Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-01-15
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menGations as to EDUCATION and character
AS the Boards have been accustomed to re-
ceive with male applicants.
1.-The argument that unless the asylums are
| thrown open to tine Woaien doctors they cam
not advance in his Stale is very poor one
| as only three or TOUR women can possibly be
| provided for in that way, and others there
| fore never advance. AS long as women doc
| tors Ire not genera practitioners in this State
as Long as our female insane are unaccustomed
| to having female physicians at their homes,
as long as Virginians are in the habit of call
ing upon male physicians to attend their FAM
| lilies, so long will the female physician Ques-
| ton be only an experiment here, and so long
| will it be rash in the General Assembly to
| attempt to make the insane the subject of eX-
pertinent Of crude, inexperienced practition-
ers,. although twenty, Northern colleges may
| prefix NJ. ID. to female names. The fact that
they succeed in passing the examination of the
State Examining Board is not guarantee
that they are suitable and experienced physi-
clans. The universal verdict of mankind
! proves this by the fact that any one freshly
crowned with an NJ. ID. has to work his way
| patiently for years to gain confidence and eX-
perience-the old physician is always sought
when he can be obtained. because mankind
| knows that there is a vast difference between
theory and practice.
| LAS a matter OF fact, in our aSylumS the
female insane have every safe guard possible
| brown around them, in every ward there are
W. VI lllitc lCLitlc NItOSG uuly IL
is to be with the patients always. and who
are required to he present when any one, ply
stefan OF not, enters the ward.
Every asylum has as matron lady OF
standing and experience, whose duty 1T is to
visit the Ward constantly, and to extend to
the inmates all the sympathy in their power
and to give to them in their mental trouble
every care they may require. Copied articles
| in the same issue Of the Staunton VINDICATOR
cast slur on the moral character of male
physicians, alleging because in one case (and
| in that case there is no proof OF the asserted
fac) person, unworthy to be a member of
that honored profession, has been guilty OF
conduct towards female patients that was iri-
proper and immoral; that all male physicians
should be regarded as unfit to render toy in
sane females the professional service her
sane sister all over the State requires at his
| hands.
sit would be equally as just to condemn
| the whole Christian church because more than
one of its preachers have been guilty of the
grossest immoral conduct, and to hold up to
| ScOrn the entire female population because
some of their sex have been guilty of i'm
morality.
| No article casting a slur on the moral
character of male physicians has been copied
into the INDICATOR. In some of the copied
articles were references to special eases
in the management of two asylums in this
| State, both of which are matters of record
| ill our courts and in thepublic press. Those
newspapers knew exactly pho and ,chot
they were talking about, though in merciful
charity emitting the names; they made 10
slur on the morals of the medical profession
but spoke with the same deteStatiOn which
every member of that profession feels for
the acts and the actors. We do not intend
to degrade all effort for a great and humane
reform into a scavenger SOrtie ON dirt
pile. 1t is not toOur taste, but. still if any
interested parties wish to force dis
cussion Of those shocking events we have.
1t is of record and the Senate can demand
| its production.
'Whenever the advocates of female phys-
| clans are able to show that more female in
sane are restored to sanity under treatment OF
| female physicians, that the mortality under
| their care is reduced, that the happiness and
welfare OF the insane has been promoted by
| their presence, not by mere assertions, but
| by carefully prepared statistics, then will it
| be proper and right for the General Assembly
| to require of the board of directors that wO-
men physicians should be employed in the
asylums, but until then such action will not
only be unjustitiable, but even criminal, for
|
carefully protected and shielded, but never
be subjected to cruel and useless experiments
'ONE WHO WAS CONNECTED WITH OUR AsY-
| LuM FOR TWELVE YEARS"
| We have given d .Ood deal of space to
tlis expert opinion If an expert, because it
is Important that the great uody OF the PEG
pie OF Virginia who are urging this reform
should see exactly the position OF those who
are most interested and active in opposing
| it. This expert has been frank and unre-
served and to us he has brought the
| conclusive conviction that it the other Su-
perintendenls Of the asylums have the same
cast OF mind within himself in viewing a
new idea. there is little hope that the Vlr-
| ginia institutions for the insane will ever
| advance in any direction.
We have received the Baltimore Sun AL
manac for 1892. 1t is as usual gotten up
| with a most valuable list of contents Its
receipt calls to our mind the fact that, after
substracting the four years of the war, we
have been reading the Sum- daily for thirty
two years. That is a long time, long enough
to make up a very reliable estimate OF a
paper. Ours is that 1T LAS more enterprise
with less sensation than any paper we ever
saW-lt executes a piece of a daciOuS enter
prise which must cost large amount of
money; distances all its competitors; puts
plain headline over it; divests 1t OF ali
surplus verblage and publishes it as an every
day matter Of course. Next to it's enter
prise comes it's cleanness-a clean paper
with a high moral tone, it can be trusted
as safely to the daughters of house as to
the fathers. We do not compare it with
any other paper, for the San in it's own way
mas 10 rival There is and has been but
one Baltimore sam on this continent-and
when /. man gets it. he may feel pretty sure
that he is getting all that is going on on this
continent as well as the rest of them.
A most excellent measure is the Iesolu-
ton of Senator Mcdonald instruoting the
Committee Oh Elections Of the Virginia
Senate, to inquire into the propriety of
adopting the Australian ballot system, and
to report bill if they think it proper.
POLITICAL NOTES.
In the House, Mr.. Bre ;kinridge OF Ken
lucky, introduced resolution instructing
the committee on Ways and means to re-
port Il bill repeating the reciprocity section
of the Mckinley act, and to have free trade
with all governments on this hemisphere.
Representative Tucker, Welnesd ~, in
troduced bill to repeal absolutely the i'm
port duty Oh all products for which trusts
OF combinations exist in order to keep up
the price to consumers.
appointed one OF the reading clerks of the
House of Representatives.