The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-01-13
What il Demands of Med
iCal Profession.
Physicians Asked to Furnish
Free Advertising.
The Sacred Compact of the Doctors
to Serve Humanity.

| To appoint cOmmlttee TO lnVeStlghte tne
| alleged cures of an Italian Count who
protested to have found an Invariably
successful remedy for cancer. The Count
did not, ii seems, propose that the physi-
clans should know the nature Of his
| treatment--that was to remain q secret
for the financial teneit of the discoverer
but they were to submit cases to his
care and report on the result of his rem
edy. Mr. Stead could not understand
why, IL the medical mer had the interests
Of the afflicted at beart, they should re-
fuse TO test and report on the alleged dis
| covery of man outside the profession.
There were many who considered their re-
fusai spd in di nerencs an evidence of the
! self interest and narrowuess Of doctors
and were in full sympathy With the cri-
tioisms, Gays the Commercial Advertiser.
The newest complaint against the medi-
cal profession ID like the Others mem
| tioBso. A Missouri man, who says he
holds q diploma from de!unct medical
coliegs, claims to have made the most re-
marksole OF sli discoveries. He is able,
be afirns,to make men bacillus proof-to
administer secret preparation that VIII
net leave even so much as the heel, as ia
the case ot Achilles. liable TO injury from
the enemy. He wants five of the most
I eminent physicians TO give up their time,
in the interest Of humanity, and test the
| efficacy Of mis- secret prepsfatlon. DE VIII
allow them TO 81 him full nf rapao!ous
| disease germs 10 prey On his viials. Then,
| IL he gets through all right, they are 10
report the TACT 10 the world, which can
buy his preventive, though not the secret
| of its bsture, at his own price. or
course. bis revenues would soon rival
those Of the drunKard cure man.
| The medical profession is made W OF
men Of at least average intelligence. In
America. where every pursuit is open to
| every body with the means to engage in
| it,, there 10 no obvious reason why only
ounces should study medicine and all
the men of great brain power should pass
IL by. These men who have chosen medi-
cine as business have prepared them
selves in every way known to al enlight-
ened ago to battle successfully against
pain and premature death. They have
devoted years to the study Of every thing
that can enlighten the mind as to the
development and structure OF the human
body. the functions Of oil the organs and
their action in health and in disease,
and the effect, in ell conditions, of every
substance within their reach. They have
acquired experience in the hospitals and
day by day their studies and observations
add TO their knowledge. Although the
practice Of medicine is still in many ways
empirical 1t Is obvious thtt those who
give every hour of their lives to IT are
most llSely to learn whatever secrets here
may be in their field. There is a prima
facie case Of self-de!usion or fraud against
any person outsice the profession who
claims to have made a remarkable medi-
cal discovery.
The physicians have entered ;nto vol.
untary compact to subordinate their per-
| sonal interests to the welfare Of their fsl-
low creatures to degree unparalleled ex-
cept in the case of certain religious
orders. Whatever comes to their know
ledge in relation to diseases and their
treatment shall be made the property OF
all the worlo. The great army of pbysi.
clans engaged in experiments have os
their aim glory perhaps, but that is secon-
Diary to the aim of advancing the
efficiency of the profession, and never is
there q directly merceniory consideration.
There are men in that profession as selfish
and mercenery, perhaps, as any other,
hut even these, except In the rarest in
stances, count the glory OF adding TO
medical knowledge. as worth more than
money. Every advance In this field
might have yielded great fortunes to
physicians II they had chosen to keep
their discoveries secret. Without q sing q
known exception-without a single ex-
ception where the discovery was genuine
and useful, the dootors have stood by
their splendid compact.
To such men comes q man, perhaps
without any accurate knowledge of the
situation Of the organs OF the body, and
declares he has discovered what all the
doctors of the century have not been ble
to lind in ell their laboratory experience
ana clinical advantages. substance
which, WI en- aoipipistcded to human
| Dtlng, VIII maze ulU1 proof hEblUsI the al
tacss OF the most virulent and most fre
quenily fatal of diseases. To such physI-
clans he makes this demand, in the name
OF suffering humanity: "You shall take
tue time from your work OF relieving
psin and saving from death to test my
claims, under conditions OF my own. ii
you cannot disprove my claims, the bur-
den Il proof resting with you, then you
shall so certify To the world. Then all
who choose to pay my price may have
the benefit OF MY treatment, though
shall net reveal my secret. BY this fact,
1 place myself outside the pale OF pro-
fessional rsspcctability." Could enything
he more impudent? Ibis is virtua lly tbs
demand i'm all these cases. When the hon.
orable physician discovers anything use
ful IN relation to disease he makes full
report and invites all other physicians to
verify tfa cxtfrionre ard vbooVcr rc