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THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



existed from the commencement of the 

 world; and just think what has happened 

 since this old hospital was established in 

 1806. When that hospital was established 

 there was no anaesthetics, when that hos- 

 pital w>is established there were no anti- 

 septic measures used for its prevention of 

 poisoning from gunshot wounds, and 

 oftentimes, even within my own remem- 

 brance as a physician, I can remember 

 they thought they had reached the cli- 

 max of antiseptic surgery when down in 

 Bellevue Hospital they arranged a little 

 tin basin to put under an injured leg to 

 catch the pus when it dropped. Now 

 just think of that compared with the 

 antiseptic dressings we have to-day. 



Now you see these children here are 

 bow legged children or knock-kneed. The 

 one you see here first is bow-legged and 

 you see the same child up there down 

 here. This is his appearance after the 

 operation as he is about to leave the hos- 

 pital. You see his legs after they have 

 been straightened out. You see how 

 much stronger and firmer he looks. Just 

 think what has been done in surgery dur- 

 ing the last fifty years ! Is it possible 

 that advances can be made ? Is it possi- 

 ble that the achievements which we are 

 to teach can compare with those we have 

 reached, can compare with those great 

 things that have been done during the 

 fifty years just past ? Think of the suffer- 

 ing saved, and of the hundreds of thou- 

 sands of lives saved because we know how 

 to save them. In those days it was con- 

 sidered that a compoitnd fracture of the 

 leg was fatal. It was fatal in almost all 

 instances. To-day we never expect to 

 lose a compound fracture. Those live^ 

 are all saved. 



But we must hasten. This takes you 

 up into the amphitheatre of Believe Hos- 

 pital, and oh, what a tale could be told 

 if the walls of that old amphitheatre 

 could tell all the things that have hap- 



pened there ! It is the place where al- 

 most every medical man reaches some 

 time in his life. He paces these corri- 

 dors and finds his way into the amphi- 

 theatre of Bellevue Hospital. Some of 

 the famous surgeons of by-gone days 

 have done their most famous work stand- 

 ing in this room of which you see a 

 picture before you. Many oi you who 

 are physicians, and some of you who are 

 students, will recognize the face of the 

 famous surgeon who stands in that 

 picture. I would like to mention his 

 name, but in order to get that picture at 

 all I had to promise I would mention no 

 names. This man is a very famous sur- 

 geon, who is explaining the steps of an 

 operation in orthpoedic surgery, and he 

 is about to have the patient brought in. 

 It would be a grand thing if the walls of 

 that institution could speak ; if what has 

 happened within the walls of that institu- 

 tion could be written ; the stories of those 

 who go in there. What a book, if pub- 

 lished, it would make ; and how many 

 strange things would happen if we knew 

 or could know to-day all that has ever 

 transpired in that great institution. 

 Those walls are often ringing with the 

 cat-calls and wild-hoots of the medical 

 students ; yes, they have got as many as 

 pharmacy students, and also with the 

 groans and moans of those who have had 

 to undergo those fearful and frightful 

 operations, especially before the days of 

 anaesthetics. But they have also rung 

 with the pains and praises of those who 

 have been brought from death to life 

 praising those who have given their ser- 

 vices and devotion in order that their 

 lives might be saved. 



Now you see here the picture of an 

 ambulance. The word ambulance is 

 from the Latin word ambiilo, which 

 means to walk. It means a moving hos- 

 pital, a walking hospital. They were 

 first used by the French during the Napo- 



