The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-03-12

lnrrehse, are convinced tndJ tney co
a hieve them. Here is a pursly medical
question. 10 which our general court not
being "a well-sprin9 and source tf medical
virtue. must remain strictly neutral uL-
der penalsy Of making the confusion
woisl.
In the mater OF pharmacy, in the mat
ter of such an art as plumbing, the LeRis-
lature mny imps So exam ination ard grant
license without harIr. The iacis hero are
ultra-simple, and no differ Dces whatever
OF conscientious opinion Irevaii among
the expei Is a 8 TO what rs right. Bat tins
case of medical prac.ice Is absolutely
different. 1t Is the COZ fusion, the deplor-
able imperfeotion OF the most expert
knowietee and the 1nscier tious diver
Rencles of opinion. the il finite conplica-
ton Of the pher omena, al the varying
and mutually exclusive fields Cf exue-
rience that are The very essence OF the
case.
i know well what those friends of nine
OF the Blassach usetts MeC al so iety who
would presume to act rs your aovissrs
will think. Having worked as hard and
as conscientiously as tiey have worked
to acquire the wisdom tLey possess, thty
Will think IL llttlo less than treason in a
psrson aradsmitaily brought up to de-
preciate publicly, as do, the results Of
all thCs, labors. / hate to appear IN my
brethreD's eyes traitor 10 cause hich
for them is identical with That of science
and education, and for which thew burn
with 50 holy zeal: for my cause is that
OF science and education tco. Heaven
forbid ttat L should make light Of the
glorious achievements Of modern sur
gerry. Taking one fort OF education with
another, a edicnl education is en- the
whole as broadenir < and deepening an
education as i krow. And II some fatal
ity were laid on US whereby one type of
practitioner. must triorce he singled ont
Tor license and all ether types stamped
out, should unbositatingy vote to IL
ceiise the Harvard Medical School tyne,
Tor Ii lies in he spirit Of science to cor
rect Its own mistakes in the end; and /
should hope that liltle by little, though
with Infinite slowness manv Of the things
we'll known outside of the medical school,
bat not known there at present, might
possibly be redisc0vsred by one adventur-
Gus spirit or another Inside and finally
nc crete with the final body of doctrine.
Even mipd-cure methods might eventu-
ally be fesurrected in this way. But
thank heaven, 20 such tat8l necessity OF
giving exclusive hcynse 10 one type OF
MIND uow weighs upon his Legislature.
Our stats needs the assistance of every
type of mind, academic or non-aoa CEN 10
of which she POSSESSES spetimens. There
are none too many of thsin, for to no one
OF than can the whole of truth be re-
vealed. Each Is necessarily partly psrcep-
tive and partly blind. Even the very
best type is partly hind. There are meth
ods which cannot bring Itself to use.
The blindness Of typo Of plind is not
diminished when those who havs it band
themselves tDge ther in a corporate urofes-
sion. By Just Hs much as they hold each
other up to the standard in certain linea
and force each other To bs thorough and
conscientious there, bg just SO much
along the other lines do they not only Ier-
init, but even compel eacn other TO to
shallow When 1 ns medical student /
feel sure that any one Of us would have
been ashamed To TO caught locking into a
homeopathic book by a professor. We
had To sneer ut Homeopathy at wofd of
command. such was tie school opinion
OF that ti:ne and L imagine tiat similar
encouragaments to supCrfoiality In vnri-
ous directions exist Ia the m. dlcal schools
OF today.
Now as to calling the Massachusetts,
Medical Socisty trades union trying 10
irfluence legislation against scahs can
hardlv imagine any men Der Of tue society
Affirming that In the movement for the
present bill trades union motives are TO.
tally aLsenG Take a struggling practi-
TONER, young or old, I'm a small place.
lie has spent years of lie anu thousands
Of dollars in fitting himsslf for his work.
Conscientious ana sflf-Sacrincing TO the
last degree, he dt serves some acknowl-
ed0ment ana reward. WHAT can his feel
ings be when ne sees the faith curer
alongside and the mptaphysical healers
opposite with no education, with no sac.
rflces with nothiug hut their silly Oh.
timtsm ard prepostsroUs coDceit. stealing z
PATIENTS from him by Tie doZsng lie can
feel nothng tut Iibhte0us Indignation !:
and when no tells The taie TO his col
leagues their blood b1ls Ike his. lhs
state owvs some p ottction TO us who
have done right. they saw. And the med
ioal politicians who run the society =
ntiAirs, however oroat their dlsinteir stea
zeal for tho public health may be--and I
am the last TO ueny that-Assuredlv are
rot alto .oi her forgetful OF this other as
rect of the crsa The trades upion in
stinct is strong In them; and trades union
Instinct has to be- strong In every great
professional scoisty. There ara alyays
some members who, II they had rover,
would put down heresy like Spanish In
quisitois and thtr, are times when such
mombers may come 60 toe ton. Pray re-
member all thtss facts, gentlemen Of the
committee, when listening 10 your advis-
ers on the opposite side. Whatever you do.
you are ho,ind nof b. obstrntt the growt n
a truth Nv the frsest cathering in of ths
most various cxpsrierces. uras trat TIE
Lest way { y do ttat Is p sny Lands of -
and let tbs resent law, which is ap-
ftrA,tly n good cne and only four years
old. ,llne.
Ihs hinge os my whole contention, You
see, Is that in strictly medal qusrrels