Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-06-22

D Leasure, st Paul. N K Whitttemore Elk R.
W Lincoln, Wabashaw. Smith, st Paul.
Gen. R. W. johnson was then introduced
by the president and delivered the following
address of welcome on behalf of the citizens OF
St. Paul:
ADDRESS of Welcome On Behalf Of the Cifi-
gems.
Gentlemen of the Stale Medical Association
1t has been devolvcd upon me to bid you 6
welcome to the city of st. Paul. 1 can assure
you that do so with great pleasure and yet
would that the pleasing duty had been en-
trusted to more able hands. Words arc some
times called "hollow things" and suavity is
sometimes called acting, both embracing ani
concealing only emptiness, but yet words and
personal address are, after all, real things ant
sentiment are invaluable. Such true anG
fitting words are not always at ones command
when they would have them. This poverty
of expression / may frankly confess envelops
me to-day. / say to you, gentlemen, vel
come to the city of st. Paul, but how shall
say it to make you feel it? l would not have
you think this mere formal utterance like q
decorated piece of confectionery on an elabo.
rate dinner JdOlc 10 De looked at, not parIdkeH
of, but to be reserved for some future
occasion. would bid you a
welcome that you will feel is for you
and on account of something that pertains to
you.
You are here as the members of a great
scientific school,; you are the representatives
of study, of research, of experience, and
close observation.
You are a part of the grand superstructure
IA ,.,,fo hot opA
brains have been for ages erecting above the
foundations of mere matter and u crude eX-
istence. You are here, too, the full character OF
all that you professionally represent, for the
purpose of laying the foundation by consulta-
ton together of still higher attainments and
more ingenious skill.
The profes sions that are scientific, that call
for knowledge OF subtle laws of nature by
discoveries of hitherto unknown laws that give
to man new powers, new agencies, dissolve
old mountains of impediments, and multiply
the old units of accomplishments by millions,
cannot fail to command the respect, if indeed
not the homage of all intelligent men.
The great cities of the world in all ages have
been, and are to-day, eager TO greet with
welcome the cheftain of the battle field; the
civil hero of diplomatic success, the grandly
dreaming poet and the soul enhancing musi-
clan. In this, our time, no less a welcome
sembled, as you are to-day to cement what has
been ascertained in the past, and incite the
no ped for accomplishments of the future.
But what shall say of the quality of science!
What is the comparative importan ce to man
of the various sciences?
How shall the several scientific professions
rank in our estimation? 1t is delightful to be
wheeled over the continent on a steel rail,
while luXuriously at ease in down-like up
| is In hn oh tn
your butcher for sweet breads and choice
cuts 1t is restful to ascend to your four-story
bedroom in an elevator. 1t is diverting to
lead the worlds aoings at breakfast by virtue
ofthe telegraph wires, and then inaugurate
your epicurian day with fruits
that only ocean steam nayi-
cation could make possible for you. But,
and right here, gentlemen, bid you welcome
to st. Paul
| say only an Indifferent headache will make
that railroad side torture-a very ordinary
pain in the region of the belt will disrupt your
telephonic attachment with your butcher. A
single unstrung nerve will constitute the ele-
vator an abomnation and imprison you in the
fourth story altogether, while even a moder-
ate acquaintance with neuralgia will make
these morning kilograms seem worse bedlam
than Fourth of July in the city, and the ocean,
with all its floating fruitage, dwindle into a
moderate pond for suicide.
Attain to whatever we may in all the other
sciencies, count the stars, tell the distance to
the sun with the most minute accuracy, dis
cover and utilize a north pole passage if you
will, separate the American Siamese twin con-
tinents with canal, light the world with elec-
tricty, and teach our President and Queen Vic
toria to sit down together and whisper State
secrets, unconscious of 1000 intervening miles,
and after all we must remember and we must
recognize that good health is the commander
in-chief of all the forces.
Much of the invention and discovery of the
present age is at the expense of vital forces
and even at the cost of lite
itself. Men become spendthrifts of their ener.
gies, profigate of their powers in the enthusi
asm of their pursuit for knowledge and thei1
ambition to shine as promoters of the grand
upward march of the races. 1t becomes youl
duty, gentlemen, to repair these shattered
forces; to string up and attune the nerves, to
ward off the shaft of death or receive it power
less as some stout shield, forged and toughened
and polished in the laboratory of your ex
perience and study. 1t is yours to watch an6
guard and check the great brains of your day
and generation-yours to conserve all that
great and good men would thoughtlessly and
needlessly lavish.
As we cannot have mountain without q
valley; as we cannot have light without
Il shadow, as we cannot ascend without pos
slblilty of dissent, so we have in the midst
Of all the glory of our humane and @sthetica
civilization, dark, dark spots OF crime. Mere
ly to seize and obliterate the criminal was tht
process of the far past. But one of the gran(
results and glories of your profession ha:
been to analyze the physical conditions attend
ing and nourishing crime, ,and from these stud
les you have been able to dlstil a great many
ounces OF prevention, as well as compound
most effective doses of cure 1t is YOURS Il
stay the rashness of youth, to arrest the tip
pllng elbow, to frighten away that demon, Ex
cessive Pleasure, that with so many delightful
sounds, so many airy graces, so many Haunt
ing colors, and such fascinating Utilization O
nerve, courts its victims, if not to early graves
to prison cells and capital death.
In many ways it is yours to illuminate do
mestic and municipal shadows, polish the darl
spots on private and public life-in a word
lessen and cure crime.
It has been often said that man is full O
trouble, and from my own experience I an
inclined to think it is true. Mr.. Beecher one
emphasized this statement by adding, "An,
49, IL -. L..