1895 Tennessee Medical Graduation Includes Bailey B. Sory of Robertson County

 This article from the Southern Practioner from 1896 records the graduation of an important Physician for Robertson County.   Dr. Bailey B. Sory 

With its nearly half century's experience, during which time the Capital City of Tennessee has ranked second only to the great metropolitan centers of New York and Philadelphia, with its most excellent, experienced and progressive corps of teachers, with its clinical features combined in that grand municipal charity hospital, contiguous and convenient to all the schools, together with the free dispensaries connected with each, and other private and public facilities, with handsome, new and commodious buildings, fully equipped with all the paraphernalia, laboratories, etc., necessary in this day for thorough and scientific instruction, Nashville and her citizens may well feel proud of her medical schools, and rest well assured that the reputation so justly earned in the past of "the Athens of the South" will be but greatly added to in the future, held its Forty-fifth Annual Commencement in the Theatre Vendome, on Tuesday, March 24th, in the presence of a large and highly-cultured audience filling the entire building to its utmost capacity. Nearly half a century of distinguished success makes this one of the historic medical schools of America. It came into existence shortly after the Medical Department of the Transylvania University at Lexington, Ky., had been transferred to Louisville, and for a number of years its only competitors South of that point were the schools at Richmond, Charleston and New Orleans. It soon outstripped all these in popularity, and in its fifth year the numbers of its classes equaled those of each of the renowned schools of Philadelphia—the schools of New York at that time not rivaling the latter in reputation or numbers. Since the war medical schools have multiplied three or four-fold in the South, but the prestige achieved by the original faculty of the Medical Department of Nashville has been maintained by their successors, and through all mutations they have sustained its reputation and popularity. Throughout four or five of the Southern States there is scarcely a community in which the diplomas of many of its physicians have not borne the signatures of the Faculty of this school.

The exercises of the evening were opened by music by the theatre orchestra, and then Rev. George F. Degen offered prayer for the young men about to go forth in the world to practice their profession. More music followed.

The Salutatory was delivered by Mr. Oscar Sayle Burrow, of Arkansas, whose words were well chosen and who closed amid applause.

After more music Mr. James Moore King, Jr., of Tennessee, delivered the Valedictory in a manner that made a fine impression on the audience. He dwelt on the high calling that he and his classmates had chosen, and the duties devolving upon them as practitioners of the art of medicine. His words of farewell were peculiarly well chosen and given in an affecting manner.

After a musical selection by the orchestra, Prof. M. C. McGannon delivered the Charge to the Graduating Class on the part of the Faculty. He complimented the class and congratulated them on their success. He expressed the hope and belief of the Faculty that each and every one went out well equipped to do battle with disease, and that each in his future life would achieve success, would win honor, would shed glory on the Faculty and on their Alma Mater. He then spoke of medical ethics, a subject not included in the regular course. It was thought and said that a gentleman needed no code of ethics, and as a rule it was true. But in order to control the unruly a code of medical ethics had been framed by the American Medical Association. You could not make a man a gentleman by law or by formulating a code, unless he was naturally inclined that way. He advocated a high standard of morality and called attention to the strict prohibition of advertising by physicians. The practice of medicine was not a mere money-making business. Advertising by a physician was scandalous because the advertiser could not with certainty guarantee a cure. The dealer in soap could have a standard of excellence which he could guarantee. The physician could not guarantee a cure, no matter how trifling the disease. To so promise was to obtain money under false pretenses. The day when advertising becomes general would see medicine cease to (be a dignified profession, and be a degraded calling. The attendant physician could not object to the patient's changing his opinion, could not object to a consultation with any reputable physician. Other points in medical ethics were also treated by the speaker, who closed with many valuable hints as to the winning of success. In dealing with life they should ever remember that death is just beyond, and give to each and every patient their very best efforts.

Another musical rendition by the orchestra followed and Chancellor Payne, who was in cap and gown, conferred the degrees on the following graduates in a most impressively delivered Latin address, after which they came upon the stage as their names were called by Secretary Ewing and received their diplomas:

Anderson Braxton Allen, Tennessee; Walter Erastus Bartlett, Kentucky; Edward M. Bell, Tennessee; Samuel Moses Bloomstein, Tennessee; James Robert Bell, North Carolina; Matthew Gardner Buckner, Tennessee; Oscar Sayle Burrow, Arkansas; Paul Clements, Tennessee; Malone Mitchel Cooley, Tennessee; Garland Franklin Cummins, Tennessee; Charles Burrell Gannaway, Arkansas; William Roswell Gillett, Texas; Obediah Chauncey Grant, Texas; Washington Allen Harper, M.D., Texas; James Benjamin Harrington, Tennessee; Eli Hunt Harrison, South Carolina; Richard Henry Harrison, Texas; William Ranson Haynie, South Carolina; Charles Benjamin Heimark, Minesota; Robert Hermann Henry, Wurzen, Germany; George Higginsou, Tennessee; James Moore King. Jr., Tennessee; Plato Herman Lee, North Carolina; Joseph Robert Lutton, Pennsylvania; Samuel Bryson Medford, North Carolina a James Dunnaway McCann, M.D., Tennessee; Robert Benjamin Morris Tennessee; James Franklin Myrick, Jr., Texas; David Robinson Neal, Tennessee; Claude Pettus, Alabama; John Dillard Quarles, Tennessee; Annie Riordan, Sidney, New South Wales; John Lewis Smiley, Arkansas, James Buchanan Smith, Tennessee; William Henry Smith, Texas; Bailey B. Sory, Tennessee; William Boyles Staples, Alabama; Fred R. Stoner, Illinois; George Harston Stovall, Texas; Vernon LaGrange Terrell, Mississippi; Benjamin Franklin Walker, Tennessee; Waddy Thompson Wilkinson, Jr., Louisiana; William Hamilton Willett, Tennessee; Richard Andrew Wilson, Texas; J. A. Williams, M.D., Mississippi; Percy Hogan Woodall, Tennessee; LeRoy Settle Woollard, Tennessee; James Lee Wright, Tennessee; Finis Ewing Wyatt, Tennessee.

A unique feature of the graduating class was Miss Annie Riordan, of Sidney, New South Wales, who came all the way from Australia to attend the college. She is a pretty little woman, and received much applause when handed her sheepskin.

At the conclusion the audience was dismissed with the benediction by Rev. George F. Degen.

Note about Dr. Sory:   Dr. Bailey Brown (B. B.) Sory was born August 9, 1871, to Leona Francis Edwards and Robert Sory in Sadlersville, Robertson County, Tennessee. He married Annie Farmer Long, daughter of Sallie Farmer and James Long, on November 20, 1895. The couple made their home in Cedar Hill and had at least six children: Margaret, Bailey Brown Jr., James Robert, Curtis Holt, Anne  Frances, and Mary Elizabeth. Dr. B.B. Sory received his medical degree from the University of Tennessee and practiced medicine in Robertson County for many years. He died March 7, 1940, and is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Springfield.  His Ledger Books span the period 1893-1942. The collection is composed of account books, daybooks, expense books, a collections book, and a note book. They are available at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.  Collection MF 2016. 

Source: Southern Practitioner, 1896.