The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-09-15
a North Carolina Doctors Dis
purse on Doctors.

M Al. ID ~obl AOI y NDfN - as s&lE
dictory remarks on retiring from tho
Presidency OF the North Carolina Med
ical Society IN June last. Il i. couch
ID in language sufficiently uutechnlcal
for ordinary m.rtsis; and We extract q
few paragraphs. They will inteTe.,
even the laity
The rivslries Of the numerous medi
cal schools tend more TO degrade the
profession and impair and degrade the
medical character than oil other causes
combined. Que by oDo the require
ments ouce made from students. Of pre-
EmInasy education and thorough study
are obliterated, Until w success does
not depend upon knowledge entirely.
10 the United States. alone of all the
civilized countries. the student enters
the halls OF medicine without the slight
est test OF his fitness for tn. studies ne
Is about to undertake aud NJ exsmins-
ton "a TO his previous. educa-
ton. The learned University student
sits and listens 10 tie same lectures,
and Al the end of the course is subject
I'd 20 the same nnal test OF his profes-
sional 4ttainments as the old school
man who understands but little of the
nomenclature OF tho lecturer. How
then Is il possible for two students so
different ID their capacity TO under
stand, 10 approach an e4u1lity ofpracti-
cal skill
Medical attendance on lectures in
Austria and France is fifty months. In
Prussia and other German States fort,
months, in Great Britain and Ireland
Z 7 u . N ~ for rrn,fha prhiia IN thu | pIt.1
States we undertake to produce 4 full
blown competent physician in eight
months, or one third Of the time deem
cd necessary by the lowest of the Euro
pean schools! In Paris, facilities Of
the smplest kind are furnished for
clinical teaching. Five hundred beds
are specially set aside for this purpose,
attended by nine clinical professors and
IN addition TO this, 5000 bed are at all
times accessible TO him.
European professors are paid a salary
on an average, OF s., coo per annum
hence they are more thorough and i'm
partial in their examinations, seeing no
graduating fee Of forty dollar. TO be
lost, staring them in the face, in case
this or that man is rejected. ln Vienna,
students are examined by each profess
sor at the end of every six months be
tore they are permitted to pass to a
highed class.
But with all our shortcomings there
i. not a Young NAN now before me, il [
WAS sick that | would not prefer to
Hippocrates, that would not prefer
TO Galen or ~Sydenham, and that
would not infinitely prefer to that great
idol Of the Philadelphians, DR.. Rush.
,tes IS regarded as the father
of medicine, having raised it from q
system Of incarnation au1 superstitious
rites, praeticed by priests, to the high
dignity of a learned profession. He
was q man Of vigorous intellect, and
bad he lived in the present advanced
state Of our science. would have adorn-
cd the foremost rank. Cramped by the
religious superstitions Of the time,
which forbade the dissection of dead
bodies, he had little or no knowledge
Of anatomy, and taught that the origin
Of dlikthe reinS was in the Lrer, that the
arteries were filled with air and that
the human body was constituted Of
four humors, blood, yellow bile, black
bile. and phiegm, the preponderance
Of any one of which produced certain
diseases. This old gentleman is what
might be considered the patron saint
of our profession, aud from the forego-
ing doctrines you will readily see what
small claims patron saints have to the
dignity of concentration. But what
ever might be considered, his short
comlngs by the profession Of the present
day, there was one redeeming quality
in his teaching. by which he will ever
be remembered. His biographer say.
"he relied, perhaps. too much on the
healing power Of nature and the
remedies by which he assisted her we're
mostly Of a simple character" This
WAS the key note which Sydenham took
up in 1860.
Galen, another bright light of medi
cine, laid great stress on critical days
which he taught to be influenced by
| the moon. He seemed to have placed
more faith in amulets thar in medicine.
The different sects of medicine, dog
matics, empires, eclectics, &c, were
all merged in his followers. His prac-
tice was based OIL two principles: lst,
that disease is contrary to nature and
is to be overcome by that which is con
trary to disease itself, and I'd, that ma
nature is to be preserved by that which
has relations to nature.
Galen reigned paramount until the
last three hundred years and to question
the infa.libility of Galen was considered
an objectionable offence in the profe.-
sion. The records of the London Col
lege of Physicians show this fact. In
1859, DR.. Geynes was cited before the
College for i%mpugning the in%fallibiIity
of Galen. He appeared, humbly% recanted
and was reinstated in the College.
Sydenham was the first English speak
ing physician who was bold enough to
attack the heroic doctrine Of that age,
but with little general success as it ap-
peals; for nearly two hundred years
after we hear Professor Rush, Of the
garded as the founder Of scientific medi-
cine in this country, teaching his class,
that fever is a disease Of the blood,
and that the more blood you extract the
more ferer yOu overcome. "Bteed,'
said he to hi. class, las long as you can
find blood. Ii you can't get blood get
water, and if you cant get wind"
Within my own recollections this doc
trine prevailed in North Carolina. A
case of remitteut fever rarely lasted
more than three days, and when | tell
you the treatment you will wonder, no
doubt. how they lasted SO long. The
patient Vas hlcd repeatedly, as many
as six or eight times in fo,ty eight
h>,ro Ten rroip- .f c,lpmcl and tom