898 ABSTRACTS OF INTRODUCTORY ADDRESSES, ETC.

genuine recognition of brotherhood which will make yorenter into their difficulties and sorrows as your own, respeeltheir helplessness, and have patience with their ignorance.By love of service I mean that disposition or attitude ojmind and body which finds its chief delight in helping others.If a man possesses these qualifications, or strives for thenpossession, though he may have taken no honours at hisuniversity people will trust him, because they can believein his word and his purpose ; they will understand him,because he is not ashamed of kinship : they will love him inproportion to his work for them. And the work of such aman will be good work. It may have the limitationsinseparable from the measure of his attainment, but it willbe free from humbug or pretence, and every essentialaccessory within his own control (such as the strictestsurgical cleanliness and care) will conspicuously mark hisconduct of the cases entrusted to his charge.But what if we know that we are wanting ? What if some

of you feel (as I have felt) that neither the body, nor themind, nor the character that we desire is ours to-day ?What if some of us know that we inherit weaknesses as

legacies from those before us ? Then, whatever maybe said regarding bodily attainment (and this is farmore capable of development under culture and trainingthan many have imagined), of this you may be certain,that growth of mind and character are practicallyillimitable, and that there is probably nothing short of

insanity that cannot be overcome by education in thehighest sense of it. In these days, when a little truth isoccasionally written in scattered papers on the subject ofheredity and almost any amount of fictitious nonsense

dealing with this question is scattered broadcast, it seems

necessary to preach again the gospel of true education.Believe me, there is no weakness you cannot grow out of if

you set your heart upon it, there is no strength or goodnessthat you may not aspire to and in some measure attain.

"Maxapcoe 6t 7rELPWPTfS Kc:tL 3tipcopTeg 7-77P8LKUtOO-VV77V, 67-t c:tVTOL Xop7-ao-O-qo-opTat."

But the way is long, and the heart must be set upon the

goal.The road winds up-hill all the way,Yes, to the very end,"

and the hardest lessons are not to be learnt at the beginning.This is why I said that a high moral purpose was neededrather than a catalogue of virtues. It is the taking of theup-hill path that is the important matter : the doing of ourduty to the best of our ability day by day that brings with it

light and leading. For as the distance lengthens the

prospect widens ; we get out of the narrow defiles and

tangled mazes of the earlier journey, and though the ascentbecomes steeper and more painful, more and more of itsdirection becomes open to our view. Of course, there aretimes of darknes when we can no longer, perhaps, see theway, but if we look upwards there are always the stars toguide us. Even when these are hidden, if we wait patiently,quiet, perseveringly, the cloud will finally "lift," for thestars are always there. Before the ending, too, the sightsand scents and stillness of the everlasting hills are about usand inspire calm and quiet confidence.But will not the trend of thought I have been pursuing-the

influence of character on individual life-admit of a wider

application-the influence of character on national life ? Ihave lately been visiting some towns in the South of France,where remains of Roman occupation, of Roman architecture,and of Roman life are both plentiful and striking. At Arles,which is a veritable museum of antiquities, the arena is still

standing: colossal, magnificent, built on a scale rarely ornever attempted by us for any permanent building. It holdseasily 25,000 people, and is still occasionally used on greatpublic festivals. Close by are the ruins of the Romantheatre, and still further on we find the old burial-ground,or Elysian Fields, the cemeterv of " les Aliscamps." Here wemay note the care and love and reverence which the Romanslavished on their dead : the massive tombs, many of themdouble for husband and wife ; the touching inscriptions com-memorating the life and work of those who had gone before ;here, a builder of ships ; there, a young girl, fond of, andproficient in, the art of music, her tomb carved with

representations of the mandolin or guitar, the early organ,and other instruments of music ; or here, again, the tomb ofa boy of 17 whose sorrowing friends mourn his prematuredecease. Again, if we pass to the Musee Lapidaire and seethe carving, the jewellery, and the pottery of these days,

