The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-05-15
scIE a AGAINST ,aUACKERY.

y sCIEsCE AGAINST ,aUACKERY.
The law has its petitioners. the minis
try ITS vain pretenders, and It would q
STANCE If medicine had not its quacks
! Profound investigation has given rise u
the most superficial examination OF tne
subject. Study has become sort Of
mechanical memorizing, and the degree
of nDocter of Medicine has In q great
measure, lost its dignity and Importance,
being assumed by everyone who has ad-
ministered dose. Physicians spring up
like mushrooms in night and the neigh.
borhood is scarcely unknown that B de-
barred the privilege of Ha
"pwellipg on those golden words on little
That tells the traveller Doctor is within
Admitting that there is no class ofmen
in community that could be 30 lily dis
pensed with as physicians, yet how few,
think YOU, Of the present day Esculap-
ius would nhave consented to recognize
a. brethren, how many would he have
consulted, with referance to q desperate
case; how few, rather, would he have
deemed competent properly to blend G
,prescript,on3 Oh, how much is simply
dross, filter to:be remanded to the crua'
ible of study, than to be of any service
to the world. Not content to abide q
legitimate promotion in the profession,
some greedily take a..twenty years stride
in day, or at most in q single i've
months course of lectures, and boldly,
with sugar pill, carefully ensconced In
a box, and as many jars of chalk or soda,
labeled corbonite OF lime, or muriate OF
soda ('twould be well, if they stopped
here. but oft times more deleterious
agents are used, such as caustics and
mercurials), say, thus equipped, they
boldly publish themselves tothe world as
oh Musicians OF superior clinical advantages
and large practical experience, we'll es-
tsblished and fully competent to answer
satisfactorily all calls in their particular
lire of business. Many are ever ready
to receive this plausible statement, and so
the work OF human destruction begins,
Let US not be understood as speaking in
a spirit Of ridicule.
Now that such state of affairs should
not exist in any profession, much less In
the medical, is perfectly plain to all,
Then what is tho remedy2 What is to
be done2
LIST. Tho physician who has faithfully
prepared himself for the work; upon
whom the highest honors of the State
has been conferred, ought to unfilnching-
" comply with every requirement OF his
oath. ITO uphold the dignity and honor
of his profession" By enlIghtening the
public mind as to the nature OF things,
flor, strange to say the people generally
arc wonderfully ignorant as regards the
welfare and construction of their bodies
BY calmly and intelligently informing
them of the folly, of belief in delus
ion. By straightforward, strictly up
right and honorable course of daily life,
giving his patrons, at all times, bis best
Skill and attention. By having no fel
lowship, professionally, with quacks or
qackery, remembering the strite phrase,
but nevertheless true: "That we are
known and judged by the company we
keep: and that it is impossible to handle
pitch without. being defled." Bysuch q
course, vour record will be kept clean,
YOUR influence, as an Intelligent and ed
u ,sted physician will be recognized both
at home and abroad, and the community,
will be impressed with the dignity and
honor of the profession. But IS TINS
sufficient? We answer, No. The edu-
Gated physician, unaided is powerless.
What is to DO done?
Plainly, public sentiment must be
changed. That is the citadel we must
attack, and if we cannot carry 1t by storm
let us do 1t by siege. We must publish
these public plunderers and murderers
far and near, and every true physician
should MAKE it personal matter and en-
deayor to have his influence felt through
out his own State. The dignity OF the
profession requires it, the interests OF
every community dema"dit.
] hus it has been since medicine was
acknowleds ed to be science, that those
who have had the good Of the profession
at heart have abated no effort to solve
the MYSTERY of every disease phllosophic-
ally, and their Investigations have been
al WAYS directed to the seat OF disease it
self. With what success, let the fact that
the mortality in the more fatal diseases
is daily diminishing, answer.
No than KS to these results to those en-
prizes of thu profession, properly styled
1usckesl To them alone belongs the
honor (if snch il can be called), Of or
ipinsting that "kill or cure" system OF
practice, about which there is nothing
positive or tangible and which is little
else than a system of brainless experiment.
And while we bewail the existence IN
our msdst OF this class of practitioners,
we should be very careful how we lrri'
tate them, Tor they are numerically very
strong and should they in 1T OF passion
draw the stopper from their patent med
ic,ne bottles, the world might be witness
to a second deluge. Quackery is not =
new delusion; the world has always loved
il and it seems rs though the American
take delight in being humbugged. This
popularity is not con0ned to the ignorant
and ur educated, but many OF our best
cultivated minds can be found patroniz-
inc these dsceivers of mankind. 1t is
not surprising that quackery should have
fiourished curing che Dark Ages, when
ignorance and superstition ruled the
masses rs il were with an iron rod" but
that /, should be countenanced In this
age Of enlightenment is certainly a diff
cult matter,t to comprehend. Nauseating
as il is to essell upon such subjects, 1t is
neyertheles u stubborn fact, that the
country is full Of just such humbugs and
swindlers. ! No less true is it, that public
sentiment ut only tolerates but coun-
tenanc cs tfs,m, and even were you to sue
them for. d images in mai, practice, the
chan ces arr that you weuid-tind yourself
in the p,{dicament OF the oeggar-you
would be sang to catch a louse for they
have a con ;3;,snient way Of putting away
averythinr subject to execution beysnd
The reach - the law. Seriously, now, y
MUSICIAN .aility is measured among the
= .sse, by b success. Be he ever 50 IN
- ,,led in the use OF the knife or medicine
even 70 the degree Of being incompetent
~ .nnlying the plainest rules to the SIM