Rush Medical College - Pulse Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Glass Tbistory '94 DELIVERED ON CL.-xss DAY, MAY 21sT. 110. P1'f5ide1z!, Fellow C1455-flmfes, Proffssors, Ladies and Gc11fZe11zm.' College life, with its ever-changing cycle of classes, its myriads of suc- cesses and failures, its triumphs and disappointments, its pleasures and drudgery, has forced three classes from Rush's threshold since we became her children, and but a few days remain until the class of '94 will be launched upon life's battle-held to join our alma mater's working children of the world. A few reminiscences of the past, a few facts to be ever remembered, a few words of sadness to record the lives of those who have passed on before, a few items jotted from each mile-stone of the short medical highway which we have traveled, a few pages to be filed away among the archives of Rush Medi- cal College literature, and the historian of the class of ,Q4 will have fulfilled his mission. As medical students for decades had nvzd in the office of a regular phy- sician for a year previous to reveling in the medical atmosphere which engulfs a medical college, so we like our predecessors delved deeply into anatomy, physiology, chemistry and materia medica for the required twelve months. But as we were then widely separated, and as many of us had years before developed the idea of becoming physicians, and had studied in literary colleges preparatory to our medical education, the medical life of these stu- dents may be said to date far beyond the four years required for graduation, so we will begin the history proper with the gathering of the class three years ago. In the autumn of 1891 we shook the parental dust from our feet, grasped the hands of our relatives and friends in a last good-by, boarded the train, and soon reached the city where all was new, the only familiar object being the sun, and he in all his wisdom and brightness deceived us by habitually setting in the north. We demonstrated our enthusiasm by calling the college clerk up at midnight to receive our fees. We called at the Cook County Hospital for lodgings, thinking it was a hotel, but the watchman kindly informed us that they were all sick abed and we could not be accommodated. The follow- ing day we secured a room, and after asking every senior if he had a room- mate, we accidentally ran across a partner in misery and then secured a room- mate. The College clerk secured our money, we secured our seat twhich a senior usurped the following dayil. W'e secured a meal ticket at a restaurant, we secured a note book as large as a family Bible, and thus began the life of a medical student in earnest. VVe were all present to hear the opening address. lVe came early, and after we had listened to the piercing yells and war-whoops of the seniors for a short 200

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this collegeg hundreds of Alumni have heard his voice, and, thanks to the instruction those Alumni received, thousands of American citizens that other- wise might have blighted as mere experimental suggestions, were born to the glory of God and the increase of the population of the Republic. We need not enlarge on this topicg we need only say that in the presentation of this picture, the generous donor has added another jewel to the Rush Medical College col- lection. YfVe read in northern mythology of the XValhalla, that the building itself, whose dome was so high that its summit could scarcely be seen, was as marvelous as the heroes whose virtues it was built to commemorateg that its location was in the midst of the grove Mansurf' where all the trees bore leaves of gold. In time this will become ourXValhalla, although we lay no stress on architectural display as did those who designed that famous structure, In years to come, Alumni visiting Rush Memorial Hall ofthe future may truthfully say of this picture, as of the animated bust and storied urn of song: Bright Fancy, hovering o'er, Scatters from her pictured urn Thoughts that breathe and words that burn. v Y' I99

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time, we expected to see the college course opened with a scalpel in true medical style, and feared that a junior might be selected as asacrilice. Finally the Faculty marched in and all the noise soon died away, and we listened with wonder to the sound advice delivered in polysyllabic words by the lecturer. That night we returned to our room, feeling that the medical atmosphere was very noisy, and that reveling in those long words would be a duty rather than a pleasure. XVe spent half of the night looking through our new dictionary for one of those words, but failed to find it. The next morning we arrived at the college early, and with our ticket in our hand we marched directly past the janitor without showing him our ticket or giving him a tip, which we learned afterward was a very difficult accomplishment. lt was about this period of our medical course that we assumed the title of D. j., which tradition tells us signifies sacrilegiously that we were juniors. Before the end of our first week came we were surprised to learn that we were expected to know so much about the four principal branches, and that our previous years reading amounted to so little. F1'om the very first lecture we became very much in love with our pro- fessors, and each man conceived the idea to work a pull if an opportunity offered, the result being that each pull had, at least, a score of faithful workers. This admiration for our professors was the cause of one of them resigning his position in our faculty at the early part of our course. XVe would not now find fault or reprove our class-mates for things done when we were not versed in the codeg but we do think many of those expressions of admira- tion were too forcible, and the lecturer, of course, failed in health and was com- pelled to give up the work. These expressions of admiration came down to him in showers of notes, and it occasionally took him all the following night to read them, thus impairing his health so he could not withstand the hearty reception with which the students were wont to greet him as he entered the lecture room. VVe did little else to distinguish ourselves during the hrst year. 'Of course we formed the acquaintance of LAMB and lXlCL.-XINQ asked a druggist for Virginia Prunes in connection with our study of materia medica: dissected with a broadax, worked in the dispensary, exploded half the chemicals in the laboratory, and in fact covered ourselves with glory and nitric acid, Individ- ually some members of the class need more than passing comment for the work which they did in bringing the class into prominence. Tensor Tarsi H established the fact that a muscle was much longer than was formerly sup- posed. Here Sah answered to his name so promptly that he became a shin- ing light, even if he did at first try to make us believe that he was a senior. 4' Frog-eater distinguished himself over on Milwaukee avenue. The profess- ors linally learned to pronounce XVARNSHUIYS name, XYILBUR moved because the landlady refused to call him doctor, and AR'fIkI borrowed two dollars of a -senior. The exceeding brilliancy of these and a few other members of our -class made it necessary for the professors who lectured exclusively to us to wear smoked glasses. The lirst meeting of our class was a very sad one indeed, for we had scarcely become familiar with the halls and rooms of the college until it was announced that one of our number had passed to his heavenly reward, and we were called together to draft resolutions in remembrance of HENRY FIELD. The class had no other meetings during the hrst year and no organization of the class was deemed necessary. Finally, the examinations came and we were reminded that we had reached the first mile-stone on the road of medical science, and we were now to be examined to determine how much we had gleaned by the roadside. During our rirst vacation we were startled to hear the sad news that one of our beloved professors had closed his lips forever. that another brilliant 2OI