Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-02-10
WHO 4RE THE QU4CKS:

/
bill introduced by Dr.. HolIister some time
ago to regulate the practice of medicine
in Minnesota. Probably not more than
one in ten of the senators has read the
bill, or, having read it, understands its
scope or effect.
The bill in question gives to the state
board of health the power to determine
who shall practice medicine and surgery,
and imposes upon those who prescribe for
the sick without first having procured
| license to do so exemplary fines and i'm
prisonment. Any person who holds
diploma purporting to have been issued by
a medical college and who shall make aft
davit shat he is the lawful possessor of
the same and that he is the person named
therein is entitled to a certificate author
izing him to practice in the state. All
others are required to pass an examina-
ton such as the board shall require, which
examination may be iA whole or in part in
writing, and if he shall be refused GER
tifcate but shall continue to practice med
cine he will be subject to fine of from
fifty to five hundred dollars or by impris-
onment for from thirty days to one year,
or both fine and Imprisonment. The board
is also empowered to refuse or revoke GER
tifcates to persons guilty of unprofession-
al or dishonorable conduct"
1t does not require great amount of
astuteness to see how the provisions of
this bill can be made to work great harm
and injustice, and will utterly fail to
remedy the evils that the community suf-
fers from and which all acknowledge. 1t
is aimed at empiricism, but in fact en-
courages that very evil. 1t assumes that
the possession of a diploma from a medical
college is a guarantee of skill in medicine
and surgery, when every one knows that
any dolt who shall attend certain number
of clinics and be able to answer a few
stereotyped questions at an examination
can procure a diploma. There are, too,
number of so-called medical colleges that
make practice of issuing diplomas to all
who are willing to pay for them, whether
they understand anything about the science
of medicine or not. The possessors of
these diplomas are granted the right to
practice under this bill without the formal
ity of submitting to an examination.
1t is not quackery but incompetency OIL
the part of physicians that the people
need to be protected from. There are
scores of physicians holding diplomas reg
ularly obtained who cannot distinguish
between a case of smallpox and
summer rash; between corn
and cancer; who could not
for the life of them diagnose a case of
summer complaint, and who could not
prescribe properly for cold in the head.
On the other hand there are physicians who
never saw the inside of medical school
who are eminently successful in the treat
ment of diseases. The possession of
diploma is neither a guarantee of knowl-
edge of the human frame nor of skill in
the treatment of the various ills that flesh
is heir to, and if the evidence was not
buried too deep it could no doubt be shown
that more lives have been sacrificed by the
incompetency of graduates of medical
colleges than by all the quacks that the
world has ever known.
But there is another objection to the bill
that does OF appear so plainly upon the
surface. The state board of health is
composed of physicians of the allopathic
school, who take especial pride in calling
| themselves regular" physicians, and a
| part of whose training and religion it is
to look upon all others who practice medi-
cine as empires. They do not regard
homeopathic colleges as medical colleges
at all, and might choose to ignore diplo-
mas from such institutions altogether.
Having the power to prescribe the char
acter of the examinations they might
| insist upon conformity to their
own system of treatment, and
refuse certificates to practitioners IN
all other schools. Having the
option of revoking certificates for unpro-
fessional or d1shonorable conduct, the
most progressive and enlightened practi-
TONERS in the state may be ostracised from
the profession for attending consultation
called by a homeopathic physician or one
at which one of that school was present, as
this is regarded by the regulars as both
unprofessional and dishonorable conduct.
Such things have been done in other
states, and may be repeated here.
If it was possible by statutory enact
ment to prevent the practice of medicine
by incompetent men, whether allopathists,
homeopathists, eclectics or so-called
quacks, the GLOBE would be heartily in
favor of the passage of such law. But it
cannot be done. Nor can people be pre-
vented from employing whoever they
choose to care for them in sickness, or
compelled to employ any one. This is
matter over which Legislatures have no
power.
The bill itself, if it becomes a law, will
be operative only by general consent. Any
lawyer of respectable attachments can
drive coach and four through it if any
person thought it worth his while to con-
test the validity of the enactment The
chief objection to it, however, is the fact
that it is supported in the main by the
very incompetents holding diplomas
against whom law of such a character
should be directed. Their lack of skill
prevents them from obtaining remuner-
ative practice, and hence they apply to the
| legislature for protection against their