Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-10-27
OUR UNIVERSITIES.
Introductory Lecture by DE-. John III.


Calender.
The Introductory lecture to the regular
course in the medical department of the
Nashville and Vanderbilt Universities, was
delivered by John III. Calender, at Repre-
sentatives' Hall last night, and proved to
be of an unusually interesting character.
The Rock City band was present and played
before and after the lecture. The attend
ance was quite large, the medical students,
TO the number of several hundred, being
seated in a body on one side Of the hall,
while the other was occupied by ladies and
gentlemen from the ranks of our best citi-
zens. On the platform were seated Judge
John NJ. Lea, DIR. j. ID. Winston, DR.. Van
s. Lindsey, DR.. T. o. Atchison, DIR. W.
7. Briggs, DR.. w. l.. Nichols, DIR. Thomas
Menees, DR.. Thos. o. Summers, DIR. j. b.
Lindsey, DIR. James Nj. Stafford.
DIR. Stafford called the audience TO order
and said
"Ladies and gentlemen, we celebrate to-
night the opening Of the medical depart
ments Of our univeTsities-the Nashville
and the Vanderbilt. And we have reason
thus to celebrate. Our growing class is
large, and we are proud of it; moreover it
is made up from the best material.
'Our exercises viii open with prayer by
Bishop McTyeire."
A fervent and appropriate prayer was
then offered by Bishop McTyeire, after
which there was music by the band, and
then the lecturer was introduced by Judge
John NJ. Lea, President of the Board of
Trustees of the Nashville University, who
said it was hardly necessary to introduce
DR.. Calender to Nashville audience. On
this occasion, the lecturer would represent
the medical faculties Of the Nashville and
Vanderbilt Universities, which educational
institutions had been united in that de-
partment. he said that public opinion had
settled upon the fact that Nashville is to be
the central point CT the educational inter-
ests of the South. There can be but three
or four large medical institutions in the
country, and Nashville is bound to be one.
He paid high, but deserved, tribute to the
professional standing Of the lecturer, and
then introduced him TO the audience.
DR.. Calender spoke for an hour and
half, his lecture being devoted principally
to inStructing the students present in the
high duties and responsibilities Of the pro-
fesSiOn they had chosen. He said that this
evening marked the Inauguration of the
twenty-fifth year of one of the institutions
he represented, and notes the natal day of
another whose auspices are brilliant indeed.
1t is the celebration of their marriage, in
the presence and by the sanction of the
highest officers ofeach. The two schools
have become essentially incorporated bone
of one bone, and flesh of one fesh-eStO
peTpetUd.
The University of Nashville was founded
and established on grant of land-now a
portion of this city-made by the State of
North CorOlins, to the hardy pioneers who
first settled in this section, who had never
enjoyed the advantages of education, but
who saw the necessity of educating their
children. The medical department. of the
University was established twenty-five
years after the establishment of the Uni
versity, and during the tWenty-four years
this department has been in existence, it
has had more than 5000 pupils and more
than 1000 practicing physicians proudly
proclaim it their alma mater.
In the almost total extingnishme Mt of
Southern educational institutions during
the war, its classes were suspended, but
when the unhappy struggle closed, its walls
were again thronged.
Vanderbilt University has no long line
of history, but opens under auspices which
cannot fail to be followed by success. In
the spirit of true philanthropy, leading
men in one of the most eminent branches
Of the Christian church had long desired
the establishment Of a great, central uni
versity, where all the departments of learn
ing might be conducted. The Methodist
Episcopal Church South, in combined
oct l,o e 80 Il.
ferences of that church; about two years
since proposed the establishment of an in
stitutiOn bearing the name of the Central
University, and the Methodist Episcopal
Church South determined upon measures
to secure its establishment, and what might
have been the slow and patient work of
years, has been in an instant called into
existence by the munificent bequest Of Cor
nelius Vanderbilt, of New York, in con-
sideration of which bequest, the trustees
very properly changed the name Of the in
stitution to the Vanderbilt University.
With this much for an introduction, the
lecturer turned his attentiOntO the students
present. He said they had undertaken the
study of one of the most labOrious profes-
siOns, and that sometimes their hearts
would sink under its peTplexing duties;
but he would remind them thai, by the de-
cree of wise providence, hard labor was
necessary TO secure any great or
permanent good. He said that
the science Of medicine was
the study of mankind-in both his mortal
and immortal relations. Indeed, in its
scope, medicine embraces all the physical
sciences, and in this connection he wished
TO impress upon the minds of the students
the Importance of the connection between
the pSychical and the physical. The brain
is the grand characteristic of the physical
difference between man and the lower ami
mails. Ii Is the residence of that subtle
we call the soul.
He said there were certain fallacies grow
ing out of the medical profession, one Of
which is that the practice of medicine is
and another that it depends
for success solely upon observation, and
these theories he combatted in a practical
aud convincing manner. He said that in
the practice of medicine there is a right
way and a wrong way, and il was the duty
Of those making it their vocation TO seek
out the former and avoid the latter.
The great mass of the professions, he
was sorry to say, did not strive TO elevate
their calling as they should. With the
it was merely means of earning
their bread, or of accommodating wealth and
position, but it was the few who
were in love with their profession and
sought to make it more useful to mankind,
who had made discoveries in the science
which had rendered their names distin-
yuished.
CRIMINAL NOTES.