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M<^^

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.

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.

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^

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

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

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

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 ;
ll

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

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-

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

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

I !

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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 ;

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

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.

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

I i

ill

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,

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

r'-'TT

! 1 i

lit

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,

can

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."