774 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



changes as have been thoroughly tested and their benefits demon- 

 strated. It is also quite in harmony with the spirit of the profession, 

 which may, perhaps, in the phraseology of the day, be said to be " con- 

 servative not too conservative, but just conservative enough." 



Men who profess to deal with human life and health adopt radical 

 changes with cautiousness. Yet the members of no other profession, 

 probably, are more ready for discussion. Theories are constantly ad- 

 vanced and upset. Others are maintained and imperceptibly shaded 

 off into practice. Galen was an authority for thirteen centuries, when 

 a revolution of medical ideas took place, and his works were burned 

 by Paracelsus and his followers. The homoeoj^athic offshoot of what 

 is known as the regular school of medicine obtained a foothold only 

 after years of debate and discussion. It is only a few years ago, in 

 1855, that a judicial decision was necessary to establish the right of a 

 homoeopath to the title of doctor,* and it is not so very long ago that 

 an allopath thought he could call a homoeopath a quack with impu- 

 nity. In a slander suit in which he was a party defendant, the Court, 

 however, convinced him of his mistake.f 



This incident illustrates the disposition of the older school toward 

 innovations and the vindication by one new branch of practitioners of 

 its claim to recognition. But, surprising as it may seem, such were 

 the statutes in force in New York State from 1844 to 1874, that all 

 other classes of practitioners were equally countenanced by the law. 

 Allopath, homoeopath, hydropath, or whatever devious path he fol- 

 lowed, the man who made the practice of physic or surgery a business 

 was entitled to the name of doctor, and to the protection afforded by 

 the courts. J 



A resume of the statutes which have been passed in the Empire 

 State regulating the practice of physic and surgery reveals a most curi- 

 ous struggle against quackery, in which it will be seen that quackery 

 was for the most part triumphant. About the beginning of this cen- 

 tury our law-makers undertook a reform in the matter of practice of 

 physic and surgery, and made it a penal offense to do either without 

 being duly licensed for the purpose. There being no enactment in 

 special terms against the recovery of compensation for such unlawful 

 services, the Legislature, in 1806, passed another statute expressly de- 

 claring that any person who should commence practice without a 

 license, after the first day of September next ensuing, should " for ever 

 thereafter be disqualified from collecting any debt or debts incurred 

 by such practice." This was a severe blow to " quacks." It was penal 

 for them to practice, and they had no friend in the Court. Truly, the 

 way of the transgressor seemed hard. The bonds were carefully ex- 

 amined and readjusted in 1813. The revision of 1830 contained simi- 

 lar provisions. The unauthorized practice of physic and surgery was 

 declared " a misdemeanor punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both." 

 * 4 E. D. Smith, New York, 1. f 42 New York, 161. % 4 Denio, New York, 60. 



