got the means by which it could be repaired or averted. In extending the benefits of his skill, the pecuniary recompense for it was the last of his thoughts. He practised therefore on the most disinterested principles, and being possessed of a good fortune with a lucrative professorship, his charges were proverbially moderate, and such as they were, very difficult to obtain. In this, however, he did a disservice to the profession, which I am sure he never intended. Inconsiderable charges from a man of his reputation and extent of business, in forming a sort of rule in the profession, of course affected deeply such as were only beginning, and such as had not the other resources which he wielded. Indeed, society itself is scarcely benefited by such a proceeding, for it is generally admitted, that the most able members of the profession, have, for the most part, received the first impulse from the stimulus of necessity, encouraged with the hope of reward; but if the value of the latter be diminished much, it turns the minds of enterprising men from the pursuit, and renders those who are already in it, lukewarm; under which circumstances medicine loses much of its skill and respectability. No man, however, entertained higher notions of the value of professional services than Dr. Wistar, and it was this very lofty conception of them which prevented him from estimating their worth in pounds, shillings, and pence. Scrupulous and conscientious to an extreme in doing every thing for a patient which he thought could be of service, it is admitted that no other physician in the city encountered the same proportionate labour that he did. His efforts went much beyond those of a simple medical attendant. He felt the deepest personal interest for his patient, and not unfrequently afterwards his mind was filled with the strongest sentiments of friendship, founded principally on the benefits which it had been his happiness to extend. In difficult chronic cases he made numerous and protracted visits, and entered into the most minute and comprehensive investigation of them. It was on such occasions that the solace and sympathy of friendship were superadded to the balm of the healing art, and that impressions of devoted affection to him are to be found among numbers of individuals yet alive in Philadelphia, who upon any one touching this string even gently, find it vibrate to the inmost recesses of their hearts, and in the crowd of recollections which the association excites, incapable of utterance, give vent to them in a flood of tears. To call this man good, is only to show the insufficiency of human language. In a point of vast importance to the harmony of society and to the efficacy of Christian convictions, I consider him to have been a perfect model. The rule "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," was most indelibly and productively imprinted on his mind. Endowed by nature with a sensibility to be compared only with that of a delicate, youthful, and highly-refined female, it is not to be expected but that in our profession he received some rude shocks, enough so indeed to stagger a mind more coarsely organized than his own. Incapable of injustice and of rancour himself, when the first burst of indignation was over, which he owed to human nature, then came the sunshine of a calm and undisturbed conscience. Judging other men by himself, he trusted that there was some mistake, that it had not been intended, that the person had been betrayed into extremities by a vehement and uncontrollable disposition. If, however, a perseverance in injury proved that it was a deliberate and unrepented act of malice, no harsh retort came from his lips; they were closed forever upon the personal demerits of the individual, while he did ample justice to the merits, professional, or otherwise, which the person may have possessed. From this Christian charity, even many of his most intimate friends declare that they never heard him depart, nor utter an 'unkind word against such as had flagrantly injured him. The sense of the injustice if retained in his memory, to the eyes of society was buried in oblivion. But if in his own justification it became necessary to expose the transaction, he did it in the least offensive terms, and in such a manner as to express regret rather than resentment. Repeatedly have I witnessed this trait in his character. Dr. Wistar commenced the discharge of his duties as adjunct professor of anatomy in the little building in Fifth street, opposite the State-house yard. It is now called the Health Office. The increasing celebrity of the school, producing a corresponding concourse of students, that house was insufficient to contain them. Accordingly, about