The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-29

Passing to a consideration of the peculiar feat
ures of the medical profession, Mr. Cumhack
spoke at more length with respect to the tempta-
ton to pedantry among doctors, growing out of
the fact that people know less about what the
doctor knows than anything else Pedantry in
the bar and in the pulpit the people are measur-
ably protected against but the medical profes-
sion stands in different relation to society than
any other Hence it is not "a matter of surprise
that some of the weaker members of the medi-
cal profession sometimes forget themselves, and
| something's make US common mortals feel our ig-
| norance by an unnecessary display of the pro
| fundity of their requirements.
! II made this discovery when L was practicing
| law, and also by my contact with army surgeons
| during the war. AT the very beginning of the
war my duty called me TO the Army Hospital at
| Jefferson City. Mo. 1t was my first visit to
such a place, and my sympathies were all
| aroused at the wretched condition Of the brave
men, and sought out the surgeon to see what
| could be done to make it better and pleasanter
| for the sick soldier. 1 found the surgeon in his
tent, all blazing with buttons, shoulder
was at the beginning of the war.
1t seemed to me that he the uni
! form of the army and navy, too. l asked him
| what the principal disease of the sick sol
| diers. He looked down on me with a plying
| look, and told me it was nostalgia. After pain
| full silence of some minutes | gathered up cour
| age to mildly ask him if it was contagious, and
he replied that it was not infectious, and was
| only partially contagious. 1 at once wrote my
| wife that had reached Jefferson City feeling
very well, but had been to the army hospital,
where the nostalgia was prevailing; that it was
| partially contagious, and that was feeling bad
| ~ She FASTENED to our family physician
| to know what nostalgia meant, and he told her
! it meant home sickness.
| Doctors frequently have to be called as ex-
| perts-men of science to give their professional
| nD1Vnf erx~a fata Of he
| administration of justice. Take case where
| some cOmbative individual has had his nose
| broken and his eye blackened in a street fight.
| The party who committed this breach of the
| peace and dignity of the State is arrested, and
! on trial before jury of his peers, perhaps his
| superiOrs, and the town surgeon is called in to
| testify as to the nature and extent of the injury
| so that even-handed justice may be melted out
| to the guilty culpit. Now if the surgeon is one
of the weaker class, and wants to take this OPP
| portunty to spread himself, he will look as wise
as an owl and will deliver himself in the words
and figures following to-wit: L have made a
most careful diagnosis of this case and | find the
lavatOr labi superioris nasi is separated from
| the superior maXillary bones-that the tegu-
mentary oreolar tissue is very much infamed,
which seriously involves the orbicularis palpa-
| barum and there is q slight looSening of the
multi cuspidati.'
''The lawyer will endeavor to look as if he
understood it perfectly, but betrays painful
consciousness that the jury does not take it all
| III ana so ne ventures TO ask tne surgeon How
did you find the eye of the prosecuting
witness! and ventures to admonish the
surgeon that the jury not quite up to us pro-
fessional men. and to speak plainly so they may
understand. The surgeon replies 1 found on
examination confusion of the ntegunents un-
der the orbit with eXtrayasatiOn of blood and the
echrymOss Of the surrounding cellular tissue
which was in tumefed state, with abrasion of
the cutice.'
THE very last case [ had in court as a lawyer
some years ago was a suit against doctor for
malpractice The witnesses were nearly all
physicians and they kindly took possession of
the case. The plaintiff and defendant were soon
lost sight of and the issue was changed to con
test between the Allopathic and Eclectic sys-
tens Of medicine and surgery. The courtroom
became blue from the firing and explosion of the
most immense technical terms from those men of
science. The jury became so bewidered and
dazed that they brought in verdict of but one
cent damages for my client and failed to make
any finding whatever as to the merits of the
Allopathics and the Eclectcs, so that the people
of my county still in doubt which is the best
Some are for one and some for the other. | be-
came 50 desperate that l accepted office
der the government and will never return to the
practice of law unless driven to it by sheer ne
cessity.'
Mr.. Cumback said that if he should fail to
accomplish anything more than to prevent these
young gentlemen who have Just graduated and
are about to enter on their professional career
from this ineXcusabe habit of using technical
| terms when addressing persons who do not
derstand them, he will have done a good service
to them and to the medical profession
Speaking of the doctor and his relations to
the home, the speaker said
''The doctor goes to every home in the land.
In many of these ne is the most intelligent man
the greatest man that crosses the threshold of
the humble dwelling To all such households he
is sort of deity. He comes to them from
world the artificial distinctions of which have
excluded them. He is a sort of connecting link
between them and the far-off regions of wealth,
| culture, and comfort He has, therefore. Oppor-
tunities for instructng, elevatng, and civiizing
| mankind that no other man has. AS he is with
| them in their anxiety and sorrows, he obtains
control and influence over them that will make
| him mighty power for good if he will avSil
| himself Of his chances. He ought not only to be
| a gentleman, but he ought to have a tender,
philanthropic heart and patient, loving spirit.
| He ought to so conduct himself in their presence
| as to create in them desire to
| be like him; to make them feel that culture
and refinement are not heartless and opposing
| forces to Them but real sympathizing friends.
| His own good life and habits should be con
| slant argument IN favor of temperance cleanli-
ness and true manliness and perpetual rebuke
to the vulgarity of vice. If he be a man in
| tensely interested in the common welfare land
no other sort of man ought to be physican) he
may be the peacemaker between capital and
labor and bring these contending forces that
always ought to be the best of friends to better
| understanding and to a fair and square adjust
ment OF their respective rights"
| Mr. CuGback spoke strongly in favor of add
ing the art of cooking to the curriculum of
medical studies, saying
''The cook book ought to be one of the stand
ard works in all medical colleges, and chair
and dissecting room set apart to this important
branch 1 am aware that the suggestion will be
received with jeers. l have the consolation that
ali advanced thought has met like reception in
! all ages of the world. But hear me, any way.
/ L. I.
art of preventing disease as well as curing it!
And some plan ought to be devised whereby
they would be paid better fees for the prevention
than for curing 1t would astonish the world if
the catalogue of the ills that flesh is heir to- that
| had their origin in the vast amount of indigesti-
/ BILE stuff that we eat. resulting from bad cooking