East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1866-09-27
VALEDICT0RY ADDRESS
Q F
M. G. T. PIessner,
Temporary President of tho
Sag. Valley Medical Society

Temporary President of tho
Sag. Valley Medical Society,
During the last months I had thu
pleasure and the honor, Of being tho
President of the Medical Association
of the Saginaw Valley. / say advised
ly; the pleasure and the honor; certain
ly it was always pleasure to me, tC
meet the members of the profession
although controversies among the
physicians have become proverbial
and even old Cles said, meaicm
medicam odit, lone physician hates an
other lmy experience, now oneof quite
number of years, has been entirely
to the contrary. Wherever / met one
Of the members of the Profession
either in deliberative associations, ol
in consultation at the bed of sickness
/ always found them friendly ant
gentlemanly, 1 always found the in
tercourse not only useful but pleasant
and refreshing, and can take leave
from the position, to which the choice
of my professional brethren has
brought me, with my sincere thanks
for the kind and generous treatment
i always and everywhere met with
from the physicians, i had intercourse
with, But as the position of a physician
is and must be an honorable one, will
you allow me to linger little on this
subject.
The duty of a physician is to pro-
mote and guard health, to restore il
when il is lost, TO alleviate pain, to
combat the infrmities and avert the
dangers threatening human life.
Truly great although a difficult task,
worthy the best and greatest endeav-
ors of lifetime. How it has been
fulfilled, the history of all civilized ma
tons show, although the ways of life,
manners and customs have become
more and more averted from nature,
the ratio Of mortality has steadily and
fast decreased. Everywhere, where the
science and art of medicine has been
duly and well cultivated, the average
duration Of life has been remarkably
increased, epidemics formerly so fatal
and destroying nations almost at or e
sweep, have become comparatively
harmless, we don't see any more>of
the ravages of the plague of middle
ages, the black death, once so formid-
able; smallpox once so dreaded and
fatal to infant-life, appears only now
and then and is very seldom fatal,
even the cholera, the bugbear of our
times, reaches its greatest height only
among half civilized or entirely bar
barous nations in Eastern Asia, its
ravages among the civilized world,
altho~sh ooen,ingiy great, do not at
all or at least very little increase the
average annual ratio of mortality
More prominent, or at least more
visible is the progress in surgery. How
dreadful was it when in the middle
ages, an accident befeli some one, to
have an extremity manned, he was
either left to wait for long lingering
death without any help, or the injured
member was taken off with knives,
heated TO a white heat, or the stump
inserted in boiling pitch, to stay the
flow of blood, the ligature of vessels
even the functions Of the arteries be-
ing entirely unknown. How differ
ent now The less of blood during
the operation is prevented by the ap-
plication Of simple instrument, the
tourniquet, or by the pressure of the
finger on the main artery, conveying
the blood from tho heart to the place
to be operated upon, the loss of blood
afterwards stopped by the tying of the
end Of the severed arteries with sill
verthread or a silver wire. Nay even
more, the pain, the excruoiating pains
of the greatest and slowest operation
even are entirely obviated by the in
halation of ether and chloroform. Not
many years ago we bound the patient,
or held him down by main force of
A strong assistants, struggling against
him, and filing with his cries, house
and neighborhood at the present
time he sleeps quietly and is entirely
unconscious Of all, which formerly
filled his mind with the utmost hor-
rors. So proofs might be adduced
out of every branch of our venerable
science, what great benefit it can and
does procure for suffering humanity,
if such proofs were needed, if not all
the world were unanimous, do not
say IN praislng us, We dou't even ask
for any such thing, but are earnestly
asking and gladly rendering such re-
lief as we are able to afford against
the innumerable evils besetting hu-
man life. IL it is always honorable
to strive at great ends, how honor
able must then the position of a good
and truc physician be, who not only
aims at, but is SO very often, yea al
most every day, benefaotor to such
as he has connection with, more 60
when this is tho weak the suffering
part of human society. But O ply
sician must be good and true one
How is he able to become such p
How docs he gain the insight and
the knowledge, by which he is en-.
abled to succor the suffering, to save
life in many and many cases.
If ono wishes to cure a disease, Inc
must know first what this disease is,
in what way it differs from healthy
action and what its necessary result:
will be, but TO understand this, hC
must understand first, the healthy &C.
ton of the organism, its composition,
the forces acting in and through it
and their laws, just as well as one
who undertakes TO repair watch
must know first, out of how many
parts such a mechanism is composed
how each Of them must be in il.
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