the year 1807, a building was erected on the site of that in which we are now assembled. In the winter of 1808 the class met in it. Dr. Shippen, whose domestic misfortunes and bodily infirmities had borne heavily upon him for some years, had retired from the active duties of the chair. But on this occasion he delivered the introductory lecture, which was rendered more than usually interesting to him by his recollections of almost half a century, when but twelve students had assembled to follow his course, in an obscure room in the city. Now he had spacious and comparatively elegant accommodations, and an immense concourse of students from all parts of the union. In a few weeks after this effort of strength, in which he described in glowing terms his emotions, he was gathered to his fathers. This circumstance left Dr. Wistar sole professor of anatomy. The talents which had borne him up to this period of life, were now applied with renewed vigour. Determined on discharging his duties to the best of his power, no pains, no expense, were spared. Well experienced in the best mode of instruction, in what was most useful to be learned, he sustained in the maturity of his reputation, the high opinion that had been formed of him. As a teacher of anatomy, differing in many respects from his illustrious predecessor, his elocution was equally popular. Able, zealous, accomplished, with a great fund of solid information, with manners universally popular, his students who travelled abroad said of him, as had been said of Dr. Shippen, that no man they had met with was his superior, and very few his equals. His style of speaking was of that earnest and fluent kind, which, abounding in important truths, without restricting itself to the formal rules of oratory, commanded irresistibly the attention. It was not so much the speaker that spoke as the subject which he was discussing; the absorbing interest was in the latter. I have said that probably owing to the uncertainty of conducting the course of anatomy in the early years of the school, no arrangements had been made for an anatomical museum. Dr. Wistar soon became sensible of this deficiency, and to the day of his death continued to supply it. Many years ago, he had made a very fine and numerous collection of dried preparations of the arterial and venous systems. The largest in our cabinet belong to that time. A considerable number of corroded preparations in wax were executed about the travelling in Italy, enabled him to add to his cabinet, same period. About the year 1812, a friend of his from the school of Mascagni, the best preparations of the superficial lymphatics which I have any where met with, not excepting the most approved in any part of Great Britain, Holland, or France, and I am assured by gentlemen who have travelled lately in Italy, that they saw none there superior, if so good. About the time of their arrival, an impulse was given to the cultivation of that branch of practical anatomy within our own walls among the students of the school, and from it has resulted a number of very creditable preparations. The most signal effort, however, of Dr. Wistar in this line, was having a number of very large models in wood executed by Rush, with the view of giving every member of his class an equal opportunity of learning. They consist in representations of the temporal bone; the labyrinth; the superior maxillary bone, the sphenoid, bone, the brain, and some other structures. A very large model of the wrist which he had ordered to be executed was suspended by his death, but since then it has been finished at the expense of Dr. Physick, and deposited in the museum. A very valuable collection of diseased bones was also made by Dr. Wistar. The last year of Dr. Wistar's mortal career was marked by an unusual concourse of students, and by a series of lectures, in which he even exceeded his for mer reputation. In his fifty-eighth year, animated by a new and improved lecture room, but in an impaired state of health, his excessive fondness for the duties of the chair, still stimulated him to advance in the noble career. In this zenith of popularity, and of public confidence, in January, 1818, he was assailed with the malady destined by Providence to close his labours. So long as reason maintained her seat, an eye witness of his anguish, I heard him say, "Well, to-morrow I shall certainly be able to meet my class," and even when dark delirium threw her inantle over his faculties, his incoherent ravings were addressed to the same subject, and it was only by coercion that he was prevented one day, long after the usual hour of his lecture had expired, from repairing to the University. His death spread consternation and sorrow