New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-11-22

entitle him to practice. Five or AK years an-
d;tiopaI are needed before bo can hope to Dass
the final public ordeal which viii give MN
that right. This examination il held ny
Government Commission, and lasts from two
to three weeks.
DR.. Wood adds, in connection with these
facts that in every country, even IN those
communities which we call scmi-civiized, the
law rigidly controls the practice of medicine
and protects the citizen. Our own country is
the sole exception. Leaving out OF the ques-
ton the whole range of quackery and fraudu-
lent diplomas, he exposes the ordinary
mode of manufacturing doctors. " No pre-
liminary examination ia required, and many
"persons graduate and practice medicine VINO
I" have never received even n grammar school
education. Six per cent of the graduates OF
"medical schools who presented themselves
"before the u. S. Army Board stOutly MAIN
tanned that an eclipse of the SUN was owing
to the earth coming between 1t and the
"moon.n The student in all of the hundred
professional schools with but two or three
EXCEPTIONS is simply required to attend a course
of lectures lasting four months and to dlsaect
No laboratory work nor hospital practice IA
given. The clinical practice consists In an
hours lecture given over a case once or twice
week to several hundred young men, AL
though three years are nominally required for
course year and half, and even less, OIL
these slipshod exercises will often suffice. Inc
examinations Except in these one or two
notable instances) are of the most SUI
perlicial character. DR.. Wood asserts
that many of tho medical colleges
are joint stock companies, and vie with each
other in shortening the time of study and low
ering the standard of graduation. The num-
"ber of doctors yearly let loose in the United
States" he cries, is something fearful to
contemplated so low is the basis OF rcqui-
site study that he admits that even faithful
and skilled physicians too often acquire their
knowledge after beginning to practice, and
that upon the unlucky bodies of the poorer
class OF patients.
All this is deplOrabe enough, but only what
is to be looked for in a community so vast aud so
RAPIDLY fused as Ours-one whore social rank l.
the one great dcsideratum. and where every
fragment of knowledge can be so promptly
brought into the market. Ii would be hope
less to expect of us the caution or foresight OF
eray-headed communities. Still this very paper
Is hOpe1ul sign. we snoulu no Sidu W SOo
like paper by some lawyer and eminent cler-
gyman on the ready manufacture OF
young cOunsclors and diyines and the
effects upon the bar, the church, and So
ciety. Whether such papeIs are written or
not. however, matters little. The voice of the
people is in no sense the voice of God but 1t
gives shrewd, sensible verdicts in every case,
and pronOunces Judgment on very short trial
on the incompetent physician or attorney, or
the insincere clergyman. No idle Young fellow
need hope under the cloak of one OF the
learned professions to gain social rank or
his daily bread and meat unless he fairly
earns them. There are too many thousands
already in the ranks of theology, medicine, and
law, who find gcntility poor covering for u
weak brain and hungry stomach, aud who
would gladly to-day change places with any
wcll-paid mechanic or labOrcr.