The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-08-07

great sections of the country that type OF
genius which loves and appreciates the
potency and influence of organized action,
and highly estimates the accumulated
fruits of labor, drifting northward, to eX-
change places with that element there
which inclines to the heroic, the knlghtly,
the liberal and improvident; represented
by such chiyalrous leaders as John Anthony
Ouitman. and that stll more ardent ana
typical exponent Of the Southern idea,
Sargent S. Prentiss, that burning ana
bright luminary of thought, flashing, ike
an errant planet, across the intellectual
armament of the western continent; glow
ing, corruscating and electrifying the ele-
ments through which he passed.
But where now are the fruits of that
splendid genius? where the monumental
labors of that mighty intellect? The gran
deur and the glory of its beacon are
oucnched in untimely darkness-buried in
an untimely tomb.
Like ancient Rome he is eloquent only in
ruins; and like Rome he leaves no architect
in his family to rebuild the fallen temple of
his renown, and the crumbling coliseum of
his intellectual combats.
1t was once said by Mr.. Prentiss that " it
is not what man knows that makes him
great, but the use he makes of what he
does know"
A sentiment, voluminous and exhaustive
in expression and equally applicable to
nations and people as to individuals. 1t
covers the whole ground of the respective
and diferential characteristics of the
Cotton States and their more practical
sisters of the North; of the difference
between utility and sentiment; between
tact and talent; between organization and
individuality.
1t suggests prominent feature OF
Southern character to which the medical
profession of these States is, by no means,
an exception.
The medical profession of the North is
rich and powerful, while in the Cotton
States, it is almost synonym for drudgery
and financial debility. There the acquisi-
ton of fortune brings with it the time and
opportunity for the cultivation of litera-
ture, and for preserving and perpetuating
the treasures of experience and observa-
ton in medicine, both as science and art,
through the channels of teaching and
authorship. Here, the medical profession,
us represented by its individual members,
has stood like an immense grain-tield, ripe
and ready for the sickle, but without reapers
to gather its golden sheaves into the gram
aries of the future.
Where is the record of Warren Stone, the
Hercules of Southern surgery and Southern
therapeutics, who lowered among his fel-
lows like the Colossus at Rhodes among
the statues of antiquity?
The wealth of his great mind and the
proceeds of his untold labors have gone
down with him TO the grave.
How different with his contemporary,
the "Nestor of American Surgery" who
yet lives to look upon the pyramid, reared
by his own hands. which is to transmit his
name to future ages and rest him in the
pantheon of fame with Velpeau, Sir Ashley
Cooper, Dupuytren and Sir Benjamin
Brodie.
We see another illustration of the fate of
Southern genius in medicine, in the char
acter of Crawford Long, of Georgia, pro-
foundly oblivious of his own greatness,
breathing upon the quivering nerves of
humanity the first balmy, ethereal breath
of anesthesa, the cOmpeer of Harvey, of
Jenner and of GalvanO, yet dying in OBJ
security, too modest to assert his own merit,
tn9N i a9 3 ittfrent to reap its just reward.
of attainments in medicine, is such as to
drive away from us much of our finest
Hence it is that we lose such
men as Dickson, BoZeman, j. c. Mott and |
J. Marion Simms, that Napolean of Gyne-
Biological Surgery, the honored guest of all
Europe, the benefactor of the human fam
ly, the brilliant preceptOr of the civilized
world.
Why is this? Why is it that the medical
profession of the Cotton States not only
ails to invite the immigration of talent
rom abroad, but permits and encourages
he exodus of that which naturally and
egitimately belongs to us, and which goes
nut to dignity, to enrich and to exalt the
in other lands and other sections.
There may be several reasons for this,
ut prominent among them is the fact that
ledical men here have never demanded
nd eXacted for themselves that conidera-
on and respect to which they are entitled ,
5 an important factor in the business rela- ,
ons of the country.
They seek and obtain recognition too /
UGH as professional, and not enough as h
lsiness men.
They hug too closely the gilded falacy |,
at they constitute great, humane, y
fraternity, with whom the 81
idea of pecuniary remunera- T
IN for labor is entirely subordinate to the II
Tier aspirations of science and benef- h
nee. This is legendary absurdity, an r,
solete idea long since abandoned by our f.
oppressive brethren at the North. 1t is m
ancient vagary that has deprived the g,
Miles of thousand of toiling physicians a,
the ordinary comforts of life, and the ic
portunities Of education, covered their n,
mble homes with mortgages, and trans ar
tied, as CHASTITY legacy to their penni-
5 widows ana orphans, the privilege of IN
ing neglected by charitable and christian n,
abundantly verifying the in
lorism of Addison that "Poverty OBJ IN
Tres all the virtues of liberality and ma
In
he practice of medicine, gentlemen, is
'iness, and if you would preserve its mr.
or, with the full flow of its vitality, it co
st be made business. Nine-tenths of the ~.
tuitous service rendered by physicians IN,
he Cotton States, is a mOnstrOus mistake. -,
not only impOverishes the profession, -.
'ers its dignity and impairs its capacity -.
usefulness, but it fixes a premium on 49,
mess, and fosters dishonesty among its 80,
efciaries. 10.
ine-tenths of the white people Of the -
ton States are able to pay reasonable ~
Ipensation for such medical services as 20
Y may require. pei
ran
hey pay lawyers, merchants. and v
hanics; railroads, theatres and clowns: def
cling quacks and advertising imposters int,
lie they too often nav tho ad,oo.ol | -