Year: 1874




you among the rest, will excuse me if
III rise to explain"


My profound respect and admira-
tion for the science of medicine-or
more properly expressed the science of
making people well-has been so deep
and comprehensive, that hitherto it
has been impossible for me to bring
myself to feel that the title of healer
rightfully belonged to me, notwith
standing the facts that from time to
time within the past thirty years I
have been the recipient of three diff
ferent diplomas from institutes that
professed to prepare people to practice
the healing art, and have in that pc
riod treated successfully over fifteen
thousand cases, yet, incomprehensible
as it may appear, my sense of justice
has prevented me from claiming or
permitting the title of Doctor. I will
go little further by stating that my
subject, but no more so than some of
my cotemporaries In the work of hui
manity. 1t was found that q large
class of the more advanced humani-
tarians of Europe, and some in Amer
lea were compelled to acknowledge
our rule that if allowed to become
law would change the whole aspect of
the medical world in it's relations to
the rest of mankind. That rule Is,
that all people should be held strictly
responsible for damage done by neg
lect as well as that done by malice,
moreover that persons found profiting
by such neglect be held also as equal
ly or more criminal. For instance,
the man neglecting to remove or show
the obstruction that would wreck
heavy passenger train was equally
culpable as the thief and robber that
takes the advantage of such wreck to
pillage the purses and effects of the
wounded and dying passengers. Now
for the application.


My view of the mission of the heal
er is so exalted that I have long since
determined that in this age of worship
of the golden calf, there was no safety
whatever in allowing every sordid
motive to interfere with the physical
welfare of our species; in other words
that so long as the profession was al
lowed to profit by individual cases of
would be for the interest of the follow
ers of that profession to cultivate dis
order.


Proceeding upon this hypothesis,
my proctice has been thus far gratuit-
Gus, in order to be consistent. Whether
] it will be possible to carry this consis-
tency to extremes, remains to be
proven. After spending half life
time in research, and often demon
strating the perfect durability Of most
of the so-called incurable maladies, it
sometimes occurs to me that have
mistaken mankind and do not yet un-
derstand them. That most of the
world prefer to be i'll in body, mind
or morals, if by such illness they
could support in indolent ease some
"society" pet. Possibly this is the
real state of the public mind; but at
the risk of being called hard names
such as lunatic," fanatic" " re-
former,V etc.-we have ventured to
differ with the most of our bretheren,
and have started an Association, the
objects and purposes of which are set
forth in our articles of incorporation
thus:


First-The promotion of health and
the art and science of preserving
health.


Second = The encouragement and
prosecution of agriculture and the me-
chanic arts.


Third-As auxiliary to said objects
the requirement of real estate and the
Of ct,ifo q h1a hpilHinno. Coi6
buildings to be arranged on improved
sanitary principles, on land belonging
to the Association, to accommodate
the thousands of persons who are
f1ocking to Los Angeles for health,
pleasure or permanent residence.
The plans of the management in
volve the construction of dwellings,
manufactures, water-wOrks, and the
carrying on Of all the employments
that occupy the most enlightened peO-
pie, and the furnishing of perfectly
wholesome subsistence to all and any
persons that may require it, at q less
cost than it is possible to obtain these
accommodations elsewhere-in short,
to make the place the most desirable
resort in the world for health, pleas
ure, occupation or permanent resi-
dence.


1t was fOndly hoped, and we have
not Abandoned that hope, that by the
establishment of such an Institute,
where we could freely demonstrate to
all who were interested in matters of
health, that the most stubborn cases
will yield to skill, patience and hu-
manity, thereby partially enabling us
to reimburse ourselves for the hun
dreds of thousands of dollars and the
weary years of time already expended
in perfecting our plans for the benefit
of the race.


AS minor consideration, in our es-
timation, this would result in the
bringing of millions of gold to this
county by those who, as the writer
once was, are ready to exchange his
paltry bags of yellow dust, many hun
dreds of pounds in weight, for re-
newal of his lease of life for a year.
The Great householder saw fit to re-
new indefinitely, and in humble, joy
| full gratitude, we as a token bestow
our little talent to benefit others, re-
gardless of the cynicisms Of doubtefs
in the policy of doing unto others as
we would that others should do unto
us. f. M. SHAW.


Los Angeles, Sept. 9th.