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 c itC » eC f if l I ' t'SJ trA rJ I xJLijM L 
 
 
 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE 
 
 TO THE COCESE OF 
 
 MIDWIFERY 
 
 ASD THE 
 
 DISEASES OE Y»/ OMEN & CHILDEEN : 
 
 ISCLVDINa A 
 
 %mn\m\\ mmi of \\t m gi, 1 3^\m% i,g„ s^ij, 
 
 PROFESSOa OF THE PEI!fCIPlE3 AUD PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, 
 AND DEAN OF THE FACULTY. 
 
 f 
 
 delivehed in the university op McGill college, 
 
 NOVEMBER OiH, 1860, 
 
 BY ARCHIBALD HALL, M.D., 
 
 TROFESSOE OF MIDWIFERT, AND THE DISEASES OF 'WOMEN AND CHILDREN, 
 
 ETC., ETC., ETC. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL STUDENTS' 
 ASSOCIATION OP McGILL COLLEGE. 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST. NICHOLAS STREET. 
 
 1860. 
 
 ei 
 
t)V(^' 
 
 
 •■^^ 
 
 / 
 
 J^BBm 
 
"^ 
 
 / 
 
 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE 
 
 xo THE corasE OP 
 
 MIDWIFERY 
 
 AND THE 
 
 DISEASES OE WOMEN & CHILDEEX: 
 
 INCLPDIXG A 
 
 lwm\ml ^kit\ flf \\t lute gi. |. |0te, 11 J,, f f .g, 
 
 PB0FE8S0B OP THE PRINCIPLES AND PEACTICE OF MEDICINE, 
 AND DEAN OF THE FACULTY. 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE UNIVERSITY OP McGILL COLLEGE, 
 NOVEMBER 9th, 1860, 
 
 BY ARCHIBALD HALL, M.D., 
 
 PHOFESSOE OF MIDWIFEET, AND TUE DISEASES OP WOMEN AND CHILDREN, 
 
 ETC., ETC., ETC. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL STUDENTS' 
 ASSOCIATION OF McGILL COLLEGE. 
 
 |!lontrcal : 
 PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST. NICHOLAS STREET. 
 
 1860. 
 
<\ 
 
 /3^ 
 
Session l8G0-fll. 
 AECH. HALL, M.D. : 
 
 Sir,- -At a meeting of "The TJniversitv ]\Iedical Students' Association," 
 held on Friday Evenin;; the S)th inst., Mr. Duncnu IMcGre^'or in llie cliair, 
 the ResoUition which is now placed in your hands was submitted and 
 unanimously passed : — 
 
 " Tliat ' 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 dispoyal for pul)licati()n ; and 
 that a Couunil tee, named by the Tresidcnt, bo instructed to wait upcju him 
 to solicit his consent." 
 
 In accordance with the terms of tho above Resolution, we have now the 
 honour of addressing you, and respectfully request your acquiescence. 
 (Signed) F. 1). SUTHERLAND, 
 
 ^Y. ^V. SQUIRE, 
 E. H. TRENHOLME. 
 
 F. D. SUTIIKRLAXD, 
 Seoj. U. M. S. A. 
 
 18 YiCTouiA Square, 
 Nov. 21st, 18(10. 
 Gentlemex, — 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 Jlcdicine, 
 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 never- 
 theless place tlie jMS. at your disposal. 
 
 "With the sincerest wishes for the prosperity of every member of the 
 class, 
 
 Relieve me. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 A. IL\XL. 
 To Messrs. F. D. Sutherland, 
 W. W. Squire, 
 E. H. Thenholji?!:. 
 
 /3^0^ 
 
/ 
 
/ 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 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 tlie halls of this Fniversity. 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 te- 
 as 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 
 lesjning in this Provmce. 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, which 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 
 
