The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-03-04
Progress and Importance Of Sanitary
Science.

/ ASeA SoAiSSO Va tOOh plitCS Ill kuc
chemical hall of the college last night.
There was large attendance Of frienda of
the students and of the college, the medical
fraternity, and ladies and gentlemen gene
rally.
The following are the names of the gra-
duating class as announced by DR.. Joynes,
Dean Of the Faculty: ~
| Robert G. Cabell, Jr., Richmond, Va. {;
Joseph E. Dulaney, Greene county, Va. !;
Willis M. Eubank, Nelson county, Va. !;
John D. Fernandez, Jacksonville, Fla. !:
Benjamin P. Gooch, Mercer county, West
Va; Deucalion Gregory, King William
county, Va; Robert D. Hufard, Wythe
county, Va; W. Augustus Lee, Richmond, !,
Va; Joseph P. McNutt, Mercer county,
West Va; Benjamin G. McPhail, Rich
mond, Va; Addison N. Nuckols, Hanover
county, Va; Christopher Tompkins, Rich
mond, Va; John W. Williams, Nelson
county, Va. 10
OF the gentlemen named in the forego-
ing list, Willis NJ. Eubank passed his ex-
animation and was declared entitled to the
Degree, in the month of August last, but,
under the rules of the College, the Degree
could not be conferred until the present
Annual Commencement.
The address to the graduating class was
delivered by DR.. r. S. J. PEBBLES, Professor
of Chemistry. 1t was full of kind words
and words of instruction for the young
physician, but also abounded in thoughts
and observations which were appreciated
by the large number of persons present
commenced by congratulating the class
| l. Ii
long anticipated, and which fear had
magnifed into an inQuisition fur more
dreadful than the reality. Few spots
in the life of the graduate, he remarked,
will beam out as brightly in memory as this
occasion; for even greater success in the
future will not bring the same amount Of
Joy. Time tempers pleasure, and the older
we grow the more prone We are to revive
past occasions as most happy. lie then spoke
Of the stern realities of life which the NOR
row would bring, when the graduate must
commence the practice Of his profession, and
earn, unaided, his daily bread. But Hope and
Truth, her strongest incentive, have but fly
ing shadows, if>any, in the pictures they pre-
sent on such occasions. A bright picture of
n career Of success and usefulness is
painted, while his reward is in the verifca-
tion of the words of the Son of Sirach,
q Honor the physician with the honor due
unto him, for the Lord hath created him."
Such pictures are natural for the student,
and show what he can make his future life
if true to himself and to the profession
and they are most useful if they bring a
determined endeavor to strive with every
lindrancc, to surmount every temptation,
and keep in the right path.
After the introduction, thus briefly
skctched, DR.. PEBBLES remarked the differ
ence between the medical questions of to-
day and those agitated when those who are
now comparatively old practitioners we're
entering the lists. Nothing is more striking
than the increased attention paid in all
scientific circles to the study of hygiene in
its various branches. From it has sprung
the separate department of Sanitary Sci
ence, aud our greatest modern advances IN
medicine have been compassed by her gui-
dance. Fact by fact has been added to her
store of knowledge, and so perfect has been
Investigation, that though we may not ana
lyze the exact form in which the poison en-
ters the system, yet the conditions which
produce many diseases are not only known,
but some can be produced at will. He then
briefly sketched the good that has followed
discoveries in the causation and prevention of
disease. Typhus fever has been almost smo-
thered where once it revelled; vaccination
has rendered this generation ignorant of the
horrors of smallpox as it formerly scourged
mankind. The condition of the insane has
been improved by the substitution of kindly,
restraining treatment for the old system of
fetters and degradation. Sea-scurvy is q
rare disease where once it was inevitable
hospitals are no longer pest-houses and so
healthful are the hospitals of to-day that
even ladies choose to be treated for their
ailments there in preference to their homes.
Thanks to sanitary science, the lack of
good water, good air, and good drainage,
have become the exception, and are no
longer the rule. There is nothing more
c,rtain than that the air we breathe,
the soil upon which we live, and the water
we drink, have marked influence on health,
and by attention to their purifcation great
good has resulted.
| But the benefit to humanity, it must be
confessed, has not been commensurate with
| the advancement of our knowledge in this
new science. In our country almost nothing
has been done, and the waste of health and
life is startling-ay, almost criminal-as it
might be avoided by carefully organized
system of hygiene. Thousands die every
year in our land of preventible diseases,
and ten times that number are sickened
and their lives endangered. These facts
must make modern medicine trumpet
tongued, and must spur our legislative
bodies to q sense of the Importance OF sani-
tary reform.
It will be part of the duty of the medi-
cal profession to urge the adoption of the
measures referred to in every community,
combating the ignorance, prejudice, and
mistaken economy, which have thus far i'm
peded the practical application of sanitary
science. Municipal bodies pay too little
regard to public health until lost. Dis
ease which might have been crushed
with ease yesterday is allowed to gather
strength by delay, becomes giant,
and destroys its hundreds and thou
sands. The city of New York is a
notable exception, not only saving herself
thousands of lives, but frequently shield
ing the whole country from the ravages Of
pestilence. There is nothing man should
more willingly be taxed for than for the
prevention of disease and prolongation of
| life, yet municipal bodies pinch every ap-
uropriation to effect these ends to the small
est pittance of all their expenditures. The
reason may perhaps be found in the igno-
rance of the public on such subjects. In
England the medical profession have edu.
Gated the public in such themes; medical
men raise their voices in legislative bodies,
and sanitary reforms are urged by medical
associations. Our duty lies in the some