(An address delivered before the General Alumni Conclave of the American Institute of Homeopathy, at Cleveland, Ohio, June 19, 1902, by John M. Lee, M. D., President of the Alumni Association of the Homeopathic Department of the University of Michigan.)
From the time our Alma Mater was established, with six students, in 1841, to the present, her progress has been rapid, eventful, and marvelously satisfactory. The names of George P. Williams, Joseph Whiting, Henry P. Tappan, Erastus Otis Haven, and James Burrill Angell stand out brilliantly in the history of this University. Of all these men, Dr. Angell's name is recognized as pre-eminently the college Gladstone, not only of this institution, but of all this country. His administration covers a period of more than half that of the life of the University, and under it, the University student population has grown from that of a thrifty high school, to over thirty-seven hundred young men and women. The special buildings of the literary department, the law department, the dental department, the two medical departments, and the other branches of the University, the gymnasium, library, numerous laboratories, museums, president's house, and the several hospitals have mostly been erected under the careful administration of the broad gauge man who resigned the control of the University of Vermont in 1871. This experienced and diplomatic college president is also president of the faculty of the department of the University which we call our Alma Mater, —the homeopathic college.
Is it any wonder that an institution so favorably located, guided on one hand by such a carefully trained officer as President Angell, and on the other, by that indefatigable worker, careful and cool thinker, diplomatic and patient worker, able instructor, and sound adviser, Dean W. B. Hinsdale, should stand among the first colleges in the country
As our worthy Dean says, "It is not quantity, but quality that we want for the homeopathic department of this great University." I presume he would not object to quantity provided the applicants for admission to our courses had the proper preliminary training, and the requisite amount of mother wit. If we can have such material to work upon, there is not a department of this great University that our medical students cannot command as their own; for by the combined medical and literary course, they are enabled to matriculate in the literary department and carry the work along with their medical course, and receive at the end of six years both the B. S. and M. D. degrees. Or, they may take the A. B. degree in place of the B. S., or any other they may be able to win. During this time they may have access to one hundred and twenty-three thousand volumes contained in the University library; they may enter any one of the numerous Greek letter societies to which they may be invited; they may avail them-selves of the athletic clubs, the Ferry athletic field and the splendid gymnasium, the museums, laboratories, or any other University advantage they may elect.
The mere association of the student with bright minds in every department of human research, broadens and better fits the subject to take his place in medicine, which, today, requires that the doctor must not only be a scholar, but a diplomat, a humanitarian, a philanthropist as well as a cultured gentleman. It is all these advantages which surround the University student with conditions which constantly aid him, unknown to him perhaps, to take a high position in the noble profession to which he aspires.
The conditions at Ann Arbor today are quite different from what they were twenty-six years ago when I entered the second class of the Homeopathic Medical College. At that time we had no hospital worthy of the name. A few beds were accorded to us in the hospital, poorly equipped, and under the care of Professor Maclean of the Department of Medicine and Surgery. These accommodations were soon found to be inadequate and we were given a hospital of our own, inconvenient though it was, poorly built, poorly equipped, and poorly managed. Finally in1892, an appropriation was secured, and the Regents built and equipped for us at a cost of thirty-five thousand dollars an institution, which was regarded as adequate for permanent needs. Nevertheless, in due time, this was also outgrown, and two or three years ago, under the director of the present faculty, the pressure was relieved; and the clinical facilities were augmented by the erection of the magnificent new Homeopathic hospital.
The building was completed in 1901. It has a capacity of one hundred and forty beds and affords as good clinical facilities as any similar institution in the country. Already, its six wards and many private rooms have been well-nigh filled; and its thoroughly aseptic operating rooms of iron and marble have done splendid service for the classes and for scores of physicians throughout the country, who have sought the peculiar advantages of the post-graduate courses annually given at this thrifty college. It has just reached the strong vigor of young maturity, and we have been surprised, delighted, and benefited by the marvelous change in the Homeopathic ranks at Ann Arbor.
The clinics, this year, have surpassed all other good years in a multitude of all kinds of material. Patients have come from all the counties of Michigan, and from many of its neighbors, both near and far. Right here I wish to correct an almost universal misunderstanding about our hospital. My point is this: The institution is purely clinical. Every case in it represents material for the students. There are no private patients allowed in the hospital. The dean himself, the professor of surgery, of ophthalmology, neurology, gynecology, or of any other department is absolutely forbidden the privilege of the hospital for private patients. So you see that every one of those eighty or ninety cases is utilized for the benefit of the students. There is not in the United States another college hospital, which does not admit large numbers of private patients, who may be cared for by any physician of their choice, on the faculty or off of it. These can never be made cases for students. Therefore our college at Ann Arbor with its hospital comfortably filled, as it is, with patients, every one of whom is for the benefit of the students, is better equipped with clinical material than most other colleges in the country.
Aye, gentlemen, the earnestness with which the citizens of Ann Arbor have supported this institution, by their vote to give seventeen thousand dollars to aid in the construction of this hospital shows their fidelity to Homeopathy, and their determination to support this college at all hazards. You need not look for any more amalgamation or removal schemes at Ann Arbor. The last battle has been fought and the victory won. The members of that faculty are now working harmoniously as never before. The department is growing rapidly, and is acknowledged to stand in the foremost rank in the maintenance of a high standard of proficiency, and in the presentation of an unexcelled course of thorough practical and technical training.
The distinguished President of the University, Dr. Angell, said once, in effect: "The alumni are the support and strength of the University." This is peculiarly true in reference to our college; and let me here emphatically urge every one of you alumni to stand by the colors of the Homeopathic department of the University of Michigan. May the Yellow and the Blue stand out prominently for the best, for thoroughness, and thus for a foremost place in the galaxy of the colleges. Above all, may we rally to the support of the faculty, and prove loyal alike to them, our Alma Mater, ourselves, and to the honorable profession we represent.
The Michigan Alumnus
Oct 1902, page 15-17
