Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-01-31

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.. Virchow, the world famed pathOl-
ogist. DR.. Davis said, "The greatest
pathologlst the world has ever known
was also II great statesman"
The Physicians Opportunities.
But rs go on showing to you young
medical students the golden Opportuni-
ties of S.lture usefulness which the con-
secrated ten talent doctor can WELD |
must here and now halt. | must stop
long enough TO show you that great OPP
portunities for good always imply great
opportunities for evil. Some two years
ago | attended one of the Rush med
ical classes and heard there farewell
address given to the graduating class
by Professor ID. X. Brewer, n distin-
guished specialist on nervous diseases.
1t was a brutally flank and direct ad-
dress in many ways. Its blunt state
laughter through the raised tiers OF
seats filed with students. But as l
went home said to myself: "Dr. Brow
er is right. An honest, skillful physi-
clan is one of the nOblest works of God,
but an unprincipled physician is one Of
the most dcspicable, loathsOme and
cowardly recreants who ever Dreathed
the breath Of life" When the hand
benelcent in healing is devoted to un-
dermining the purity Of society, it Is
like the soft and yelvety paw Of the
leopard which covers terrible AID
merciless 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 un-
true by advice or action to the trust
reposed 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 family physician.
l once heard of Il reformed drunkard
who was supposed to be 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 drunkard's wife, turned to the
physician and said: Doctor, If the
ONLY medicine which can save him is
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-
fclency. bears the commendation Of
Christ on his private life. The Chris
tan 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.
cles to disparage the physician. Some
people say that not only is the doctor a
uuack and Il charlatan, but they have
no use for physicians at all. They ex-
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 n
physician; 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 oul
minds.
Some years ago, as merchant, on
account of worry and overwork. you
became physically run down. a friend
told you that you ought to see physl'
clan. You sneered at him. but you con
tinued 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 breatL
ing apparatus as with sharp knife
You uttered Il cry Of pain: y0u at
tempted to stagger to your feet; then
you fell back, white as a corpse ana
with your forehead covered with 4 cold
clammv sweat. The clerks bundled
you up and took you home. Your Wilt
at once rang the telephone and called
the doctor. Then you did not order
the physician out of the house. lou
watched him. You knew, as you lay
there. that your life was held in TN.
palm of his hand. Oh. how faithful
that doctor was! He came i'll tn
morning: he came in the evening. When
you had thu, sinking spell, he came at
midnight He worked and worked ant
worked over yon. Yes, you can re-
member it as though it were yesterday
when the doctor turned and said.
"Well, my man. 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
"AmenT
Young man about to enter the medical
profession, by the recital of this simple
scene, a specimen of the experience