Rush Medical College - Pulse Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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star in the tirmament of Rush had fallen, and that upon our return to college we would miss the thoughtful, careful lectures of Prof. KNOX. Very soon after the opening of our second term we learned that not only a professor but one of our own number was missing and had answered the summons of the Maker of Peace. We learned that JAMES GAGNON had succumbed to typhoid fever, and the class was again called together in remembrance of one of her members. The class of yQ4 now looked forward to prosperity and advancement, and concluded that in order to work in harmony a class organization must be ef- fected, so C. D. CENTER was elected president, F. E. SHAYKETT, vice-presidentg. and H. F. THOMPSON, secretary. The meetings of the class during this year were few and not important, as very little business came before the class, and the orators of the class did not develop until the last year. In the class room we seemed to outclass our-predecessors who had traveled the road before and should have discovered what we so easily demonstrated. A new tumor which was called a neurolgia' was found by one of our class: we saw a glass eye' which could seeg we conducted a skin clinic in the dispensary, we worked all the available pulls, we fainted in the maternity, we bribed the janitor and secured a good cadaverg we passed the juniors upg in fact, we had a fine time. Early in this year we were gratified to hear that among our sedate, hard-work- ing class were accomplished dancers, and that in conjunction with other medi- cal colleges in the city we were to have a ball, where all cares and trials would be banished by pleasure, and where the image of the glaring eyes and ghastly grin of a cadaver would be replaced by feminine beauties enshrouded in love- liness and fashion. We waited patiently until we heard the first strains of the orchestra and the delicate patter of the dancers' feet before we believed the medical students could have so nice a ball as was predicted. The ball was- a success, and when the prizes were awarded we noticed the same ardent spirit manifested by our class-mates which had characterized their work in arranging for the ball. The superiority of the class had been noticed on sev- eral occasions, but being very modest we never appeared in public until at the commencement exercises of the class of 793, when one of our members, Mr. O. B. Bock, received the Daniel Brainard gold medal for the best dissection. This class being enthusiastic over literary work, not only furnished two editors of The Cazpzzsflr, one member of the editing board of the Lake Forest College annual in ISQ2, but it was this class which conceived the idea and began the work of publishing an annual for Rush. Our annual was dropped for lack of time and support from the other classes, but the work was not aban- doned, for the succeeding class began the work in time and in earnest, and having the support of the whole school, produced a book of which every man connected with Rush feels proud. The following class has also taken up the work of , editing a similar book next year, so that in succeeding years we may expect to have a publication which will represent Rush in all of her varied phases. The annual like The C07fZlJCfL' was the first publication of its kind pro- duced in America by medical students. The end of the second year soon came, and it was here that so many of our fellow students concluded that it was a long narrow road that led to a Rush diploma, and that it did not take so much pluck to secure a diploma in an adjoining city, so a special train was secured for the land of moonshiners and fast horses. We also lost several members at the end of the year who feared that the medical profession with a large practice would be too trying on their constitutions, and that the farm promised a more quiet, luxuriant life. The next year promised more for our class than the previous one, for this was the year of the great Exposition. Many of our class secured positions as guides and guards at the Fair, and besides sleeping in water soaked bunks, 202

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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

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wrapped in worse soaked blankets, they kept their friends from the rural dis- tricts off the grass, from killing the foreigners on the Midway, and from being buncoed out of their return tickets. During this vacation several of the boys sold Bibles to the people of Iowa and Nebraska, one became a Pinkerton detect- ive and came very near arresting a real burglar, a few got married, while others only rested and waited for the last term. The beginning of the senior year was ominous for the class of '94. The new building'was soon to be completed and the best facilities for instruction were to be used, the recitation system in divided classes was new, and the class soon saw the superiority of this plan over all others. New special courses were added, and improved methods were added to nearly every practical course: plenty of room was now secured for all the different classes. The only thing lacking was time, and the Faculty then made the spring term com- pulsatory, thus making one continuous term of study eight months in length. The seniors concluded to have an election after the term had fairly opened and all the members had returned from their vacation. In about ten days of adjourned meetings, postponements and lobbyings all the offices were hlled. The wire workers got together, and after the chief mogul and lesser lights had made a slate and whipped the rabble into line, it looked like folly to hold an election, but the mogul and his clan did not want to fill the offices and they were eagerly seized by those on the outside. The result of the balloting, oratory and perspiration was as follows: Ii. H. OCHSNER, President: ul. B. Caxavax, Vice-President: I-I. M. H.-xYEs, Secretary: E. B. Mc.-XLL1s'rER, Treas- urer: T. E. ANDRE, Valedictorian: A. T. Conuss, Chaplain: .lol-iN Ross, His- torian: F. W. IIIILLER, Prophet: J. V. RcssELL, Chorister: O. B. BOCli,SC1'gCElI1t- at-arms, and E. P. LIERLE. E. L. Wvcxorif, H. N. CL.-ink, W. E. Nicuors, and C. H. NIANXING members of the Executive Committee. During this year we have had a great many new ideas advanced by our class. Especially in the arena where each one was desirous of displaying his various accomplishments were these new opinions often introduced. A sliver as large as a tree was spoken of by an embryo surgeon: tuberculosis of the lung was found as pus in the left axilla: absence of hairs in the eye-lashes was a prominent symptom in a certain case: immobilization by a plaster of paris splint was recommended for treating an anchylosed joint: tracheotomy has been recently performed on the tesophagus in operative surgery: ligation of the oesophagus was classed as a capital operation by one of our number: warts, corns and bunions were considered formidable affections: a new dance was learned on the midway and reproduced in the arena: twenty-two set of whisk- ers were raised, each set being valued at fifteen hundred dollars: a visit was made to the insane asylum at Dunning, where osculation and dancing were freely indulged in: one student is puzzled about feeding a patient through an intubation tube. IYhen an actor called out, Is there a medical man in the house P one of our men was there. One of our men spelled skin with two N's and now wishes he had written hide. We have wandered about unconsciously for a month and finally came to our senses in a hospital, and the surgery of the marriage covenant has been ably discussed by one of our class-mates. In the Cook County Hospital examinations our class has maintained the high reputation of the college by furnishing four of the eight internes. In other hospitals where pulls were not considered our class secured many posi- tions. The Faculty offered two prizes exclusively to seniors for the best theses upon diphtheria. The first was awarded to Mr. C. D. CENTER and the second to Mr. A. T. STEWART. In the competition for the Daniel Brainard gold medal we again showed our superiority as dissectors, for the Hrst two places were secured by Mr. F. NV. BYRNES and Mr. G. C. XVAISS respectively. The most attractive features of our senior year was our class meetings, of 2o3