February 11, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



127 



July 1, 1861, before I was a graduate in med- 

 icine. I knew but little medicine but I re- 

 placed a predecessor who demonstrably knew 

 still less, for, at the end of my first year, I 

 coached him for graduation at the end of his 

 second year. I am in doubt whether I ought 

 to be coramended or condemned for the result, 

 for he actually succeeded in achieving his 

 diploma. 



As to myself, my very ignorance was a safe- 

 guard to those under my care for I was inids- 

 posed to take any serious risk by heroic treat- 

 ment. After this service with a regiment of 

 " three months' men," we were honorably dis- 

 charged August 1, 1861. I then completed my 

 studies and obtained my M.D. in March, 1862. 

 After a real examination, I reentered the serv- 

 ice, fortunately for me not in the regulars to 

 which I was entitled, but as an Acting Assist- 

 ant Surgeon. 



Again Mitchell's inspiring touch was vouch- 

 safed to me. At his request, I was assigned, 

 by Surgeon General Hammond, to the neuro- 

 logical ward under Mitchell and Morehouse. 

 I became the junior in what might be called a 

 neurological " firm." " Mitchell, Morehouse & 

 Keen " became very widely known to the pro- 

 fession because Mitchell made it so. His gen- 

 erosity to me when my diploma was hardly dry, 

 in associating my name with his own, already 

 widely known as that of a distinguished physi- 

 ologist, was as fortunate for me as it was gen- 

 erous upon his part. Our studies, especially 

 in the Turner's Lane Hospital, Philadelphia, 

 laid the foundations of modern Neurological 

 Surgery. 



Returning from study in Europe in 1866, I 

 took over the Philadelphia School of Anatomy 

 — founded by Lawrence in 1820 — and taught 

 anatomy and operative surgery to large private 

 classes of medical students (1866-1875) when 

 the government took the property for the use 

 of the present postofilce. 



From 1866 to 1875, I taught surgical pathol- 

 ogy in the Jefferson Medical College. In do- 

 ing this, I learned ten times as much as my 

 most studious pupil. From 1876 to 1890, I 

 lectured on artistic anatomy in the Pennsyl- 

 vania Academy of the Pine Arts. 



From 1884 to 1889, I was professor of sur- 

 gery at the Women's Medical College, and 

 from 1889 to 1907, I was professor of surgery 

 in the Jefferson Medical College, a total serv- 

 ice as a teacher of 41 years (1866-1907). No 

 one, not himself a teacher, can imagine the joy 

 of that long service. To meet daily scores of 

 earnest, alert minds, greedy for knowledge, 

 was a daily inspiration and developed the most 

 intense desire to give of one's very best. 



In 1901-02, with two of my daughters, I 

 made a tour around the world. We penetrated 

 into Java and beyond the Caspian into Turkes- 

 tan, almost to the western border of China. 

 It is no wonder that, having taught many 

 thousands of students, I was heartily wel- 

 comed by some of them in country after 

 country. From the Golden Gate, all the way 

 to Russia, traveling over westward, in Hawaii, 

 Japan, China, the Philippines, India, Egypt, 

 Greece and Palestine, in every land save Java 

 and Turkestan, I had old students. In Korea, 

 also, several were and still are doing splendid 

 service as medical missionaries and others 

 again as teachers in the Medical College in 

 Siam. Even in Persia, there was one — a Per- 

 sian who returned to his native land as a 

 Christian Medical Missionary. Early in the 

 World War, when the Turks captured Uru- 

 miah, where he was dispensing health and 

 happiness to his fellow countrymen, they 

 seized him and gave him the fearful choice — 

 Mohammedanism or the stake — and Joseph 

 Shimoon, the martyr, was burned alive for his 

 faith, by the unspeakable Turk! 



The nine epoch-making medical events in 

 the last century and a quarter are : 



1. Vaccination against smallpox (1796). 



2. Anesthesia (1846). 



3. Pasteur's researches were the foundation of 



the new science of bacteriology (1850 to 

 1884). 



4. Pasteur's chief claim to fame is his further 



and " fundamental discoveries in immun- 

 ology, or the science of the specific pre- 

 vention of disease" (Flexner). 



5. Pasteur's and Lister's researches resulting 



in antiseptic and aseptic surgery and ob- 

 stetrics. 



