The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-24
MEDICAL SCHOOL OPENS
MANY FRIENDS OF STUDENTS HEAR
THE OPENING ADDRESS.
DIR. w. III. Link, of Petersburg, Talks
of the Duties, Responsibilities and
Pleasures of u Physiczan's Life.

| The opening exercises of the eighteenth
| annual session of the Central College of
| Physicians and Surgeons were held last
! night in the college building at Pennsyl-
vania and South streets. During the sum-
mer the college building has been remodel
| ed and enlarged by the addition of two
| floors. On the first floor are the free dis
| pensary rooms a new chemical laboratory
and secretary ard faculty rooEL The
! building has been renovated from top to
| bottom, and the students very proud
| of their new quarters, which they claim
! to be among the finest in the city. An
! audience of nearly five hundred people,
| which filed to overlooking the college am
! phitheater, attended the exercises last
| night Short addresses were delivered by
Drs. Joseph Eastman and S. E. carp, of
| this city, and DR.. NJ. V. Newcomer of
Upton. DR.. w. II. Link, NJ. A, of Peters
burg, Ind, delivered the main address of
the evening. He spoke as follows:
This is in measure a glad occasion
Bright anticipations are uppermoSt IN the
minds of those most interested. Inc 1acul-
ty are back from their summer vacation
hiled with new ideas, strong from a snort
respite from business and eager 10 begln
the course Of instruction, when, Tor the
coming term, is to become SO large part
of their da.-y work. The friends OF Doth
students and faculty are here in force,
anxious to lend the charm of their pres
ence in launching upon the waters so many
professional craft laden only with energy,
hope and the confidence OF youth.
las the basis for the few remarks shall
make tonight is "a short experiences; some
of them may pertain more TO period
little further or when, having Iaid d haSe
donned the toga of professional MANHOOD.
A great poet has said that coming events
cast their shadows before This evening,
young gentlemen, are you met 10 pegn a
work that will fill the hours of your coming
lie with many OF the alsapPoliiiILa 1 Ptc
more of the joys OF work Wen zone. FOR
those of you who love your chosen pro
fession, to whom enthusiasm comes with
labor, there stretches out a long vista OF
pleasure and happiness. To you who are
here for the prospective gold that cutters,
for an honest and honorable means Oh serV-
ing the world for a livelihood, more OF dis
appointment and dreary toll will come Yet
even you will find life and labor not al
together unloveIy. To him who does a nos
BILE act with a noble motive comes the
sweetest reward this world can assure-an
approving conscience and the pIaudlts of
his fellows; but even to him VINO does a
noble deed from an Indifferent motive may
come such a sense of satisfaction that from
it's Inspiration he may rise TO higher things
If l ON correct in my premises there IS
of you. Whether there is room or not,
whether the veStibule of our AeSculapan
temple be crowded or inviting IN us
spaciouSneSs, tonight we intend TO see no
shadows thrown upon our landscape. Meth
er past coming events shall keep the
sunshine from our hearts. In your young
veins the wine of life runs red, and for
each of you the star of destiny is the star
While in the exuberance of youth it is
well to look eagerly to the future, it is
neither good nor wise TO turn your backs
completely upon the past. The richness of
medicine to-day is largely a direct growth
from the labors of the great army of de-
voted workers who preceded US. Most of
them long since passed into the silent
depths, but some are still working and CIV
ing US the benefit of wise counsel exhaust
i've learning and rich experience. The sum
of their achievements is yours to-day.
ut is the ordinary experience OF life tha-
a rich mans sons begin where their father
left off, and, as a result, leave Off where
their father began This is not f true IN
in medicine left off, but you will push for
ward with all the more zeal and swiftness
for having at your command the great mass
of knowledge left as result OF their
arduouS toll.
INDIANA IN MEDICINE.
''In the march OF Improvement Indiana
has carried the banner of excelsior in all
lines of medical and surgical knowledge,
and in the persons of her eminent surgeons
and sllillful practitioners, by the ever in
creasing efficiency and usefulness of her
medical schools she still keeps at the head
of the medical profession the great army
of science marches toward the future. In
the past John S. Bobs gave our State an
international fame, and in the present
Joseph Eastman and Theophilus Parvin viii
see that her fame grows no less as the
procession of years advances.
In the part of your career known as the
students period there are many things re-
pulsive to refined sensbilities and others
fraught with the most grinding toik In
fact, you will find this part of life the least
inviting of your Whole experience The
horrors of the dissecting room, the fearful
and pitiful sights of the hospital and dis
pensary, the twelve or thirteen hours of
daily toll that your teachers will exact Of
you will try the strongest constitution and
are enough to appan the stoutest heart.
Nothing but an eager desire for knowledge
bic strain that falls upon all, even in the
mere ddactic part of the course, while not
even this unless backed by the divine in
stinct of mercy bidding you minister to the
sick and afflicted could carry you through
the scenes that present themselves while
pursuing your daily clinical tasks. Though
the work of the next three years will make
actual practice seem like play, you have
many things over which to congratulate
yourselves when you contrast your oppor-
tunities now with those that existed not so
very many years ago. Antiseptic and asep-
tic surgery and obstetrics thorough
ly taught and exempiiTied in the colleges of
to-day that fatal result after any but an
puerperai FEVER, tnat ancient scourge or the
lying-in chamber, you will scarcely see in
term of study. In regard to the practice
and principles of asepsiS applied to the
surgical art you are to be especially con-
graduated that in your faculty of teach
ers you have two most able and skillful
abdominal surgeons. In the technique of
the abdominal surgeon both the science and
art of asepsis are demonstrated with log
ical certainty and almost poetic beauty.
''Debauchery and strong drink have
ruined many n brilliant career and blighted
the farest intelects that have stood in the
doorway of professional success. Avoid
these things. Leave them to those baser
spirits who have no claims either upon
their time benevoence by the miserable
and wrctched. Above all things be honest.
Be honest to those who look to you for
succor, as well as with yourselves. When
the truth will not do, speak not at all. A
golden silence is often much better than
silver speech, and to ignore as needful jas
to notice.
I'm selecting for your life work the pro-
fesson of medicine the question of success
will naturally be uppermost in your minds.
This, while largely affected by natural
aptitude, is. like success in any other field
Of labor, more largely determined by the
genius of hard work and the patience that
has learned to labor and TO wait If in
craftsmanship eternal vigilance is the price
of liberty, in medicine eternal toll is the
price of success. Great natural abilities
Quickness of apprehension, retentive
memory, the logic that corelateS and sys-
tematizes. powers of invention that create
new wholeS out of seemingly homogeneous
particles equip one for the race in our pro-
fession and would appear to make success
assured. Yet he who is gifted with Ger
nature her secrets. and is seen climbing
far up the heights whilst genius sleeps be-
low.
HOPES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS.
There are many things that go into the
tout ensemble of a physicians life and
cal eer which NAV Ike tho,1oL