placed in our hands for the public good, or charge the full rates of former years. And now how was our action viewed by the profession of the State? A short time after our circulars were distributed, I received a private letter from an esteemed friend, (Dr. W. O. Baldwin,) of Montgomery, informing me of the fact that a series of resolutions had been introduced in the "Montgomery Medical and Surgical Society," strongly condemning the course of the faculty. This was the first intimation that we had that we had been impeached by that august tribunal; this was the first intimation that we had that our very zealous friends in the cause of medical education had us before them for trial; that charges had been preferred against us; that our case had been argued, and we had been condemned; that all the forms of trial had been gone through with, but the very trivial one that the culprit had never heard of the crime with which he was charged, nor had he been heard in his own defense.

But later these resolutions were printed, and sent in haste to all the county societies in the State, and to several of the Southern medical journals for publication; letters were written, public feeling and prejudice industriously manufactured; members of the profession urged to take part against us; and all this done by our Montgomery friends without their once having asked us for an explanation, or without their once seeking the motives which had induced us to depart so far from the course which they, in their wisdom, would have prescribed for us. This was not all. Not satisfied with this determined and systematic attack upon our college, and persistent effort to effect its ruin, one of the gentlemen most active in this movement, had circulars printed which he sent to every portion of the State, denouncing the college and its new movement, drawing invidious comparisons between it and the college of a neighboring State, and doing what he could in his feeble way to break down the institution which we had so industriously attempted to build up, that it might prove an ornament to the State, and a pride to the profession. This gentleman, in his remarks just now, disclaimed the wish to be prominent in this matter. For his own sake, then, I would to Heaven he had conceived this thought before he advocated the passage of his resolutions before the Montgomery Medical and Surgical Society; before he urged upon that body to send copies of them to the local societies of the State, and to the southern medical journals; before he wrote letters to individual members of these societies to use their influence to pass them, and before he used all his talents and energy in manufacturing feeling and prejudice against the college. He should have thought of that before he had circulars printed, with his name appended, denouncing the course of the faculty, and urging the profession of the State to repudiate the institution. He should have considered the danger of his being prominent in this matter before he, as chairman of the Committee on Medical Education, without any consultation

with any of its members, (one of which committee I had the honor to be) prepared a lengthy paper, which he produces when that committee is called, as a report of the committee on medical education, in which this college and the faculty are especially condemned, and in which the question, does a medical student get information, and does he rise to the proper standard of requirement in proportion to the amount of money he pays the faculty of a college, was decided very peremptorily in the affirmative. He should have hesitated at the position in which he was liable to be placed by this association, in this matter, before he uttered the opinions and expressed the views that he has this day, if he desired not to be prominent in this

matter.

Gentlemen, the action of the Montgomery Medical and Surgical Society has seemed to us unkind and uncalled for. It is difficult for us to ascribe a good reason for it on any other hypothesis than their desire to destroy this college, that Montgomery should have the honor of erecting one in its stead. It seemed to us that it was uncalled for in Montgomery to have so exercised herself about the management of the affairs of this institution, when we refer to the fact that Montgomery has never yet sent a student to honor its lecture rooms by his presence. It was not candid; it was not in accordance with her professions of friendship; it was not in the true professional spirit for the Medical and Surgical Society of Montgomery to proceed in this matter without one word of intimation to us; without one word of inquiry as to our motive. It was not ethical to take the steps that have been so industriously pursued to prejudice the medical mind of this State, and of the profession throughout the South, against this institution, merely upon their own views of the action had by this faculty. This style of ethics might suit the latitude of Montgomery, but the Faculty of the Medical College of Alabama have been taught in a different school, and been the pupils and shared the companionship of those proud, high-toned men that but a few years back shed such glory on the profession of medicine here, and illustrated, by their lives, the high standard to which the true professional gentleman should aspire.

The faculty of this college feel that their recent action is but in keeping with the self-sacrificing spirit of the medical profession through all time. They have too much personal and professional pride to allow them to lower the high standard of medical requirements which they have ever maintained. They have too much personal and professional pride to allow them to prove recreant to the high trusts and responsibilities imposed on them as the custodians of this city's and this State's munificent offering for the advancement of our noble profession. They have too much personal and professional pride to do less than their whole duty to those gentlemen who present themselves here as aspirants for the honors of our profession, and as the future physicians of our land. They have

taken no narrow view of their responsibilities but forgetful of themselves, forgetful of their ease and comfort, forgetful of social pleasures, forgetful of the hours of study and toil they were imposing on themselves, forgetrul of the time they were giving to their professorial labors, which else could be devoted to their private interests, and mindful alone of the fact that they held the high trust as custodians of all that Alabama had done and contributed in her own limits for the medical education of her sons, they have so acted as, in their enlightened view, seemed most surely to advance the cause of medical education in this State; to advance the standard of medical requirements to be exacted from the students in their college, and to add glory, honor and renown to the science and art of medicine in Alabama.

Mr. President:

ADDRESS OF DR. S. D. SEELYE.

One would perhaps suppose from the language of the protest just offered, and now under discussion, that it was the unanimous, or almost unanimous voice of the society from which it emanates. But so far is this from the fact, that it was originally passed as a piece of parliamentary fencing, to prevent a much worse thing being done.

