The Progress., 1897-06-12

company. Have you never felt d spirit of
gratitude for this opportunity? Do you
not feel thankful now? Then l am afraid,
doctor, you are not Christian, and that
the old proverb which Christ quoted in
his sermon may DO appropriate to you,
physician, heal thyseH."
Another reason why think the medical
profession ought to be Christians is be-
cause there IRE SO many trials and annoy
ances in that profession that need positive
Christian solace. I know you have the
gratitude OF a great many good people,
and know 1t must be a grand thing to
walk intelligently through the avenues Of
human life and with anatomic skill poise
yourself on the nerves and fbers which
cross and rccross this wonderful physical
system. / suppose a skilled eye can SEQ
more beauty even in malformation than
An architect can point ont in any of his
structures, though 1t be the very triumph
Of arch and plinth and abacus. But how
many annoyances and trials the medical
profession have! DR.. Rush used to say, in
his valedictory address to the students of
the medical college, "Young gentlemen,
have two pockets-a small pocket and
big pocket; a small pocket in which to put
your fees, large pocket in which to put
your anDoyances.'
A Doctors Sacrifices.
In the first place, the physician has no
NoOOnNA. busy 1nc1CudUJS anu NWyerS
and mechanics cannot afford to be sick
during the secular week, and so they nurse
themselves along with lozenges and bore
hound candy until Sabbath morning
comes, and then they say, II must have
doctor" And that spoils. the Sabbath
morning church service for the physician.
Besides that, there are a great many men
who dine but once a week with their fam
HES. During the secular days they take
. hasty lunch at the restaurant, and on
the Sabbath they make up for their six
days abstinence by especial gormandizing,
which before night makes their amazed
digestive organs cry out for a doctor. And
that spells the evening church service for
the physician.
too late. Men wait until the last fortress
Of physical strength is taken and death
has dug around 1t the trench of the grave,
and then they run for the doctor. The
slight fever which might have been cured
with q footbath has become virulent ty-
plus, and the hacking cough, killing
pneumonia. AS though q captain should
sink his ship of Amagansett, and then
put ashore IN yawl and then come to
New York to the marine Office and want
TO get his vessel insured. Too late for the
ship, too late for the patient.
Then there are many who always blanc
the doctor because the people die, forget
SAAtS SAC AANIuc cudCtIueDU, Ii is AppOlOI~
ed unto all mon once to de- The father
in medicine who announced the fact
that he had discovered the art by which to
make men In this world immortal him
self died at AZ years Of age. showing that
Immortality was less than half a century
Tor him. Oh, how easy 1t is, when people
die, to cry out, Malpractice. Then the
physician must bear with all the whims,
and the sophistries, and the deceptions
and the strata gems and the irr{fafions NJ
the shattered nerves and the beclouded
brains OF women, and more especially of
men. who never know how gracefully to
be sick, and who with their saliyated
mouth curse the doctor, giving him his
dues, as they say-about the only dues he
will In that Case collect. The last bill that
Is paid is the doctors bill. 1t seems SO
incoherent for a restored patient, with
ruddy cheeks and rotund form, to be
bothered with bill charging him for old
calomel and jalap. The physicians Of this
country do moro missionary work without