some difficult to imitate and impossible to surpass : if welook at the faces of these Romans preserved to us in marble,strong, line, intellectual, like the best English faces of to-day(and there is much more Roman blood in English people thanmany have snpposed) ; if we look at the sculptured heads oftheir children, and particularly I might single out the headof the boy (supposed by some to be a son of Constantine)which for purity and beauty is perhaps the most wonderfulfragment of realistic sculpture in the world,-if we considerall this, it seems impossible to conceive how these men, sungreat, so powerful, so wise, so loving, the successful colonisersand rulers of nearly all of the then known world, could have.lost their empire and become merely a shadow and a name.If history is to be believed-and we can read it directly in thelater literature of their race-it was not intellectual giftswhich became wanting, it was not directly bodily strengththat failed, but it was the national character which slowlybecame depraved. Sapped by the loss of national faith, theincreasing growth of luxury and softness, the limitation offamilies, the relaxation of marriage ties, the elevation of thewanton and courtesan, the disgust of service, the importationof foreign slaves and soldiers, who, many of them, becamebetter and greater than their masters-it was the gradualcorruption, effeminacy, and moral decadence of the race’

which led to its downfall and its ruin.And what of the national character of England in our

own days ? Are there not some indications of similardangers’! ’{ If you think so-and I could give you manyreasons for this fear did time permit-individual awaken-.ing may do much to help yourselves and the pro--fession which you have chosen. It may finally arouse

collective action and do much to help England. Gentle-men, we have been passing, and are still passing, through,a time of "sifting," " as every time of war must be.Older and, as I think, purer ideals are again coming to thefront. We begin to realise that the battle is to the strong,"and that the real wealth of a nation consists not so much in-her material prosperity as in the number of healthy, upright,and manly lives who can give themselves to her service and’protect her in the hour of need. Such have not been wanting.in our recent struggles, men who

’’ Never turned their hacks but marched breast forward,Never doubted cloucls would break,Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph"Held. we fall to rise, are baflied to fight better,Sleep to wake."

But we want more of these, and of this faith or spirit whichensures the final victory. You who will be the medical’attendants and advisers of the future generation may domuch by steadily honouring and upholding higher ideals of’individual, family, and national life to infuse a new andhealthier spirit into the coming age. For it is in the’

spirit of Browning’s epilogue that the hardest tasks are

always accomplished--it is in this spirit that a nation maysometimes be born again.

AbstractsOF

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESSES, ETC.,DELIVERED AT THE

MEDICAL SCHOOLSAT THE

Opening of the Session 1901-1902.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL.

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS BY RISIEN RUSSELL, M.D. EDIN.F.R.C.P. LOND., ASSISTANT PHYSTCIAN TO THE

HOSPITAL.

DR. RISIEN RUSSELL, after welcoming the old and newstudents, expressed the hope that none of the latter were

entering on their medical studies with the set determinationthat they were going to be specialists, as such a course wasfraught with great danger. Their object should be first to,become good all-round men, well versed in every branch oftheir profession, as no one could become a good specialistwho had not fortified himself by a thorough general know-ledge of medicine and. surgery, After insisting on the,

899ABSTRACTS OF INTRODUCTORY ADDRESSES, ETC.

importance of anatomy and physiology he pointed out how either because it had not been possible to find locum-tenentaessential a knowledge of bacteriology had become to the or because the remuneration such substitutes now receivedmedical man and how chemistry, always a most important was more than many practitioners could afford to give.subject in the medical curriculum, had acquired additional These various considerations led him to conclude that theimportance since a knowledge of chemical methods had medical man who was ready to practise his profession in fivebecome so necessary to the bacteriologist. Chemistry had or six years’ time would be in a most satisfactory position, soalso become more important because chemical analyses of that students now commencing their medical studies couldthe blood, the excreta, and the contents of the stomach were look forward to finding openings for the practice of their pro-now indispensable in the diagnosis, prognosis, and rational fession five years hence with a degree of certainty that didtreatment of many diseases. Special attention ought to not obtain in any other profession.be paid to chemical pathology and they might consider He complained of the unsatisfactory public status of thethemselves fortunate that there was now a clinical labora- medical profession. From the members of no other pro-tory in the new hospital that Sir Blundell Maple’s splendid fession was so great an expenditure of time and labour re-liberality had provided for them, where they would be quired, for a man had to devote five years of his life to studyable to learn how to investigate some of the complex before he could become qualified to practise. The time was