throughout this populous city. The remaining part of this course went on heavily; the death of Dr. Wistar was not to be readily forgotten, or his place to be easily supplied. The distinguished talents of Dr. Dorsey, his years, the labour he was able to undergo, pointed him out as a fit person for this impo lant trust. Possessed of talents of unusual versatility and strength, he was qualified by nature for the ingenious labor of the mechanician; for the sprightliness and wit of mixed society; for the acuteness and oratory of polemic discussions; for the research of the medical profession; and for the depth of philosophical inquiry. In the subsequent spring he was accordingly appointed professor of anatomy. Amiable, engaging, and accomplished, the good destinies of our country seemed to have reserved him as a compensation for the loss of Wistar. At the opening of the course the next November, he gave an introductory, which, in the judgment and brilliancy of its composition, and in the effect of its delivery, realized fully the most sanguine expectations of the school, and of his friends. Scarcely, however, had he delivered it, when the hand of death fixed its unrelenting grasp upon him, and hurried him out of existence. Most appropriately may we say of him in the lines of the inspired bard Sed nox atra caput tristi circumvolat umbra. Tu Marcellus eris. Manibus date lilia plenis Purpureos spargam flores, animamque nepotis His saltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani Munere his most trifling actions. Mr. Hunter was so struck with the talents and devotion of Dr. Physick, that when the period of his study was coming to a close, he knew not how to part with him, and made offers, which, if they had been accepted by Dr. Physick, would have given to London its first surgeon, and deprived our country for. evel of the just pride she has in calling him her own son, and in having fostered his talents. That Dr. Physick was no ordinary student in Mr. Hunter's room, I am satisfied; when I was in Londom, in 1821, Sir Everard Home spoke to me in the most exalted terms of his merit; Sir Astley Cooper well recollected his appearance and deportment while they were fellow students; the Hunterian Museum still retained the specimens of his success and neatness as a practical anatomist; the conservator of the collection, Mr. Clift, bore testimony to the magnitude of reputation which he had acquired. These, gentlemen, were the recollections of thirty years. But the present value of his name I felt most advantageously, in the facility with which it opened to me, the most distinguished professional circles of the British metropolis. As characteristic of the manner in which Dr. P. pursued his studies, I may mention an anecdote. He entered as a student in this city with the late Dr. Kuhn, who, devoted to the doctrine of Cullen, from having been educated at Edinburgh, believed that the First Lines of Cullen contained all the essential principles of the healing art. This opinion Dr. Kuhn inculcated on his students, Dr. P. taking for granted that it was correct, thought that as a medical student he could not do better than commit these First Lines to memory. He immediately set to work and fully accomplished the task, so that he could submit to an examination from any part of the book and repeat pages of it by heart. Mr. John Hunter as a surgeon and a very close investigator into morbid anatomy, held many of Dr. Cullen's opinions very cheaply, so that when Dr. P. got to London, he had to unlearn many things which it had given him so much trouble to learn in this country but even now physicians who consult with him in difficult and obscure cases of sickness, find his memory teeming with definitions, from this ancient recollection of Cullen. At the death of Dr. Wistar, his widow, by a noble act of munificence, at her own expense gave the anatomical collection of her husband to the University. With this foundation laid, and incentive to exertion, it has been my unceasing care to extend and to improve it, and this desire has been only strengthened and rendered still more active, by the fine accommodations of this building erected two years ago. A new and numerous class of wet preparations forming now the body of the Museum, has been made, and include a very large number of interesting specimens of morbid anatomy, and of minute structure. The variety of preparations illustrating almost every topic of a course of anatomy, is in fact so extensive, that it would be extremely difficult to introduce them all by demonstration; and it is confidently believed that in value and utility the Museum collectively yields to none of the same size in any part of the world, and that it is