Wilmington journal., 1873-11-07

laws OF health In the ponce regula-
tions of towns and cities, and in the
general management of our public in
stitutions of correction, charity and
learning, rs well as in the erection of
churches and various other public
buildings, finds a counterpart in the
means now SO effectually used by sci
ence in the prevention and cure of
those terrible epidemics of cholera,
yellow fever, cerebro-spinal menin
gifts and other malignant diseases
which paralyze whole communities
with terror and gloom, as the dreaded
pestilence ''walketh in darkness and
destroyeth at MONDAY" In all move
ments of moral reform, in courts Of
justice, where innocence is TO be PRO-
tected and wrong and crime punished,
in the varied schemes of the educator,
philanthropist, statesman and christian,
for promoting the welfare and amelio-
rating the condition of mankind, you
will find our profession more than
ever before an integral and indispen-
sable part of the means of admins
tration. Wherever the blazing torch
of advancing civilization has lighted
up the dark places and benighted re-
gions of earth and lifted up the down
trodden millions, you will find our
standards erected and our banners un-
furled. The scope of professional
duty indicated by treatments like
these, shows the high Obligations i'm
posed upon every true member OF our
responsible calling, as well as the ne
cesslty for superior order of intelli-
gence and qualifications on the part of
every one who crosses the sacred
threshold of admission into its ranks.
Than the duties devolving upon us
and the ends sought by the inspira-
tions of the profession, no higher aims
or more binding obligations ever
stirred the heart of man to sacrifices
or nerved his arm to heroic action.
But gentlemen, it is painful to know
that there are shadows which have
fallen upon and mar our otherwise
bright professional canvass. Those
| noble pec,lliaritics, labors, instincts
and traditions of the profession which
have made its annals illustrious with
the names of the best and noblest in
the fields of knowledge, philosophy,
| patriotism and christianity, are in sad
contrast with that growing ignorance,
disregard of honor and principle and
unscrnpulOus means for practice and
| popularity which is becoming tolerated
and fashionable in our ranks to an un-
| partlonable and rI,inous extent.
Would that my temporary Occupa-
tlCn Of this chair would allow me to
| discharge its duties without reference
to those matters. But it is said that
| the best way to remove troubles and
avoid danger is to meet them with
boldness and face to face With all
our boosted progress in knowledge, to
which L have alluded, there has arisen
among the results of the late war, a
spirit of decentralization and depravity,
withering i'll its effects upon our ma
terial pursuits and blighting to the
hopes and prosperity of our people,
Honesty has gone down below par and
the obligations of good faith between
man and man are at a discount. Proof
of this lamentable condition of affairs
comes from all quarters, and is seen
in whatever pursuit or profession to
which our attention is turned. In
politics corruption rules. Demagogism
has nsurped the place ofpatriotism. 1t
| substitutes ignorance for intelligence:
corruption for integrity; degradation
for common dccercy and honor The
consequence is that political vampires
and cnarlatans have elboved aside
men of merit, of talent, and of charac-
ter, who, disgu~ted with public life as
now acted out, have chosen, bv pref
ence, the private station as the post Of
honor. In the profession of law, there
Is not now that measure Of ability and
skill and attainments at the bar which.
under the conflicts of former davs Of
lawyer with lawyer, face to face, and
III the broad daylight, could not allow
ignorance and meannoss to take any
advantage. Office practice now CON
stltutes the main business of the law
yer. and IN these private retreats and
hidden recesses he can cheat his client
and undermine q rival ae never be-
fore. The result of the present sys-
TEN of legal practice, encouraged by
the sweeping .ide of decentralization
evident to all, is, that the profession
Of law has Gngenerated to r2ournful
dogrec in North Carolina. The pulpit
too has, by this extraordinary toler-
ance hy the public sentiment of ignor-
ance and vice, become dasecrated
oftentilncs, not alone by men, who
step IN where angels fear to tread, -
but by the dangerously increasing
swarns of clerical vagahonds and i'm
! postOrS who manage to sneak and
crawl with their poisonous slime into
our churches and with sacreligious
hands poilute the sacred affairs of
Gods holy temples. These wolves in
Sleeps clothing are prowling over the
land as never before, and while seek
ing to devour all who come in their
way are, at the same time, receiving
the aims, praises and hospitalities of "a
large number of our best people. In
such a deplorabie want of education,
now justly exciting so much alarm in
the State, and III such painful condi-
ton of society, it is not to be wonder
ed or denied that our profession too
feels the ruinous force OF the surging
waves of d.pravitv which are uproot-
ing those landmarks of principle dear
to every true man and are necessary to
stand if society is not to be disintegra-
ted and good faith and common hon
| cSty, now below par, arc ever to again
rise i'll public favor. These disastrous
influences upon our own pursuits are
seen i'll the growing contempt i'll and
out of o1tr profession for that great
American code of medical ethics which
constitutes our platform and constittl-
| tional government. No right thinking
man i'll the profession refuses obedi-
ence to the spirit Cf its requirements,
whether he belongs or does not be-
| long to any organization ranging from
the great American Medical Associa-
tion to the most feeble coordinate
medical society which has adopted Cor
| the guidance of its members this ad-
mirable exposition of medical duty
ard of what constitutes gentleman.
We need scarcely go beyond the linn
its of any township in North Carolina
to see its Provisions trampled in the
dust, and there behold in mournful
retrospection some regular physician,
with diploma in hand perhaps, yield
ing to such a love of self and tempta-
tions to practice as causes him to COM
NIT with impunity breaches of right,
justice and fraternal obligation. This
and such as this has lowered our stand
ard greatly and brings bushes of
shame and sorrow to the checks of
every high-minded physician who
looks around him at the degrading ex-
l. of ,>ol1oxr of 81