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

was the greatest rcconstructor Of the
Spanish American war? General Leon.
ard Wood, the governor of Porto Rico
and Cuba. Yes. but you have not Civ.
on Leonard Wood his best title. H0
was DR.. Leonard Wood. the family
physician OF William Mckinley. Who
was the greatest rival of Bismarck the
mighty molder of the German empire?
DR.. Nirchow. the world famed pathOl-
ogist. DIR. Davis said. "The greatest
pathologist the world has ever known
was also great statesman"
The Physician's Opportunities.
But as I 90 on showing to YOU young
medical students the golden opportuni-
ties of future usefulness which the con-
sccratcd ten talent doctor can WELD l
must here and now halt. ! must stop
long enough to show you that great OPP
portunties for good always imply great
opportunities for evil. Some two years
ago | attended one OF the Rush med
ical classes and heard there n farewell
address given to the graduating class
by Professor u. X. Brewer, distin-
Eushcd specialist on nervous diseases.
1t was brutally frank and direct adj.
dress in many ways. Its blunt state
ments again and again evoked derisivc
laughter through the raised tiers Of
seats filed with students. But as l
went home l said to myself: "Dr. Brow
or is right. An honest, skillful physi-
clan is one of the noblest works Of God,
but an unprincipled physician is one of
the most despicable, loathsome and
cowardly recreants who ever breathed
the breath of life When the hand
benefccnt in healing is devoted to un-
dermining the purity of society, it is
like the soft and velvety paw of the
leopard. which covers terrible and
mcrciless claw. oh. young man about
TO enter the noble medical profession,
beg of you not to prove false to your
trust. | beg of you when you enter
the home Of Il man who surrenders in
to your care the life and the safety OF
his children that you never prove I'M
true by advice or action to the trust
rcposed in you,
No matter how brilliant an unprinci-
pied doctor may be, no Christian man
or woman can afford or has any right
to employ him as a family physician
| once heard of n reformed drunkurd
who was supposed to he dying. The
physician by his bedside said, The
only medicine which can cure him is
alcohol" Then the wife, who sat near
and had lived through the horrors Of
being n drunkard's wife, turned to the
physician and said: doctor, if the
only medicine which can save him il
alcohol. then | refuse to let him live
Yes, let him die sober rather than live
drunk"
The Most Honored of Men.
The best family physician is the man
who. in addition to the diploma of the
medical faculty guaranteeing his pro-
tcicncy, bears the commentator OF
Christ on his private life. The Chris
tian physician is not only among the
most honored of men, but without
doubt he can become the most beloved
of men. He has greater opportunity
for winning the confidence and love OF
men than the lawyer, the statesman,
the author or even the minister. He
has such opportunities of winning the
confidence and the love OF people that
our foreign missionary societies are
more anxious to send out the Christian
medical missionary than they are to
send the Christian minister, pure and
simple
1t is the fashion now in certain cir
clcs to disparage the physician. Some