Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-03
The Sparkling. IN
Pints and Quarts.
TOO MANY DOCTORS.
the Evils and Cause of the over
crowded Medical Profession.
From the Philadelphia Medical Journal.

From the Philadelphia Medical Journal
In common with the other professions,
that of medicine is oyercrowded. This con-
dit1on is not a new one, but 1t Is worse thah
II was and it is continually growing worse
We doubt whather it is within the province
OF any man TO point out sure and certain
remedy for bad sociologic conditions, but
1t is within che province of any of us to
note a few of the factors that contribute
TO existing evils and by avoiding them in
the future % lessen TO solne extent the evils
of which we complain.
Medicine invIseS the allegiance Of many
who imagine ihdt they see in its practice
an easy meth ID Of making a respectable
living without gCIng to much expense in
preparation. This c.aSS was especially APP
pealed 10 by The formerly existing short
courses of study with the absolute certain
~ of graduation at the end OF TWO years.
Today, being shut out of most reputable
medical colleges, the same class IL taking
UP the various branches of quackery, such
as osteopaihy, hy pnousm, Christian sci
ence and kindred short cuts TO good in
comes. The institutes of various kinds
which now advertise instruction the va
rious healing fadS make d special point
OF dila,ing upon the certainty of making
good living by these means in very short
time. 1t is evident that a good living"
for these frauds Is a smaller annual in
come than IS requisite for the reputable
physician. with his necessarily large ex-
pcnditureS every year for books instru-
ments and remedies. The fact that these
charlatans have come, and have come to
stay, should be recognized. We cannot
lessen the evil, no matter how much we
deplore it. Irregular practitioners of va
rlous sorts now monopoliZe more than. half
OF the medical practice in regard to minor
illneSses-the kind that would eventually
get we'll without treatment in spite of
tt-and which formerly contributed a very
respectable annual sum to the average doc
tors income. The genuine medical pro-
fession does as much work as ever in Sc
r1OuS diseases, but gets less pay for it.
1t may thus be seen that even without an
annual influx of new men there Is less
work today Cor the average doctor than
there was twenty years ago. Preventive
medicine is still further lessening the
amount of routine work for the general
practitioner. Typhoid fever was formerly
the standby for steady income In many
communities. -Four or FIVE cases of that
fair bulk of the general practitioners out
side work. The prevalence of this illness
j. constantly decreasing: some day 1t will
be practically eradicated So it Is with
diphtheria; so 1t is in some parts of the
country with maiarial diseases. Altruistic
medicine is lessening its own work and di-
minishing its own income.
With these and kindred facts in mind, Is
there not some legitimate way to lessen
the number Of doctors who have to do the
work? Should not every physician, and es-
pecialiy every college professor. do his best
TO keep the incompetent the ne er-do- wells
and certain failures from entering our
ranks? No young man should be encour-
aged to take up the study of medicine I'M
less he possesses natural qualifications of
an exceptionally high order. Good drug