his name. To whatever circumstances owing, this intention of the British Government was never realized ; and Mr. McGill's bequest became, afterwards, the cause of a protracted litigation, which lasted until the year 1821, when the Courts of Law decided against the family of the Des- Ri\aeres, to whom the other portion of his property had devolved. The bequest was made upon a certain condition, that lectures, Avithin a given period of time — ten years, if I remem- ber rightly — should be deUvered within the College. In the year 1821, failing the intentions of the Home Government, the College thus endowed by Mr. McGill was erected into a University by Royal Charter ; and in 1828, as it was impos- sible to fill up the Faculties of Arts, Law and Divinity with properly qualified professors, the lecturers in the Montreal Medical Institution were incorporated as the Faculty of Medicine, and as such have since continued. This incorpo- ration, as I have already mentioned, took place in the year 1828 ; and had it not occurred, and had not the Faculty of Medicine thus delivered their annual series of lectures — a series interrupted only by the political troubles incident to the rebellion in 1837 — the rich bequest of Mr. McGill would have returned to the DesRiviere family, and no University w^ould have been now existing. At the period to which we have nov come, 1828, Drs. Robertson, Holmes, Stephenson and Caldwell were the four 11 professors; each lectvirlng upon the branches of Medical Science before mentioned. The year 1832 was a memorable one in the annals of this city. This year the city was literally decimated by the Asiatic Cholera; and dming its winter, Dr. Caldwell, one of the professoi-s, fell a victim to his bene- volent exertions, dying of Typhus fever. This necessarily caused a slight change in the professorial staff ; Dr. Robert- son taking the place of Dr. Caldwell, as lecturer on the Prin- ciples and Practice of Medicine ; Dr. Racey, then a young practitioner, was associated as lecturer on Midwifery and (if I mistake not) Surgery ; while Dr. Stephenson confined him- self to the duties of the chair of Anatomy. In 1835, conse- quent upon the retirement of Dr. Racey to Quebec, his native town. Dr. Campbell and myself were associated ; the fonner assuming the duties of the chair of Surgery and Midwifery, and myself lecturing, in conjunction with Dr. Holmes, on Materia Medica. This period dates the commencement of our connection with the University, a connection which has now lasted for 25 years ; and when I obsei've, that, during all that period of time, with all the changes which have since taken place, and under all circumstances, sometimes of a trying character, with our late colleague, not one of us has ever had the slightest disagreement, and that on no one occa- sion did ever an angry word arise or pass, — when I record this observation I think I say as much for the equanimity of temper of our deceased colleague as can be said. During this period Dr. Holmes continued his lectures as Professor of Chemistry, and an able lecturer he was. He was particularly careful in his experiments, one result of which v'as that he seldom failed ; and I have rarely seen a more dexterous manipulator. Breakage of his apparatus was a rare event ; while in his chemical doctrines he was always particularly careful to unfold and explain the latest views. He continued in the chair of Chemistry until the decease of Dr. Robertson in 1843 or 1844, when, in con- 12 sequence of his seniority, and at the same time seeking relief from tlie labour consequent on the chemical course, he accepted the chair of the Principles and Practice of Medi- cine. This was an important era in the history of this Insti- tution. In consequence of the division of medical chairs in the principal British schools, it was deemed advisable to effect a similar extension here. And now we find the Faculty augmented by the names of McCulloch, Bruneau, Macdon- nell, and Sewell ; to which, a few years afterwards, were associated those of Sutherland and Fraser. Dr. Holmes' labours now were occasionally severe. At this period the School of Medicine of Montreal had started into existence, followed in a few years afterwards by the St. Lawrence School of Medicine ; which, while it caused a good deal of controversial writing, in which Dr. Holmes partici- pated, effected at least one good, that of establishing the University Lying-in Hospital, as another adjunct of our School. No School of Medicine can flourish unless it has at its disposal ample means of clinical instruction of all kinds. This Avas a desideratum ; and well do I remember the even- ing when its establishment Avas determined on. There are certainly larger and more extensive ones in some of the prin- cipal toAvns of Great Britain, but not many ; but, as " great events from small beginnings rise," avc anticipate the period when this Hospital will be enal)led to accommodate a larger number of patients, and prove consequently more attractive and useful than it no ay is. I consider it useless to continue the histjry of our Faculty further. Its present Faculty is knoAvn to you. Dr. Holmes, on the reorganization of the College in 1852, Avas appointed Dean of the Faculty ; a posi- tion most emphatically his due, as much from his seniority as ft'om his long-tried services so faithfully executed. The duties of the diaconate ho discharged Avith rare fidelity, evincing himself on all occasions the student's real and sin- cere friend. Indeed, if there Avas one trait in our deceased 18 friend's character more prominent than another, it wa^ his eamcst wish for the prosperity of every student. Of the different natural sciences, Dr. Holmes more parti- cularly attached himself to Botany, Mineralogy, and Geology. His taste for these studies disfjlayed itself while a