National Republican., 1888-03-10
rA1MAGr 10 rnn DOCTORS.
HIs Lecture at the Lang Island Hos
pltnI Commencpm.ut

rrCoKINS, Mar. n.-Thc Rev. 4. neWtt
Tthnsre, -. D., pastor Of the Tabernacle,
made the address this evening at the long
Island College Hospital commencement. \
yatt audience was present ~ the meelint
which was held In the BrooElyu Academy VI
Music,
Itisuo strange thing that one Of my prbics
sion should be invited to address gentlOmcn Of
your profession. our callings interijin aud
IRE In mIl sympathy. Shalt we not meet on
conGratulatory occasion like this when 50
,ittn we nett in the homes Of distress We
shake hands across the cradle OF agoui21i in
fancy. We join each other in an attempt 1T
solscc where the INroxysms oI grief demand
an anodyne as well as prayer We look into
each ottef's faces through tha dnik as IN"
nehtof death is falling in the sick roo II. a II
bless the doctors all the world over and le,
all the domestic circles say, Amen.
You, dootor, are our first and last earthly
ifiend YOU stand at the gates of life when w.
enter this world and yon stand ~ the gates ot
death when we go oni OF y. Ia the tlos ns
hand of wife or mother or sister or da1gh cr
q shall hold our iipht hHnd. Twill give Streug u
to our dying moments u We can feel the up or
youriin along the pulse ofthe LEFT wrist No
other calling in the world, one cNceptai u Is
received so great hOnor as yOurs. Homer
wrote
0
| Is smorc than armies to the public veal
/ cicero ,a'd: There is nothing IN whil1 men
/ 20 approach the gods as when ,hey try To give
| health to otrer men v The battle held' Of the
1 American Revolution welcomed Doctors Mer.
! c,r, and Warren. and Rush. When tn" Frouch
| army was de mOraiiHed at fear of plague the
! leading surgeon of that army inocul ated b m
| self with the plague 10 show the soldiers there
| was no cout6giOn in i. and there cnurdgt
| rose. All honor aud advancement for yOlr
| profession, from the day when Hippocrates
/ t.It t., th.,v Dart n
and llaXse.d poulticcs down to far later ce1-
| uiits, when Haller announced tue theory of
r,spiralion, and Harvey the circulation ot toe
! tlOoi, and As relli the Uses of the lyinphatia
| vCSelS, and Jenucr baked the worst disease
| that ever sCourged Eur bpc. and Sydcnham
developed the recnpera,ive orces OF ths BODY,
| Hgues OF the world and Sir Ashley Coopsr, aud
Abeinethy. and Hosaac, aud Romeyn, and the
| CcT Grafton Just passed fought back disease
with their lancets aud scalp pels, and sill later
10 uiscoverics made by some who Sit before me-
Tonight.
| understand what tue medical profession has
| accomplished for the insane we must lobk into
the dungeon where the poor creatures used TO
be jnCarcerated. MAdman ChHine naked ~
the wall. a kennel OF rotten straw their On'y
sleeping place room unventilated aud un-
lighted, The worst calamity Of the race hnn-
ishcd with the very worst punishment Tnen
come nnd look at the insane asylums Of u'lci
and Kirkbridc, sofGed and pictured Rri H..
b'aried and concerted, until all tho ats anl
adOtnmpnts come TO coax rerfeRN' f-asJ III 10
See what the great hero of vaccination a.
Complishcd. The ministers Of the iipSptl de-
nounced this use OF he COW pox. Small wits
caficatuTed Its author as riding in great pro.
Cession on the back of a COW, and grave men
expressed II as their opin ion that all the dis.
CAScs OF the brute creation would be trans
planted into the human family, and they gave
instsnces where, they said, actually horns nal
come out on the toreheads o'innocent persons
and people had begun to chew the cnd. But
the hero Of science went on lighting for va3ci.
nation until IL has been estimated that the
doctors in fifty years have saved more lives
than all the battles OF any one century
! destroyed.
Passing along the streets of Edinburgh q few
weeks after the death of Sir James \. Smp.
son, ] saw the photograph OF the doctor in the
windows of the shops and stores, and well
might that photograph be put in every win
dow in ht nor of the man who first used ch q.
rofOfm as an anCsthetic agent. In other days
they tried to dull human pain by the hisheesh
Of the Arabs and the madrep re Of the Roman
and Greek, But II was left to DR.. James Y.
