Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-01-29

no use for physicians ut all. They OK
ultantly boast that they have never
taken any medicine in their lives. They
contend that most people would be far
better off If they never consulted a
| physicians; that the doctors kill as
many people as they cure, and that
most people are hypochondriacs, which
means that most diseases of the human
race are purely imaginary. But though
some of us in the past may have boast.
ed that we had no use for doctors. alas
there has come time when many of
us were only too glad to change our
minds.
Some years ago, as n merchant, on
account of worry and Overwork you
became physically run down. A friend
| told you that you ought to see physi.
clan. You sneered at him. but you con-
tnucd to grow worse You became SO
weak that you had to take carriage
to business. One day you felt an aw-
full pain shoot through your lung.
Pneumonia had stabbed your breath
ing apparatus as with Il sharp knife.
You uttered Il cry Of pain; you at
tempted to stagger 70 your feet; then
you fell back. white as a corpse and
with your forehead covered with cold,
clammy sweat The clerks bundled
you up and took you home. Your wife
Mt once rang the telephone and called
the doctor. Then you did not order
the physician out of the house. You
watched him. You knew, as YOU Law
there, that your life was held in the
palm of his hand. Oh how faithful
that doctor was. He came in the
morning: he came in the evening. When
you had TINT sinking spell. he came at
midnight. He worked and worked and
worked over you. Yes. you can re-
member il rs though il were yesterday
when the doctor turned and said !:
well, my man, I think the crisis is
past. think YOU will get well. But
we have had n hard fight for your life
yes, an awful hard fight" Then in
that crisis were YOU not willing to let
that family physician give to you any
advice he could! If that physician at
that time had come and prayed at your
bedside and as a Christian doctor had
told you about the love of the Good
Physician Christ. would you not have
listened to him and have gladly said
"Amen!"
Young man about to enter the medical
profession, by the recital of this simple
scene. specimen of the experience
which at some time or other takes
place in almost every home, want
you TO fully realize your glorious Cos
pei opportunities. | want you to be
able. like the good old DR.. Luke. to go
TO the patients bed with prescription
suggested by your medical books in one
hand and Il spiritual prescription taken
from your Bible in the other hand. l
want you to be Il glorious Christian
physician. like DIR. John Brown of Scot
land or DR.. Rush of Philadelphia or
DR.. James y. Simpson of annsthetic
fame or like Bishop Matthew Simpson.
who learned how to be the greatest
Methodist preacher of his day by being
first practicing Christian physician
and by praying at the bedsides of his
sick patients. Your gospel work can
be made glorious for God and for the
betterment of the world IL you will
here and now promise to love and live
for the Good Physician, who at Laza-
rus tomb called the dead back to life.
Medicines Chief Triumpbs.
But the purpose of the medical pro-
fessiOn is not only to make the sick
well, but also to prevent the well from
getting sick. We are all ready to agree
that the chief duty Of the good lawyer
is to keep his clients out of court. Why
should we not be ready to confess that
the chief purpose of the doctor is to
Keep his patients as long as possible
out of the hospital and the sickroom!
That the chief trumphs of the med
zeal profession have been won during
the last century in the prevention of
disease rather than in the cure there is
no doubt. How have the great plaques
which used 10 sweep over Europe been
halted: BY the power OF the sword:
No. by the power of the bacteriol-
ogists microscope and the physicians
pen. Dr. Earle, a leading professor in
the Chicago College Of Physicians and
Surgeons. told me that when he first
commenced his practice in Chicago 30
per cent OF all his patients sicknesses
were due to bad water and poor drain
age. With the Improvement of Chica-
COS G~inage system that 80 per cent
of sickness is being gradually eliminat-
ed. Why is the longevity of the hui
man race being increased year by year?
Because pnopie do not work as hard rs
they used to work: oh. no. An aver
age man today goes through more hard
work and nerve exhaustion and excite
mcnt in II week than his grandfather
did in whole year. The longevity
of the human race is increasing in