The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-06-11

200. and then 100. and then so. and
then the average of human life came to
40, and then IL dropped TO IS. But
medical science came In. and since the
sixteenth century the average Of hu-
man life has risen from Is years To "A.
and ii will continue to rise until the
average OF human life will be so. and IT
Will be 60. and it will be 20, and a man
will have no right to die before 30. and
the prophecy OF Isaiah will be literally
fulfilled, And the child shall die 100
years old" The millennium for the
souls of men viii be the Millennium
for the bodies Of men. Sin DINE, disease
viii be done, the clergyman and the
physician getting through with their
work at the same time.
DOCTORS FOR THE POOR
But IT seems to me that the most
beautiful be~nediction of the medical
profession has been dropped upon the
poor. No excuse now for any ones not
having scientific attendance DISPENSE
ries and infirmaries everywhere. under
the control of the best doctors. some of
them poorly paid, some of them not
paid at all. A half starved woman
comes out from the low house
into the dispensary and unwraps the
rags from her babe, a bundle of ulcers
and rheum and postules, and over that
little sufferer bends the accumulated
wisdom of the ages. from Esculapius
down to asst weeks autopsy. In one
d~ispensary in one year 80, 600 prescrip-
tions We're issued. Why do 1 show
what God has allowed this profession
to do? Is it to stir UP your vanity?
Oh, no.. The day has gone by for
pOmpous doctors, with CONSPICUOUS
gold headed canes and powered wigs.
which were the accomplishments in the
days when the barber used to carry
through the streets of London DR..
BrOckelsby'S wig. to the admiration
n awe Of the people, saying: Make
way! Here come DIR. B~rockelsby's
wig" No; 1 these things not
only TO increase the appreciation of
laymen in regard to the work ii physi-
clans, but to stir in the hears Of the
men Of the medical profession a feeling
Of gratitude o God that they have been
above to put their hand to such a
magnificent work and that they have
been called into such illustrious COM
pany. lave yOu never felt a spirit of
gratitude for this opportunity? Do you
not feel hankfu now Then, | am
afraid, doctor, you are not a Christian
and that the old proverb which Christ
quoted in his sermon may be a%ppropri-
ate to you, physician, heal myself"
hiictiiCl oCo why L lI1lIih III lIlCu-
ical profession ought to be Christiansis
because there are SO many trials and
a~nnOyanceS in that profession that need
positive Christian solace. / know you
have the gratitude of a great many
good people. and 1 know it must be a
grand thing to walk intelligently
through the n of human life, and
with anatomic skill poise yourself on
the nerves and ibres which cross and
~ +hic u-nns1a rf:,1 ,h1r-ical -,--ta,,
/ suppose a skilled eye can see more
beauty even in malformation thar an
architect can point out in any of his
structures, though it be the very tri-
umph of arch and plinth and abacus.
But how many a~nnoyances and trial
the medical profession have! DR..
Rush used to say in his valedictOry ad-
dress to the students of the medical
! college. Young gentlemen, lave two
~pockets-a small pocket and a big
pocket, a small pocket in which to put
your fees, a large pocket in which to
put YOU annOyances."
In the first place, the physician has
| no Sabbath. Busy merchants and law
yers and mechanics cannot afford to be
sick during the secular week, and so
they nurse themselves along with loz-
engeS and hOrehound candy until Sab
bath morning comes, and then they
say, Il must have a 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 families.
During the secular days they take a
haSty lunch at the and ON
the Sabbath they make up for their
six days abstinence by especial gor-
mandizing, which. before night,
makes their amazed digestive organs
cry out for a doctor. And that spoils
the evening church service for the
physician.
Then they are annoyed by people
coming too late. Men wait until the
last fortress of physical strength is
taken and death has dug around it the
trench Of the grave, and then they
for the doctor. The slight fever which
might have been cured with a fOOtbath
has become virulent typhus, and the
hacking cough killing pneumonia. AS
though a captain should sink his ship
off Amagansett, and then put ashore in
a yawl, and then come to New York to
the marine Office and want to get his
vessel insured Toe late for the ship
too late for the patient.
WISE DOCTORS.
Then there are many who always
| blame the doctor because the people
| die, forgetting the divine enactment,
l. 10 dppolllCo III I'LL IlIC oIlSS W
die" The father in medicine who an
nounced the fact that he had discover
| ed the art by which to make men in
this world immortal, himself died ait AZ
| years Of age, showing that immortality
| was less than half a century for him.
Oh, how easy it is when people die to
cry out, Malpractice" Then the ply
stefan must bear With all the whims,
and the sophistrles, and the receptions,
. and the s~tratagems, and the i%rritations
of the shattered nerves and the be-
clouded brains of women, and more eS-
pecially of men, who never know how
gracefully to be sick, and who with
their salivated mouths curse the doctor,
giving him his dues, as they ~say-about
/ the only dues he will in that case col
lect. The last bin that is paid is the
doctors bill. Tt seems so incoherent
for a restored patient, with ruddy
| cheeks and rotund form, to be bothered
| with a bill charging him for old calo-
mel and jalap. The physicians of this