LECTURE, &c. GENTLEMEN: THE Occasion which has called us together, is one of high interest. The establishment of a Medical School, whether we consider it as connected with the progress of medical science in times past, or associated with its future advancement, is an event which we cannot regard with feelings of indifference. On such an occasion it would seem to be peculiarly appropriate to direct our attention to the origin of the science; to trace its progress in succeeding ages; mark the different revolutions it has undergone; and, particularly, to notice those institutions, individuals, and events, by which it has been brought to its present state. But the subject is too extensive to be embraced in a single lecture. I shall therefore not detain you with an account of the Medical Schools, or the great men of antiquity, but call your attention, for a few moments, to a brief sketch of the medical history of our own country; and particularly of those institutions, and of those circumstances, from which it has derived its principal character. On looking back upon the early history of our country, our attention is arrested by the extraordinary fact, that more than a century and a half elapsed after its first settlement, before a single institution existed, either for the education of physicians, or the regulation of the practice of medicine. Early and ample provision was made for the purposes of general education. Schools and Colleges were established; many able politicians, accomplished civilians, and learned divines, were produced; while scarcely a scientific physician was to be found, excepting such as had sought an education in the schools of Europe, or had emigrated to this country from abroad. This fact is the more remarkable, since our ancestors must, from repeated ravages of fatal diseases among them, have learned the importance of education, in directing a profession so intimately connected with the preservation of human life. Yet, when we consider the objects for which they emigrated, and the extraordinary circumstances that attended them, we shall find a satisfactory explanation, if not a full apology, for their disregard of medical science. See Note A. " No other colony was ever planted in a foreign country, composed of individuals of the same character, actuated by the same motives, and governed by the same policy, as that which first settled America. Our ancestors did not come hither for the purposes of monied speculation, or scientific research. Neither the love of money, nor the acquisition of knowledge, could have induced them to separate from relatives and friends, the comforts of domestic life, and civilized society, to encounter the perils, the labours, and privations, that awaited them on the hostile shores of a savage wilderness. A zeal more pure, and a spirit more elevated, inspired and sustained them. It was the great master principle of religious liberty and religious reformation, that enkindled the zeal of our fathers, directed their course, and bore them on to this western world. A principle, the effects of which have descended to us, and are still visible in every part of our country. It is not strange that, under such circumstances, the interest of the church should have predominated, and have given a leading character to all their institutions; while medicine and other branches of science were regarded as subordinate objects, and left to be developed by the future necessities and resources of the country. Other causes, no doubt, had an influence in retarding the progress of medical science, during the early part of our history. A new country is not favourable to the improvement of science, and particularly to a science which more than any other is founded on observation and experience. The general health that prevails, the scattered state of population, and above all, the poverty which renders it necessary for every one to provide for his wants with his own hands, while they damp the ardour of inquiry, preclude the possibility of accurate and extensive observation. The depressed state of medical science which marked the period of the emigration, may be regarded as another cause that retarded its progress for many years in this country. Our ancestors lived long enough in Europe to imbibe something of the genius of their native country, and the spirit of the age. This was then a country whose medicine had scarcely emerged from empiricism, and an age still abounding in superstition. It was not to be expected that they should bring with them a high respect for a science, or an ardent devotion to its interest, which had been but little cultivated, and which at that period was extremely limited and hypothetical. The discovery of the circulation of the blood by Harvey, and the course of the chyle by Aselius and Pequet, had been scarcely promulgated, when our ancestors embarked for America; and the labours of the Monros and the Hunters, as well as the improvements of the anatomists, physiologists, and surgeons |