Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-06-16

NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Al t1r tr1Nrr~ % HIS
aaSiSAs-Csesa war s,reess ssi sAes sA
on God Tor help-~
SEQ what this profession has aoae tO- -.
-nss longevity. There was such fearful
subtrs ,ti0n from human life thai sA-r,. wsss
prOsuect that within = few e~at1Fics tbs
world would BE- left alnOst ihhahitzRtlesS.
Atan started with whole eternity %
earthly existence before him. bat he cut Olf
the most Of il aud only comparatively few
wears were left-ORly TOO years Of Gfe and
then 500, aud then 400. and then 200 and
then 100. and then 50, and then the average
II human life came 10 40, aud then il
tropped To Is, But medical science came
n, and since the sixteenth century the
average of human life has risen from Is
wears to ~, and it will continue TO rise un-
I'll the average of human life will be 50, and
a will he TO, and il will be- TO- and man
will have no right to die before 20, and the
prophecy of Isaiah will be literally fulfilled,
And the child shall die 100 years old"
The millennium for the souls of men will
be- the millennium for the bodies OF men.
Sin done, disease will be- done. the clergy
man and the physician getting through
with their work at the same time time.
But II seems to me- that the most beauti,
full benediction Of the medical profession
has been dropped upon the poor. No ex-
cuse now for any ones not having scientific
attendance. Dispensaries and infirmaries
everywhere under the control OF the best
tOctors, some of them poorly paid, some of
hem not paid at all. A half starved woman
zones out from the low tenement house
nto the dispensary and unwraps the rags
rom her babe, a bundle of ulcers and rheum
and pustules, and over that little sufferer
Dends the accumulated wisdom of the ages,
rom Esculapius down to last weeks
,utopsy. In one dispensary in one year
$50 900 prescriptions were issued. Why do
[ show you what God has allowed this pro.
l1l T., .N
Oh, mol The day has gone by for pompous
doctors, with econspicuous gold-headed
canes and powdered wigs, which were the
tccompaniments in the DAYS when the bar
DER used to carry through the streets %
london DIR. Brockelsby's wig, to the ad
niration and awe Of the people, saying:
Make wayl Here comes DR.. Brockelsby's
wig" No; announce these things not
only to increase the appreciation of laymen
In regard to the work OF physicians, but tO
stir in the hearts of the men of the medical
profession feeling of gratitude to God
that they have been allowed to put their
hand to such a magnificent work and that
they have been called into such illustrious
company. Have you never felt a spirit of
gratitude for this opportunity? Do you
not feel thankful now? Then, / am afraid
doctor, you are not a Christian and that the
old proverb which Christ quoted in his SER
mon may be appropriate to you, ''Physi
alan, heal thyself."
Another reason why l think the medica.
profession ought to be Christians is be-
cause there are so many trials and annoy
ances in that profession that need positive
Christian soiace. l know you have the
gratitude of a great many good people, and
know it must be grand thing to walk in
telligently through the avenues of human
life, and with anatomic skill poise yourself
on the nerves and fibers which cross and
recross this wonderful physiaAAsxstem. 1
even in a malformation than an architect
can point out in any of his structures,
though it be the very triumph of arch and
plinth and abacus. But how tnGGv annoy
ances and trials the medical profession
havel DIR. Rush used to say in his Saledic.
tory address to the students of the medical
college: Young gentlemen have two pock-
sts-s small pocket and big pocket: a
small pocket in which to pyt your fees. a
large .nsss posfl' in : li0h ~ your Ansss'.'
$40 4. 1-N Is yll.a
sabbath: Busy mere iTwy~N,
and mechanics cannot aff0iu TO be sick
iuring the secular week, and so they nurse
themselves along with lozenges and hore-
hound candy until Sabbath 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 graft many men who dine but
once a week with their families. During
the secular DAYS they take hasty lunch at
the restaurant, and on the Sabbath they
make up for their six days abstinence 10y
especial gormandizing, which, before
night, makes their amazed digestive or
gans cry out for doctor. And that spoils
he evening church service for the phys.
clan.
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 ii the trench of the grave
and then they run for the doctor. The
slight fever which might have been cured
with a foo tbath has become virulent typhus,
and the hacking cough killing pneumonia
As though a captain should sink his ship
of Amagansett, land then put ashore in
yawl and then come to New York to the
marine Ofice and want to get his vessel in.
sured. Too late for the ship too late for
the patient.
Then there are many who always blame
he doctor because the people die, forget
ing the divine enactment, SIT Is appointed
into all men once to die" The father in
Medicine who announced the fact that he
had discovered the art by which to make
men in this world immortal, himself died at
II yeare of age, showing that Immortality
was less than half century for him. oh,
Malpractice" Then the physician must
bear with all the whims, and the sophistries,
and the deceptiOns, and the stratagems,
and the irritations Of the shattered nerves
and the beclouded brains of women, and
more especially with men who never know
how gracefully to be sick. and with then
,aliv8ted mouths curse the doctor, giving
him hls dues, AS they say-sbout the only
lues 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 forsRld
calomel and jalap. Tho physicians of Shis
country do more missionary work without
charge than all the other professionals put
together. From the concert room, from
the merry party, from the comfortable
couch on a cold night, when the thermom.
eter Is Ave degrees below zero, the doctor
must go right away-he always must go
right away. To keep up under this nervous
strain, to go through this night work, to
bear all these annoyances, many physicians
have resorted to strong drink nd perished.
Others have appealed to. God for sympathy
md help and have lived. Which were the
wise doctors, judge ye?
Again, the medical profession ought to
be Christians because there are profes-
sional exigencies when t@ey need God.
Asa's destruction by unbleSsed physicians
was warning. There are awful criseAjn
,very medical practice when a doctor on 9ht
% know hoy to pray. All the hosts of ills
VIII ScHittluutS themselves pu ltf
weak points of the physical organism, or
with equal ferocity will assault the entire
line of susceptibility to suffering. The
next dose of medicine will decide whether
Or not the happy ho3S shall be broken up.
Shall it be this medidyke or that medicine?
God help the Soctorl Between the five
Arops and the Yen drops may be the ques-
tion of life o. death. Shall it be the five or
the ten drops? Be careful how you put that
knife through those delicate portionApf the
body. for il it swing out of the - 1.-The
sixth part OF an inch the patient perhhes
Under such circumstances physician
needs not so much consultation with mel
of his own calling as he needs consultation
with that God who stNng the nerves ant
built the cells and swung the crimson It'd,
through the Srieries. You wonder why tn,
heart thrObs, why it seems to open an,
shut. There is no wonder about it. It I
Gods hand shutting. opening, shutting
opening on every heart. When a man
I l. kx-V l..