men ripe in years and honors, who have added another page to the history of our college, and inscribed our names upon its "roll of honor." What an abyss separates our standpoint from theirs? They, in the meridian of life and their professional labors; we, on its threshold, with all life's cares and responsibilities in store for us.

The acquisition of our diplomas, while an evidenee of our having performed faithful labor in the field of science, and conferring upon us the honored dignity of a Doctor in Medicine, with all its rights and prerogatives, is, we acknowledge, but the stepping-stone to further advancement to which time, experience, and our individual exertions must lead us.

Our beloved Alma Mater shielded and nurtured us during our professional infancy, and now, as adolescents, sends us forth panoplied in her armor, and accompanied by her benisons, to fight the battle of life single-handed.

We go forth as disciples of an advanced school of medicine, and as such must expect to meet with a certain degree of opposition from some of our professional brethren of other schools or systems, or, strictly speaking, lack of system.

The superstructure of Eclecticism is reared upon the best experiences of the past, but, in consonance with the spirit of the age we live in, it revolted against the thraldom of usage, precedence, or unsubstantiated time-honored theories; it recognized the fact that it had to advance with the progress of science; new discoveries necessitated the adoption of new therapeutics; the human intellect is never at a standstill; a new materia medica was called into being, and a treatment, at once humanitarian and effective, perfected and adopted-hence Eclecticism.

Man is a creature of habit and prejudice, and, strange as the assertion may appear, in the minds of none are prejudices deeper seated than in those of medical men.

It would be fair to assume that members of a learned profession would gladly hail an advance in science, and such is the fact in—theory, and, unfortunately, in theory only. The old school practitioners have from, I am almost tempted to say, time immemorial, been so wedded to traditionary theories, mouldy ideas, and obsolete practice, that a divergence from their ancient

dogmas is frowned down as rank heresy; to them Eclecticism is a new revelation; they are unprepared to acknowledge and appreciate its grand truths at present; but the time is not distant when they will be compelled to do so. We neither live, eat, nor clothe ourselves as was customary in by-gone ages. Our present pleasures, pastimes, and intellectual enjoyments have nothing in common with those of the past. Our educational, our intellectual development, has undergone a radical transformation.

In some respects even our ailments and disabilities have been subjected to the same law. Is it, therefore, rational to demand or to expect that the science of medicine should remain immutable?

As the tide bears the flotsam upon its bosom whither it may trend, in like manner has the stream of Eclecticism borne some of those servile imitators of Dr. Sangrado, of honored memory, as unwilling waifs upon its current. These worthies, who, while attempting to cast obloquy upon our practice in public, yet gladly adopt it in private, as a last resource when their own inadequate measures fail them, are our opponents.

The dissemination of great truths has to pass through three stages: hatred, ridicule, and final acknowledgment; we have surmounted the two first, and are now progressing towards the achievement of the last; let our efforts be united with those of our glorious predecessors who have "borne the heat and burden of the day," and may we soon see victory perched upon our banTo them the praise!

ners.

Gentlemen of the Faculty: In addressing you specially I am almost at a loss to find words adequate to the task of giving expression to the feelings by which I am actuated, the present moment being one of such intense import to my associates and myself. It is highly gratifying to us to have been the recipients of a distinguished mark of your appreciation of our scholarly attainments; but even that gratification is tinctured with regret. Fate has decreed that man be denied the boon of unalloyed pleasure. Alas! the present occasion does not prove an exception; bitterness must be added to our cup of joy by the consciousness that to that conferring of degrees the parting from our beloved faculty is inseparably allied.

We can hardly realize that our pleasant associations with you and these familiar halls, are to be severed, and that henceforward our paths in life are to diverge; but such are the imperious mandates of destiny, to which we must submit. But wherever our lots may be cast, rest assured that the memories of the long, long months spent at your feet will be ever cherished and dear

to us.

To you, are we indebted for the knowledge of our profession, to you also, for the patience and forbearance exercised towards us while threading the mazes of science; guided by your experience, sustained by your precepts and admonishments, the difficulties of the road have been made easy for us. How?-how? can we ever requite your kindness or give expression to our gratitude?

It now remains for me to add a word which falters upon the tongue it is that dread word-farewell. Farewell.

