counties, Mo.; and a third on the Old Mines Property of William Long, Esq., which was also published in 1867,

These last reports were prepared after he had resumed the practice of physic, and in the midst of laborious professional duties.. He had learned so well how to utilize those intervals of leisure which occur almost daily in the practice of the busiest physicians, that he was able to write these elaborate papers without seriously missing the time consumed in their preparation. Many of his memoirs are long and involved a vast amount of labor and research. Each one was a substantial contribution to the science of his country. He was an acute as well as patient observer, and with his activity in the field, and his quick eye to detect any variety in the form or structure of objects around him, it may be doubted whether he ever passed a week while devoting himself actively to geological pursuits without discovering a new species among the extinct organisms imbedded in our rocks, or some fact in their anatomy of interest to palæontologists. His labors have attracted the attention of geologists in all countries. The high estimation in which they are held is attested by the constant references to them in all the late works that relate to the geology of North America. Of these almost all make mention of some of his numerous publications. By nearly every writer who has described any of the fossil families belonging to our ancient deposits, his name has been connected with a new species. It would be tedious to enumerate the shells, corals and crinoids that bear the name of Shumard, which thus will be rendered familiar to the future students of paleontology, and show to coming ages how high was the regard cherished for him by contemporary men of science.

I could hardly trust myself if in this sketch I had felt called upon to write a eulogy on Dr. Shumard; nor shall I here attempt any elaborate analysis of his character. Enough, perhaps, has been written to afford the reader, if a stranger to him, some just idea of his moral worth, as well as of the versatility of his talents, his energy, industry, and profound attainments. He was distinguished for those qualities of mind and temper that seem almost always to be found in the true Naturalist simplicity of manners, modesty, gentleness, refinement of taste, enthusiasm, and an ardent love of nature. When to these are added high intellectual endowments, refined and exalted by mental and religious training, unselfishness, and perfect moral integrity, we have presented to us a character the most pleasing to be met with in all the walks of society. And such, I am sure, would be the testimony of all who knew

him, was the subject of this memoir. Among the many good and true men with whom it has been my privilege to be intimately associated in life, no name revives in my mind recollections more agreeable than his; hardly one recalls a disposition so artless, gentle, genial, amiable, or a character so faultless. It is doubtful whether he has left an enemy behind him in the world or ever made one in his life. Having been first diverted from medicine by his love of geology, and then been forced to resume the practice of physic as a means of making a living, he proved his ability to excel in both professions; for he had already become popular as a physician, and was gaining reputation as a teacher when overtaken by his untimely disease. To those scientific acquisitions which raised him to such distinction, he was most fortunate in adding that which Sir Humphrey Davy, in his last moments, declared to be, in his estimation, the most deservable of all human possessions-a firm religious faith. This, which shaped and regulated his early life and gave symmetry to his character in manhood, sustained him when sickness came to arrest him in his mid-career and cast a shadow over all his earthly prospects. He bore up cheerfully under his wasting disease, and labored on at his profession and upon his geological reports until too feeble to work any longer, glowing to the last with the love of science and the domestic affections.

Dr. Shumard was a member of the Sixteenth Street Presbyterian Church, in St. Louis, the gifted pastor of which, Dr. James H. Brooks, had been for many years his warm personal friend. He leaves a wife and two daughters, one nine and the other four years old. His remains rest in the Bellefontaine Cemetery.

DEATH AND BURIAL OF DR. WILLIAM C. WILLARD.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE DELAWARE COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.

The Society held a special meeting pursuant to call of the President. Besides the regular members present, there were in attendance also, by general invitation to medical men, Dr. Samuel P. Anthony, a retired practitioner and the oldest physician in Delaware county, and Dr. J. A. Compton, a homœopathist.

The President called the meeting to order. He then arose, and read the following address:

GENTLEMEN OF THE SOCIETY: We are now assembled for the sol emn purpose of considering the death of a fellow member, and in order that we may go hence in a body to attend his funeral. With our own hands we will bear his remains to their final resting place.

Vir probus medendi peritus-an honest man skilled in medicine! This is the definition which Bouillaud gave of a true physician, and this is the full measure of praise which justice, as well as custom, requires that we should accord to the memory of William C. Willard. For seven years I have been acquainted with that noble man, and if under oath I were required to write his epitaph, I would do it briefly in the words Gulielmus Chapin Willard vir probus medendi peritus. But here are members of the profession who have known our departed brother-not for seven, but for more than thirty years. Can they not confirm my testimony as to his godly honesty and superior medical skill? Vir probus medendi peritus is their response: and from all this society, and, I doubt not, from this whole community, as from one man, will be echoed the words, an honest man skilled in medicine.