student in Edinburgh, the fauna of which is particularly rich, and the geological formations (of volcanic origin), such as to attract, to an extreme degree, the lovers of that science. He brought to this country a very large collection of the plants surround- ing Edinburgh, and a rather extensive collection of mineralo- gical and geological specimens. These latter formed the nucleus of the extensive collection which about three years ago he made over to the museum of McGill College, where, under the charge of Principal Dawson, it cannot but augment. On his return to this country he still followed out his favour- ite studies ; and a large collection of plants, emblematic of the Flora of Montreal, attests his zeal in botanical pursuits. He was the discoverer of one new mineral, found, if I mistake not, in the limestone rock, and consisting largely of magnesia, and of a crystalline character. I believe that it has been detected in two localities only in this Province : in the neigh- bourhood of Ottawa, and in the neighbourhood of Kingston. Specimens of this mineral were senl. '\ome to the late Dr. Thompson of Glasgow for analyzation, who identified it as new, and called it by the name of " Holmesite," after its discoverer. In sketching the life and labours of one who has been for so manyyears prominently before the public, abiographerre(piires to be just as well as generous. Fortunately, Dr. Holmes' cha- racter is one which in any respect will well bear scrutiny. In whatever relation of life we take him, whether as a husband and father, a physician, or a Christian, it will bear analysis ; and this is more than can be said of that of most people. He was no politician. From the turmoils and the anxieties of political life he shrank. His was a nature by no means framed to buffet with the world, whether for the sake of an : I 14 opinion or a fact. Strictly conservative in his views, ho was yet a progressive conservative, and always voted with that party at electoral contests. He was never prominent in put- ting forward his views ; in fact, he rather avoided an expression of them. But he was nevertheless one upon Avhom reliance could be always placed ; and, if an important prin- ciple was at stake, he could be depended upon. As a Physician, he belonged to what may be deemed the old school. Constitutions change, and they have changed. To whatever causes these changes are attributable, it is not our business now to inquire. It is a question for the physi- ologist or the pathologist. But Dr. Holmes essentially belonged to that school — the school, in fact, in which he was educated, which trusted more to art than nature in the man- agement of disease. I speak not this of him as a fault ; nor do I allude to it as a failing. In diagnostic power, no one was more acute, though I think he Avas slow in coming to his decision ; but the opinion formed was tenaciously held, and acted on. It should be observed that when he entered the profession, bleeding and purgation — the latter the Hamiltonian system, as it was termed — was the favourite mode of practice. That he should have retained much of this system of treatment is not to be wondered at. He was fond of prescribing medi- cine, and this in large quantity. He had hardly yet fallen into the more expectant system of the present day; and which itself is sometimes carried too far. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes of Boston — a namesake, but no relative, and a Pro- fessor in Harvard College — stated in his celebrated address, lately delivered before the Massachusetts Medical Society, that " if all physic were cast into the sea, it would be so much the better for mankind, and so much the worse for the fishes.'* This again is the opposite extreme. Between these two extremes lies the "juste milieu," which it should be the duty of every physician to attain. The object should be not to overpower the vis medicatrix, but to ascertain its energy ; 15 and, so ascertaining it, neither to overpower it by excessive medication on the one hand, or to withhold the necessary stimulus on the other. It is, I admit, a difficult task to apportion this "juste milieu " ; but, with constitutions as they are, he will be found the best physician who can duly appre- ciate the line of demarcation between these two opposite lines of practice. Of Dr. Holmes' abilities as a lecturer there can hardly be two opinions, and of them many of you are as competent to judge as I am — perhaps more so. I believe that he exhausted every subject upon which he dwelt, and for that purpose he was an indefatigable student. Dr. Holmes carried the literature of every disease of which he had occa- sion to treat down to the latest period. This might have made his lectures prolix, but they certainly must have been found the more instructive. If there was one part of the appurtenances of the Faculty in which Dr. Holmes took a greater delight than in any other, it was in the library ; and the present excellence of that valuable library is entirely the result of his superintending care. Although not virtually the registrar or librarian, he yet performed for years the functions of those offices ; while to his duties as Dean he associated also that of treasurer, and so strict was he in this latter capacity that he was accustomed to make entries even of a sixpence. All his accounts were in perfect order at the time of his death. Dr. Holmes was the author of no work on the medical or collateral sciences. Besides controversial writings on medi- cal subjects, he was the author, however, of several important papers, which from time to time appeared in the medical periodicals. His first paper was " on the intra-uterine crying of the child," published, we believe, in the year 1822 or 1823 in the Edinburgh Medical Journal, and of which but two or three instances are on record, demonstrative of the fact, that the child may cry and have insufflation of its lungs before its >0! I I tti{: ' I ( Id birth. lie was the first to direct attention to this very impor- tant fact, one of immense interest in a medico-legal pohit of view.