On the first Monday in August last, the resolutions censuring the Faculty of the Alabama Medical College, were first introduced before our society. These resolutions were carried after a vigorous debate by a majority of only one-the President giving the casting vote. A motion was then made to send a copy of the resolutions and the action of our society to every medical society in the State, and to publish the same in some of the medical journals. Fearing ing that if forced to the issue, this too would pass, and satisfied that some who voted for the resolutions were unwilling to take such a high-handed course, I, though having fought them with all my power throughout the debate, offered, as a substitute, "That our delegates to the next meeting of the State Association be instructed to enter their protest against the action of the Alabama Medical College."

The minority all understood it as a compromise-the best we could do under the circumstances and all voted for it. In the earlier part of the evening, pending the adoption of the resolutions, I moved that a committee of conference be appointed to correspond with our Mobile brethen, the faculty of the college, and ascertain their motives which led them to issue their circular proffering their lectures free. It was urged that we knew these gentlemen as hightoned, intelligent, and honorable members of our profession, who would scout the use of any means deemed derogatory to professional honor, and that to pass these resolutions of censure without giving them a chance to defend themselves, was unfair, and con

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trary to the spirit of brotherhood which we owed to them. The motion was also lost by one vote, and when at last we succeeded in confining the action of our society to a mere protest, and preventing the resolutions being sent broadcoast throughout the State, we, of the minority, felt that we had accomplished a good thing. It is but just to say that some of the more prominent advocates for the resolutions regretted afterwards that they did not give their support to the motion for a committee of conference. It has been said that the spirit of our society was unanimous in their condemnation of the action of the faculty of the college when the subject first came up in August last. This, Mr. President, was certainly an error. It is true that we offered the resolutions on different grounds, some claiming that we had no jurisdiction in the matter; some that they were premature, and censuring without a hearing, and others feeling that we might meet the question on its real issues, and that the question of free medical education would bear examination and discussion. This last was my own position on that night, and I urged that it might be fully discussed, and that no hasty action might be taken; that the genius of our country and of the times was tending toward free education in all its departments, and I could see no reason why our profession should form an exception to a practice which resulted in such great good in every other department of science.

And, Mr. President, these are my views to-day. I care not-none of us should care, whether a professional brother's education cost him nothing, or whether he were a millionaire and paid one-half of his fortune for it. The education is what we want-the qualification for the high and responsible duties of a physician's life-and these secure, we may well leave the question of price altogether out of consideration.

It is true, that holding these views, I have also felt the necessity of guarding our ranks against an unfair use of the graduating power held by the colleges. I would desire censorship conferred on disinterested parties who shall pass upon the qualifications of candidates ere a diploma can be granted.

The next best thing is, I think, the system of censorship, urged upon this Association at its last meeting by the faculty of the college, and again embodied in the proposed new constitution this year. I take this action of the faculty as in good faith, an exponent of their desire to hedge in the access to our ranks by all legitimate and practicable means.

Mr. President: In weighing the actions of men, we must-to be just keep two things in view, viz: The effect of their actions upon the world, and the motives which prompt them. Were the effect of free lectures to be to throw down the barriers which raise our profession above a mere trade, to render examinations lax, and diplomas less honorable-to tempt into our ranks men unqualified by

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nature and cultivation for its high and holy duties-none would oppose the plan with more heartfelt earnestness than would I. But so far does this seem from being the natural tendency of this system, that I think we may confidently expect a directly contrary result.

We remove mercenary motives entirely from the field, and hold up the honor of teaching in its stead, for what else can tempt these men to sacrifice time and labor, and devote themselves with energy and enthusiasm to their appointed tasks, save the honor and professional pride which one may justly feel who teaches successfully. And success is all that brings honor. To graduate a class of students unfitted to take rank with us in the profession, would be a disgrace. To lower the standard of education one iota would cast a stigma upon them and the college. On the contrary, to raise the standard -to make the diploma of the college a patent of merit, to send her young men into the world proud to say that the Alabama Medical College is their Alma Mater, and of whom they in turn may be proud, reflects the highest credit upon the faculty of the college, and I have faith to believe that such would be the views of the great majority of medical teachers. Why do our great men in medicine and surgery devote their time and talents in the laborious duties of the hospital, without remuneration, in our great metropolitan centres, and bring to bear in their labors all the energy and enthusiasm of their natures? It can be none less than the generous spirit of emulation which every true and strong man feels, and the love of honor which duties well fulfilled always brings. Will a less honorable motive influence a true man in the responsible position of a teacher in medicine?

By abrogating the system of fees, lesser motives are put aside. On the contrary, where the professors in our colleges are paid from the fees received, and the amount of salary depends upon the number of students and graduates, do we not tempt poor human nature to a less rigorous discipline, and a less exalted standard of qualifications in those who are candidates for the degree? This last has always been one of the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of elevating the standard of medical education, with which our profession has had to contend.

It is true that the laborer is worthy of his hire, and I do not object to a fair remuneration to college professors, provided it be not made to depend upon the number of students and graduates. But where the college is not endowed so as to furnish a fixed salary for its teachers, nor is under the patronage of the State which pays them, I would infinitely prefer to see them do as our friends here have done, work for nothing but the honor of it, and the proud consciousness of duties well performed.

But there is another aspect of the case. In the divine economy, brains are sometimes given to poor men, and the aspirations of tal