William C Willard entered the junior class of Dartmouth College in 1827, at the age of seventeen years, in 1831, he received from that institution the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His name was thus early enrolled with some of the most honorable in the land. The great statesman, Daniel Webster, and the great surgeon, Reuben D. Mussey, were then two of the many distinguished alumni of the famous old college at Hanover.

But not long after the completion of his preliminary education, at the age of twenty-one years, he began the study of medicine. Mussey, then professor of anatomy and physiology in the Medical Schools of Dartmouth, was his first preceptor. Under the private and public tutorage of this great surgeon and good man young Willard continued two years, and during that time attended also several courses of lectures delivered by the professors in the "Medical House" at Hanover. Here, no doubt, he gave special attention to the sciences of which his private preceptor was the public teacher, and here laid the foundation of his excellent medical education.

The young doctor now left Hanover, and returned to Charleston, the village of his birth. Here he immediately became the pupil, and entered the office of Dr. Samuel Webber, a practitioner "remarkable," as I am informed, "for his superior skill in the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases." "He is a great physician," says Bigelow, "who above other men understands diagnosis." In this we all concur; and I may therefore

venture to say that Dr. Willard's last preceptor was a great physician, even as his first was a great surgeon. With Webber the Doctor remained three years. He then came westward, and in 1836 located in the village of Muncie town, now the city of Muncie. Here he continued to sojourn till Saturday last, when death suddenly introduced him to a higher life.

Dr. William C. Willard never labored for a fortune, but with only a competency he seemed content. He practiced medicine, "not as a trade," to be pursued solely for the purpose of amassing wealth, but as a noble profession, to be followed more especially for the good it might confer on others-for the preservation of health and the cure of disease. Notwithstanding he was for many years engaged in extensive and laborious practice, he has nevertheless died a poor man. Great indeed must have been the elemosynary services which Dr. Willard rendered in this community! But now he has gone to the great and glorious reward of a true physician-the vast incorruptible treasures which he laid up for himself in Heaven.

The committee on resolutions, previously appointed by the President, consisting of Drs. Helm, Winton, Kemper and Andrews, was now called upon to report, and through the Secretary, presented the following:

WHEREAS, It has pleased Almight God to remove from among us Dr. William C. Willard, an old and honorable member of our profession; Therefore,

Resolved, That by the death of Dr. William C. Willard, the profession has lost a member whose skill and experience entitled him to our regard and respect, whose uniform kindness and courtesy commanded our affection, and whose honesty and integrity as a pyhsician gave him a desirably high rank in his profession.

Resolved, That in the death of Dr. Willard society has lost a useful citizen, and his family a kind and affectionate husband and father.

Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with the family and friends of the deceased in their distressing bereavement, that we tender them our sincere and unaffected condolence, and commend them to the Allwise Creator, who is ever ready to soothe the bereaved heart.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be furnished the family of the deceased, The Muncie Times, Western Journal of Medicine and Cincinnati Lancet and Observer.

The report of the committe was unanimously adopted, and therefore, on motion, the Society adjourned, to reassemble at the late resi. dence of Dr. Willard, and to bear his body to the grave.

W. J. ANDREWS, Secretary.
MUNCIE, NOVEMBR 9, 1969.

HENRY C. WINANS, President.

CORRESPONDENCE.

PHILADELPHIA, NOVEMBER 15, 1869.

The fall sessions of the preliminary courses of the Jefferson Medical College and of the University, have been completed, and the regular winter sessions have commenced.

The introductory lectures were delivered at each institution on the 12th ult., and as usual on these occasions, large audiences of graduates and under-graduates were assembled to hear the discourses delivered by the respective lecturers. These inaugural orations assume a good deal of importance, and are subjects of some concern to the officers of the institutions, by reason of the fact that the candidate for medical instruction frequently postpones a choice of schools until his arrival in the city, when he desires to inform himself, by an inspection of the museums, the anatomical amphitheatres, the lecture rooms, the hospitals, and by a glance at the personnel of the learned professors, of their respective advantages. After this careful examination, he awaits the delivery of the introductory address, which, not unfrequently, confirms the impressions already formed, and the important question is decided.

Prof. Joseph Pancoast, of the Jefferson Medical College, and Prof. R. E. Rogers, of the University, made the addresses of welcome this year, and the well-known reputation of each of these gentlemen, as graceful writers and polished speakers, attracted larger audiences than usual.

Notwithstanding the general re-opening of the Southern schools, and the inauguration of new ones in the West and South-west, the number of students in attendance has not declined, but, as we are informed, has increased, so that the classes are larger than they have been at any time since the war. In one (the Jefferson) the class numbers four hundred, and contains a large proportion of Southern and Western students. This would seem to indicate that our city still maintains its time-honored reputation as the center of medical instruction in our country, to which students are attracted from all parts, despite the active competition existing on all sides.