GROVER CLEVELAND 275 



Perhaps the solution of our tuberculosis problem would be 

 nearer if Grover Cleveland's advice had been followed two dec- 

 ades ago. 



The address delivered by Mr. Cleveland on the occasion of the 

 one hundredth annual meeting of the Medical Society of the State 

 of New York, held at Albany on February 6, 1906, was a veritable 

 gem of oratory, marked by a keen sense of humor, and at the same 

 time a deep penetration into all that is faulty and also all that is 

 true and noble in our profession. Here follows a portion of this 

 memorable oration: 



"For the purpose of argument, let us divide humanity in two sections one 

 composed of a few doctors, and the other embracing the many millions of their 

 actual prospective patients. I appeal for myself and those millions, and I 

 claim at the outset that, notwithstanding our large majority, the medical sec- 

 tion of mankind has, in one way or another, curtailed the opportunity of free- 

 dom of thought and considerate hearing, to which we are entitled by ' the laws 

 of Nature and of Nature's God.' We acknowledge that the world owes this 

 minority a living. With a generous delicacy which reaches sublimity we are on 

 their account not over-obedient to the laws of health; and we sometimes pay 

 their bills. When sick, we submit with more or less humility to their orders. 

 If we recover, it is only to take our place on the waiting list, still subject to 

 further service. If we do not recover, it is left to us to do the dying. 



"In view of these facts, I think I do not mistake the temper of my clients 

 when I represent that there is growing up among them a feeling that there 

 ought to be less mystery and high and mighty aloofness on the part of their 

 medical advisers. We have long been wont to treat with a kind of amused 

 toleration the names in pigeon Latin or Greek given by the doctors to very 

 common things, and to diseases which already had names both simple and 

 significant. But all this seems to have much increased with the discovery of 

 new remedies, and the chase after new diseases; and this increase has appar- 

 ently been accompanied by additional mystery and additional inclination on 

 the part of our doctors to remind us of their stately superiority. 



"We fully appreciate the tremendous advance that has been made in medi- 

 cal knowledge and practice within the memory of those not yet old. There 

 are but few left who bear the scars of blood-letting which depleted the veins 

 of a former generation. In these days the fever-stricken wretch who begs for a 

 drop of water to cool his tongue is heard with more favor than was the rich 

 man who cried out to Father Abraham from the flaming torments of the bot- 

 tomless pit. We are now told that germs and microbes, more or less deadly, 

 countless in number, of every conceivable size and shape, and given to habits 

 and tastes adjusted to every emergency of their existence, not only inhabit the 

 earth beneath us and the atmosphere about us, but lurk in every corner and 

 cranny of our bodies with murderous intent. Another marked and startling 

 indication of progress in medical knowledge is found in the sentence of removal 



