372 LETTER TO 



But there are various circumstances in the 

 practice of medicine, unconnected with its 

 profits, which tend to injure the character of 

 those who follow it. An action at law remains 

 at rest, except it be urged forward by human 

 force, and its termination is induced by means, 

 which we can easily comprehend. The value,* 

 therefore, of the talents employed by any one 

 in conducting it, may be tolerably well appre- 

 ciated, and the fame which hence arises to him, 

 is almost always proportioned to his merit. It 

 is far otherwise in medicine. Diseases proceed 

 by their own energy, and terminate sponta- 

 neously, for the most part, in health. Such a 

 termination, however, of a dangerous disease, if 

 a physician has been concerned in its manage- 

 ment, is very commonly attributed to his skill. 

 He may at first blush at undeserved praise. At 

 length, from frequent repetitions of it, he often 

 fancies himself really capable of producing the 

 eifects, which he hears attributed to his agency. 

 Again ; should a barrister have any natural ten- 

 dency to overrate his talents, the frequent mor- 

 tifications he must experience, in his daily con- 

 tests with others of his own class, before public 

 assemblies of men, will soon teach him to value 

 them more justly. The same corrective is not 

 applied to physicians. In the exercise of their 

 profession, they appear always as dictators of 



