University of Maryland School of Pharmacy - Terra Mariae Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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patliologist, Cruveilhier. Of these, some had passed away when I was myself studying in Paris, twenty-five years later; but Grisolle and Barth, then old men, were still giving valuable and ef- fective instruction, and Cruveilhier, having retired from his chair, could be seen, setting an ex- ami)]e of devotion, t)n his way every morning to the services of his church. Wlien Dr. Power returned to LJaltimore in 1S40 lie was known as a proficient in ausculta- tory diagnosis in which he had been well trained by Louis, and he was among the first to practice and teacli that art and science here. The story is told that once when a resident of Baltimore, suiifering from some trouble of the chest, went to Paris to consult Lewis, he was asked by that eminent physician from what part of America he came, and when he answered from Baltimore, Why, then, said Louis, do you come all the way to Paris to consult me whea you have William Power in Baltimore? Such was the impression which the pupil had made upon the teacher. I have a clear recollection of Professor Power, although his connection with this LTniversity ceased before I began the study of me(licine. I can recall his intellectual face, sicklied o ' er with the pale cast of thought, and with that malady, judmonary tuberculosis, to which he fell a victim when still comparatively young in his professional life, for he was only in his thirty-ninth year when he died. It is worthy of note that one who was so active in promoting- the study and practice of ausculation, should have died of the same disease and nearly at the same age as Laennec, the great medical ])hil(isopher and discoverer, as he might be called, of auscultatory diagnosis. As a teacher, Professor Power was a strenuous and faithful worker, admired and honored by his students, and when laboring imder the distressing conditions of his malady, constant dyspnoea and recur- ring hemorrhages, he still continued to meet his classes and to impart instruction until in 1852 he was compelled to abandon the unequal contest and to resign his chair : his death occurring on the l. ' ith nf August in that year. . nd here let me depart for a moment from the chronological urder t i ])ay a brief tribute to nnc wlio was allied by affinity to I ' rofes.sor Power, and was taught by him: I refer to that most accomplished physician and most admirable man, Charles Frick, who, though he never occupied the chair of Practice in this school, was engaged in clinical teaching here and would certainly liave succeeded to the chair had his life been prolonged. For he was skillful and instructive as a clinician, and if I may modify a classic phrase, omnium consensu capax docendi. He was my friend as well as my teacher and to this day, though nearly forty-seven years have passed since his death, the lessons of professional learning which I derived from him recur to my mind. The way in which Professor Frick ' s life ended from devotion to a suiifering fellow creature in the lowest walk in life is well known to many here, and it illustrates those words which were uttered by the divinest lips, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. When the chair of Practice became vacant in 1S.12, by the death of Professor Power, one was appointed to the place in regard to whom it is not for me to ofifer any words or any thoughts of my own. But how can I omit entirely from the category which I have been surveying one who gave the best years of his life and the richest stores of his learning and experience to the service and welfare of this school, and who, as my most faithful guide and as my wisest coun- selor was by me honored and beloved? For many years there had been a close and cor- 11

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to see that ill tliat bniik. a copy of wliidi is in our i.ilnary and uliicli was pmhal)!) the autlior ' s favorite anion}, ' his writings, he maintains the non-coiitaj ious character of yellow fever, a disease with which lie was very familiar, for it had prevailed in Ijaltimore more than once during his l)rofessi( nal life. It is especially interesting to find that in sn])])iirt nf his opinion he brought forward the same kind of evidence which was adduced by the L ' liited States Army Yellow Fever Commssion. a given in iluir report in 19iil : the evidence being the application of hand- kerchiefs and other fninilos which h;i(l been kept in contact with yellow fever iiatients, to others not laboring under the disease, with the result that it was not communicated to them. And tliiis he anticipated what has of late years been fully established by the labors of Dr. Walter Reed, Dr. James Carroll, Dr. . risiiiles Agramonte and that noble martyr to science and to humanity. Dr. Jesse W. Lazear, a name tn lie s])oken with reverence, for it is haloed with a martyr ' s crown. ' Piiis anticipatiiin of the truth i . I think, a nmsl interesting fact in the histury of this school and nf medicine. ' Pile next incumlieiil nf the chair nt Practice wa Hr. I ' .lisha