problems of disease by methods that were calculated to not too long, as it was to the best interests of the communitymake diagnosis less conjectural and treatment less empirical that a liberal amount of time should be devoted to acquiringin the future than they had been in the past. In con- knowledge that was so essential to the well-being of man-gratulating the students on the profession they had chosen kind, but a profession whose services to the community werehe said that it would give them every opportunity of admittedly so important as to need such careful preparationincreasing their intellectual powers and of widening their was one that was justified in looking to the State for somesphere of knowledge even far beyond the limits of the sub- better signs of appreciation of its worth than had hithertojects with which they would be directly concerned. It would been forthcoming. The composition of the House of Lordsafford them due scope for the full exercise of all their supplied an example of the small value placed on the

faculties, and if they made good use of their time they would medical man, for while that assembly included clergy-in the end have the inestimable satisfaction of knowing not men, military men, and lawyers, only one medical man

only that they had done good work, but that it had been had as yet been deemed worthy of a seat there. He for the benefit of their fellow-beings. submitted that medical men were as much needed inHe next called their attention to the special advantages the deliberations of an assembly where matters of the

which there were in entering the medical profession at greatest possible moment to general medicine and tothe present time. No other profession could hold out sanitation were decided, as bishops, generals, and lawyers,the prospect of so quick a return on the outlay that and that there were to be found in the medical professionstudents were obliged to make. In support of this men as distinguished and as high in the social scale as theview he pointed to the fact that during the last seven members of these other professions. He further contended

years there had been a falling-off in the number of that the services that the medical profession had rendered tomen entering the medical profession, so that there were the community called for such recognition of its most dis-now 1660 fewer men qualified to practise medicine than tinguished members as would raise the public status of thethere would have been had the same number joined the pro- profession to a higher level. While feeling that they had afession each year since as did so in 1893. In the meantime, as right to look to the State for better appreciation of theirthe figures of the last census showed, the population of the worth, he could not but admit that the unsatisfactory publiccountry had increased to the extent of over 3,500,000 during status of the medical profession was in some measure due tothe last decade. The colonies had always supplied many the way in which some of its members deported themselves,good openings for men who had received their medical even when they occupied high professional positions. Meneducation in this country and they might be expected to of the stamp to which he referred created an unfavourablecontinue to do so, but to South Africa more especially he felt impression on the public mind which was not readily effaced,justified in looking for a large number of openings for young so that in forming an estimate of the profession from a socialmedical men when the development of the country was pro- standpoint the public remembered them and forgot theceeded with after the termination of the war. Then, again, many polished gentlemen that there were in its ranks. Hethe vigorous and laudable action of the General Medical accordingly exhorted the students so to order their lives asCouncil in suppressing unqualified assistants and in stamping not only to sustain but to raise the general tone of the profes-out the iniquitous system of ’’ covering had made many sion. Another reason why the profession did not rise toopenings for qualified men. The expert committee appointed its proper level in public estimation was the difficulty tha,uunder Mr. Brodrick’s presidency had been an earnest of the public appeared to have in distinguishing between thethe determination of the Government to reform the Army medical man of the present day and the apothecaryMedical Service, and the committee’s report that had of the past. They appeared to consider that the two werejust been published contained provisions that could not much the same, and this erroneous idea was fosteredfail to increase the popularity of this service. There was by the circumstance that so many medical men still

