Literary cadet, and Saturday evening bulletin. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1826-1827, 1826-08-26

all the demerit those writings may elicit.
STEAM DocToRs--'' Died in Salina, on Monday
evening, July Oath, young man by tho name OF
Mitchell whose death is said to have originated
from the gnora nee and presumption Of one Of those
noted animals called Steam Doctors who ntest the
country, and impose upon the credulous by pre-
tentons to medical SCIENCE wh eh they do not pos
sess. II would not have been strange for such i'm.
posters TO have palmed themselves the public,
in days past, ignorance and superstition but that
they acquire one pro,elyte to their system at the
present time, when knowledge is SO generally diff
fused, is passing strange"
Remarks.-We copy the foregoing paragraph
from the Syracuse Gazette, published iu the State
of Newly aud we sorry to say that some Of
the infamod. impostors and Quarks Of which it
speaks, to be found in this community, and that
some of our inhabitants are crsdulous enough to
place exploit confidence in the asserted vituous
qualities OF the poisonou. and deadly nosrums they
administer.
These fellows, are generally Of tribe Of worth.
less vagabonds, who too lazy to labor for an
honest livelihood, too vciou. to be trusted, and
hence, they purchase patent off notorious quack
named Thompson, to en,low them with the pryi-
ege of prscticng medicine on his plan, when they
sally forth upon the world to dosolate and destroy,
and 81 woe is he" who folls within their clutches.
Their principal medicine, lis wild and noxous weed
known TO the Botanist by the name Of Lobeia, and
to the unlearned, by the appellation of Indian to-
bacco, and this is used emeic, cathartc, or 4.
blister just as the nature of the patients case may
require. Their sovereign remedy is steam on the
high pressure prnlple, which is frequently appli-
ed till the sufferer is exhausted, when he is Instant
ly immersed in tub Of cold water, or bahed with
other liquids less cengenial TO his feelings. Thus
these wretchos go on to deprcdate and destroy and
in more instances than one, they have been known
10 sweep at one blow, two or three members from
the same family II is true that they sometimes
cure, but in eifec,ing it they kill the patient and
thus give ample employment the undertaken.
1t is matter Of astonishment we'll as of fact,
that these wretches have succeeded in gaining nd.
mission into families, which are, or ought to be,
too intelligent, to be imposed upon, by infamous
quacks, and this gains for them kind of conse-
quence and confidence among the less enlightened
classes Of society, who believe that the arts Of
medicine and surgery are intuitivo, and the more
ignorant the protender is, much tho capable
| Is he, OF administering remedies to the diseased.
The impudsnt impostor who happens to be
seventh offspring, or who sots himself up as natu-
raj bone seter," will easily gull portion Of the
public, and secure to himself the patronage, that
regular trained surgeon who has devoted days and
nights and all his stores to the requirement of u
knowledge Of that intricate and noble study, cannot
| secure. The Indian Doctor, the blind Doctor,
the Wen Doctor, the Cancer Doctor, and the curer
of the Scrofula, all find plenty of employment, be-
cause tIioy have "naturai gifts" whilst the ply
scinn, who has wasted hi, life and his means in
educating himself for the profession, sits grouping
over faggo fire, and aments his hard fate and the
| ignorance Of the world.
There are no sciences SO abstru,e are those Of
Surgery and Medicine. They emphaticplly
the doctrines Of the Machinery Of man--thcy are
doctrines which can be fathomod by entire study
and application only, and yet there are people, silly
enough to believe that the knowledge of them are
intuitive. Who ever heard Of a man being born
with intuitive knowledge Of the mysteries Of our
formation, the inricacies Of the human system and Of
the muscles. bones and arteries of the human frame.
AS well might you attempt to prove that man has
an ntuitive knowledge of the starry skies, or the
regions Of the heavens, or of climates and countries
unfathomed and unexplored.
The rage Of Quackery is now so great, that il ap.
pears to us that the Legislative arm ought to
nterpose, and put stop to the evils it eugenders :.
foster science, encourage genius, and Danish the
whole race Of StsamDcctors to the regions Of Jeri
| co.