of the United States, and adopting it as the place of their future residence.

If such has been the rapid improvement of this City in the quarter of a century that is past, what may we expect will be its progress in the same period to come? When we consider it as situated at the head of the navigable waters of one of the finest rivers of the United States, opening a free com-* merce with the Atlantic; surrounded by a fertile country; and soon, no doubt, to be connected, by canal, with the almost boundless extent of territory beyond the Alleghany, affording an outlet to the vast productions of that country; and, above all, when we consider it as the place which has been selected by our country as the seat of its National Government; the residence of the Chief Magistrate of the Union; the Heads of the Departments; the Ministers of foreign courts; the place where our Senators, Representatives, and Supreme Judiciary, annually assemble, to transact the affairs of the nation; we cannot doubt but it is destined, ere long, to fulfil the expectations of its immortal founder, and become worthy to be the Metropolis of this great Republic.

It is obvious, from the peculiar character of its population, formed, as it must be, by an assemblage of enlightened men, collected from the different parts of the United States, and from the various republics, kingdoms, and empires of the world, that there will

result à liberality of feeling, and an elevation of character, highly favourable to the cultivation of literature, science, and the arts.

This is that place, which, above all others in our country, is divested of sectional prejudices and interests, deriving its prosperity alike from every part; and which has nothing but the good of the whole to desire. That neutral ground, on which the young men of Maine and of Georgia, of Pennsylvania and Missouri, of Florida and Michigan, may meet, and mingle together; read the same books; pursue the same studies; hear the same lectures; imbibe the same spirit; and form mutual and lasting attachments. It is here that a free communication is opened, through our senators and representatives, with every part of our country. Through these channels facilities are presented to us for acquiring a knowledge of the epidemic and endemic diseases of the country; the medical topography of its different parts; the character of its physicians; the condition of its different medical institutions; and the progress the science is making: and, in turn, of imparting this intelligence to others. Facilities which belong to no other place.

It is these considerations, gentlemen, that have encouraged us to commence the present undertaking, and that give us a confident expectation of its ultiIt is not a spirit of rivalry, or com

mate success.

petition, that has brought this institution before the public. We occupy a field till now unappropriated, and which has hitherto been regarded as too limited to justify such an attempt. It is an humble hope of contributing something to the advancement of medical science generally, as well as of elevating its character in this District, that has called us to the enter prise. And, if it should be our fortune to lay the foundation, only, of a medical school which shall hereafter become commensurate with the progress and the demands of this rising Metropolis, and the improvement of the science through the country, we shall feel that we have done an honour to the undertaking, and discharged a duty that we owe to our fellow citizens, and to the profession.-And, who knows but it may be reserved to this school to make some discovery in medicine, which shall commence a new era in the science, or furnish the world with a remedy for some fatal disease which now eludes the powers of medicine? Who can say that it is not reserved to some student of this institution, to be the happy discoverer of a solvent for the stone, a preventive of the gout, or a cure for cancer? Who knows but some bold and fortunate genius, who shall have his zeal first enkindled in this school, may be destined, while climbing the Rocky Mountains, or exploring the vale of the Mississippi, to discover a plant or a mineral, which shall prove a cure for hy

drophobia, or a remedy for consumption ?-or find out, on the shaking prairie of Louisiana, or at the mouth of the Mobile, the true nature of miasmata, and the mode of its operation on the human body? Who knows but this school may be destined to produce a Sydenham, a Harvey, a Hunter, or a Bichat? or to give to the world a Bard, a Rush, a Warren, a Barton, or a Wistar ?