The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-10-15
Ghe GRteltiqertYr:
ARpRESs NY DIR. AGNEW.
The Company In Which IIc Placed Gar.
field Ia II Talk 10 Students.

| ihilA, Ptess
Dr. d, Hayes Agnew's opening address
before the medical CLASSES Vi the Uniycr.
sily OF Pennsylvania yesterday, on the oc,
casion Of the beginning oil the one hundred
and sixteenth term, possessed wider inter.
terest than conferred in the five score stu
dents whom the distinguished surgeon
welcomed TO his profession. lie disavowcd
1T tine OUtSctuny intention OldiscUssng any
scientific thesis. After touching upon the
chances every one OF the students before
INN had Tor success in this world
and in the profession they had
chosen, DR.. Agncw said; Let me
repeat 10 you that the success You seek
lies wholly within the pale OF the law, and
II were 10 lay before YOU what | believe
to be the conditions which regulate adj
yanccment Tor distinction in this life,
should say first that the subject which is
to command the service Of your hand aud
mind must be intrinsically worthy, and
here let me say that ! have never known
u medical man, the governing principle OF
whose life was mcrCenary, to reach distin-
gulshCd success. The purer and more en-
nobling the subject which CngrOsscs the
attention Of the student the more will his
mind be elevated, his feelings refined, and
the whole man be lifted ont OF thcCnvirOn.
ments OF his lower nature into an un-
CIOuded atmosphere OF thought and feeling.
There is an opinion much too prevalent
IN the world that the posts and places in
life depend largely on IN underlined and
unrcgnlated force, which makes man the
passive creature Vi a fOrtuitOus play OF cir
CumsIancCs, Wealth, family, genius, have
all been pressed into notice us constituting
important factors in the race for distinction.
How many have fought their way to the
front, and in spiteOf Poverty have at length
filled high seats OF learning and OF power.
Poverty did not prevent Samuel johnson
rising to literary cmincnCC, or SChlrmann
from becoming the first palcontologist OF
his time. Poverty did not prevent Lin
nTus Neutrality-suspicious., llcync, OF Got
tingcn, tho son OF Il weaver, notwithstand-
ing he was compelled to struggle for over
thlrty years with extreme poverty, yet f.
nNlly became the most eminent classical
scholar OF his time, Nclpcau, the great
figure in French surgery, was the son Of
blacksmith. Jobcrt the son OF washer
woman. DuputrGn was so poor when he
commenced the study OF medicine that, it
is said, he was obliged to Use for his lamp
the tat from the disseCtng table over which
he wrought. lttrc, the very learned
translator of the works OF IIippocratcs rose
from the most NhjCCt poverty"
DR.. AgnCw paused IN instant, and his
next words were interrupted bv applause
from the students when the celebrated sur
gGon referred for the only time to the most
distinguished patient he ever had. "GNr-
field, said he, "was canal boy whose
poverty did not prevent him from rising
to the first place in Il Nations heart. An
cCstral blood, divorced from all else, consl.
tulCs II Wlurlcss possession and some OF
the greatest failures in history have been
those whom the world recognized as men
Of genius, or, as Carlyle would term them,
men with prodigious capacity OF carrying
troubles.
Turning now to the medical profession,
does il come short Of the conditions which
have been designated us essential to IL life
pursuit? II has always remained to me an
unsol yablG paradox that n profession whose
members do so much to relieve human
suffering in all walks OF life, and nre 50
willing TO sacrifice for the benefit Of others;
profession whose members ordinarily de-
vote onC.fourtI Of their lives to the gra-
tuitous dispensing Of their services, and 20
few OF whom NCcumulNtca competency OF
this worlds goods sufficient to keep the
wolf from the door, or, at least, to remove
the anxietics Of advancing years. say it
is pulling to explain in the iucc Of such Il
record why so little sympathy exists be-
tween the physician and the public Only
let some question OF general importance
arise in which the character or professional
reputation Of medical man is involved,
and, ten to one, the public will range them.
selves over against the doctor"