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Tous ier autres axamplaires originaux sont filmte en commenqant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'Impreasion ou d'illustration at an tarminant par la darniAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Urt dea symbolee suivants apparaitra sur la damiAre image da cheque microfiche, selon le caa: le symbols — »>signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V sigmfie "FIN". Lea cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., pauvent dtre fiimAe ik dee taux de rMuction diff^lrents. Lorsque le document sat trop grand pour dtra reproduit en un seul cliche, ii est filmA i partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche i droite. et de heut en baa, an prenant le nombre d'Images nAcessaire. Las diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kc Q[>AAro\kAj q»0o\ • ^- * <■?.■ c G.P.GIP.LV^OOD. 1865. McGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL, Faculty of Medicine. -Sf Valedictory Address TO GRADUATIMG CLASS SESSION 1897-98, DELIVERED BY G. P. GIRDWOOD, M.D„ M.R.C.S.L JUNE 17TH, 1898. Valedictory Address. Mb. Chairman, Gentlemen of Convocation, Ladies and Gentlemen, Gentlemen Graduates. To express words of welcome is a more congenial task than to speak farewells. There are, however, times when the feelings of regret at parting are relieved by others of hope ; the present is one, and it is my privilege to voice to you the sentiments of your teachers on the occasion of your leaving college and entering on your professional career. We congratulate you on your success in having passed the final examinations, which have proved that your qualifications entitle you to the degree of M.D., C.M., and may that success be an earnest of that greater success we trust you will achieve in the greater struggle of life you are now entering upon. During the last four years you have been working hard to pass the examinations before the examiners, appointed by your Alma Mater, to ascertain that you are in possession of that minimum of knowledge which she demands of you as the warranty of the degree just conferred upon you. You are now entering upon an examination before a more exacting and a mercilessly unsympathetic self-constituted board of examiners, the general public, who will make no allowance for any shortcomings but will demand from you the last grains of their pound of flesh. They are your paymasters, and will rigorously see that you perform your allotted task. Beware of success, especially if it be rapid ; you will then find out detractors, and those who envy you your rapid advancement, will be on the watch to catch you tripping, and rejoice at your downfall. Gentlemen, your Alma Mater has provided you with a good education, has done all that she can to thor- oughly equip you for the struggle that is before you, it remains with you to prove to the world, wherever your lot may be cast, that she is entitled to the reputation she holds, and that you 8 yourselves are fully up to the standard, your predecessors have established. You Gentleman constitute the first graduating class since the establishment of the new arrangement of nine months session came into operation, and your career will be watched with interest to see if the new arrangement has been a success in enabling you to better assimilate your information. The object of this lengthened session was to give you more time for thought and thus enable you to dgest the information given you and to reason upon it, and also by giving fewer didactic lectures, to allow more time for practital laboratory work. On stepping into life as you now are, there are two views presented to you, the one looking back, the other looking forward, and each one of you should care- fully inspect both views. Looking back, first, you will be able to determine in your own minds to what extent you were deficient in that preparation necessary to enable you to take full advantage of the facillities afforded you in your student career. You will probably arrive at the conclusion that the whole system of preliminary teaching has too much of the parrot style about it, too much memorizing of particulars, too little thinking and reasoning upon the facts put before you, so that when you came to college you had to begin to learn how to learn, in other words, how to observe, what to observe, what to memorize, and then to apply thought and reason to the facts observed, to seek out causes and subsequently to think out results, based on the information and experience gained. Doubtless you found your- selves wanting in many things ; a knowledge of the Greek language, if but small, would have added intelligence to many of the names of parts of the human mechanism, and would have helped you to look up in the lexican the derivation of many of the words which are a puzzle to any one without that knowledge. A better knowledge of the weights and measures at present in use and a familiarity with using them would have been an assistance to you and saved time in the laboratories. Familiarity of application of the rules of reasoning would have aided you. Y'ou will also have found out that there is nothing too small to take note of ; often the most trivial circumstance gives the clue to the whole story ; it is by straws you can tell the course of the current, and by feathers you determine the