better than the latter. I have heard various explanations of this observed fact.

Again, in probably all of your regiments were to be found a number of young boys, who, impelled by some feeling near akin to patriotism, enlisted in the service; these boys, usually from fourteen to sixteen years of age, as a class, made the very best soldiers in the service, and so far as my observation went (certainly in the regiment over which I had supervision), never sought to avoid duty by any of the schemes too often practiced by their seniors. I feel that these brave and patriotic boys deserve a special place in our war records, and hope that some Veteran will yet feel it his duty to publish a history of every special command, if for no other purpose than to individualize and do justice to this class of our comrades, many of whom yet live in the prime of vigorous manhood, while most of us are far out on the receding shores of time, and must soon pass over to the other side.

Another observation as a field surgeon corroborated and confirmed an early conceived opinion which I had never lost sight of in my former professional work; I allude to the dominating and controlling influence of the mind or will over the functions. and recuperative energies of the physical system. This was an observation of daily occurrence with the surgeon. The Confederate armies were largely made up of material peculiar and different in its nature from most armies. Our population at the beginning of the war had but few adventurers, unstable searchers after place and employment, miners, operatives, and the migratory class in general, which composed a large proportion of the population of the other section of the country, and which was as well off in one place as in another. Our soldiers had homes, local ties, families, and something to live for beyond the day and occasion. Their homes and families were largely subject to the raids, robberies, and depredations of the enemy, except so far as protected by the valor of a few dauntless and watchful leaders like those "wizards of the saddle." the immortal Forest and Morgan. It was therefore natural and unavoidable that they should feel deep anxiety about their homes and families,

beyond their reach and often for months beyond their power of communication, even while in the army, and much worse when confined in Northern prisons. That nostalgia, mental worry, and depression should exist to the point of disease production and repair prevention, even among the higher class of men, was no wonder, but the marvel and everlasting credit was, that it did not produce worse results.

One of the grandest characteristics of our soldiery, and one which should be commemorated, was their self-sacrificing devotion to principle. No soldiers were ever perhaps so tempted to abandon the cause for which they fought and endured privations and hardships, as were those of the Confederate Army. Thousands were confined in loathsome prisons, subjected to all the privations of prison life, with the barbarous interdiction of an order from "the best government," etc., prohibiting the exchange of prisoners; our men, however, had ever before them the privilege of restoration to said government upon condition of swearing allegiance thereto, and yet, with but few exceptions, they suffered and endured to the end rather than prove recreant to their cause and principles. If the Confederate government should have promised such amnesty to Federal prisoners, it is safe to say that a majority would have embraced the opportunity to free themselves from prison life. But notwithstanding this great devotion to principle and country, still it is not within the power of human nature to cease to feel mental worry and anxiety about the loved ones at home, and I can call to mind many cases of disease, some even to death, having their origin in nostalgia alone, with consequent depression to vital and recuperative energies. In view of this fact I made it a rule to recommend for furlough all wounded who could bear transportation to their homes, as well as all sick, where this element was detected.

Much has been said about the difficulty of obtaining medical and surgical necessities in the field during the war, much of which was true, but frequently overdrawn. In consequence of the energy of our medical purveyors and the liberality of the enemy in yielding up their stores when surprised and forced to abandon them, kept us in a reasonable supply of all essentials,

and with my idea of simple and non-complex therapy, quite adequate to the wants of the sick.

Nearly every surgeon carried with him into the service a reasonably sufficient surgical armamentarium, which was in some instances supplemented by imported instruments through blockade channels and others furnished by the generosity of our adversaries, like the other supplies mentioned before. Believing that a great multiplicity of instruments is often more for show than use, and that the true genius of the surgeon consists in using as few as possible, which can often be extemporized for the occasion, I feel warranted in saying that we did not suffer materially for the want of surgical instruments. For myself, my armamentarium was re-inforced by an entire outfit with the surgeon's ambulance, which he had abandoned in his anxiety "to live to fight another day," and which was captured upon the field and turned over to me. The operating case I still have as a memento, and as it was a U. S. case, I have never since we became friendly felt called upon to return it to him, as I would have tried to do if it had been individual property.

