Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-01-29
STATE board os HsaltA.

college or society styling Itself 'regular" did
50 under disability. In some States be was
fined sometimes imprisoned. and generally
his patients were exonersted BY statute from
paying for his services IL Is idle TO plead
that al this was done to protect the people
from ignorant practitioners. The medical
colleges Of that day, as vel as OF this, stub
bornly refused to graduate any man, how.
ever learned, except be would subscribe to
the doctrines and practice ofthe old school.
AT the same period the great mass OF their
graduates were shAmefuily iIliterate, and
could not write the English language cor.
reetly; their elaseie attainments we're nil
II was solely partiSanship, Just as between
Republicans and Democrats. Even at the
present day no scientific or other paper
made BY an eclectic, is permitted to be rec
oRnized, OF even noticed. until some "regu-
lar" has plsgiaYized il as his own. |
learned nv ideas Of personal right from the
New Testament and Blackstone. The les
sons are ample to show that all
these modern attempts at regulating the
practice Of medicine Is an invasion Of the
CommoneSt rights of the individual and an
strocious outrage upon the public. would
IS quickly accept the plea against the Dec
larstion Of Independence as one Of these
arguments for regulating the practice Of
medicine" No man who respects man
hood, virtue or common justice, can tolerate
sbhsE rib IL an Be 3s &EaSESRssssaaee That the
seriptiye and chiefly intended to vest the
right to practice medicine IN a privilege
eisss Is apparent from the fact that
whenever the eclectic and homeopathic have
NO voice, the power Of the supervision IS
placed in the hands Of the alopsthics, and
they at once proceed to make provisions
that no physician not OF their own schooi
shall ever pass their boards. Such Is the
history Of the action Of the State Board OF
West Virginia toward al eclectic physicians,
with two exceptions, who have desired to
register and the said board does not In.
tend that any physician not Of their school
IN mass their boards. may be reminded
that there are q few examining boards on
vhich the different schools are represented.
I have vet TO learn what is gained by 1t.
They pronounce all such colleges
direputable, Notwithstanding they
are regularly chartered BY the State in which
thew are located. Though the curriculum
the thoroughness, and such other eonsidera-
lions as indicate fidelity IN inducing
proficiency on the part Of the student are
evidently but secondary matter, any tecnai-
cahty that can afford pretext IS all that
seems to be looked after. believe myself
that man has the rights Of a human being
One of them is TO do service to his fellow man,
another to procure his own subsistence by
bis own proper work. No other man has
spy rioht whatever to interfere with him IN
the matter so long as he wrongs no one
If there is such interference he has the moral
right to resist or evade obedience as against
uTsnpy We have abolished State religion.
State medicine belongs in the same bundle.
The histsry of medical legislation IN West
Virginia has no parallel except in the his
tow of the Spanish INCLUSION. We want to
leave no such legacy of bsrbarism to the
generation that succeeds US. The medical
statutes which the modern tunes have
spawned are not very wide in purpose or
dfction from those under which the fathers
were imprisoned. Laws are not the basis OF
civil society, but society is the basis OF laws.
II is Justice which underlieS all law and
statute that eontrsyines justice is not law.
The source of right and Of civil society
are not the feeling trumping up of legisls'
tive lobby. The medical statutes now
I forced on our attention have no higher nor
/ hoher source. obey them as l would
/ highwayman and the pirate.
/ Let me commend to the honorable mem
/ hers of the present legislature, this utter
: aure Ur TnUhIas II. Huxley, "A large num-
/ Der Of people seem to be of the opinion that
/ the State is bound to take care of the gen
eral public, and see that it is protected
against incompetent persons and quscks.
/ don't take this view; think it much more
wholesome for the public to take care offs
, self in this as in other matters.
1t seems to US, that if the public is deeply
/ interested enough inits own welfare to
desire the exclusion Of quacks, it should
/ take the matter in its Fn hands and prose
/ cute the unlawful pers )ns rather than place
/ it in that Of few physicians unknown even
/ to the medical profession of the State. 1t
looks now very much as though the physic.
'ians were the only parties interested, and
that the method of procedure must be pur-
sued in order to protect them from the
/ quacks!
How sad to contemplate the possibility OF
an admission from an educated physician
that he must invoke the law and have the
people taxed to protect him from the ignOr-
ant practitioner, thereby admitting that he
is no match for him. 1t would seem to US
far beFer if he were to use his time In
perusing his books, rather than spending
/ /, collecting evidence to convict persons
Nbo seem to be crowding him to the wall.
! Il we are not sufficiently enlightened in our
profession to protect US from this irregular
| class We are ready to fall without grunt.
As q general rule it will be noticed that
it is not the physician who is successful in
bis practice and who can keep up his end
in all things pertaining to medicine and
surgery, whoadvocates these laws and insists
on prosecuting the so called quaeks. They
are composed of those who have but little
10 DO, and always feel that they might meet
| With success if It we're not for some one else
stepping in and grasping the plum just as
they we're about to reach out for it. They
have but little to DO but sit down and think
ever the success Of their rivals, become jesl
Gus and then go for kicking up row. But
the most siekening part of all is, these ardu
Gus efforts in trying to make the people believe
that il is al for its dear sake, that they have
10 interest in the matter but to save the
lives and protect the health of the comma
nifty. Wewould as soon trust our lives ii
the hands of many of these quscks as theirs
A medical man who has all he wants t
Go and is successful n his chosen profes
sion, does not care snap for these char
latsns and feels that if the dear people
wants them it can have them without an
Of his aid OF suggestions.
Show US a physician who is always whining
about quacks, and forever seeking the aiC
of the law to drive them out, and we vii
show one who has missed his calling.
To me, personally, this matter counts bu
little am an old man, but if the laV
should be retained, it ought to be relieved
OF its double functions, and its one maj
power, and relegated back to simply look
ing after the sanitary interest of Wheeling
I IA al nh,o r.ya-