258 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



a word, the science of medicine is taught today as never 

 before, but practically everything that could possibly 

 help the student to a knowledge of the practice of medi- 

 cine has been eliminated. He is taught all about medi- 

 cine except how to practice it. 



The result is that the young medical man goes into 

 practice without any clear ideas of the relations between 

 himself and his patients individually ; between the doctor 

 and the public, either individually or as a class ; between 

 the doctor and his professional associates. No one has 

 told him of such things in medical schools. He soon gets 

 some amazing shocks. He believes that the so-called 

 "regular" school, to which he of course belongs, is not 

 only the only one which has a right to exist, but the only 

 one which is accepted by the public as reputable or hon- 

 est. Yet he sees great lawyers, judges and business men 

 patronize osteopaths and chiropractors, Christian Sci- 

 ence healers and nature doctors. Naturally, he is con- 

 fused and irritated. He was taught nothing in his medi- 

 cal course regarding the history or development of his 

 profession, and, of course, nothing regarding the numer- 

 ous sects, cults and so-called schools of medicine which 

 have always existed. He knows, in a contemptuous and 

 superior way, that homeopaths believe in ' ' similia simili- 

 bus eurantur" and that the only medicine they are sup- 

 posed to give is little sugar-coated pills. He knows that 

 Christian Science was founded by Mrs. Eddy. He knows 

 that osteopathy and chiropractic consist in using mas- 

 sage or some modification of it in strange and wild ways, 

 but who is responsible for these sects, how they origi- 

 nated and why intelligent people support them, he does 

 not know. He has never been told anything about the 

 history of sectarianism or its various manifestations. 

 He regards all sectarians as quacks and fakirs and looks 

 with contempt on any layman who would patronize them. 



He feels, and rightly, too, that a medical man should 

 be judged by the quality of his work, the standing of the 

 college from which he graduated, and the hospital in 

 which he served as an intern. He can not understand 

 why intelligent laymen should pass him by and patronize 

 a Christian Science healer or a nature doctor. He is 