Our chiefest want in surgical work was in surgical dressings. The good women at home, whose patriotism and noble inspirations and help have been so often lauded and not yet half told, when they could get supplies to us, furnished clean bandages and compresses from the old family linen, and scraped lint which served in lieu of the sterilized cotton and gauze of to-day. This very often could not be had when most needed, and our dressings were often very far from aseptic orthodoxy, even at that time.

I have sometimes left surgical fields without dressing, preferring the open wound treatment of Dr. Wood to filthy dressings, and where the cases were kept at the field hospital for a few days, which was usually free from pathogenic micro-organisms, the cases did well.

In conclusion, Comrades, I have an item or two of advice to give and even urge upon you, which, like the medicine we have been accustomed to give, is usually more graciously given than taken; still I know that your good judgment will approve of this

advice.

As before stated, we the direct survivors of the cause we love and are here to commemorate, are growing fewer year by year and our opportunities for fulfilling the measure of our duties are growing less as the days go by. There is no class of the army, which by reason of education and facilities for observation is as competent to write of the thousands of details which came under observation, as the surgeons and medical officers. I want to urge every one of you to write something of your command or of the department with which you were associated. We have organs, the Confederate Veteran and the Southern Practitioner, either of which will publish it, and like all reminiscent matter, it will be preserved after you have passed away.

In view of the aforesaid annual decrease in our numbers, it seems a foregone conclusion that unless something is done speedily, our organization will in a few years become a thing of the past.

Our Constitution provides for the meeting of this contingency by the election of new members in the Association. In addition to surgeons and assistant surgeons who were actual participants in the war, also Contract Surgeons or Acting Assistant Surgeons, Hospital Stewards, Chaplains, and Physicians who are sons of Veterans, are all elligible to membership; this is a rather large contingent, not so numerous as pensioners in the U. S. government, but a class more deserving of the reward.

There are many who were actually in the Medical Department of the army who have for some reason not yet come into our organization. I want to urge you to look up all such in your sections, and to appeal to them to come in with us without further delay and labor with us, and also to arouse an interest in the other contingent classes, so that those of us who are spared to attend the next Annual Reunion may witness a rousing outpouring of Medical Veterans and their sons such as has never been witnessed on any previous occasion.

Editorial.

MEDICAL DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF NASHVILLE-COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES, SPRING SESSION.

THE Commencement exercises of the Spring Session of the Medical Department, University of Nashville, were held in the University chapel June 30, 1905. In the absence of the Dean, Prof. W. G. Ewing, M. D., Prof. S. S. Crockett, M. D., presided. After prayer by Rev. Felix R. Hill, Prof. M. C. McGannon, M. D., delivered the Faculty address, in which he gave the students some sound advice as to their relation to themselves, to their patients, and to the world at large.

The Valedictory was then delivered by Walter Chalmus Middleton. M. D., of Louisiana, who spoke briefly and pointedly, and in conclusion, expressed the regret on the part of the class in leaving the pleasant associations, and surroundings of the University.

In presenting the class to Chancellor Porter for the conferment of the Degree, Professor Crockett called attention to the fact that this class had received identically the same training as that of the Fall Session, who had received their degree three months prior; to the long-felt want which this Spring Session had supplied in the South; and to the excellency of attendance and scholarship of the entire class.

Rev. Felix R. Hill then presented the University of Nashville Medal to Dr. Ernest Jones Beckner, of Kentucky, who made the highest average for the four years in the University.

Before the benediction was pronounced, Chancellor Porter called attention to the fact that this would be the last commencement the venerable and much-beloved Prof. Thomas L. Maddin would attend, having resigned his professorship on account of his advanced age. He referred with much feeling to the many ways in which Professor Maddin had furthered the cause of medical education in the South, and called attention to the fact that he held the uncommon distinction of having been at the head of the medical profession in active practice for more than half a century. With the benediction the exercises came to a close.

The following graduates received their Diplomas as Doctors of Medicine:

J. W. Bartlett, Tenn.; E. J. Beckner, Ky.; H. S. Chatterton, Cal.; M. E. Cogswell, S. Dak.; J. I. Deer, Okla.; P. F. Dickens, Ga.; O. L. Dodds, Tenn.; A. N. Gordon, Tenn.; T. R. Howle, S. C.; C. L. McCallum, Texas; J. E. McDowell, Texas; W. C. Middleton, La.; J. K. Miller, Ala.;