Year: 1867

| prevented IN private practice, and who can
place an estimate on its value In the
treatment of disease. in surgery. in chem
istry, in public Hygiene, and. in fact, in
every department of medical science, the
public is reaping the benefits of a rapid
and unprecedented advancement.


Is it the desire of the people that this
work of progress and improvement shall
continue If so, they should not neglect
the true men Of the profession. The So
Der, the educated, and the conscientious
members OF the profession should be sus-
tained for to them the country looks for
the promotion of medical science, and they
are the true conservators of the public
health. Upon them alone can the people
safely depend in cases of emergency and
their presence furnishes q safeguard and
protection to life and health which should
not be lightly esteemed.


The presence of an intelligent medical
man in community is then q matter of
serious importance for critical cases, may
happen at any moment. and indeed, are
far more frequent than is supposed for
they are not always palpable to the nom
professional observer, even in surgical ca
ses, much less in ordinary diseases. It is
in the latter class Of cases that the quack
SO well succeeds in quilting the people who,
while acknowledging the necessity of calling
upon the men of science in these rare and
critical cases, nevertheless. too often bestow
upon the quack the more lucrative, be-
cause the more frequent, emoluments of
the daily practice. Such a course Oh the
part of the people is both wrong in prici-
pie and suicidal in policy and it is we'll
that the public be advised of the fact, that
it is driving from the profession those who
are morally and intellectually best quail
fed to practice its hnmane and responsible
duties.


But practice to quackery, even in legiti-
mate medicine, is not the only evil of which
We now complain there is yet another
which is forcing many worthy men from
| the practice of medicine into other chan
nels lit is that medical bills are not paid
and that medical men are not allowed, by
public seatiment, to present their bills for
collection, and require prompt payment
thereof, as is done in other departments
Custom has invested the medical profess
sion With dignity which places it in dls-
/ ferent position from other avocations in the
matter Of collecting debts. If the physi-
clan duns his patrons he lowers himself in
their estimation, and not unfrequently
| gives offense. Why is this, and Why is it
considered lowering of professional digni-
ty for the physician to demand his pay p
The cash system now holds in every other
department. How is the physician to
meet the cash demands that are daily made
on him. when he is required to credit in
definitely any and everybody


| When the medical man applies for credit
at the store, or the provision market, he
finds that deferance to professional dignity
does not avail to relieve him from the de-
mand of the cash system and the mer-
chant plainly tells him,--"Sir. my rule is
cash: we let no goods go without the mon
ey." This, it viii be said, is right
Grant it. But reverse the case, and let
this identical merchant send for the physi-
clan. who replies to him,-',Sir. my rule
is cash 1 visit no case without the mon
ey.'' Would not the merchant be highly
offended-and would ne not ever afterwards
regard this physician as an exactiug and
unfeeling man, and unworthy of patron
age?


It is fact well known, and one to which
the public mind should be directed, that
hundreds of the best men in the profession
are being literally starved out by this un-
Just and ungrateful discrimination. We
say ungratefnl, because the conscientious
medical man has claims upon the commu-
nifty far beyond the amout due by the few
who are will or able to compensate him for
his services. He is a public benefactor in
the highest sense Of the word. The peo-
pie are strangely insensible to the fact, that
the physician does an amount of gratuit-
Gus labor far surprising that of all other
callings combined and as the burden of
careing for the poor should rest equally


upon all classes, the under proportion


which the physician sustains should be
placed to his credit as against the commu-
nifty. The argument that these charities
are incident TO the profession he has cho-
{ sen, and must therefore be borne, is too


illiberal and unjust to merit reply. Yet


It is evident, that such is the light in which
their services are viewed. and that little or
no merit is attachedTo their performance.
+ To such an extent, indeed, has This feeling
grown upon the peoples mind, that the
+ physician seems to be regarded as mere


philanthropist, whose duty and pleasure it
is to act for the public. and who requires,