The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-01-26

public and making it his duty to render
service to every one who called on him
without fee or reward would unity tn"
medical and public interest. The great
est advantage would be exemplified in
making great strides in medical practice
possible. The present state of confusion
IN medical literature, the barefaced ly-
ings resorted to by manufacturers OF
trade marked drugs, the pleasant and
earnest manner OF the drug and instru-
nlent drummers, seeking to sell their
wares by claiming something newer and
letter than the old drugs and inStru-
mcnts, certainly nave a bewildering IN
fCence on the doctor who is seeking
new and useful knowledge and who is
cautiously anxious to avoid the pitfalls of
useless and dangerous therapeutics. The
deaths FASTENED and caused by the anti
ryretics before their status as thera-
peutic agents was established by the sad
experience of the profession is probably
greater in numbers than all the slain
in the wars of the last five years Yet
all OF us remember with what eagerneSS
we administered cur first dose and the
thrill of triumphant pleasure we eX-
pericnced when we saw fevered tenn
peratures rapidly crawling down TO norm
al We also remember the slow and
creepy conviction that came over us
when we saw gradual increase in the
length OF our mortuary account. Any
doctor who would have stood aloof from
the use of these drugs for the first five
years after their introduction into medi
cal practice would have been considered
an old fool and fogy
Under existing conditions there is moth
ing authoritative in medicine. We
blindly follow the lead of some other
follow who is paid to exploit some rene
dy somebody has for sale. OF the ten
thousand new remedies put forward dur
ing the last twenty years, not a dozen
will retain a place in therapeutics
through the next decade We would be
willing TO wager that there is not a man
in America who could name from mem
cry ten per cent of the remedies on sale
to cure disease. This ought not to be.
With a properly disciplined corps of pub
lie medical officers it would not be.
1t is common saying among doctors
that life is not long enough and no man
has mind enough to become proficient
i'll all departments of medicine. This is
no doubt true if the individual is re-
CURED to learn all the things that are
not true. Yet we see the self appointed
professional guardians Of the people S
welfare urgently demanding legislation
requiring a very high standard of ac-
Guirements before a man shall be allow
ed to practice medicine at all, and this
too, Notwithstanding the fact of the ma
Of tO I
would be pretty hard on contractors not
to allow them to hire hod carriers be-
cause they could rot lay brick Seventy
FIVE per cent. of medical practice can be
done by men of mediocre intellect with
proper supervision, and they ought to be
allowed to do it.
Now, before a man is allowed to work
he has to throw away five years and a
great deal of money in getting ready to
be passed upon by the examining board
before he can ever announce himself as
candidate for popular favor. Would
ii not be better for him to do as the
tradesman does, commence at small
wages and work up as fast as his capa-
city will carry him and no faster? Com
mence him as nurse when he begins
lis studies. Require written record of
his work, drill him into accurate methods.
and pay him the worth of his work and
no more. If he is untitled for the work
he can drop out before his blunder is ir-
rcparable. If Sitted he can climb until
he reaches the highest plane to which his
ability can carry him, where he will find
mis- field of usefulness and not be a
stumbling block in the way of better
man. Surgeons and hospitals are needed
everywhere. The system of grades and
promotions according to capacity would
Ilace every many where he belongs and
no amount Of quack methods, however
skillfully and slyly managed. could avail.
The medical department of the govern
ment would be its greatest and best de-
pGrtment. The work Of the civil doc
tors systematized and managed as it is
in the army, would enable us to learn
everything that can be learned
Organized effort could entirely stamp
out many diseases.
New remedies would not be trusted into
unframed hands and their value would
be determined by trained experiments
before the profession at large would be
allowed to use them. Collective inyesti-
cation under well qualified supervision
in one months time would establish the
worth OF any remedy or measure We
would then feel that what we were taught
would be knowledge and not opinion.
The details of the revolution if 1t
should occur would work themselves cut
to the greatest advantage of the race.
because there would be no class interest
to serve, all would be fighting to reach
~, copoo cool