much superior in extent to any in this country. In this succession of disaster after disaster, the only means of avoiding the evils which now began to hover around the chair of anatomy, and to threaten its existence as a distinguished and efficient department in our school, was the appointment of Dr. Physick to fill up the gap, and to respond to the public hopes. Al- I have now finished the subject, on which I proposed ready advanced in life, and elevated to the pinnacle of to address you; if it has failed to interest, and to rereputation, possessing amply the means of resting qui- ward you for the time consumed in its discussion, I trust etly under the shade of his own laurels, it was only af- that you will consider it the fault of the speaker; under ter much hesitation that he consented to surrender his more able management it could not fail to be rich in the own convenience to the good of the institution, with best lessons of instruction for young men, who are which he was connected. His early studies had been about to engage in the profession of medicine. In such as to qualify him eminently for the task. A fa- whatever manner this topic may have been treated, the vourite pupil of the celebrated John Hunter, having reflections on it have afforded me no small pleasure. naturally very much the same character of mind, his Connected by strong ties of friendship and esteem to predilection for anatomy and surgery had been fasten- two of the gentlemen, who are now departed, connected on him, and ripened into enthusiasm, by living un-ed by still stronger to him who is left, and who, I sinder the same roof with that great man, and observing * Virgil. Æneid. Lib. 7-882. cerely, hope, may long continue to enjoy the fruits of a distinguished and useful life; I have traced their progress and their full blown character, as well for my own instruction as for yours. In this sketch has been exhibited the mirror of professional history, by which every spectator may be taught what he ought to attempt. By it, every one within the sound of my voice, may be assured that the practice of the same virtues, will procure for him a suitable reward; and that the desponding cry of there being already too many persons in the profession, should be uttered only by him who has not the resolution to ascend its acclivities. The position is sure, that industry as a student, zeal, fidelity, upright, and honourable conduct as a practitioner, will bring to every man of you, as he advances in life, a recompense much beyond what he now ventures to anticipate. Jonathan Fell, do January 5, 1819. Joseph Briggs, Jan. 5, 1302, Jan. 4, 1803. January 5, 1830. George Summers, Jan. 5, 1802, Jan. 4, 1814. Jos. Williams, (Bank) John J. Parry, Thomas M. Hall, Jan. 5, 1802, Jan. 5, 1813. Jan. 5, 1802, Jan. 4, 1803. Joseph R. Kammerer, do January 2, 1810. Jonathan Fell, do January 5, 1813. January 5, 1819. Rowland Ellis, January 5, 1830. Dr. George Pfeiffer, William Nekervis, chosen December 18, 1799. Joseph R. Kammerer, do January 1, 1805. Wm. Allibone, jr. Samuel Volans, Jan. 2, 1810, Jan. 2, 1811, Stephen North, do January 2, 1810. Samuel J. Robbins, do James White, Mahlon Haines, Hartt Grandom; Ro- Adam Konigmacher, Samuel V. Anderson, Jan. 2, 1811, Jan. 2, 1811. Jan. 7, 1812. Jan. 7, 1812. JOHN G. SIMMONS, Thomas Graham, January 4, 1814. January 7, 1817. do January 6, 1818. do January 5, 1819. January 2, 1821. January 7, 1823. January 6, 1824. Benjamin Clark, Abel Satterthwaite, John Robbins, WILLIAM Аввотт, Thomas Fassit, Charles Wheeler, Jan. 7, 1812, Jan. 5, 1813, Jan. 4, 1814. Jan. 5, 1813, Jan. 3, 1815. Jan. 5. 1813. Jan. 2, 1811. Jan. 2, 1811, Jan. 5, 1813. Jan. 7, 1812, Jan. 3, 1815. Jan. 7, 1812, Jan. 3, 1815. Jan. 7, 1812, Jan. 6, 1818, From the Philadelphia Gazette. Monday, July 23, 1832. Mr. DUANE was called to the chair, in the absence of the president. Mr. MASSEY called up for consideration, the ordinance relative to Water street, which was agreed to, and tue ordinance was passed by the Select Council, but was ordered to be printed by the Common Council, for the benefit of the Common Council. Mr. JOHNSON offered a petition from the City Carters, which was referred to the Mayor, and City Commissioners, with power to act. Mr. NEFF offered the annexed preamble and resolution, which were agreed to. Whereas frequent complaints have been made to members of the Sanitary Committee, of the bad state of an alley back of Relief Alley, Therefore, - Resolved, That the subject be referred to the paving committee, with power to order the same paved, should they deem it necessary. Mr. GROVES, as chairman of the committee to procure plans of the rail-road along Broad street, made the annexed report, which