Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-03-12
Medical Department Columbian Uni-
We rsity.
FIFTY-rHIRD ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT

FIrTy-rpIRp ANNUAL. COMMENCEMENT
WELCOME ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT WE'LL +
ING.
The ftv-tbird annual commencement of
the medical department. OF the Columbian
University took place at Lincoln Hall last
night, in the presence OF very iaIge audl,
flowers, contributed by many of the ladies
present for their favorites of the graduating
class, were arranged In front Of the stage.
the faculty of the university and the grad
mates, occupied seats on the stage.
The grand march; Dedicated to the class of
Weber's orchestra, after which President
yelling, o. behalf of the faculty, delivered
the following address OF welcome:
DE. wELLING's ADDRESS.
GENTLEMEN: You are about to take upon
yourselves the obligations of a responsible
flIhSy IN ne service vice Of god and Oh. your
be authenticated, only by the learning and
skill to which you have already attained in
which am about to place in your hands Il
but the symbol and academic guarantee of
The proficiency which you are believed by
period of your novitiate You,can make full
proof OF this ministry only by BRINGING TO
the discharge OF its duties an ever growing
your minds have been imbued. AS the pro-
fessors of medical faith, which is at once his
torie and scientific, you are pledged to Guilt
vate spirit of reverence for the great body
of asc' rtained truth which has been handed
down TO you by the past generations, and at
tie same time TO cherish a rational skepti-
clsm with regard to all improved facts aud
unveriied theories. 1t would indeed, be a
sad rejection on the wisdom of man and the
prov1dent1al order of the world, If the great
StigatOrs and thinkers, who have
wrought before you i'm the domain OF medi-
cine and surgery, could be left out of account
In making up the faggot of your professional
opinions. The didatic system in which YOU
have been reared is a system that bears in its
body the marks of gradual and successive
CROWN through more than two thousand
years.
You have been wisely taught not to re-
nounce your share in the grand inheritance
bequeaihed to you by the fathers and vota-
ries OF an art which has such honorable tr:-
dltiOns. To renOunce this legacy at the d c.
tate OF any one among the new-fangled i'm
perlelsms which propose to lay the founda-
tons OF medicine entirely anew would be to
pronounce upon yourselves what the old law
writers used to call a sentence of disinhe-
risOD, - and, in the name of progress would
be TO cut up the condition of all sound pro-
gress by its very roots. Even if the light
which experience gives us were, as Coleridge
has said, "a lantern on the stern, shining
only on the waves behind u.s." il would still
preserve us from entirely losing ali reckon
Ing OF our course over the painless waters.
10 him who keeps unbroken the continuity
OF human labors and strivings i'm any DEPART
ment of study and endeavor, the very errors
Oh his predecessors may be fraught with
LESSONS OF WISDOM.
ior NOSE very errors, when once noted and
indicated, serve to mark the point at which
the mind of man went astray, and il is at
these points that history plants her beacons
and her buoys for the guidance of the future
explorer. But no amount of learning can
dispense the practitioner of the healing art
from the bounden duty of interpenetrating
al ms acquisitions and all his studies with
the scientific spirit.
The doctor is called by the very nature of
his profession TO apply in his daily practice,
and often on the spur of the moment the
principles of a science which requires him to
be not only the faithful servant, but also the
intelligent interpreter of nature. These prin-
methods of exact pbserxafion ann ra 70 5
deductions observed in the processes of the
inductive philosophy, and hence the demand
dhey should make ON personal intelligence
call themselves doctors. These principles
cannot be laid away like a cdp,n n.OTt,tul i'm
the charnei house of memory, but must be
the minds best activity in dealing with the
Phenomena OF life. disease and death.
That scientific spirit which is gradually
has long since Overtaken the profession of
medicine, and is working in il an ameliOra-
ton to which you can be insensib1e only at
the cost OF your repute as men of mark in
your calling, and may add, at the cost of
the lives of your patients-a cost destined
soon to be followed by the loss of those mate
rial rewards TO which the successful practi-
TONER is entitled to look so long as the la
borer is worthy of his hire. One of the oldest
among the fathers of medicine has said that
ly made, "by the variety and accordant &C
tion of its adjustments seems to utter an
anthem of praise to its maker" When dis
ease invades this frame, and all the daught-
ers OF music are brought low because the har-
monte pulses of healthful life have beeu
dashed with discord.
now shall the physician learn to restore the
order that has been broken, except as he
shall have thoroughly comprehended the full
compass of the notes to which the Great
Composer has set the human form divine?"
And with what tender sOlicitudes and piouS
awe should he regard these .'feshy hooks" of
ours, which are the seats of all human lows
and of all human sorrow? Never does our
frail humanity present more rightful claim
to the best and highest service which science
can bring than in those supreme moments of
helplessness when the confiding patient
places the custody of his life in the hands of
MS trusted physician, and never does charla-
taniSm appear so atrOciOus as in those con-
junctureS where the stakes for which it plays
are the highest of all earthly interests.
relieving, as we do, that you approach this
It's initial duties, and with an adequate sense
of1ts solemn responsibilities, am now ready
TO place in your hands the visible tokens of
the high service TO which you are accredited
by these diplomas.
coNFERRING THE DEGREES.
A fervent prayer was next offered up by
the Rev. Mr.. Shute, invoking the blessing of
divine providence upon the young gentle !
men who were now about to enter upon the
diyersities of life, and, after the air. " Scenes
that are brightest" by the band. President
yelling, on behalf of the board of directors,
IN few appropriate remarks, conferred the |
degree of doctor of medicine upon the follow
lng-named graduates John Godfrey, Ala; |
Clayton A. Hoover, ID. c.; Gabriel r. John
son, ID. G.; Geo. Lunney, $. c.; Benz s. Sey- |
mour, N. Y; Wilfred w. Streeter Pa; Wal |
ter Taylor. w. Va; Roswell Waldo, Ohio
DIR: j. {. Riley announced that the prize for |
the best inaugural thesis was awarded TO |
Wtlfred W. Streeter. of Pa, for thesis on |
90 Migranie;" also, that honorable mention
was made ON the thesis, /" Influence of the |
Intellect on the body" by Clay ton a. Hoover, |
OF ID. G., and the thesis entitled "Anthropo- |
genesis" by John Godfrey. OF Ala.
DIR. w. Ii. Drinkard ably addressed the |
graduating class, and G.. F.. Johnston de- |
llvered an eloquent valedictory.
A DIVORCE DECREE REoPENED-A few
days ago Judge Wylie, in the Equity Court |
the decree of divorce granted on the |
10th ultimO in the case of VIM. c. Johnson
against Virginia Johnson, and gave leave tn