114 LN'TRODUCTORY ADDRESSES, 



diiity they may display in the inculcation oi' truth, however laborious 

 tliey may be in furnishing every necessary illustration, so that instruc- 

 tion may enter by the eye as well as by the ear, we have been apprehen- 

 sive that in the defective education of many of their pupils, in the want 

 of proper meiital developement in some who crowd their rooms, they 

 find an inadequate receptivity for their learned labors. Human life is 

 too valuable to be committed to any other than the most skilled hands, 

 and no one should be willing to take charge of it, but he who feels him- 

 self prepared to do what the science of man can do to protect and pre- 

 serve it. The day, we hope, is not far distant when no one will be ad- 

 mitted as a student in our Medical Colleges and Universities, until he 

 has previously secured the degree of A. B. or an amount of knowledge 

 equivalent to what it imports. 



We do not say that no one can make a good physician without a 

 good general education, but we unhesitatingly say that a high standard 

 of literary attainment, and a thorough-professional education drive away 

 from the corps juedical many an unworthy pretender, and not only ele- 

 vate the profession, but render invaluable service to the public. Nor 

 should our medical faculties abate one jot or tittle of their requisites for 

 the doctorate. They should give a diploma to no man, they should 

 recommend no man as worthy the degree of M. D., who had not fully 

 come up to their prescribed course. We understand that the Faculty of 

 the Pennsylvania Medical College have acted and have determined to 

 act upon the principles of letting none pass, who fall below their pub- 

 lished requisitions. They have determined that their examinations shall 

 be faithful, and they will not become accessory to the evil done to the 

 community by setting their seal upon unworthy men. 



We have however, wandered from our subject, we proposed to our- 

 selves to present some extracts from the lecture of Dr. Darrach. The 

 points discussed are 1st. What is sickness ? 2d. Who are sick ? 3d. 

 Can they be healed ? 4th. Who shall heal them. Under the .3d head, 

 we find the following interesting statements : ''History shows that, with 

 the progress of Christianity, diseases are alleviated, and cured and pre- 

 vented. In proof of this position, contrast the disorganization, deform- 

 ity, and sudden and enormous mortality in Pagan lands from unchecked 

 disease, with the preventions and prompt and easy cures of tiie most 

 fatal complaints which occur in Christendom. For example, how many 

 weakening paroxysms of intermittent fever, which in heathen lands are 

 permitted to be repeated until they have produced paralysmic tumors and 

 dropsy, have been quickly arrested since the Countess of Cinchon intro- 

 duced her powder into Europe. How many continued fevers which, in 