ample evidence to show that the Admiralty would have to dispensed their own medicines. He recognised the diffi-follow the example of the War Office and institute reforms culties that would have to be contended with in many anin that branch of the service. So unpopular had the out-of-the-way part of the country were medical men not tomedical service of the navy become that but few candi- dispense their own medicines, but such cases were in thedates could be induced to come forward to fill the minority, and the majority of medical men in privatevacancies that were being caused by resignations and practice could discontinue dispensing medicines with theretirements. A good example of the state of things greatest possible benefit to themselves and to the public.that obtained was to be found in the fact that 14 vacancies The time now spent in doing druggists’ work could be utilisedwere advertised in August and only seven qualified medical to far greater advantage to themselves and to their patients ifmen responded to the call. Of these only four were it were devoted to reading to keep themselves informed of theavailable, as one was found to be physically unfit and two advances that were constantly being made in every branchfailed professionally to satisfy the examiners. Reforms in of medical science ; abolition of the practice would help tothe medical services of the army and navy would not only educate the public to regard the medical man as somethingprovide good openings for young medical men, but as more superior to a mere vendor of drugs and would teach them tomen were attracted by the services those available for the value him for his advice instead of for his medicine. Thecivil population would be reduced and the chances that a inability to appreciate the difference between the medicalyoung man would have of making his way in private practice man of the present day and the apothecary of the past prob-would thereby be greatly improved. How small was the reserve ably accounted, in part at any rate, for the frequency withof young medical men, even at the present time, had been which people consulted druggists, and so far did they fail todemonstrated by the experiences connected with the South understand the difference between a qualified medical manAfrican war, for those surgeons required for the army had and a druggist that it had been recently reported that anot been supplied without inconvenience in other quarters, coroner and his jury actually accepted the evidence of aProvincial and other hospitals had had difficulty in securing druggist as to the cause of death of a clergyman whom hemen to fill posts as house physicians and house surgeons ; had been attending.steamship companies had experienced a similar difficulty in He next spoke of the school to which the students hadgetting medical oificers ; and many medical men in general come to receive their medical education and said that he

practice had not found it easy to take a holiday this year could do so more freely than would have been possible for

900 ABSTRACTS OF INTRODUCTORY ADDRESSES, ETC.

m9.ny of his colleagues. as in eulogising University Collegthey would have been lauding themselves, in that theibrilliant achievements and the achievements of some 0

their predecessors had done much to place the college in thproud position it now occupied among the medical schools othe metropolis. The congratulations which he received fronhis friends when he was fortunate enough to gain the appointment which gave him the privilege of addressing thenwere most of them couched in terms that either stated o

implied that there was something that called for speciacongratulation over and above that which his appointmenon the staff of any other medical school would have necessitated. Their comments confirmed what he had alreadyknown-viz., that the position University College occupiecas a scientific school was very high, that its staff was con-1.posed of men of great distinction, that they had alwayenjoyed a great reputation for their powers as teachers,and that the standard of teaching had always beer

high. The influence that University College had hadon medical teaching in London was very great.There was not a medical school in the metropolisthat had not numbered among its teachers men who hadreceived their education at the college, and an even morewide-spread influence had been exerted on the medical

teaching in this country, in that at various centres out ofLondon where men assembled to receive a medical educationthe names of University College men were prominent amongthose whose duty it was to conduct the teaching. TheUniversities of Oxford and Cambridge were numbered in thelist and, as most of his audience knew, one of the Scotchuniversities had comparatively recently secured in a formerstudent and professor of the college a man whose nameranked among the first physiologists of our time. Thescientific education received at the college was unsurpassedby anything that could be obtained elsewhere in this country,and the spirit of scientific research that was active had led tobrilliant achievements by those who had worked there andby others who had gone forth to prosecute their researcheselsewhere.He begged his hearers to cultivate the spirit of scientific

inquiry. Every scientific research, if properly conducted,might be expected to disclose some new fact, and thiswas the only way in which true progress could be made.The medical man was in a peculiarly enviable position inthat most of his researches when crowned with success

tended in a more or less direct way to promote the welfare ofmankind, some of them indeed being directly concerned withthe relief and others with the prevention of human suffering.Dr. Ferguson’s presidential address at the last annual meet-ing of the British Medical Association was too fresh in hismemory, however, to make him unmindful of the fact thatinestimable benefits had been conferred on mankind by thediscoveries of men who did not belong to the medical

profession. It was to men of science that they owed everyreal fresh advance in medicine. The so called practical mancould do little more than apply and utilise the discoveries ofthe scientist. In exhorting them to cultivate the spirit ofresearch he did not in the least wih them to neglect thepart of their training that would fit them to become practicalphysicians and surgeons. A belief prevalent among somepeople that a man could not be both scientific and practical,and that the cultivation of the one facultv must of necessitybe at the expense of the other, he regarded as a great fallacy.Medicine and surgery could only be expected to be advancedby a proper commingling of the scientific and the practical, sothat scientific principles might find practical application inthe elucidation and treatment of disease. If they requiredany stronger incentive to induce them to aim at being ablesome day to advance the science of medicine by their owninvestigations, let them read of the horrors of surgery in thedays before antiseptics were introduced in the treatment ofwounds, and compare that picture with what they saw whenthe time came for them to take up their duties as dressers inthe wards of the hospital connected with the college. He wouldbe surprised if the contrast between the two pictures did notstimulate them to emulate the example of men like Pasteurand Lister, even though they felt mere pigmies compared withthose giants. Well might Lord Lister ignore the vitupera-tions of a gang of agitators who, in the face of such anincalculable benefit as he had conferred on his fellow-beings,,dared to treat him to some of the abuse that they visited onall those who by their researches sought to mitigate thesum total of human suffering. He expressed the hope thathe was addressing some who had completed their medical

