The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-06-11

for the bodies of men. Sin done, disease
will 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 benediction 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 tenement house into the
dispensary and unwraps the rags from
her babe q bundle of ulcers and rheum
and pustules, and over that little sufferer
bends the accumulated wisdom of the
ages, from Esculapius down to last
weeks autopsy. In one dispensary in
one year 100, 900 prescriptions were is
sued. Why do I show you 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
SOlll anu pOW-
dered wigs, which were the accompani-
ments in the days when the barber used
to carry through the streets of London
DR.. Brockelsby wig, to the admiration
and awe of the people, saying: Make
wayl Here comes DR.. Brockelsby's
wig" No; l announce these things not
only to increase the appreciation of
laymen in regard to the work of physi-
clans, 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
magnificent work and that they have
been called into such illustrious COM
pany. Have you never felt a spirit of
gratitude for this opportunity? Do you
not feel thankful nowP Then, | am
afraid, doctor, you are not Christian
and that the old proverb which Christ
quoted in his sermon may be appropri.
ate to you, physician, heal myself"
Another reason why | think the med
ical profession ought to be Christians is
because there are so many trials and
annOyances i'll that profession that need
positive Christian solace. know you
have the gratitude of a great many good
people, and [ know it must be a grand
thing to walk intelligently through the
avenues of human life, and with ana
tonic skill pOise yourself ON the nerves
and fibers which cross and recross this |
wonderful physical system. suppose a
skilled eye can see more beauty even in |
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 many
annoyances and trials the medical pro-
fession have! DR.. Rush used to say in .
his valedictory address to the students
of the medical college, young gentle
men, have two pockets-a small pocket
and big pocket, small pocket in
which to put your fees, large pocket
in which to put your annoyances.
In the first place, the physician has no
Sabbath. Busy merchants and lawyers
and mechanics cannot afford to be sick
during the secular week, and so they
nurse themselves along with lozenges
and hOrehoun1 candy until Sabbath
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 families. 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 Or
gans 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
french of the grave, and then they run
for the doctor. The slight fever which
night have been cured with footbath
las become virulent typhus, and the
hacking cough killing pneumonia. AS
though a captain should sink his ship
IF Amagansett, and then put ashore in
| yawl, and then come to New York to
he marine Office and want to get his
yessel insured. Too late for the ship,
90 late for the patient
Wise Doctors.
Then there are many who always
)lame the doctor because the people
lie, forgetting the divine enactment
1t is appointed unto all men once to
lie. " The father in medicine who an
bounced the fact that he had discovered
he art by which to make men in this
world immortal, himself died at Al
ears of age, showing that Immortality
vas less than half a century for him.
)h, how easy it is when people die to
ry out, Malpractice. " Then the ply
ician must bear with all the whims,
nd the sophistries, and the receptions, ,
nd the stratagems, and the irritatiOns
f the shattered nerves and the becloud.
d brains of women, and more especially
men, who never know how graceful ,
= to be sick, and who with their sail !,
ated mouths curse the doctor, giving
i'm his dues, as they say-about the
My dues he will in that case collect :
he last bill that is paid is the doctors ,
i'll. 1t seems so incoherent for re-
tored patient, with ruddy cheeks and +,
otund form m no bothered with a hill