direction of the zephyr. You will also now know in what subjects you may still be wanting, and hasten to make good those wants. The other view presented is perhaps not quite so dear to you. It is of the future and to guide you in your appreciation of this picture and to enable you to steer through the mist that envelopes it, you have only the experience of the past, and here tlie experience of others who have gone before you may be of some use ; it is from this standpoint that we venture to address a few words. You will find the practice of your profession often very wearying, frequently unremunerative ; your motto must be " Semper Paratus," your knowledge must be avail- able on the instant, there is often no time to consult books ; you therefore see the necessity of keeping your body in good health and your powers of observation and mental activity unimpaired. You will find it necessary to obtain the confidence of your patient; this you will best do by a patient and sympathetic attention to the details of ailments communicated to you, with judicious questions, never appearing in a hurry, but let each feel that your mind is entirely absorbed with the study of the particular case before you. Do not allow pecuniary compensation to come into your calculation, but on every occasion do the utmost you can, remembering that at least if it does not pay you in coin, you will still have the reward of having done your duty, and done something towards the alleviation of the sum total of human suffering. Keep notes of all your cases, more especially those which seem to involve the interests of some third person. It is impossible to predict when or in what way such records may be called into requisition, and it is well for you to have something to aid your memory. In the earlier days of your career you will probably have some hours a day at your own disposal, during which you will find it of advantage to keep up, and revise the knowledge you have already attained, and to supplement it by devoting part of your leisure time to filling up any gaps that may be discovered, and the remainder, to the study of some subject you may select as a specialty. It is not at all an unfrequently expressed wish on the part of gentlemen in practice, that they had more knowledge of comparative medicine and surgery, more especially is this the case in the country practice where the physician and surgeon is brought more directly in contact with the domestic animals. Not only for the assistance it is often in your power to give and thus alleviate tlieir sufToriiiga, but also because man is so closely related to, and dependent upon, tlie lower animals for his food supply, or for the work they accomplish for him, that the best way to feed and treat them in health and in disease would bo for him a niuney-making or a money-saving power ; and further, pet animals and food animals are frequent vehicles for the convection of disease, man and other animals being subject to many of the same diseases, so that it becomes necessary to study such diseases in a comparative manner, and to be able to recognize in the sick animal the source of the disease you have to treat in your patient. Nor does the study of comparative medicine stop with the animals themselves and their habits and their peculiarities, bi.t it involves the study of the food they eat and the healthy or diseased condition thereof. Our knowledge of comparative medicine not only requires of us the study of the conditions of health of animals and their food and water supply, but we now know that it is to these lower animals that man has to look for the cures of many of the diseases that affect our race. You have been taught in the halls of this University and in the wards of the hosipals, these grand monuments of the generosity and noble liberality of the citizens of this City, the methods of prevention and cure of diseases by the serum treatment first introduced by the immortal Jenner, when he gave to the world vaccination as a preventative of small pox. Without knowing the cause he had noted the fact, that those who contracted the disease of vaccinia from the milking of cows affected therewith were immune from that foul scourge small-pox, and having noted that fact, he conceived the idea of communicating vaccinia instead of the practice of innoculating with the genuine disease, as had to that time been the practice. In doing this Jenner laid the foundation of all those elaborate experiments so carefully carried out by Pasteur, Koch, and hosts of others, who have devoted their time, energy and money, to these investigations which have resulted in the possession by the medicine men of the day, of the specific cures which have removed the dread of Diphtheria and other diseases. A multitude of workers make work easy, what could not be accomplished by one, is continued by others and finally brought to a successful issue, and thus we may hope e'er long to have specific cures for many other diseases. 