The Ottawa free trader., 1886-05-15
PHYSICIANS.
Annual Meeting of the La Sale Count,
Medical Association--A Good Attend
ance and Two Interesting Sessions.

Medical Association--A Good Attend
ance and Two Interesting Sessions.
Physicians mend or end us
| Secundum artem: but although we sneer
| In health-when sick, we call them to attend us !
Without the least propensity to jeer."
The poet, Byron, was not far amiss wheI !
he wrote the above, and an evidence of thu
statement that "when sick we call them I'd
attend u.s." is to be found in the fact tha |
each year the number of physicians in tn /
country is constantly increasing, many OF
whom "mend us" and some of whom, alas
rs readily end u.s." Occasionally one is
be found who answers the description give
| by Butler in "IIudibras," who writin !
of an English physician of his day, describe
him thus
Learned he was in medic lore;
| For at his side pouch he wore
| Replete with strange hermetic powder,
That wounds nine miles point blank wo Id solder.
If such powerful physicians, now tha
the state by law says who shall and VIII
shall not practice medicine are rare tn
number of people who follow creed not un
! like the following
Its not amss, eer y are giv'n DER,
To try one des' 'pIate med cine more;
And when your case can be no worse,
The desp pratest is the wisest course
seems to grow more and more in aun
bers, and as a result the medicinal art nov
embraces drugs and compounds to numbe
that is perfectly bewildering. The desire t
improve the practice of the lEsculapian art
and if not to be able TO restore the dead t
LIFE, to at least prolong the lives of the living
to the farthest possible limit, has caused tn
formation in great many cities, cOuntie
and districts of the various states Of th%
union medical societies, all more or less
tributary to the American Medical Associa
ton, which has membership Of many
hundreds. Through the efforts Of such asso
Citations the medical profession has been plac
ed upon the highest plane, and new and i'm
proved methods of surgical treatment anu
practice have come into vogue.
***
The La Sale County Association, which
met in the Supervisors room in the county
court house on Tuesday, is an association o
long standing, having been organized as fal
back as 1853 by a number Of physicians
of the county, the most of whom are nov
dead or have removed from this part of the
country. Among the physicians present on
Tuesday, who were early members, were Drs
r. NJ. Macarthur, Chester Hard, Joseph Stou
and j. 0. Harris, of this city, who Joined tho
society in 1858, DR.. j. c. Hathaway, who
Joined it in 1857, and DR.. r. F. Dyer, who
became member in 1868. Many of the
others in attendance entered the association
after its re-awakening year ago. From Its
first organization until the breaking out o
the war annual meetings were held and thd
society was in most fourishing condition
but with that event it went into decline and
remained, in the words of DR.. Macarthur, "i1
state of suspended animation until put
upon its feet in May last at the suggestion OF
the North Central Medical Association cen
tering at Mendoza. The constitution and
by laws of the original society are the consti-
tuition and bylaws Of the society of to- day
and despite the fact that it was so .ong dor
mant it is now extremely healthy, and has
membership of fifty or sixty regularly licen-
sed physicians, who practice in this and adj
joining counties.
The body that was called to order on Tues
day morning at just ten o'clock and forty five
minutes by their President, DR.. William D.
Ensign, was rs fine looking body of men
and women (there were two female physi7
clans present) as ever met at the court house.
There was nothing dangerous in their
looks and they were dressed-not in their
every day clothes. Among those who an
swered to their names from abroad were
Drs. Cook of Mendoza, Cowan Of Hennepin
Ensign of Rutland, MacCoy of Ransom, Vos-
burch and Gobe of Earl, Palmer, Taylor and
Bonar of Streator, Provins Of Lowell, Put
ney of Prairie Center, Zeising of Peru, and
Doctress Prindle Of Streator. The home
physicians present were Drs. r. F. & X. b
Dyer, Hard, Hathaway, Harris, McArthuri
Ryburn. Stout, Smurr, Weiss, and Doctress
Sanders. The physicians present who were
afterwards adm tilted to membership were
Drs. Black, Pettitt, Hazan, Freeman, Palmer,
Bowers, Ives, Bonar, Shoop and Rabe. I'm
mediately after the society was called to or
der Sec'y J. j. Taylor read the minutes OF
the last meeting, which were approved after
a slight change on suggestion male by Dr.
Cook to the effect that "Medical Congress
was rather an extravagant expression for the
secretary to use in speaking Of the associa-
tion's meeting. At this point DR.. Stout pre-
cipitated lively discussion by stating that
the name of one DR.. Gibbs had been omitted
from the roll as published by the secretary
After pleasant interchange of compliments
beween Drs. Ensign, Stout, Taylor and Nc
Arthur It was concluded that the troublesome
DR. Gibbs was but an honorary member and
not baro baap plapp1W