 Icam tlic prmcii)lcs Avhicli arc to giiido you in the treatment 
 of diseases ; and may tliey, in the hour of ])enl, Avhen all 
 around is ;^loom and darkness, prove beacon-lights to illumine 
 your path ; may they, under those trying circumstances, 
 ■which arc to be encountered in the career of every ])hysician, 
 redeem the pled<^c which wc make to you this day, to spare 
 no effort, to shrink from no labour necessary for the zealous 
 and laithful performance of the trust imposed on us as your 
 instructors. 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 responsi1)ility of his posi- 
 tion ; and Avhatover 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 the perform- 
 ance of my annual duties Avithout a sentiment of a])preliension 
 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 ui your prosperity, you may rely on 
 my best endeavours to impress upon you the principles and 
 practice of the department assigned to mo in this Institution. 
 Gentlemen, I have alluded to one Avho 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 quar- 
 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 indefatigable worker. As Dr. Holmes' 
 name is so intimately blended Avith this School of Medicine 
 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 hi 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 liy the 
 more extensive hospitals of London. These two young men 
 were 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 
 lectui'es 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 partucrshij) witli 
 his former preceptor, the late Dr. Arnoldi, which continued 
 for about five years. 
 
 It was about this time, that, recognising the diificulties 
 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 combinatiun Avas 
 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 Avere Drs. Robertson, Caldwell, Stephenson, 
 and Holmes ; and in 1824 Avas delivered, under the name of 
 
 r. 
 
 
8 
 
 the ^lontrcal Medical Institution, the first course of lectures 
 in the Canadas, forming the session of 1824-25. The 
 liranchca were apportioned as follow: Midwifery and the 
 Diseases of Women and Children, hy 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 number of 
 students in attendance on this first session was 25 ; and of 
 these I believe only three are now living, — Dr. Weilbrenner 
 of Boucherville, Dr. Pelin of L'Assomption, and Dr. Badg- 
 ley, 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 these 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 object 
 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 1819, ' from the increase in 
 the population of tliis town, the Hotel Dieu nunnery was 
 found to be inade(piatc to the reception of the indigent sick ; 
 an inconvenience further augmented by the great influx of 
 emigrants from the United Kingdom, some of them labourii.g 
 under fevers of a contagious nature, and other diseases that 
 were nut admissiljle into that Hospital." I quote this from 
 the first Annual Report of the Montreal General HospitaL 
 Accorduigly, tliat year a subscription was taken up for hiring 
 a house to serve as an Hos[)ital ; and the Report further 
 says, " that though this was only on a smxiU scale, the good 
 
9 
 
 eiFected by it was, after 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 ^£ 3,088, and was 
 finished for the reception of patients in 1822 ; and that there 
 must have existed an urgent necessity for its erection, is 
 pi'oved from the fact, that, between May 1822 and ]May 
 182-3,421 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, Ltiedel, 
 Stephenson, and Lyons. So that, witli 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 wliicli this 
 Institution has conferred upon the town and country, since 
 this period of time, are incalcula))le. To the comparatively 
 small central building, Vihich was first erected, two large and 
 capacious wings have since been added, forming the lleid 
 and Richardson Avings, names given from two of its princi- 
 pal benefactors. Not less than 400 i)atients can now be 
 comfortably accommodated 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 int'oinnation, 
 it can safely compare with any similar Institution on this 
 continent. To this Hospital Dr. Holmes served as one of 
 the attending physicians for nearly twenty years, pei-forniing 
 his duties with marked ability, when he retired u])on the 
 consulting-staff, to make way for some junior mem))er of the 
 profession who as})ired to his ])lace. 
 
 But we have a third incident to ivcall to mind, occurring 
 about the same time, and which afiected this School to a 
 
I i 
 
 / 
 
 > 
 
 f ; 
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 w 
 
 10 
 
 marked extent. About the year 1811, there died in this 
 city a wealtliy merchant, the Hon. James McGill, who 
 becpieatlied a most valuable property for the purpose of 
 cndowiniT a Colle;jce to be knoAvii afterAvards by his name. 
 I must observe tliat an opinion prevailed about the commence- 
 ment of this century, and for many years afterAvards, that 
 the liritish Government contemplated the erection of a Uni- 
 versity on a most liberal scale in this city ; and Mr. McGill 
 labourt'd uTider the impression, that, in his bequest, he Avas 
 but endowin.u; a College in this University, Avhich Avas to be 
 called ])y his name. To Avhatevor circumstances OAving, this 
 intention of the British Government Avas never realized ; and 
 ]\[r. Mc( nil's T)e(iuest became, afterAvards, the cause of a 
 protracted litigation, Avhich lasted until the year 1821, Avhen 
 the Courts of Law decided against the family of the Des- 
 llivieros, to Avhom the other portion of his property had 
 devolved. The be( [uest Avas made upon a certain condition, that 
 lectures, Avithin a given ])eriud of time — ten 3H\ars, if I remem- 
 ber rightly — should be delivered Avithin the College. In the 
 year 1S21, failing the intentions of the Home Government, 
 the College thus endoAved by Mr. ]\IcGill Avas erected into 
 a University by Royal Charter ; and in 1828, as it Avas impos- 
 sible to fill up the Faculties of Arts, LaAv and Divinity Avith 
 properly (pialified professors, the lecturers in the Montreal 
 ^ledieal Institution Avere incorporated as the Faculty of 
 Medicine, and as such have since continued. This uicorpo- 
 ralion, as I have already menti<med, 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 interrunted onlv b 
 
