The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-03-06
RICHMOND. TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 1866.

/ MEDICAL COLLEGE OF yIRaISIA.--The com
mencement of this institution took place last
night at the First Baptist Church. After a
most appropriate and eloquent prayer, the
diplomas were conferred upon eighteen gradu-
ates. Professor j Hunter Mcguire then rose
| and pronounced the valedictory, in which he
earnestly urged upon the students the neces-
sity Of cultivating Lovefor, and q pride in, the
profession, and Of carefully studying anatomy
as the great groundwork of medical truth. AT
| ter sketching the advantages ofsuch studies, he
passed to the lamentable consequences result
ing from an ignorance of IL and the other
branches Of medicine, and said In this
hurried and imperfect examination Of some of
the claims of the followers of our vocation to
your love and pride, have not for one moment
| forgotten the number Of charlatans and igno-
rant pretenders who have brought SO much
| reproach and opprobrium upon this as upon
other professions. Some OF them, men prostt-
tuting the name of DOCTOR having acquired
a short-lived notoriety by newspaper adver-
| tisements live, like vampires, upon the blood
| of their victims, and fatten upon the lives OF
a credulous people Others again, and they
are scarcely less culpable, imagine their time
of work is over when they have received their
| diplomas. They no longer labor TO keep pace
| with the advance of the science, or, even by
| farther thought and research, 10 digest the
| course over which they have hurriedly passedS
| but, with the bare rudiments of a knowledge
of the profession, and all unskilful and
| ignorant, they shamefully endeavor 10
practice it, Want of knowledge in the
| prosecution of any calling is bad enough,
but no one can calculate the evils
following ignorance in the medical practt-
toner. As an example of the terrible evils of
quackery and charlataniSm, let me relate an
instance which occurred under my own obser-
yatior. Some years ago, and far from this
place, / stood at the bedside of man dying
from strangulated hernia. The scene then
was well calculated TO impress ndelibly the
mind of an older person than myself. Around
that poor mans bed were gathered his wife,
sister, and mother, sobbing and moaning over
his pending death. / looked at the man, his
pale, haggard face, and his cold, blue, and
pinched eXtremities; the great beads of sweat
which stood upon his brow, and the gfoans of
agony TO which he gave vent told even TO my
then unprofessional ear the fatal issue. AT q
little distance from the bed stood three doc
tors,-old, middle-aged, and young,-and /
watched the tChiSpeTed consultation as 1t passed
from the oldest down to the youngest l had
nearly, and had better, said, whispered coRSoLd-
tion, for sixty hours had been permitted to
elapse, and not one effort was made 10 relieve
his unhappy condition. / saw an old man enter
the room,-a grey-haired surgeon, he was,-
approach the bed, and at single glance take
in the actual condition of the patient; and as
he drew from his pocket case of instruments,
and spread them carefully before him, l
heard him mutter to himself, rather than to
those present, 1t is a chance Anxiously
the doctors gathered around; the women
ceased their sobs, and the sick mans
face frightened with this little ray of hope.
l remember how eagerly, boy as l was, l
watched the keen and glittering knife as it
sank into the quiyering flesh. Sadly the doc
tors looked at the surgeon, the women choked
back their sobs, and listened for the verdict (;
and the sick man, with the face more pale and
ghastly from the operation, struggled to his
elbow and strained his eyes to catch the express
sion of the physicians face. But the old sur
geon rose, and turning TO the doctors, shall
never forget his expression when he said, 1t is
| Ir4a 10 tnn Lot f1nrYN
l would have rather had the weight of this
world upon my head than the weight of that
fact upon my conscience
Thus did the Professor discourse upon the
advantages of untiring study, closing his
brilliant lecture with beautiful tribute to
the physicians who died in Norfolk during
yellow fever, aud to the memory of the Chris
tian patriot and EN- minent soldier, Stonewall
Jackson, who shed his blood and lost his life
in defence of what he deemed TO be the right
and duty of himself and of his countrymen.
A fine band of music was in attendance, and
the audience was large and brilliant; and the
address Of the Professor and the names were
received with much applause.
The following Is list Of the gentlemen who
graduated:
Samuel II. Austin, Greenbrier county, West
Va. Thomas J. Barger, Montgomery county,
Va. ID. B. Brewer, Norristown, Pa, t. M.
mann, Richmond, Va. Samuel A. Kell, York
District, 5. G. Alonzo +. Little, Clarke
county, Va. ; J. Newton McNutt, Knoxville,
Tenn. Thomas H. Parham, Sussex county,
Va Littleton S Raryfeld, Northampton
county, Va. William +. Richardson, Rich
mond, Va. John w. Robinson, Greensville
county, Va; Hiram A. Sims, Greene county,
Va. James b. Spicer Hanover county, Va. ;
John b. Tewes, Charlotte, n c.; George NJ.
Wells, Floyd county, Va; John b. Whitaker,
Nelson county, Va. and James Poulson,
Accomac county, Va.