llartlett, nf .Massachusetts, who was eiecled tn it early in ISM. and whn Jiad had e. |iiTieiK-e a a teacher nf medicine in several schnnis. thi ' ia t nf wliicli was the ' rraiisylvania l ni ersit . in which he resigned his position to acce])t till ' call tn I ' lallinmre. Of liini 1 have a faint, shadnwy recnlleclinii. I can recall, ami yet but dimly, his tall fnnn and his striking intellectual cnunieiuince. lie was a medical ] hiln-,n|)her nf admiralile rcasniiing ])nwers and high allainnients. His treatise on the Fevers nf the I ' liiteil States. first piihlislied in isl , shiAild be in the library of every medical scholar, fnr it entitles him to a place aiiKiiig tlin e great wnrkers who were engaged in differentiating frnin each nther the varinus fnnns nf febrile disease, a ])lace with Louis, of Paris, and Sir Wil- liam Jenner, nf l.nndmi. and (lerhard, nf Philadel| liia. and James Jackson, Jr., of Boston. I ' rofessnr Martlett ' s ]ihiln nphical works art alsn nf great value, his ■ ' Philosophy of Medi- c;il SciiMuw ' )iulilisluMl in is I I, ;tiiil his In(|uiry Intn tin- Degree nf (, ' ertainty in Medicine, in ISIS. : It was said by Dr. ( )liver Wendell 1 Inlines that liartlett ' s .Medical I ' hikisophy is as re- markable fnr elegance of style as for liberal and genial spirit and philoso]ihic breadth of view. ' )iie ])assage 1 can recall as having impressed itself n] nn my youthful memory and imagination IniiL; ears ago. The author is drawing a contrast between the various forms of charlatanry, which from time In time seek to rival medical science n the one hand, and legitimate, scien- tific medicine nii the nther. He likens them res])ectively tn twn kinds of illumination; in the one there is a nnise. a rush, a burst iiit( a myriad of coruscations which are soon extinguished, leaving behind them an obscuring clnnd of smoke, which jiarts and is scattered, and these are his words: Courage, my friends, look up and there looking down upon us with their dear old smile of afifectionate recognition, undimmed in their brightness and unchanged in tlieir loveliness. the ever-watchfid stars. Tlieir light rejiresents scientific medicine. Ill ISli; Professor P.artlett. in failing health, resigned his chair and was succeeded in it by Dr. William Power, a native of this city, who hatl taken his degree of . .V . at Vale in 18:?2. and nf M.D. at this school in ' [H ' ■ . and he was thus the first .Mumnus of the scliool to occupy the chair of Practice in it. After his graduation here, he jjiirsued his medical studies in Paris, un- der that brilliant cnrps i i teachers, consisting of i.onis, . ndrae, (irisoUe, P.arth, and the great 10

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dial friciidsliii) aiul affection between liiin to wlioin 1 refer and Professor Xatlian Ryno Sniitli, that prince among tlie surgeons of his day, who liad known many men in many places and of various attainments and characters. When this friendship was sundered by death, Professor Smith said to me. Among all whom 1 have known in my whole life, 1 have never known a wiser or a better man than your father. I add no words of my own, but 1 trust tliat I do not violate (jroper feeling in presenting a entimeiU which was uttered by him of whom I write befure an assemblage in which there were many members of the medical profession: There are other paths which lead more certainly to distinctions, honors and affluence than dnes medicine. Th ere are other professions wliich may be more exempt from cares and dis- a])i)ointments. Put where shall we find a pursuit more favorable than ours to the develo|)ment and imjirovement of the best faculties of our intellectual and moral nature? Where shall we find an occupation for the few and fleeting years of life more conducive to ])rogress in wisdom anil virtue? To grow old engaged in the acquisition cjf knowledge was the wish of the wisest of the ancients. The sentiment is ])urified and elevated by referring it to a just and adeipiate motive. To grow old in the study of science for the purpose of doing good to mankind is a desire worthy, not only of the wisest, but of the best and lK)liest of men. e. t in succession to the chair came one in 1M()4 who was well kiK)wn to the |)rofession. and known only to be honored and esteemed. I refer, as you know, to Professor Richard Mc- Sherry. who brought to the duties of his post an excellent training of mind and the fruits of large op])ortunities for observation in civil and military practice, for he had held the position f)f surgeon in both branches of the public service, llis lectures were accurate in thought, scholarly in theii ' structure and always fraught with valuable lessons which were deeply impressed u])on his students. .■ t his dcatii in IS.s. ). mie was called ti his |)lace whu can say only tiiis, that none can bi- more conscious than he is himself of the imperfections and deficiences in tile way in which the duties of that ])lace have been performed, but as the time lraws near at which the chair will again become vacant, a time which cannot be long deferred, he asks that he may be allowed to plead simply this, that he has striven to do his duty. 12