 iptei 
 
 y the jiolitical tr-Mibles incident to 
 
 the rebellion in 18;)T — the ricli bequest of Mr. McGill Avould 
 have returned to the DesHiviere family, and no University 
 
 AVO 
 
 uld h 
 
 lave been now existniir. 
 
 At the period to Avhich Ave have uhav come, 1828, Drs. 
 Roliertson, Holmes, Stejihenson and CaldAvell Avere the four 
 
 !i li 
 
11 
 
 professors ; each lecturing 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 during its winter, 
 Dr. Caldwell, one of the jn'ofessors, fell a victim to his bene- 
 volent exertions, dying of Typhus fever. This necessarily 
 caused a slight change in the professorial staff ; Dr. llobert- 
 son taking the place of Dr. Caldwell, as lecturer on tlic Prin- 
 ciples and Practice of Medicine ; Dr. Ilacey, tlien 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. llacey to Quebec, his native 
 town. Dr. Campbell ond myself were associated ; the former 
 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 tlie University, a connection which has 
 now lasted for 25 years ; and when I observe, that, during 
 all that period of time, with all the changes which have since 
 taken place, and \mder 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 Avord arise or pass, — when I record 
 this observation I think I say as much for the eipuudmity of 
 temper of our deceased colleague as can l)e said. 
 
 During this period Dr. Holmes conthuied his lectures as 
 Professor of Chemistry, and an able lecturer be was. He 
 was particularly careful in his exjierimcnts, one result of 
 which was that he seldtmi 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 jiarticularly careful to unfold and explain the latest 
 views. He contimied in the chair of Chemistry \uitil the 
 decease of Dr. llobertson in 1813 or 1814, when, in cou- 
 

 I 
 
 12 
 
 sequence of his seniority, and at the same time seeking relief 
 from tlio labour consoijuent on the chemical course, he 
 acceptcfl 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 
 eflfect a similar extension here. And now we find the Faculty 
 augmented by the names of McCuUuch, Bruneau, Macdon- 
 nell, and ScAvell ; 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. 
 LaAvrence 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 estal)lishing 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 was a desideratum ; and well do I remember the even- 
 ing when its establishment was determined on. There are 
 certainly larger and more extensive ones in some of the prin- 
 cipal towns of Great Britain, but not many ; but, as " great 
 events from small licginnings rise," we anticijiate tlie period 
 when this Hospital will be enabled to accommodate a larger 
 number of patients, and prove C()nse(piently more attractive 
 and useful than it now is. I consider it useless to continue 
 the history of our Faculty further. Its present Faculty m 
 known to you. Dr. Holmes, on the reorganization of the 
 College in 1852, was appointed Dean of the Faculty ; a posi- 
 tion most emphatically his due, as much from his seniority as 
 from his long-tried services so faithfully executed. The 
 duties of the diaconate he discharged with rare fidelity, 
 evincing himself on all occasions the student's real and sin- 
 cere friend. Indeed, if there was one trait in our deceased 
 
/ 
 
 13 
 
 friend's character more prominent than another, it wafi his 
 earnest 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 displayed itself while a student in 
 Edinburgh, the fauna of which is particularly rich, and the 
 geological formations (of volcanic origin) , such as to atti-act, 
 to an extreme degree, the lovers of that science. He ])rought 
 to this country a very largo collection of the plants surround- 
 ing Edinburgh, and a rather extensive collection of niincralo- 
 gical and geological specimens. These latter formed the 
 nucleus of the extensive collection wliich 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 tliis 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 ncAv 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 Avere sent home 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 
 many years prominently before the public, a biographer reijuires 
 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 
 
^ 
 
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 opinion or a fact. Strictly conservative in his views, he was 
 yet a pro.^ressivc conservative, and always voted with that 
 party at electoral contests. He was never prominent in put- 
 tine: forward his views ; in fact, he rather avoided an 
 expression of them. But he Avas nevertheless one upon whom 
 reliance could he always placed ; and, if an important prin- 
 ciple was at stake, he could he depended upon. 
 
