Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1860-01-14
from the Wilmington Journal
THE MEDICAL, BOARD, No. 3

THE MEDICAL BOARD, No. 3.
That the Medical Board Bill is one of the most
important acts of the last Legislature is manifest
from the general interest it has already created
both within and without the regular profession,
Within the ranks it has given new springs 10 'Io
energy and ambition of medical students. inns Is
natural from the stimulus of an assurance tnat DC
fore they can be legally recognized by our State as
practitioners they will be obliged to sustain more
irving and searching examination, moral and pro-
fessional than that generally required 10y the Med-
cal Colleges. 1t is inducing them to be more stud
iouS more disposed to submit TO that just ana rca-
sonable office discipline, which every physician
should require of his students and less inclined 10
those habits of Incidence and irregularities OF con-
duct which unfortunately, at the present day, are
too often characteristic Of medical students. Even
in these important respects, then, the force and
moral bearing of the law is already operating LOT
good That some studentS-thOse who do not study,
and who are seeking not so much to become pre-
pared to practice, to Obtain diploma, ana VINO
can easily pass the Medical Co.leges-should de-
nounce the Board as unjust and tyrannical Is to he
expected. They underestimate the just require
mcnts and responsibilities of the calling in which
they seek to engage They dread the coming eXalnl-
nation of our own State Medical Tribunal, and rot
the mere pittancc Of ten dollars Tor license, anu
the expenses to and from Raleigh and Morsanton
where the Board Will meet for examination The
student rich or poor, who has spent his time and
one or two thousand dollars to obtain diploma,
will not shrink FROM nor complain OF, the compare
lively insignificant loss of tmc expense and trouble
to be incurred in the proper attempts to obtain the
= still greater prize of license from this Board TINS
license will be of more value than Medical dplo-
ma as they are generally awarded and so it will be
estimated by the Medical profession and the COM
munity. And that student who has not the dill
gence and ambition to seek proper legal authority
to practice from this State Tribunal, may as well
hang his harp upon the willow far as an honor
able and deserved success is concerned But am
not disposed to admit that the number of this class
of students is large in State ut this timc. feel
assured that all who have true conception OF the
claims of society and of the profession upon them,
and who from their very calling are ready to war
with the prcjudccS and intolerance OF ignorance
and the prcSumptouS pretenSionS OF emplricSm Will
be willing to come before this Board, with trembling
anxiety it may be, but with a confident reliance
that they will be passed upon by those who will do
equal and impartial Justice to them and to the COM
mon-wcath Who that has a single spark of pro
feSSional pride, will be willing to walk orr streets
Physician, with saddle bags Oh horseback to
ford the running streams and brave the ragged
roads and heat and cold of country practice, and
have the brand of iLfcriority placed upon him by
the snccrng remarks of the community, that he
would go before the beard for fear of being rejected:
Again though the great mass Of the intelligent
and high minded of the profession recognize the ne
ccssty and advocate the existence of the Board,
clans who oppose it unnecessary. You will
generally find such Jchihd in their profession,
though they are the last TO admit such calling
fact. Too indolent study too b!gotcd to Learn,
they strive to make up deficiencies by trying to in
ducc every company, public and private, III which
they may chance to fall to believe that they have
great skill; that they perform marvellous cures, and
that they possess tranSccndant claims to practice
Such practitioners are in every town, almost every
village, and ut nearly every croSSroad. They gen
orally set themselves up specially qualified to ad
and lcgisatc Medical politics, AMI many Of
them down upon the Medical Board. With no
fixed principles of their OWL except 10 humbug and
deceive those with whom they deal, they every
boiy'S man, and every body'S friend ever minister
Ing to the prevailing prcaiiceS and fashions right
or wrong, Of the community in which they reside.
They are, at heart, opposed to that spirit of en-
lightcned medical progress which seeks the public
welfare and the improvement OF the profession and
let no occasion pass make an inSIouS attack up
on those gallant spirits that lead the III this
noble work. We're they Obliged to be examined by
the Medical Board they object to, they would be the
very first to TALL the deserved victims of that rigid
examination; the LOYALTY to truth, TO principle to
science, and to the State, which, doubt not will
influence the Board to do their duty.
From such medical dcmagogucs | turn to our
medical students with sympathy and hope and
solicit you not to allow the sophiStry of presump-
tuous opponents to prejudice You against the
Board Their opposing suggestions are but Syren
voices to allure YOU from the paths of study of
of honor and of usefulness. \ diploma is not to
be deSpiSed but to be diligently sought for as de-
sirable; but what is worth far more Is an ardent
love for your professions; Il determination to thor
Oughly understand the delicate offices and complI-
Gated machinery of the human SYSTEM, a well
grounded confidence in your abilities to administer
properly to its various arrangements and diseases,
and an honest assurance that gentlemen and as
physicians, you merit the patronage of the COM
munity This sort of feeling, these convictions
of higher value than all the diplomas in the land
1t is just what the Legislature would have you to
feel who passed the law and exactly what the Board
would have you to realize in the performance of
their duty and is only what you owe to yourselves
and to the State that you should feel, and know,
and realize. Those who would have you thus pre-
pared for practice arc your best friends, and in
coming day you will more fully acknowledge this
truth for be yc well assured that if you enter up
on its abors unprcparcd you will regret it; you
will feel your mistake, and keen reproaches of
science and Of duty that will render You more mis-
cradle than you imagine, unless tlinging all
feeling of conscience to the dogs you rush recklessy
into demagogniSm and empricism.
Then apply yourselves earnestly and faithfully to
the task of achieving whatever is necessary to the
attainment of a sound and substantial medical and
surgical education. No occupation, study APP
| pointed to man, can lay heavier task upon the
mind than that of medicine. To be we'll understood
all his faculties must be employed. Here the
highest intellect ever vouchsaled to man can find
ample space-here is verge and scope enough for
the mind of any man.
A FRIEND TO THE BILL.
Sept 2Sth, 1859.
BLACK REPUBLICAN SPIES IN THE SoUTH.-The
statement of the New York correspondent of the