studies and who now wished to take up research work, at any. rate for a time. The inducements for men to devote their, time to scientific work were few, as the scientific spirit was’ not yet sufficiently a.live in this country. Neither the

Ministers who controlled the purse-strings of the country norprivate individuals who possessed fortunes that they wereanxious to utilise for the public good had had the scientificeducation’ necessary to make them realise that the true

way to promote the welfare of the nation was by endowingresearch. More research scholarships were needed, andmore laboratories where the atmosphere was saturatedwith the spirit of research and where the directorsreceived emoluments that were sufficient to allow themto give their whole time to the prosecution of their ownresearches and to the directing of the investigations ofothers who worked under their supervision. He was not

altogether without hope of aid from the State, for althoughstatesmen had not shown that they in the least understoodwhat an incalculable amount of good might be expectedfrom encouraging men to devote their lives to research, thekeen interest that His Majesty the King had always taken inscientific matters and his gracious recognition of the valueof research, at no time more clearly expressed than inconnexion with the recent Congress on Tuberculosis, would,he trusted, lead Ministers to recognise the importance of thisquestion. Meanwhile, he looked with confidence for heldthrough the munificence of private individuals. He hahgreat hopes that the feelings which prompted Lord Iveagpto found the Jenner Institute of Preventive Medicine andwhich induced Mr. Andrew Carnegie to give £2,000,000 tathe universities of Scotland were not wholly wanting in otherwealthy men in this country, and that the wonderfulforesight and magnificent liberality of these two men wouldserve to stimulate others to emulate their excellent example.

MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL.INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS BY THOMAS H. KELLOCK, M.A.,

M.D. CANTAB., F.R.C.S. ENG., ASSISTANT SURGEONTO THE HOSPITAL.

IN welcoming the new students the opinion was expressedthat rarely of recent years had the prospect in the medicalprofession been brighter than at the present time. Various

causes-amongst them the addition of a year to the lengthof the curriculum, the substitution of qualified for un-

qualified assistants, the war in South Africa, the wideningfields in the colonies, and the prospect of better conditionsin the army-had all, it was stated, had their share in con-siderably increasing the value of the services of a well-

qualified man. The advantages to the average man of aneducation at one of the smaller schools were mentioned,chief amongst them being the comparative ease of obtain-ing the resident appointments and the great value andrecommendation of these in later life.The main part of the address was devoted to a considera-

tion of the relations between students and the hospitalsduring the time of their pupilage and afterwards. Passingover briefly the time a student passed in the school beforecommencing practical work in the wards and out-patientrooms, and pointing out the importance of a student

making the best use of that time and learning well workthat he was little likely to have to go back to, and of hisgetting into a good habit of work, it was said that inthe future it was possible that the time when a studentbegan his practical work might mean for all what itnow meant for those who came from the universities-a first introduction to the hospital. It was easy to

forget what past and present students owed to the

hospitals, the enormous sums of money which had beencontributed to them had enabled them by years of usefulwork to build up such a reputation that they had become theresort of the poor directly accident or disease came uponthem. They could thus place at the disposal of the studenta large mass of clinical material under the best conditionsfor studying it, one of these being the fact that in a hospitala patient consented to, and expected, a proper examination.The hospitals, too, provided the funds for acquiring the newand expensive apparatus that the progressive medicine andsurgery of to-day rendered necessary, and students as well aspatients got the advantage of this. It was then consideredwhat a student could do for the hospital in return. ByJarefully performing his duties when acting as clerk orlresser he could not only help himself in acquiring know-ledge but also help in the work of the hospital. It was an