was read and laid on the table. The committee appointed to procure plans for the construction of the rail-road along Broad street, from Vine to Cedar street, report, That they have procured three different plans of rails and sills, which accompany this report, and to which they beg leave to refer the members of Councils. The committee are of opinion, that the drawing marked No. 3, on the plan, is the one which is the most suitable for a street, so much travelled as Broad street, as it presents no impediment to the wheels of carriages, and will not be liable to get out of order. It will be necessary to make turn-outs at the intersections of the main streets, a plan of which has not yet been procured, but those on the road through Baltimore, it is supposed are best calculat ed for the purpose. The committee are of opinion, that the rails should be contracted for, and the granite sills prepared, to be ready at the commencement of the next season; they therefore, submit the following resolution. Resolved, That a committee be appointed to contract for a sufficient quantity of iron rails, and also for granite stone to form the sills of the said rail-road, and to have the same prepared-and that they be authorized to employ a suitable person to superintend the work, whenever they may think the services of such a person necessary. Mr. MASSEY offered the following resolution which was passed by the Select Council. Resolved by the Select and Common Council, That the sum of ten thousand dollars, be, and the same is hereby appropriated to be employed under the directions of the Sanitary Committee, for the purpose of relieving the poor within the city, who are unable to provide for themselves, a comfortable subsistence, and that the expense of cleansing and purifying the respective premises, of such persons as are unable to pay, be paid by the city, and that the expense thereof, be charge to appropriation No. 21. Mr. GROVES offered the subjoined resolution, and called for the ayes and nays. It was carried in the Select Councils, by the following vote. Ayes, Messrs. Fox, Groves, Massey, Neff, and Toland-5. Nays, Messrs. Duane, Horn, Johnson, and Lippincott-4. But the Common Councils had adjourned before it was sent to them. Resolved by the Select and Common Councils, That the Board of Health be, and they are hereby requested to interdict the intercourse from the city of New York, and such other cities and towns, as may be afflicted with the Asiatic Cholera, and this city as soon as practicable. COMMON COUNCIL.-Mr. BAKER presented a petition, praying that Biddle's alley be pavea, which was referred to the paving committee. The following communication from commissioners of the Kensington district was received, and was referred to the watering committee. KENSINGTON, July 18th, 1832. To the Select and Common Councils of the city of Philadelphia. Gentlemen,-The commissioners of the "Kensington District of the Northern Liberties," desirous of introducing the Schuylkill water into the District, some time since appointed Hugh Clark, W. F. Harrison, Michael Keenan, Henry Remmey, jr. and John Rambo, a committee to communicate with committees to be appointed by Councils, and the commissioners of the Northern Liberties, as to the most eligible mode of introducing the same. Our committees would be glad to have an early arrangement of the matter, and for that purpose ask an early interview. Very respectfully, Your ob't serv't, HUGH CLARK, Chairman of W. C. Mr. FRITZ called up for consideration, the resolution attached to the report of the committee to visit the lands of the late Stephen Girard, which was agreed to; and the resolution as amended, was passed by both Councils. Mr. RYAN offered the following resolution, which was passed by the Common Council, but was laid on the table in the Select Council. Resolved by the Select and Common Councils, That the Clerks of Councils, be authorized to have printed, in pamphlet form, the ordinances of Councils, and the acts of Assembly relating to the city, passed since the last pamphlet publication, and charge the expense of the same, to appropriation No. 21. Mr. SEXTON offered the annexed resolution, which was agreed to, and Messrs. Fritz and Neff, were appointed that committee. Resolved, That one member of each Council, be added to the committee on the improvement of the Schuylkill lands, &c. Thursday, July 26th, 1832. SELECT COUNCIL.--The annexed communication from the City Commissioners was received, and referred to the market committee. CITY COMMISSIONERS, OFFICE, } To the President and Members of the Common Council. ROBERT H. SMITH, [COPY.] To the City Commissioners. I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your ob't serv't. |