The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-02-04
ADDRESSED BY CLEVELAND.
THE PRESIDENT SPOKE III liiH
ACADEMY OF MEDICINE IN
NEW YORK.
TRIBUTE 70 THE VILLAGE DOCTOR
or Fifty Years Ago-Hes Also Euiogi"eu
the Doctor of Today, and Spoke oi
rhe Wonderful Advancement III
That Line.

early in the evening. The president was G
invited to attend the celebration by Dr. q
Joseph ID. Bryant, who is president vi
the Academy of Medicine, and also MIS- :,
Clevelands private physician. Carnegie
Hall was taxed beyond its capacity py {
the doctors and their guests long before
the exercises were begun. On the stage
and in the audience were many Leading
physicians from all over the Unitea
States. The feature of the entertain
ment of the evening was. OF course, the
address of President Cleveland, which eX-
cited considerable merrimcnt and gooa
feeling. Other addresses were made by
Professor Bryant DR.. Furle of New
York and DR.. Serves.
President Cleveland spoke as follows;
II have anticipated the share assigned |
TO me on this occasion with considerable |
trepidatiOn for various reasons. l have |
been chiefly disturbed, | believe, by my |
inability to discover satisfactory grounds
for my right to join those who celebrate
the sem-centcnnal of a medical associa-
ton. If, in passing through that period
in boyhOOd when the desirable choice OF
future activity seemed to rest between
running away from home TO be sailor
and staying home to be a doctor | in
clincd towards the more important OF
these pursuits, this furnishes no excuse at
this day for Il claim of relationship with
the medical fraternity. Nor do | forget
that less than seven years ago | was ac-
corded the privilege of participating in
the exercises when the corner stone was
laid in the building which is now the
home of the institution which now cclc
bratcs the semi-centennial of its exist
ence of usefulness. But this hardly en-
titles me to share in the fluctuations of
those who have since borne the brunt and
burdens of its work while / have enjoy
ed the ease and happy surroundings of
public station.
''Confessing, therefore, that have no
right to even standing room within the
inner circle of the profession, | have bold
ly and without the least authority deter
mined to speak to you as n representative
of the vast army of patients and laymcn.
AT the outset l desire to remind you
that you owe us much. Though largely
i'll the majority and with plenty of us to
spare, those who are well conducted
among us do not yex You with hurtful
competition. Instead of making life
hard for you by an observance of the
laws of health, we assist you by indulg
ing in all sorts of Irregularities. We are
obcdient and submissive to your COM
mands-that is, when we are sick-and
we sometimes pay your bills even after
a recovery to health, which we are al
ways certain would have resulted without
your interference.
In that it is when we are in perfect
health that we tell you our minds, it is
not fair to liken us to a certain parsonage
who, when sick, Il saint would be, though
very differently inclined when well. We
begin by conceding most heartily and
without the least reservation the learning
and skill of those constituting the mcdi-
cal profession and the wonderful advance
that has been made through their untir-
ing labors and investigations in the al
deviation of human suffering and the saw
ing of human life.
1T may be this seems to you an ac-
acknowledgement so much your due as to
be hardly worth making. You should,
however, value it because it is sincerely
made by those who We're not born yes
terday. but who hold in lasting and ten
der memories the ministrations of the vii
lagc doctor of fifty years ago and are
now the living monuments of his skill.
He, too. allcviated suffering and saved
human life. We know that il was not
given to him to see the bright lights that
now mark the path of medicine and sur
gerry, but you can not convince me that
he CROPPED entirely in the dark. We re-
member, not without adherence his
ever ready lancet and the scars of his
blood-letting found in every household,
We endure with complacency the contcm-
plation of his medical case containing
bottles, powders and pills. which, what
ever might be thought of them now,
seemed then to be sufficient to all emer-
gencies. TO say nothing of the tooth-pull-
ing and other fear-breeding instruments
sometimes exposed to view. If he was
Ignorant of many of the remedies and ap-
plianccs now in Use, he in q large meas
ure supplied the deficiency by hard work.
experience and careful musings Besides,
1t was in his favor that he did not have
to bother his head with many of the
newly invented and refined diseases that
infilct mankind today. He had no al
lotted hours for his patients. but was nj
ways on duty, and we know no bound TO
his physical endurance.
Our ways are better than his, but wo
desire you to regard this admission MS nil
the more valuable, as it is carried out by
our loyalty to our old village doctor, who
brought us through the diseases of child
hood without relapse, who saved from
death our parents and our brothers and
our sisters i'll many hard combats and
who, when vanqushed and forced to snr.
render, was present in the last scene 10
close the eyes of his dying patient and
sympathize with those who went.
Il hasten to say that we do not fo,. :,
moment suppose that advancement in Tho
science of medicine and surgery has
smothercd the careful and tender consid-
GRAFTON which characterized the practi-
TONER of former days If we seek char.
liable service to the sick and SUFFERING
we must look for them among our physi,
clans and surgeons of today.
IF we have now arrived at an undor-
standing with You | am now prepared for
suggestion quite in keeping with tha
feelings of the patient. You have in
vaded our continent and led us into brood
fields of science and discovery. This has
inspired us with new born spirit of wis
dom and criticism which demands thot
new and larger fields be opened ia omr
compliment gaze. You have penetrated
the places where germs of disease are
hidden. We are quite certain thai Won
should be required to destroy the oripin
of the disease and ultimately usher in
the day when the world will pass throurh
n passageway marked old age exit Tb;s
is a practice of exacting too much, or If
business considerations present obstacles
10 its accomplishment. | think We ouoht
perhaps, to reduce our claims. or at least
give our doctors time to find other ON.
ployment. While suggesting the need nf
your influence in legislative interests IN
the accomplishment of reforms shifted 70