Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-12-07
What is a Quack?

That it is not always safe to call
competitor a ~quack" has been dem
onstrated in England by DR.. %.
Bashford, director Of the Imperial Can
Ger Research Fund, London. Some time
ago. in an article published in Ths
Rrftish Medical journal. DR.. BashforG
applied this epithet to DR.. Robert Bell
also Of London, who in published ar.
sicles had described method of treat.
ment of cancer by a nOnSurg1cal meth
I'd which he believed to be curative II
certain malignant conditions, and 81
stated. DR.. Bell resented being called
.auack" and instituted suit against DR.
Bashford. lie was awarded ten thou
sand dollars damages for this publish.
ed reflection upon his good name ane
professional standing.
Whether Dr. Bell has really discover.
ed cure for cancer, or not, we DO MOI
know. The proha bihities are that he has
not, but we confess to a feeling Of sym
patty for him, and for this reason: II
is altogether too easy and too common
Tor men who occupy high positions II
the medical profession to cast asper-
sions upon those whose methods OF
treatment and modes of thought fal
outside the beaten paths which theil
more orthodox fellows DelleVe the only
truly scientific paths.
The words .'quack" and "charlatan'
imply dishonesty and ignorance. But
IL men merely think otherwise than we
do, it by no means follows thht they
are dishonest or ignorant. We have
learned so much, through all the ages
from those who; have acquired the11
knowledge of life and nature outside
the sources laid down by the schools
that it is high time we developed the
broadness of viewpoint and the scien-
tiflc charity that would make 1t i'm
possible for us to use these opprobrious
terms in connection with honorable, in
telligent men.
The word "quack" has always been
used altogether too freely. Paracelsue
was dubbed a quack. SO was Mesmer;
80 was Jenner Time was when to the
regular profession every homeopath
was quack; and so were the disciples
Of Samuel Thompson and the followers
Of King and Scudder. Now there are
few men in the profession who refuse
to acknowledge their obligations to
those men, and the ideas for which
they are responsible in large measure
have been incorporated into establish
ed medical thought and practice,
The hated rebel, who stands alone in
one generation, becomes the hero or
demigod for those which follow. In the
Inevitable progress Of evolution this
process OIL ToDelllOll anu dDSOTpllOll
must continue, or stagantion will come
It is going on now, and men like Bell
in England and Still in America are
doing humanity real service-even if
we refuse to admit a fact that is pal
pable to intelligent and unbiased
laymen. Other rebels are doing an
oven greater service in the reform Of
our materia medica. though they may
fail Of official recognition.
What, then, is quackery? Quckery is
not method Of thought or a scheme Of
practice. 1t is pretense, and that is not
bounded by sect or limited to the ig-
nor ant. 1t is even more dangerous
when i: occurs surreptitiously in high
places-as it often does-than when
It's deceit is displayed so boldly that it
can be readily recognized and as read
lily assailed.
The man who has new or novel ideas
may be ignorant or foolish and his ideas
may be worthless-but he is not
quack. The wise man will look those
ideas over carefully before rejecting
them and seize upon and absorb any
that seem to him good.
In our examinations Of serious cases
we use the best scientific and research
to establish the diagnosis
and following treatment under the ad-
vice and counsel Of twelve Of the lead
Ing physicians in the u. S.
DR.. BENZ. e. STRICkLER,
105 South Market, Upstairs.