The Portland daily press., 1869-02-03


HARRIS will undoubtedly be huhg oh the |
1oth H. iii be axecnted in the prison yard, |
and no snectators except those the law re- |
ouires, will be allowed TO Mit Il tne execu-
u; favor Of the abolition of capital punishment,
! Ia We hope that the Legislature will 40
amend the law that we shall have no more
executions in this State.-Bangor Wing.
Judge DAVIS versus the Maine Medical
Association.
10 the Editor Of the Press:
In letter to the State Temperance Conven-
ton lately in session at Augusta, Judge Davis
says, Outside of political and legal questions
nothing seems to me SO worthy of special no.
tice as the medical use Of alcoholic liquors" He
believes this to be zone of the greatest obsta
Giles we have now to contend with, encouraged
| as it is, by the great majority of our regular
| physicians"
| After charging the medical profession with
having lost that active zeal which thirty years
| ago made them "take the lead in the temper
ance reform" he goes on TO say, when the
| Maine Medical Society," instead of rebuking
this practice, publishes a paper commencing
| natural wines as food, the of which is ben
efcial to the human system, we have great
w w
honorable gentleman has been led, doubtless
through ignorance of the facts, into false
statement. The Maine Medical Association has
never published any such paper.
AT its meetings the association encourages
the ireest discussion on the part of its men,
beers of all medical topics. Papers are read ex-
pressing the individual views of the writers, and
it sometimes happens that diverse and even
| opposite opinions are advocated by different
members 1t is customary to refer all such
communications, after they have been read, to
| the Committee on Publication, and this com.
mittee includes such of them as are deemed of
sufficient interest in its next volume of Trans
actions. When thus published they appear as
the production of the individual whose name
| is attached to them, and that is all. The asso-
citation is no more committed to the views con-
tanned in any of these papers than is Legis-
lature to the opinions advocated in the speech
es of its members
But, further, the transactions of the Maine
Medical Association for the last three wears
have not yet been issued. 1t has not, as find
| from an examination of its records, either pub
lished or authorized the publication of any of
its papers during that period of time, except
IN one or two instances, on topics not having
the remotest relation to the use of alcohol.
Last summer an abstract of a very able and
interesting paper on this subject, read before
the Association at its meeting in June found
Its way into one or more of the daily papers of
the State through the hands of reporters, in
Tue same way, suppose, as did the letter of
Judge Davis to the Temperance Convention.
Its publication no more committed tie Med-
cal Association to all the views contained in it
than did the printing of the letter commit the
Temperance Convention to the views it advo-
Gated
When the Maine Medical Association nv the
adoption of resolutions, or, in any other way,
declares its views upon this topic, it will be
quite ready to hold itself responsible for them.
Meantime, learned men in other professions
should be cautious how they make sweeping
ana false statements about the Maine Medical
Association, Or the medical profession.
ohe word more before closing. The gentle
man complains that the profession now mani |
tests SO little interest in the temperance re- |
form. Perhaps partial explanation is to be
found just here. Many of the temperance
"reformers' of our day seem to be chiefly if |
not solely interested in the political" phases of
the question, and these they discuss with great |
incompetence Of zeal, zeal often without |
knowledge. They assume to settle, them
selves, the question of the medical use of alco-
hohc liquors" of which they are not competent
judges
The medical profession esteem this question
one of vast Importance, and one which no |
other class of men but themselves can deter |
min Tha
slclan, having continually committed to his
hands the health and lives of his patients, feels
himself to be under the most solemn obliga-
ton to use every possible means to save life
and health If observation leads him to be-
lleve that this result is, in certain cases, best
secured by the of alcohol as medicine. |
no will assuredly uss it; ii otherwise, assured
ly he will not. 1t is impossible that he should
be much influenced by the opinions OF those
who have not half the opportunity with him
self to Judge.
Ihe community will admit the medical pro- |
1esslon to be the most competent tribunal for |
the trial of this question. 1t is also disinter-
ssted tribunal, physicians having nothing to |
gain in deciding the question one way or
another, except on the side of truth
In point of intelligence, education, honesty
and general responsibility. the profession is
quite willing to be compared with any equal
number of those who advocate the opposite
view.
The question then OF the use of alcohol in |
disease is medical question and one which
only the medical profession can determine
The pretence that it is. prescribed by regular
physicians" and not by homeopathic practi-
TONERS is an empty one. 1t is fact which will
not be denied that alcohol as medicine is Of
ten prescribed in the same dose by the latter
class as by the former.
The writer of this article is temperance
man and has uniformly voted for the Maine
law. He sincerely hopes that the medical,
question will be left to those who can deter
nlne it with the fullest knowledge of the facts
ana a. That 1t will not be logged into the arena
vi Poii'ics. MEDICUs.