ruption more rare? Is brotherhood more appreciated and injustice more hated? Is political ambition more modest than it was before Gettysburg was fought? Does Minnesota remember the heroism of her First Regiment which cost the lives of so many brave men? Does she remember the devotion of all her regiments, successful or unsuccessful, and will she guard the temples of law and government as resolutely as her soldiers defended the Union? These are questions that deserve at least attention; questions which you yourselves by your future course will do much to answer.

No war more just was ever waged than that for the preservation of the Union, and, as it proved, for the destruction of slavery. But a nation never yet went through a long and bloody war, no matter how just, and came out of it in as good condition as it was in when the war began. It has lost large numbers of its bravest and best citizens; and this is especially so when the soldiers are volunteers whose inspiration is patriotism. War tends to destroy the sacredness of life, makes it cheap, when so many are killed in every battle. Again, war tends to demoralize those engaged in it, a calamity avoided only when hearts are kept tender by the constant proofs of love from the dear ones at home. Again, war unsettles values, inflates the currency, produces deceptive mirages of wealth, excites greed, wastes billions, and yet seems to make the nation richer, makes possible vast fortunes, and in every way stimulates all evil desires for gain. The nation breathes a new atmosphere, looks at objects through a new medium, sees things out of all proportion, and the calm and reasonableness of the old days of peace are thoroughly

destroyed even for those who have nothing to do but to direct their own business enterprises.

It will take years to bring matters back to the sweet reasonableness of peaceful days. Many a severe lesson of business depression and financial ruin will be learned before the nation can resume its oldtime patience and comfort.

But America, however great may be her business depression, is yet rich and strong in all things needed for comfort in life; and there is no reason why we should long be an unhappy people, if we will only learn to moderate our desires and to be content with enough. It will be a happy day for us when we learn to be content without being rich; when immense fortunes are seen to be unnecessary for comfort; and when an equitable distribution of wealth, brought about by diminished greed of capital and a universal participation in labor, shall multiply the happy homes of our country, transform the vagrants into workmen, and the workmen into contented citizens having an assured support. The day for wasteful prodigality and empty ostentation has gone by. The time for economy, prudence, carefulness, the virtues of the fathers and mothers of the republic, has come.

Let us then resolve that, so far as lies in our power, the land in which we live shall be not merely the land of freedom, but the land of justice to all, that the sacrifices of the past shall not have been made in vain; and that the great republic, founded by the faith of the fathers and sustained by the heroism of the sons, shall be kept by us true to the purpose for which it was established, to be administered by honest and patriotic men, and to be in reality the land of the free and the home of the brave.

SOME ADVICE TO YOUNG PHYSICIANS *

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

The variety of occasions on which I have of late been called upon to address public meetings, is, I find, seriously affecting my style, so that it is not as easy for me as formerly to adapt my remarks to the audience which I am to address. Thus, when, as now, I come before an assembly of medical ladies and gentlemen, I feel no disposition whatever to practice, but am rather disposed to preach; whereas, when I go to church, I have no inclination to preach, but am sure to be strongly urged to practice.

If this unfortunate tendency to say the right thing at the wrong time should be too strongly developed this evening, I am sure you will pardon me as being the victim of unfortunate circumstances. I have accepted the very flattering invitation of the faculty of this college to speak to-night, not because I am conscious of any special fitness for the task, but because I have a very genuine and intelligent interest in the work which this college is doing, a genuine interest because it is something more than a mere acquaintance with the gentlemen who conduct the college, and with the purposes which they may be supposed to have; and an intelligent interest because

*Delivered at the Commencement Exercises of Minneapolis Medical College in 1886.

I have taken some pains to ascertain the character of the work they are doing and the measure of success which attends their efforts; and I am glad to say that I have been greatly pleased with both. If, then, I can aid the professors here in their work, can encourage them in their purposes, can strengthen them in public estimation in the slightest degree, or, if I can say anything that will be helpful to the young men who have now finished their course of professional studies, and who stand to-night face to face with the world, I should be very reluctant to refuse to do so.

The relation of the medical profession to human welfare is too thoroughly understood and appreciated to require any special enforcement from me at this time. Sickness is sure to be the unwelcome visitor in every household. Death is the inevitable fate of every human being. Suffering more or less acute must be experienced by all. It is the mission of the doctor to relieve suffering, to cure sickness, and to repel death as long as possible. And since there is nothing which the human family values more than health, and nothing which it dreads more than death, the doctor is eagerly sought and welcomed as the ally of the suffering in their conflict with disease and death. The skill which can diagnose a case of illness, can foretell its probable course, and, at each stage of the disease, can devise and apply an effective remedy, is something which ordinary common sense can not fail to value, and which ordinary human nature can not fail to be grateful for. The progress of medical science within a comparatively few years has been very marked; and the old time physician would find much in the modern system of medi