Omaha daily bee., 1884-10-08
Opening of the Omaha Medical Col
lege,

legc.
The fall and winter session of this CO
lege was formally opened Monday night
the college building. The amphitheat,
was well filed with ladies and geutleme
visitors, besides a large number of ct,
dents and medical men. Introduction
remarks were made by DR.. Denise sivin
a review of the history of the college, i
work aud future prospects, condition, eto
after which he introduced Prof. Richard {
} Moore, who delivered the following il
teresting lecture:
y Students of the Omaha Medical College
' LADIES AND GENTLglEN: We are advise
in Holy Wit, before commencing the erectio
of q building Go set down and count the cost
and this precept every wise and cautious ma
I, follows, no matter how great his possession
or how insignificant the structure he contem
plates erecting. If this course be wise an
prudent when a building but small in size, an,
to cost but q few hundred or oven thousan,
dollars, is under consideration, how mucl
I, greater is the necessity for us TO well exam
inc the architects plans and contemplate the
probable cost, when tho ediice we are about
to rear shall be a domicile for all of our nat
ural lives. Therefore this evening, at the
very commencement of your professional ca
reer, which will terminate only with tho ter.
mination of yourlives, it well behooves you to
thoughtfully consider the great work you are
about to undertake and the vast amount OF
toll and self denial you will be required to
undergo, in order that you shall successfully
achieve the the object of you labor an hon
orable position among your colleagues in the
medical profession aud the respect and conf
deuce of your fellow-men.
The real cost of an education in the art and
science of medicine and surgery is represented
in q very small degree by the actual expendi-
ture of dollars and cents. A few hundred dol
~larsexpended for lecture tickets and other in
cidental expenses crnnected with college work.
The necessary outlay for ordinary living ex.
penses, which with medical students are pro.
verbally small, for they have well earned the
reputation of being the most economical OF
all seekers after know edge. A few dollars
invested in books charts, etc-in all y three
years course in a medical college, which should
be the minimum time spent in the preliminary
study, need not cost to exceed 81, 600. But as
l stated the dollars and cents represent only o
very smallproportion of the cost of q medical
education, application absolutely required
in.attendanceor lectures. The habit of correct
reading which must be acquired and the self
denial which must be practiced during your
college days in order that you will be able to
OAtN 'stA shO ~ eAbO hiiOt
demanded by an exacting people.
A young man engaged in Obtaining a litera-
ry education can without serious detriment &C.
casionally absent himself from the class room
and by q little extra work retain his place
with his class mates, but with the medical
student it Is different; every lecture in every
department is complete in itself, and once
missed, cannot be regained. To illustrate. L
will mention for instance the lecture in the
course of principles and practice of medicine,
on the subject If pneumonia.
The professor not only tells you in a few
words what is written in the text books,
dwelling on the principal features of the dis
ease, and the most approved treatment of the
digerent stages and complications, but he also |
draws many practical conclusions,
from his own experience in practice extend
ing through many years. This information
Illustrated and impressed securely upon your
minds by the actual examination of the pa
tient, suffering from this disorder in the wards
of the hospital, makes an impression which
will never be forgotten, but in after years,
when yon take upon yourselves the duties and
responsibilities of a practitioner of medicine,
the abnormal sounds rs revealed by auscElta-
ton will be Immediately recognized, and you
will see distinctly, in the minds eye, the care
used by your teacher to illustrate his lecture;
and, by association, You will recall the many
important facts in diagnosis, pathology and
which he, years before, called your
attention, and you, though but a novice in the
profession, will reap the benefits of the expe-
rience acquired by the years of toll and close
observation of your teacher.
Now if for the purpose of business or pleas
ure you are absent from this lecture you will
entail q loss which cannot be overcome by any
amount of reading, but there will exist in
your medical education q blank which in after
years may occasion you many hours of great
anxiety and your patient, who has confided his
oil info vnpr 1enninr bic uarp sfa ttaa1F |
cannot possibly receive the benefits of the pro-
~fessiop, which, in his helpless condition, he so
greatly needs. The old Latin autAor wrote
with many misgivings, diem perdili, l have
lost q day; but if you be negligent in your at
tendance upon lectures you may have occasion
to mourn for years the loss of d single hour. |
This is but one case, taken at random from
many. The same will hold true with every
lecture delivered in this amphi.heatre during
your entire college life, in anatomy, physiology
pathology, materiamedics, surgery and obstet-
and all other branches taught here, every
lecture must be attended, studied, and i'm
pressed upon your minds never to be forgot
Ten.
This strict attendance upon lectures is one
IF the items of expense which cannot be ex
pressed by dollars and cents which you must
incur |,
Another item of expense which you must at
this time well consider is that of close applica-
to your text books, you must learu how
to study. Th5 simple reading over OF an arti-
is not that study which is required OF n
physician. He must not only obtain all the
presented by bis author, but he must by
this habit of study acquire the faculty of cor.
rect reasoning and discrimination; so chat he
en- quickly seperate the good from the worth.
~lass(tor in medicine the lose dixit of no man is
accepted in lieu of facts and no must store
this deduction deep in his memory to be re-
called at q moments notice when required.
The lawyer, when an important case is placed
in his hands has days, weeks and sometimes
years to consult the authorities and prepare
his arguement. The divine can in the %seclus-
ion If his study examine the writings OF the
leading minds in the chur-h, prepare h!s dis
course and commit to mem ry the eXtempor-
aneOus prayer, not only tins, he
also has ample time to practice the proper
gestures and intonatlOns OF voice to render his
words more effe tive. But with the physician
it is entirely different. He must acc without
wavers III his course he is lost and the time Tor
action passing by unimproyed the patient
suffers an fnjnry Trepsrable. You cannot IN
the few years passed with your ALMA MATER
acquire all the knowledge which is absolutely
necessary for the physician to possess, but
you must acquire that habit of study, and
must 80 educate your memory and reasoning
faculties that you will be competent to recei We
information from every word you may read in
after life, and so develop your perceptiye
faculties that you will be able to act quickly
snd rightly under all circumstances This
power of keen perception does not come to
any man by intuition but is tho result OF
constant, lsborious and systematic study.
Another item of expense in connect on
with the work before you, which must be
carefully considered; one which to the 0rdl'