* In the jMontreal Medical Chronicle ho published some interesting cases of " heart-disease " ; and an elaborate paper on •' fatal jaundice." In the first series of the British American Journal, he was author of the following papers : — " On fleshy tubercle of the uterus," and " a case of wound of the heart without rupture of the pericardium." These were published in the first volume. In volume 2, appeared from his pen " a case of femoral hernia," and a paper on " Obstruction of the appendix vermiformis" ; and in vol. 3, " a case of the employment of chloroform." As a tribute to his professional acquirements, and this of the highest order. Dr. Holmes was elected in 1853, by the Incorporated Profession of Lower Canada, President of its College of Physicians and Surgeons, the duties of which office he discharged with great abiUty for the usual period of three years. In this Institution he took a deep interest, and, until the last election of Governors in 1859, was a constant member of its Board. On this occasion he retired to facili- tate the election of another member of the University in his place. But Dr. Holmes' most striking peculiarity was his religious fervour, his deep and abiding piety, which nothing ever dis- turbed, and which he carried into every walk of life. He was emphatically the Christian gentleman, whom it would be well if each one of us could imitate. I have thus dwelt at some length upon our deceased friend, and, in doing so, could not but go somewhat into a history of this Institution. It is not a little singular fact, that at the moment Avhen this School of Medicine had p^chieved what may * Since the delivery of the lecture, I have learned from my friend, Dr. Marsden of Quebec, that the communications of Dr. Holmes, alluded to, will be found in the Boston Medical Journal, vol. 8, Nos. 4, 5, and 15 ; the subjects having been " The Asiatic Cholera as it appeared in Montreal in 1832," and " Choleraic Diarrhoea," both described as mas- terly productions. Ill 17 be called its successful standing, as the first Medical School of this Province — I was going to say of this continent — that he, who laboured during his whole life for its prosperity, should have been so hurriedly called away from the scene of his work. It appears as if some High power had said — ^" Come, you have finished your work ; I have nothing further for you to do." It does strike me as a singular coincidence. But, inscrutable as are His ways, of one thing wo may rest satisfied, that all is rightly ordered and for the best. Severely as we have all felt the dispensation, we have but to bow in silent acquiescence, satisfied, that, if we only walk as our deceased brother did, we will meet again in another and a happier world, where sorrow is unknown. Gentlemen, I have diverged widely from the more legiti- mate objects of an introductory lecture. Permit me, in con- clusion, to make a few remarks on my own particular branch, and to offer a word of advice as to the lectures generally. It is a commonly-received opinion that the practice of Midwifery is an exceedingly easy one, one fully capable of being accomplished by any female or old woman who has herself previously borne a child. There can be no greater mistake ; and I have no doubt that the idea has arisen out of the fact of the very great proportion of natural and easy labours to difficult ones. This is a wise and fortunate provision of nature ; yet, as no one can be absolutely certain that the cases which he may be called upon to attend will turn out one of these simple and easy cases, it is but right and proper tliat a medical man should be always prepared for any emer- gency that may arise. In fact, the practice of Midwifery is by no means always the easy work which it is commonly thought to be. I question much, indeed, whether, in the three branches into which our profession is divided, this one does not stand preeminent for calling into prompt action all the resources of the practitioner. Fertility in resources, and decision in action, are more imperatively demanded here than £ 18 I'l in the other two branches; and these necessarily depend upon education. He will naturally be the most proficient in these respects who is the most deeply versed in the princi- ples of his profession. For this purpose it fortunately happens that the means which qualify for the one qualify also for the others ; and at the bottom of the pedestal, on which the scien- tific physician may be said to stand, he the important elemen- tary branches of Anatomy, Chemistry, Therapeutics, and Physiology. Those constitute, in the most emphatic sense, the ground-work of medical character. Without a thorough knowledge of these, no one can be considered an accom- plished physician. Like in Mechanics, they constitute the powers which lie at the bottom of, and direct, all his subse- quent proceedings. While Anatomy teaches him the differ- ent parts of the human system, and their relative dependance upon one another, Physiology tells of the functions with which each different part, each separate organ, is endowed. By an intimate acquaintance with these parts, and the due exercise of their various functions, we become enabled to detect and trace out deviations from their healthy condition ; and a know- ledge of the Materia Medica, with Therapeutics and Chemis- try, enables us to select and modify, by combination, if neces- sary, the remedial agents which, from experience we have learned, are capable of rectifying these morbid alterations or deviations from the healthy condition of these organs. These