The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-01-24

prayers or incantations or seances? Ger
| ta;nly not. Does he belong distinctly TO
anyone school or class? l answer un-
| hesitatingly, no. Those men who stroye
back in the ages of the foundations OF
our science were no less true because
| one believed in Empiricism and one IL
Dogmatism and one in Methodism ana
/ one in electricism each worked TO g
| common end and each was entitled TO
such rewards as lay in the minds OF
the people to give. Perhaps more pre-
ferred the teachings of Philinus tnan
| did the teachings of Parmenides, and YET.
| both worked in his own way, toward
a common goal-the desire for more
/ light. Both were wrong, but upon Their
errors true science has builded; they
| had no true ideas of causes or OF reme-
dies, and all worked from different the
ories, all false deductions, and yet, on
up through this age OF mysticism they
| toiled and at its end laid hold OF an era
/ OF realism, an era wherein true re
tsearch began to be made. These differ
enees stimulated each to greater endeavor,
/ and their very confusions were toe points
| from which true science began to be
| evolved; on up to now, through the ages
| of the renovation and transition, with
| the skepticism of Charron and the the
osophy of Pierre Bayle, through the
period OF the Renaissance, on up through
modern experimentation, mems minds
have chiselled new and diverging grooves
/ of reasoning and thought; theories were
advanced and swept away, and upon
! tEeir ruins have been laid the basic
stones of true science, a science that has
advanced, sometimes turning back for
more light, but finding it, has gone on
until from these old foundation stones
| laid ages ago, which almost seem to us
| the myths of a prehistoric era, there
/ has appeared a superstructure of medical
knowledge reaching almost to the realm
of certainty, and the theories OF the
mysteries of the ancients are o'er-covered
| by a masonry OF accumulated scientific
'Fsects, and yet, there is enough left OF
empiricism and dogma and disputation
and uncertainty, to give to our cult the
breath of a broad charity toward those
whose faith is not so strong in the power
and potentiality of our achievements. In
some practices and teachings we may be
and l believe we are-wrOng; the great
tendency is to cast aloof from the an
chors of our forefathers, and fasten toe
strongly to modernism and trial expert
mentation, and sometimes l fear to fal
lacious reasoning without having passed
each new loudly heralded discovery thro
1.-The crucible of acute clinical investiga-
ton, and because l believe that we come
nearer and approach as closely as We
can to what is a True physician" One
who uses any means or method to remove
distractions to the normal and heal,.y
exercise of the functions of the human
body-not dragging, or cutting, or rub
bing, or suggesting, or bathing, or shock
ing alone; all these we use, but anything
that will return to its normal state a
diseased vital process. But because ,'4Is
| is my belief, and the belief of my school
! no reason advances why others VINO dc
not believe as we, and wnUsc opinions
may be founded on theories and facts
Just as secure to them as are ours to
US, should be precluded from using lne
methods and means that they deem lest
an further, because the great majority
think us right, and strengthen "l,l
their hearts, and uphold our Lands, unere
| is all the more reason why the small
minority, who believe some other teacn-
ing better, should rather be the receipt
ents of our good viii than to be met
with distractions in the proper exercise
| OF their right of choice. Undoubtedly to
my mind there is some good in all of the
various methods, and although ours is
By far the greatest good, We must con-
fess that as yet we have not reached per
ection or exactness in many of our prac-
| tices nor have we yet convinced all the
world or even ourselves that we have
reached very high pinnacle of medical
certainty.
The Board of Medical Examiners Is
one of the most needful and benefcent
institutions of the State, and as it now
exists its jurisdiction is proper and righv
applied to applicants of its own school
and faith; but it is manifestly unfair
and unwise when applied to applicants
of another cult. If Homeopaths are to be
remanded before the board, then Home
opaths should examine them; ii Osteo-
maths or Eclectics or Empires be cited for
examination, then they should appear be
fore those of their own creed, and SO
with the adherents of any other school