New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-06-01

Our readers must have been struck with tbs
prolonged and elaborate series of letters which
DIR. Robert Hunter has recently published in
our own and other journals. These letters
treated of consumption and other pulmonary
and bronchial diseases in style at once clear.
learned, and free from charlstanism; and il wa
are not msinformed, though the rules Of our
establishment could only admit of their publics-
tion as advertisements, they were read most OK
tensively and are having the utmost ehect whish
their author could have desired. In fact, va
have seen it stated that his practice has been
swelled by this system of publicity to an in
come of over q hundred thousand dollars year:
and at the same tme-for there is no reason to
suppose DIR. Hunter to have been actusted by o
desire merely to make money--his scientific
aspirations must be kcenly grat6ed by tho
almost universal attention now paid to his theory
of treating this most common aud fatal class Of
maladies.
We allude to the subject not for tho purpose
of impressiDg on the public facts so we'll known
as the above but rather to commend the manly
boldness with which DIR. Hunter has broken
through the conventionalties of his profession
1t is held by the mass of medical men to DO al
together mira Dig to advertise in newspaper.
The orthodox physician is cut off in this manner
from the advantages of any publicity but that Of
private gossip. IL is as dangerous to his pro1
fessional standing to announce in a respectable
journal any new remedy he may discover or any
new operation he may hit on, as in former days
it would have been to rig himself as mounte-
10 h..
same to the gaping crowd of public square.
Indeed, we suspect the modern Is but relic Of
the ancient prejudice. For certainly there Ia
auite as little reason in it such relics arc
wont to contain. Because charlatans uso tho
newspapers must men of genuine science care
fully eschew theml Because worthless nos
trums are pulled through tho means Of ad-
yertsements should the public not be
informed where to find the opposites Of
those nostrums AS well might wa
say an honest man should never walk
abroad because there are rogues in the
street, or that he should never enter church
because there might be hypocrites kneelng at
the same altar. Ofcourse, in advertising as in
every thing else, there is a difference between
that which taste and propriety approve and that
which they condemns and the man of sense and
worth will show even in an advertisement that
he is not seeking to impose upon the community
and enrich himself by making his readers be-
lieye that black is white But that professional
advertising of an appropriate tone and character
should be held as discreditable to any physician.
no matter how thorough his education or how
elevated his position, is an absurd notion which
requires to be exploded. And we congratulate
DR.. Hunter on the efficient steps he has taken
toward upsettiDgit. There are others we know
who also deserve credit for their course in tho
same direction; but as the most prominent and
successful of them all, it is not improper that
we should single him out for special congratular
ton and encouragement.