Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-07-20
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HARD TINES AND MEDICINE.

How These Days Affect the Doctors
in Divers and snndry Ways.
Louisville Medical News.l
1t does not seem at first blush that
there should be a very close connection
between medicine and the times. We
are wont to draw the line so distinctly
between q profession aud a trade that it
ia somewhat hard TO realize that the laws
of practice should be affected by the
vulgar laws Of commerce. But they are.
Just as the price OF food, just as rents,
more than clothes (for vanity is the last
thing to succumb), vary with the times,
so do the incomes of doctors. What q
harvest was just after the war, when
everything was sweeping along with the
speculative madness it introduced The
great doctor went away up in the thous-
ands, and very few CT the lesser ones
starved. Sixty FIVE and 'sixty.six were
booming ye-rs, and the seventies were
turned amidst plenty as general as may
happen to q calling where one in the ten
gets the business to do. The panic of
1872 marked the decided turning-point,
and the bellies OF the little fish began to
TO turn upwards in the streams. The
stagnatioa of 1871 reaches the deep
waters and grounds many a while.
OF course the times must effect prac
tice. The doctor is as often q luxury as
a necessity. 1t is nothing to call him
in for a headache when money is plenty ;
his society may be worth tho price of his
visit when nothing is ailing. But when
the days of economy are upon US be
suffers next to the church. Then comes
the trust in nature worthy Of a better
cause, or wretched makeshifts, the
taking of neighborly advice, the duplics.
ton of old prescriptions, the consulta.
ton Of the drugstore man or the exper.
iment with nostrums. Then comes the
counting of visits also, and goes the
smile ct his too frequent entrance, the
letting him know If necessary" etc
and, worse thau ell, the non.psymeut
Of bills for services rendered, and the
frequent reference of bis claim to the
Bankrupt Court.
And hard times affect the doctor for
more reasons than upon the score Of
economy. His services are tot needed
so often then. Money in plenty engen-
ders imprudence and excess, and with
them comes sickness. Barring the cpl.
demic, there has been a steady falling of
in disease during the last few years; gen.
eral, we bilieve, but marked in this com
munity. Thirty.four was the number Of
deaths in this city last week; oae in
1000 peoplel Let US at least try to
thank God for his general mercy.
Then hard times effect the doctor
more cruelty than they do most men.
He must make some show of success in
life. This is the worlds measure Of his
capacity. He dare not cheaper his coat,
and though his manly bosom may chafe
beneath a dollar shirt, he cannot lay it
open to the world. He may not walk
when abroad nor lessen his style at
home, and the hollow tale of "feartully
busy must still pass on, though he
dread the balitis visit on the morrow.
But wherefore the record Of these
gloomy thoughts2 They are for comfort.
We know how general are their applica-
lion. The telling of orrows lessons
their stings, and many may draw conso-
lation from reading what they want to
say. Many, too, may not have been able
to solve the difficulties which surround
them, and have blamed themselves for
what is happening. Nay, brothers, The
fault is not with you nor your art, 1t
lies far deeper than that. What has
made the times what they are has done
it,, and statesmen and sages have differed
about this. AS the day grows brighter
oil around 10 will beam for us also