 As a Physician, he helonged to what may he deemed the 
 old school. Constitutions change, and they have changed. 
 To whatever causes these changes are attrihutahle, it is not 
 our business now to incpiire. 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 Ilamiltoiiian system, as 
 it was termed — was the ftivourite mode of practice. That 
 he should have retained much of this system of treatment is 
 not to be Avondered at. He Avas 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, Ijut 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 Avere cast into the sea, it would be so much 
 the better for mankind, and so much the Averse for the fishes." 
 This again is the opposite extreme. BetAveen these two 
 extremes lies the "juste milieu," Avhich it should be the duty 
 of every physician to attain. The object should be not to 
 overpoAver the vk medicat7ix, 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 Avho can duly appre- 
 ciate the line of demarcation between these two opposite 
 Imes 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 ho 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 ))elieve, 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 
 
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 16 
 
 birth. He was the first to direct attention to this very impor- 
 tant fact, one of immense interest in a medico-legal point of 
 view.* In the Montreal Medical Chronicle he publij^hed 
 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 folloAving 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 ac(|uirementSi 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 wliich 
 ofiice he disch...'ged with great ability 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, Avhom 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 singidar fact, that at the 
 moment when this School of Medicine had achieved 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. 
 
/ 
 
 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 hfe 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, 
 inscrutabl 3 as are His ways, of one tiling we 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 unknoAvn. 
 
 Gentlemen, I have diverged widely from the more legiti- 
 mate objects of an introductory lecture. Permit mo, 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 
 that 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, m 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 unperatively demanded here than 
 
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 in the other two branch33; and these necessarily depend 
 upon education. lie 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. These constitute, in the most emphatic sense, 
 the ground-work of medical character. Without a thorough 
 knowledge of these, no one can bo considered an accom- 
 plished phj^sician. 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 diifer- 
 ent parts of the human system, and their relative dcpendance 
 upon one another. Physiology tells of the functions with which 
 each different part, each separate organ, is endowed. By an 
 intimate ac(|uaintance 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 difierent classes of diseases 
 which in INIedicinc and Surgery are studied under their res- 
 pective pathologies. 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 acfjuirc a thorough knowledge of them), yet in the field 
 of actiial labour you will frequently find yourselves at fault ; 
 that diseases, owing to a multitude of differently-acting causes, 
 
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 19 
 
 do not iuvariaV)ly present the same features, the same forms, 
 as described in hooks, hut, under the guide of some ruling 
 principle, the tnic physician will he rarely found a^*tray or at 
 fault. In this School you have the amplest means of ac(|uir- 
 ing a thorough theoretical and practical ac(iuaiutance 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 liright 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, Ijccause the 
 knowledge accjuircd 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 fiir 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 folloAving, 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 'itera- 
 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 carefully-written notes 
 
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 becomes a valuable addition to a student's library. And I 
 Avould 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 vnih. crudities ; all 
 becomes a mass of confusion ; and you possess no disthict, 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 findhig them, as is always the case with those v/ho are ill 
 prepared for them, ordeals to be shunned or feared, they 
 become pleasant conversations on matters of scientific mter- 
 est, in which the examiner and the examined seem to be 
 enjoying but a pleasant tete-d-tete. 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 
 pursuits or pleasure, and the work of four compressed into 
 one session, and that one the last — as I have known to occur 
 not unfrequcntly — the labour of that session becomes dispro- 
 portionate ; the student finds more to accomplish than he can 
 possibly perform; and the result is a postponement of liis 
 examinations to a subse(|uent 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, 
 
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 21 
 
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 who perchance may be looking forward to his expected day 
 of graduation with fond and eager anxiety. 
 
 It is only, gentlemen, by systematic study that you can 
 duly (qualify yourselves for the 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. Medicme is not a retrogressive branch of 
 tn'^y, nor is its practice the same as it was years ago, nor 
 1 ':. 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 infinnities ol 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 be in your power to rejoice " that 
 your strength has not been spent in vahi, nor your labour for 
 nought." 
 
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