Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-09
A MEDICAL PHALANx
To Invade Pittsburg Quite
Peacefully To-Morrow.
A WARM WELCOME READY.
Radical Changes Favored in Insane
Asylum Management.
FEATURES OF TIE CONVENTION

1
tions enrolled in the State Of Pennsylvania
there is one which Pittsburg will greet
with hearty welcome tomorrow morning
1 the State Medical Association. One year
| ago the association met in this city to hold
its annual session, but pail hung over the
convention when the heart of Johnstown
was torn out. The organisation bowed be-
meath the weight of the great sorrow and
afdiction attending the greatest disaster that
ever darkened the history Of the continent,
| and by unanimous consent of the few men,
bers who were present it was decided to post
pone the meeting until this year.
! There is keen interest manifested by the
medical fraternity of the State in the for
tieth annual session, to be held at the Bijou
Theater this week, and the physicians of
Pittsburg are looking forward with pleasure
to the coming event.
SECOND TO NONE.
Many doctors will attend this meeting,
and it is expected that the society will make
the convention second to none in the histo ~
of the organization.
DR.. j. B. Murdoch, the President Of the
society, will preside over the session. He
said yesterday: '"The meeting will be
fraught with entertaining and instructive
features, and keep alive the spirit of prog
ress and advancement. Papers relating to
| our profession will be read and discussed,
and thus promote healthy social inter-
course and fellowship among the members
of the body. Strong indications are appar-
ent everywhere that there is deep interest
felt in medical matters by the public at
large, and our meetings will be open to all
| who choose to come"
Zone of the things that will quicken the
| circulation of the doctors blood on Wednes-
| day will be the report OF the Committee on
the Management of Pennsylvania Hospitals
| for the INSANE" said DR.. e. A. Wood.
''They will advocate reforms which will
have much weight on legislation. The
| prime mover in the matter is Hiram Corson,
Quaker philanthropist of Norristown, who
has made study of the abuses practiced in
insane asylums.
DR.. Samuel Ayers, who is Chairman of
the COMMITTEE on the insane asylum report,
| saidi "We will advise sweeping changes
in the present management of Pennsylvania
institutions for the insane. The medical de-
partment should be removed entirely from
all connection with the other branches OF
the asylums, such as the farming, ETC.,
which should be turned over to others"
NEW SYSTEMS TO CONSIDER.
''There will be something like 500 to 600
physicians present, with their wives" said
DR.. j, Milton Duff, one of the physicians
who relieved the Johnstown sufferers.
Numerous topics, covering wide range of
medical subjects, will be duly discussed
and new systems suggested that will accrue
to the advantage of the profession"
One of the founders of the organizatioh,s
DR.. Trail Green, of Easton, will read
paper the second day on Chemistry of
Cooking"
There will be reception rendered to the
Medical Association of Pennsylvania by the
profession of Allegheny county, at the
and another by DR.. and Mrs. ]. B. Murdoch
at their home, to the society, Thursday
DR.. W. B. Atkinson, of Philadelphia,
Secretary of the State Medical Society, ar
rived yesterday. The Doctor and his wife
are stopping at the Monongahela House.
He expects at least 250 physicians to be pres
ent. In speaking of the annual convention
he said:
ONE OF THE DRAWBACKS.
"This is postponed meeting from last
year, and don't expect it will be as inter-
esting or as thorough from scientific stand
point as it would have been if the meeting
had been held at the stated time. It is like
warming over meat to take up papers that
were prepared and intended to be read a
year ago. Some of the physicians have re-
vised them, some have dropped out and one
has written paper on a new subject OF
course there will be papers read on hygiene,
aka xsx-s- &hA -
these various branches of medicine during
the year.
'The development and success attained in
abdominal surgery is the most remarkable.
Indeed some doctors have become so bold
that they will attempt almost anything un-
der the hope that they can save the life.
We think nothing now of remoy-
ing tumors from the abdomen,
and I remember how surprised some
English physicians were when DR.. Morton
told them at one of the hospitals how he had
fixed up an Italian who had been shot
through the abdomen in row. He sewed
up all the breaks, and the fellow went out
ready to be shot again. In the old days we
would have given him morphine to relieve
the pain, and then let him die.
AN IMPORTANT FEATURE.
"One important feature of this meeting
WILL DC VIC ACpOAs Va buS COuAu1btS6 WHO QaO
in charge the matter of having medical ex-
aminers appointed for the purpose
of admitting physicians to practice.
AS the law stands now it Is not effective,
Any man who will swear that he lost his
diploma, or even presents one that may be
bogus, is permitted to practice. No one
knows whether the diploma belongs to him
or not, and he is not required to offer any
proof"
In this connection It may be stated that
the homeopathic school of physicians made
a strenuous kick against the appointment of
medical examiners unless the different
schools were equally represented. The bill
introduced in the last Legislature provid-
ing for, the necessary changes in the
law was branded as an allopathic bill, and
through the opposition of homeopathic ply
sicians it never came up for passage. The
different schools could not agree as to repre-
sentation, and the question was dropped.
The report of this committee may revive the
subject. which is, to say the least, import |
ant. Even the lawyers have stricter rules |
than the medical men to keep out of the |