Page:The Medical School of the Melbourne University - an address delivered on the twenty fifth anniversary of the opening of the Medical School, in the Wilson Hall, March 23, 1887 (IA b22293346).pdf/6

6 Obstetric Medicine and Diseases of Women and Children; and Dr. James Edward Neild, in Forensic Medicine.

In connection with this slight historical record of the School, I shall be pardoned, I am sure, if I speak, but all too briefly, of those of my colleagues whom I knew so well and liked so cordially, but who are gone from us for ever. I am proud to think they were my friends, and that I was associated with them in the work of building up this Medical School of ours.

Dr. Eades was one of the most genial, most kind-hearted of men. As a lecturer he had already won a reputation in the old country. He had that easy conversational manner which makes listening to a speaker not an effort, but an enjoyment. A man of more varied information it would hardly be possible to find, and the subject he taught in the School, perhaps of all the subjects comprehended in our composite science the least capable of being made attractive, he dealt with so as to ensure, not only attention, but pleasurable interest. He was an accomplished conversationalist, and a talk with him was always calculated to put even a melancholy man into good humour. His social qualities were admirable. He was one of the best of after-dinner speakers, and at those convivial meetings, when we used to forget that there were ever such things as professional differences, he would sing, in a fine rich baritone voice, some of those racy Irish songs with rolling choruses, in which it was impossible for the least unmusical not to take part. It is nearly twenty years since he died, but his bright, good-humoured face and portly figure, are distinctly present to my mind's eye as I record this brief memoir of him.

Dr. Macadam was an active-minded man, and, besides his duties as Lecturer on Chemistry, City Health Officer, and Government Analyst, he undertook many other public functions. He was a clear and fluent speaker, and the public lectures, in which he presented scientific subjects in an attractive form, were attended by thronged audiences. He, however, committed the error of going into political life, and he found, too late, that politics and science do not go well together.

Dr. Barker was one of the pioneers among old colonists, and for some time after he came to this new country he quitted medicine for squatting, but, when he returned to his allegiance, he soon found himself engaged in active work. He was officially