Gentlemen of the graduating Class: Shakespeare most truly said that "life is a mingled yarn," the aptness of which never better manifested itself as upon occasions like the present, when joy and sorrow are brought into juxtaposition.

This evening we have passed one of the most prominent milestones which mark our journey through life; in times gone by we could but just discern it, a mere atom on the horizon. With the march of time and advancing knowledge it loomed up, in dim uncertain outlines on the crest of a mountain whose mencacing heights held out faint promise of our ever reaching its pinnacle; as time wore on we arrived at the mountain's base and discovered to our dismay that our onward path was not only precipitous, but was beset by difficulties which had to be surmounted: but-thanks to the invaluable aid extended to us by the faculty of this college-they have been overcome, the goal reached and passed, and we have just reaped the reward of our exertions.

The honor of Doctor of Medicine has been conferred upon you, and I congratulate you upon your preferment, admonishing you, at the same time, that ours, as a progressive science, is a field in which we have not yet reached the end of our labors, as they end but with life itself. But I will not assume to enlarge upon

a topic which has already been so eloquently brought to your notice. I cannot, however, refrain from again adverting to the many and deep obligations we are under to our teachers, who have so ably and conscientiously fulfilled their trust. Words are mere sounds, and may be forgotten almost as soon as the reverberations of their echo have died away; let us, therefore, prove our thankfulness by our acts; let them be such as will shed glory upon our Alma Mater, so that in years to come, when casting a retrospect of our past lives, we may exclaim with a just pride: I was a member of the class of 1879.

With our departure from this retreat of learning, to mingle with the world, the ties which so closely unites us are about to be severed, in contemplation of which sorrowful event,

"I feel the surge of grief swell up."

It seems to me but yesterday that, gathered together as strangers, but actuated by the same desire of drawing knowledge from the same spring, we met in these halls. Month succeeded month almost imperceptibly; common pursuits, hopes, toils, and pleasures have formed us into a chain of friends and brothers. In severing a chain, the links yet remain, and my earnest prayer is that we, as living links, will ever be drawn together by feelings and sympathies as sincere and warm as those harbored by us now, and that the flame of our love of our Alma Mater will burn with as undiminished intensity.

May the tender leaves of hope be followed by blossoms; may the blessings of heaven rest upon you and all your undertakings; and when, in the fulness of time, we may be received into the everlasting kingdom, may our lives have been one acceptable to God, respected by our fellow-men, an honor to our profession and our Alma Mater.

I can add nothing more; what I have left unsaid is, believe me, not unfelt, but

66 'We will be patient and assuage the feeling

We cannot wholly stay,

By silence sanctifying, not concealing

The grief that must have sway."

SCORBUTIC DIARRHEA.

BY E. J. WALKER, M.D.

THE plan of treatment here given will be somewhat peculiar, though it has been in my hands entirely successful, and my experience has not been very trifling. As its name indicates somewhat of its nature, any one familiar at all with medical works will have no severe task in at once recognizing the principal cause of the malady, though, on examining a case, would be liable to confound it with another disease very common in this country, and which is sometimes very difficult to manage also, or would overlook this entirely, and treat a case of scorbutic diarrhoea for one of dysentery. One circumstance which renders this disease of more than usual interest now, is the fact not only of its resemblance to dysentery, but that many return from California who have contracted it there, and but for the distinction made between the two, many would be very liable to overlook a very important point in the treatment of the diarrhoea which would not be of vital importance in the treatment of dysentery -meet with serious disappointment-loose confidence in remedies which heretofore had been reliable, and not know the cause of such recreancy, and what is worse, very likely to loose their patients.

In well marked and uncomplicated scorbutic diarrhœa, the following history of the case will be generally obtained, and the following symptoms be found present:

At the commencement there is diarrhoea, which of itself is not peculiar enough to arrest the attention of the patient-a mere looseness of the bowels, which, however, continues several days, or for three or four weeks; but unlike the common summer complaint, for which it is mistaken, does not yield readily to common domestic remedies, and may continue for several days without materially affecting the patient's strength. Gradually, however, the discharges become tinged with blood, scarcely sufficient at first to attract the patient's attention, but increase when he