The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-03-29
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS


 This is day when the printed page
 has force in the medical world which
 it did not have at least in the seven- ! teenth century, as will show by ref
 erence to an old writer which l hope may be of interest to some busy doc
 tors who may not have had chance
 to look into the matter.
 gave in a little thumb sketch when showing one chapter out of the life ! held the whole tribe of physicians in leontempt and cited Pliny's famous dlc- | tum that doctors were the only mur- ! derers unpunished by the law, anu that it was a profession beneath the , dignity of Roman and only practiceu | by those who had become venal rem | egades of the Greeks. I will not go afield for further indictments.
 
 Victor Robinson tells us that Pliny's contemporary, valerius Martial, com posed medical enigmas for the delight of his sturdy countryman: IaIguid I lay. and thou earnest, Symmachus quickly to see me; Quickly thou earnest and with thee hundred medical students; The hundred paved me over with hands congealed by the north wind; Ague before I had none, but now, by Apollo, I have itr'
 4t,: translation and that it is an injustice to Martiaps scepter, but it shows forth the manners of the doctors in the old days of Rome.
 Once upon a time, says Herodotus, in the land of the wise there were no doctors. I haven't at hand the statis- tics as to the number in Birmingham, Jefferson county, Alabama or America, but, according to the dictum of the famous old historian, there are enough to show that as people we are very unwise, If having a surplus of physi- clans is a criterion. Yet, according to our way of thinking, the war showed us that we were short of practition- CTS.
 The medical profession has made wonderful strides since the days of Slr Richard Blackmore, who wrote: q. l is very evident that a man of good sense viyacity. without the assistance ! of great erudition and the knowledge | of books; and this was the case of Dr. | Sydenham, who became an eminent and able physician, though he never deigned to take up the profession till | the civil wars were composed, and then, being a disbanded officer, he entered upon it for maintenance, without any I learning preparatory for the undertake | ing of it.'
 | Now. there is a hue and cry to pro- vide work for the returning soldiers. but we have long passed the day when even to oblige needy officer we would be willing, in order that he | might make his livelihood, to turn him l loose upon the public to practice medi- cine without having been through a | medical school and procured a license | to practice his profession. Year by year 1t Is being made harder for men | to enter and graduate from the medical profession.
 ! The good old days, according to the | ideas of the minimizing. when nearly andone with bit of experience could set up to be a doctor Is rapidly pass ] ing; yet, to refresh the memory of ] these, I give further citation, from | Sir Richard for he records how ono ! day in conversation he asked Dr. Syd-
 enham to advise him what books ne ] should read to qualify him for the practice of law, and he replied, Read | Don Quixote-it is very good book. 1 read it still" He did it to show the
 contempt he had for the writings on physics
 1 I saw it set forth by doctor in an 1 English book that a celebrated physi-
 elan, whose judgment was universally relied upon as almost infallible in his
 profession during his day, that when he died he would leave behind him tho
 whole mystery of physic upon a half 1 ShooI ol papoi' ii0 WHo saiu tHlS WdS 1 Dr. Radcliffe, physician to King Will | liam III, the most successful practi- ! tioner of his time, and one of the hon. | ored patriarchs of the London College | of Physicians
 i I am a great believer in associations
 and conventions and I think every doc | tor ought to be member of his local ! and state medical society and attend | the meetings, not merely for the fel- lowship but also for the information he | will get from the papers and discus sions and in comparing notes in a more I personal way with one another | AoxlNMMlAau<fH.