New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-14
TIE GERMAN MEDICAL SCANDAL.

The announcement that the German doctors
who wrote the report attacking DR.. Mackenzie
so fercely are to be decorated, necessarily
strengthens the current suspicion that the at
tack opened nominally on questions of medical
science covers and is the preface TO some i'm
portant state issues. 1t is not possible that in
Germany the assaults which have been made
upon DR.. Mackenzie should have been ventured
upon without the concurrence and express per-
mission Of the Government. Had Prince Bis
m1rcll at any stage of the proceedings desired
to stop the attacks, no doubt can be entertained
Of his power to do so. The unavoidable in
ference, therefore, must be that DrS. Berg
mann and Gerhardt have been the mouth
pieces Of the present Government. But there
is a decided significance in the fact that the
report denouncing DR.. Mackenzie is signed by
these two physicians only, while the much
more eminent medical authorities who were
joined with them in attendance upon Emperor
Frederick are silent The two sgners of the
report do not in fact represent the very best
German science and since DIR. Morell Mac
kenzie unquestonably bears the European rep
utation Of being the first living authority on
diseases Of the throat the absence Of the in
dorsement of Virchow, Senator and their col
leagues is The more peculiar.
The position Of Dr. Mackenzie appears to be
particularly unpleasant, since his lips are scaled
by pledges made presumably to the Empress
Victoria, and perhaps also to his own sovereign.
He has not, indeed, any reason to apprehend in
jury to his practice or his standing in the pro-
fcS,ion from The present attacks, for it is plain
that the German report is not regarded in Eng
land as Il serious scientific judgment, in the
first place, and in the second, DIR. Mackenzies
countrymen will naturally prefer h. authority
and representations to those Of foreigners who
do not stand so high as the man they assail,
and who moreover are believed to be little
more than the tools of Bismarck. No doubt
Dr. Mackenzie would much prefer to be entire
Iy untIammeIed and to be able to reply frank
~ and fully TO his assailants. But if behind
the attempt to convict him Of incOmpetency
there really turks policy Of state, it is obvious
that the affair cannot terminate without a COM
plete exposure Of everything bearing upon it,
which is at present concealed. Even now the
scandal has spread far beyond the original issue,
and all the world is discussing its relations to
Emperor William on the one hand and the
Empress Victoria on the other.
Prince Bismarck can no doubt render it very
difficult for the press generally to get at the
actual facts of the whole case. He has already
cffectually muzzed the German papers appar-
emily. But such Government action as the
decoration of DrS. Bergman and Gerhardt
speaks quite as loudly and reveals quite as
much as elaborate special correspondence from
Berlin could do; and if the opinion of the world
outside of Germany has any Importance for
the new Emperor and his Government, they
can hardly expect to avoid such external crit
icism by merely making it hard to ascertain the
details of their policy. As the case stands at
present j, certainly has anything but pleasant
or rcaSsuring aspect, and though thus far Dr.
Mackenzie may be said to have been left to
fight his own battles it is not to be believed
that some international friction can be escaped
much longer. The passion exhibited in Ger
many over the Mackenzie question is probably,
so far as the public are concerned largely the
outcome of offended national vanity but it is
evident that this feeling has been stimulated
sedul0usly in official circles, with what ulti-
mate object remains to be seen. No one can
believe that charges having implications so
grave and far-reaChing have been permitted to
be made without the express sanction of the
Emperor and Bismarck and the world awaits
with growing curiosity and surprise the further
development of the case.