The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-06-05
e, I shall endeavor to dis

live, go to speak, in an era of special
! ties. The days of Ambrose Pare and
his predecessors, when the white and
red stripes upon the barber's pole as
displayed in front of shop indicated
that the occupant within performed not
only phlebOtOmy and all other surgical
| operations then known to his art, but
| performed also the operations of shaw.
ing, hair dressing and many other me.
NAL offices for both man and beast, all
of which were considered as legitimate
" belonging to the profession of the
Barber Surgeon, have long since past.
Medicine and surgery have been long
relieved of such degrading appendicitis,
and the practice of the Healing Art in
fits application to the relief OF human
suffering, in attaining to its true digni.
| ty, has, for centuries past, been guided
by the best lights of science in all its
departments relating to the subject, and
regulated by the most careful observa-
ton and experience of the acutest and
clearest minds.
In Regular Medicine q comparatively
thorough knowledge OF the human or
| gauism, its laws in state OF health and
disease, the physical, chemical and
therapeutic properties of medicines, as
we'll as a comparatively thorough ac-
| quaintanCe with all the operative pro-
| cedures known to the art, have been
long held as requisites to the attain
ment of the degree of Doctor OF Med.
icine. The broad field thus assigned
us has led to much division of labor In
its culture and as result many dis
coveries have been made both in the
science and the.art of medicine which,
doubtless, otherwise would have re-
NAMED unrevealed. The progress thus
made has had the effect, in turn, to still
farther subdivide the field OF scientific
research and circumscribe still more
oIO ~ OFT
til in the larger cities, even in our coun-
try, the maladies of each particular or
gan or Assem- blage of organs of the body
receive the exclusive study and atten-
ton of as many different classes OF
practitioners. This tendency to special
practice, as you are aware, has, In more
recent times, been so great as to have
become a question in many of the best
medical minds OF the country, whether
there is not limit beyond which the
pursuit of specialties may fail TO sub
serve the interests of science and fail,
likewise, to be promotive of the
public good; whether the special
practitioner in circamscribing his OBJ
servations to the phenomena present.
ed in diseased conditions of particular
organs, may not lose sight of the more
general pathological laws pervading
the entire organism when once the
morbid condition Is established, and
tions and nice dependencies SO Intimate
ly subsisting between all Its parts;
whether an undue tendency to special
practice may not lead to an exclusivism
10 medicine calculated to sever those
bonds of sympathy and harmony hith-
erto subsisting between common
brotherhood, and which, by having
contributed so much to their hearty CO.
operation in a common cause, have
done so much to make medicine what
it is to-day, and would make 1t what
it might be in the future, under a con-
tinuRnCe OF the same influences obtain
ing in the past.
Those, gentlemen, while they may
be questions that Immediately concern
us but little as general practitioners,
may they not be strongly suggest
i've of facts demanding our Sc
rious attention and refection?-
If the several sciences composing the
curriculum of study for the student of
medicine preparatory to the reception
OF his degree are becoming SO con.
stantly enlarged and enriched by the
discovery of new scientific facts as to
require still greater time and study for
the completion of his course, and ifin the
practical departments of the profession
the operative procedures for the relief
of the various ills of human flesh are
becoming so constantly increased in
number and variety as, in order to
greater efficiency, each department
shall be pursued to some extent at
least as Il specially, do we not as gen.
eral practitioners, to whom are conhded
the management OF all injuries and dis.
eases, under whatever form presented,
of which our patrons may be the SUBJ
jects, and to whom also are committed,
in some degree at least, the general
sanitary regulations of our respective
communities. do we not, would ask,
find in these facts strong appeals urg-
ing to the study and practice Of our pro.
fession to the exclusion of all other
pursuits? This train of thought, then,
leads US 10 the theme of the present adj
dress. viz: The duty OF the physician
to make the pursuit or his profession
the one business of his life.
Before some medical associations
the presentation of such a subject might
be considered quite NAL GprOpOS; but
however imperfectly the subject may
be presented to-day. or however irrele-
want its discussion may he III The hab-
its of any member OF our Society who Is
present, there are perhaps few of our
number, if any. who would fail to
lind, somewhere, its applicability
There are perhaps few of our number
within whose observation there are not
instances of even respectable practi'
TONERS who, through motives OF greater
gain and more ease, have been led to
engage in other pursuits; who, prac.
tlcing their profession as secondary and
subordinate to the pursuit OF that
which may be more profitable or more
congeuial, allow their minds to be d.
vOrCed from the former and to become
absorbed in the latter. The existence of
these facts, therefore, and the fact of
the incompatibility OF our, vocation
pursued in combination with others.
furnish the apology for the theme se-
leCteu.
The reasons why the Medical PractI-
toner should devote all his time and
energies to the pursuit of his profession
are found:
FTrSt-In the extent and intricacy of
the subjects claiming his investigation.
iSccondiy-In the magnitude OF the
interests involved.
Inirdly-In tho reward consequent
upon the performance of the duty indi-
Gated.
Let US examine these reasons, then,
n the order here named.
In no profession, perhaps, Is an 1ntt-
mate knowledge olso many different
branches of science so requisite to the
rational, intelligent discharge of the
duties pertaining thereto as in Medi-
cine. In law, however much erudttton
in his profession the Advocate may dis
play in the presentation of his case, the
Arbiter, in arriving at his decision,
while he must be governed by settled
legal principles and the statutes bear
ing upon the case in issue, relies main.
ly upon those perceptions OF right and
wrong common to all enlightened Jug
ments.
In theology, while profound learning
and close study doubtless tend to In
spire the student with more exalted