6 You will 860 from thoHc* romarka the study of comi)arative moilicino ia in reality not Himply an accornplislnnont but at tho present day it is a necessity. Tho faculty of comparative medicine of thia university atl'orda opportunities for study and instruction in these matters. The practice of comparative medicine in these days of electric and steam motors has sull'ored in consequence of the decrease in the number of horses, but there is still a large horse interest and a rapiilly increasing interest in cattle and other food animals whoso health, broediuf,', and feeding, require intelli- gent comparative medicine men, indeed the treatment of disease in man is only a part of the general treatment of disease in animals. Now, gentlemen, you are leaving us and entering on tho duties of life, do not forget that although you are engaged principally in tho treatment of the aftlictcd you are also citizens with tho same duties as other members of the community. There are certain onerous duties which fall to tho lot of others from which you are by the laws of the land relieved, on account of your professional duties, such as sitting as jurors, remember then that as you claim the protection of the law you should respect it and protect it when it needs your help. Not that politics are a good occupation for a physician, neither politics nor religion are subjects upon which Physicians can strongly express their views without the risk of giving olfense to some patient, therefore unless asked for an opinion thereon it is well to avoid them as topics of conversation. At the same time it is right to have settled opinions on both subjects, and when needed to express your views. In tho picture displayed to your mind you will see suggestions dimly outlined of your conduct and duties to your professional brethren and to the general public. To your professional brethren be courteous and considerate, as to a brother, be careful not to express an opinion on him, his conduct, or professional qualifications but bearing in mind that human nature is fallible and that, medicine men are only human beings, and all are liable to mistake, do not criticize him lest you also be criticized in turn, do not claim for yourself a position that you will not freely admit any other the same right to claim. If you differ from your professional brother in view of a case do not rudely assert your own opinion ; dogmatic assertion is one of the characteristics of ignorance, but state your view quietly and bo prepared with all the argunients you can think of to support your view, and accord to him the sauie patient attention that you claim for yoursolf, hear his arj,'uniont8 and try and got the truth whether it ho on your side, or his, or lie on neutral ground hotweon you. Never hositnto to own you are in error if such ia proved to you, it is one of the privileges of a gentlemen to gracefully admit his adversary ia correct. To THE Public. — Not infrequently as a professionol gentleman, each of you may find yourself the most highly educated man in the community, and your advice and opinion solicited upon matters of public education, or political questions of the day, or in some business arrangements public or private, in such cases you will frequently have strong temptations put before you. If public education bo the subject, let your voice record your view, that loyalty to the country of your birth and its laws ought to bo the foremost idea of every citizen, and that the education he receives in the public school should tend to the devoloimient of that sentiment, and next, that the whole education should tend to develop manly independence of idea and thought, and a careful consideration of the rights of others, and that all individual rights must always bo subservient to the general good, and so far as you are able see that the system shall be one of education not parrot teaching, that observation and reasoning shall form part of the instruction to the very youngest. Thus the boys will make good citizens, and the girls should be taught in addition those womenly characteristics which will enable them to become tho respected mothers who would grace tho homes of a prosperous nation, respected among others for the intelligence and honest integrity of its individuals. In professional education see that by your vote in placing men in the position of controlling the profession, that you vote for and try to get appointed, those who will guarantee to the public tho proper education of the members of tho profession, without those irksome and useless restraints which simply keep out good men from our ranks, or send them elsewhere. As you were students at this University you know wherein she is wanting, and in what direction she requires assistance, and use your best 8 endeavors to see your Alma Mater endowed with the means of supplying her deficiencies. If politics be the subject on which your opinion is solicited, the general politics should have in view the general good, and on health matters 7 ticularly, you must raise up your voice and record your vote on that side which shall protect the public and prevent the spread of disease, in any and every way possible, and be not backward in setting the example. In business arrangements both public and private you may have in those matters strong inducements held out to you to become rich at the expense of another, either community or ind- •' ^Mal, if such should come before you do not hesitate for a n. > but remember that your whole professional practice is on i negation and put yourself out of the question, and act ??? you Avould otheis should act towards you in similar circum- stances, and generally, gentlemen, so conduct yourselves in the present, that the past cause you no regrets and the future no fears,