various deviations from healthy conditions are grouped toge- ther in accordance with some peculiar, some dominant char- acteristic, and constitute the different classes of diseases which in Medicine and Surgery are studied under their res- pective patholo^es. But, convenient as this classification or grouping of diseases may be for the purposes of study (and indeed without some such system it would be an impossibility to acquire a thorough knowledge of them), yet in the field of actual labour you will frequently find yourselves at fault ; that diseases, owing to a multitude of differently-acting causes, rifl 19 do not invariably present the same features, the same forms, as described in books, but, under the guide of some ruling principle, the true physician will be rarely found astray or at fault. In this School you have the amplest means of acquir- ing a thorough theoretical and practical acquaintance with the profession which you have chosen. It is our business to direct you in the path leading to results so desirable ; and it is the height of our ambition to see the Graduates of this University scattered over the land, each " the bright parti- cular star in his own firmament," sustaining in his own person the honor of the school, and reflecting the principles which it has been our happiness to inculcate. I should wish, gentlemen, in conclusion, to say a few words on the best method of prosecuting your studies, because the knowledge acquired during this period of your lives will consti- tute the stock upon which your future excellence or eminence is to be based. Away from home, as many of you are, and for the first time, you are likely to be attracted from your studies by the winter gaieties of life abounding in this city. While far from wishing to deny you a moderate enjoyment of these — for the bow, continually bent, soon loses its elasticity — the principal object of your visit here is not to be forgotten. Prosecute your studies in the different branches which you may be following, with assiduity and regularity ; and, above all, make it a point to devote some portion of the evening to what you have heard during the day, by careful perusal of your notes, and reading in some volume of authority the sub- jects which may have comprised the daily lectures here. I think it a most excellent plan to take notes of the lectures. These lectures are to be considered as a digest of the litera- ture of the day upon the especial subject treated of, carefully made by the lecturer, and will therefore comprehend more than is usually met with in any work on the particular topic, unless in monographs which are commonly not accessible to every student. Hence, a volume of careftdly-written notes 20 becomos a valuable addition to a student's library. And I would most strongly urge upon you to prosecute those read- ings upon the particular subjects in a systematic manner. You thus by degrees impress upon your minds fact upon fact, precept upon precept, and doctrine upon doctrine ; and although the course of study of four years may seem a long one, at the conclusion you will discover the important truth, that it has by no means been too long to learn all that is required. Irregular or desultory reading or study is of little use. The mind thus becomes stored with crudities; all becomos a mass of confusion ; and you possess no distinct, no definite idea of anything. On the contrary, let each day, each week, each month, each session have its allotted, its specific work ; and it will surprise all who adopt in their stu- dies a method such as I have described, to discover with what ease their studies progress, and, at the conclusion, what a mass of information they have collected. You thus become prepared by degrees for your final examinations ; and instead of finding them, as is always the case with those who are ill prepared for them, ordeals to be shunned or feared, they become pleasant conversations on matters of scientific inter- est, in which the examiner and the examined seem to be enjoying but a pleasant tSte-d-tSte. I assure you, that, by judiciously economising your time, and scattering your studies, as they should be, over a series of years, they become very materially lightened, and yourselves the gainers. But, if the first two or three sessions are idled away in frivolous pursmts or pleasure, and the work of four compressed into one session, and that one the last — as I have known to occur not unfrequently — the labour of that session becomes dispro- portionate ; the student finds more to accomplish than he con possibly perform; and the result is a postponement of his examinations to a subsequent period, or a worse misfortune if he attempts to undergo them, with a consequent serious disap- pointment, not only to himself, but to his parents and friends^ 31 ■^ ho perchance may bo looking forward to his expected day of graduation with fond and eagrr anxiety. It is only, gentlemen, by systomatir study that you can duly qualify yourselves for tin arduous, responsible duties of that profession which you are selecting ; and it is only by constant, careful study afterwards, that you can retain those qualifications. Medicine is not a retrogressive branch of study, nor is its practice the same as it was years ago, nor will it, in all probability, be fifty years hence as it is now. The principles here taught it may become your province to improve upon, so as to adapt them to altered times or altered circumstances. Study diligently, observe carefully ; and in the sunset of your lives, when the infirmities of age have impaired your physical energies, but while memory still clings to her seat, and passes in review the stirring events of earlier and long-past days, may it bo in your power to rejoice " that your strength has not been spent in vain, nor your labour for nought."