Morehouse, Douglas David

ENCAENIA, MAY, 1984
DOUGLAS DAVID MOREHOUSE
to be Doctor of Science

An orator must always be apprehensive when he prepares a citation for a physician or surgeon for, in the future, he never knows when he may find himself helpless in the hands of the medical profession. An orator would do well, also, to remember the admonition in the Book of Ecclesiastes (chapter 38, verse 15): "He that sinneth before his maker, let him falleth into the hand of the physician."

The medical doctor whom we honour today, however, is a man of such professional distinction and personal rectitude, that, if we must fall into the hands of anyone, let it be those of Douglas David Morehouse.

Douglas Morehouse is a true son of New Brunswick as his numerous relatives, close and distant, of the Stone Ridge, Burtt's Corner, and Zealand areas will testify. In fact eighty-six Morehouses are listed in the telephone directory of the Fredericton area.

He graduated with a B.A. from the University of New Brunswick in 1954, having taken those pre-medical courses which qualified him to enter McGill University, and I like to think that at least I did not hinder his progress by passing him in second-year English. His marks, however, will remain a secret shared only by him, the Registrar and me.

Once he had graduated from McGill with the first of his many degrees in 1958, his progress was both meteoric and unwavering, and one can only express one's admiration in the words of the poet, Oliver Goldsmith:

And still they gaz'd, and still the wonder grew;
That one small head could carry all he knew.

He has been Chief Resident in General Surgery at the Lancaster Veterans' Hospital in New Brunswick, Chief Resident in Urology at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal and the Ottawa Civic Hospital. His urological activities have not been confined to Canada for he has studied at hospitals in London, England, and at Harvard University, and the University of Goteberg in Sweden. He has been a Visiting Professor at nine universities, including Dalhousie University and the universities of Miami, Pennsylvania and Texas. He has served on innumerable committees and boards, is a member of at least twenty-seven medical societies, and has over one hundred publications to his credit. If Dr. Morehouse takes after his grandmother, who told me on the telephone that she would be 103 years old on June 7th, then his future honours will indeed stretch to the crack of doom, and we may remember, once again, the Book of Ecclesiastes (chapter 38, verse 1): "Honour a physician with the honour due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him; for the Lord hath created him."

If the lord did not create Douglas Morehouse -- at least not directly -- that honour must go to his father and mother, and he loves to return to the place of his birth. Here, he can shed the cares of his calling and savour once more the fresh air of the farm on which he grew up, among the birds and the bees and away from the bowels and bladders. I understand that he first determined to be a doctor at the age of three and later indulged in conduct unbecoming to the dignity of his profession. For he ran away from home -- at the age of four; he climbed on to the schoolhouse roof; he nearly fell foul of the law by driving his father's car round a field backwards -- at the age of ten. It is comforting to know that his childhood was refreshingly happy and normal. In the words of the seventeenth-century writer, Francis Quarles, "Physicians of all men are most happy; what good success soever they have, the world proclaimeth, and what faults they commit, the earth covereth."

And so, today, we salute Douglas David Morehouse, eminent surgeon, family man, staunch supporter of his church, and New Brunswicker, and we are happy that, after thirty years, he will graduate from our University once more.

Insignissime Praeses, amplissima Cancellaria, tota Universitas, praesento vobis Douglas Davidum Morehouse ut admittatur honoris causa ad gradem Doctoris in Scientia in hac Universitate.

From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2