Simpson 10 introduce this great mercy Of the
ages. Alas for the writhing subjects OF surgery
III Other centuries Blesse be God for tnat
wet sponge UT vial IN the hands of the operat-
ing surgeon in the clinical department of the
mt oicai college, or In the sick room Of the
domestic circle. or on the bittle field amid
hundreds Of amputatious Napoleon, after
the battle. rode along the line aud saw under
n tee standing In the snow Larrey, the sur
Geon, operating upon the wounded Napoleon
asstd on, and twenty-five hours aiterwir |
surgeon operating In the same place
%na 1or Pc bSd 6sio nsf sIas s W,non It. chioro hn,
ahw breaihs from the sponge, forgets all III,
rarg Of the gunshot fracture, a'd while thu
doctors are standing around him he lies ther'
dreaming of home and mother and heaven
No more parents standing around the suffering
child struggling To get away from the sharp in
, strument, but slu nber instead OF eXcruriaiion
snd me child wakesmp aud says, "Fathsr,
Goday 81, blessed be God for James Ian ;,Vl
, simpson and the heeven' descended merc,e
Of chlorniorm.
, We thank you doctors for the fact tha, Won
, profession has revealed the wonders of The
We had read in al old classic that we wert
fearfuly and wonderfully made, but you tak,
us into your lecture and operating rooms aus
o'erwhelm us with your discoveries. In,
! world knew nothing about the human eye eX
cept that 1t was blue, or black, or na2el, aud
uSCiul thing to have until your profession
showed lis II had oOO distinct Contrivauces
that II was combination OF miscroscope and
telescope in the same Instrument. so delicate
so stmi-iutnite, aud yet light coming % 900,
tCO Of miles nj the rate oil l00 600 miles second
isobligedto halt at the gate Of the eye, waiting
until The portCulis be lifted something hurried
100000 OF miles and striking an instrument
! which has not the agitation of even winkua
under the power OF the stroke. The ear wa+
lIlSppIeciated except by those who had be
I come deaf, until your profe sion showed MS /,
it Il strange ContrivanCe that by the e'timate
OF one scientist can catch the sound of75.70l
u.
ny how it was the headquarters to which
there came quick dispatches, part the way by
cartilage, part the way by air part the wa,
dispatch pinnging into the ear at the sneed o
one thousand and ninety feet second smal
instrument OF music having only quarter o
two'hundred and hhieth part Ofan inch, anC
this organ YOU showed us 10 be the grea
: Whispering gallery OF the soul. And SO al
9 ch0rted and dispayed until we have com
, away enchanted and, worshipful.
We homer your profession for that which Il
has done for public hygiete How often 20,
have stood between this nation ani Asiati
cholera or the yellow fever. The monument
~ Greenwood, and Mount Auburn, and Laure
+, Iill tell something OF the story OF those ply
scans who stood face 10 face with pesti'onc
IN southern cities until, staggering, in thei
own sickness. they stumbled ovey the cotpse
b Of those whom they had come to save. You
profession has been the successful advocate o
! vcnuletion. sewage, drainage and tumigatioi
Lord Palmerston. when he SAID to the Euglisl
nation at the time fast had been proclaime
to Keep of the great peStilence: "Ciean yOn
streets or death will Tavage, nOtwlthStaudln
all the prayers Of this nation. C'ean sou
streets and then call on God tor help"
{ We honor your profession for what 1t In
r done for longevity. There was such n iearfl
, subtraction from human life there was pros
u pect that in q few centuries this world wun
he len ipha6itantiess. Adam started with
e whole eternity of earthly existence besor
him, but he cut off most OF IT, and only con
, paratively few years were left, only seve
II hundred years OF life, and then five hundred
:, and then two hundred, and then fifty, aut
II then down TO on average OF eighteen Bu
l medical science came In and since the six
A tecmh century the average Of humsn life ha
u Iisen from eighteen years to iOriy-four, nc
n Cording TO some and II will continue to fis
q until the average of human llIe viii be tlfty
It and SIXTY, and seventy, and man will nav,
no right 10 die before ninety, anl according
- to the statement OF m old classic, THE child
y shaii die hundred years old" Millennium
/. Tor the souls OF men will be millennium fo
the bodies OF men, Sin done, disease will b,
done; the clergyman and the physician getlin
honor your profession for what IL mas don
, ioT the poor No excuse now for any Que il