A NATION'AL VETEULVARY INSTITUTE. 401 



by hard labor and expense. He has, therefore, the riglit to a cer- 

 tain degree of protection, but only with reference to the title. This 

 is all he asks. The pepple are, in general, thoughtless and trust- 

 ing ; they scarcely ever stop to cpiestion the right of the displayer 

 or the advertiser to the title '' Doctor," or " M. D.'' The tir>t is 

 much more frequently usurped. It is unquestionably the duty 

 of the State to guarantee to the graduated student the exclusive 

 use of these titles ; and, also, to make them evidences of real worth 

 to the people, that tliey may then select whom they please, by for- 

 bidding the use of them to all other men but graduates who prac- 

 tice medicine. This in no way interferes with the freedom of choice 

 of the individual, nor does it restrain the quack or empiric from 

 practicing the healing art ; but it does reach the necessary end of 

 giving the people the means of distinguishing the accredited man 

 from the swindler, which is their right, and it will strike a heavy 

 blow against fraud in medicine. Forbid, under penalty of the law, 

 non-graduated men the use of the title " Doctor," or " M. D.,'' in 

 any way whatsoever, either by sign, card, or advertisement, and we 

 at once take away the charm by which they are alone enabled to 

 swindle the people. 



In using the words empiric and quack, we should always make a 

 distinction. Not every empiric is of necessity a quack, nor is every 

 quack an empiric. It is the deportment of the person which makes 

 him a quack. There are empirics that have never graduated from 

 a school, or even studied at one, but whose conduct can well be 

 measured by the strictest code of medical ethics ; such men are not 

 and never will be quacks. Quacks are swindlers, misrepresenters 

 of facts — promisers of things, such as cures, which they know to be 

 impossible. While some empirics are not quacks, there are hun- 

 dreds of n)en claiming to be graduates of licensed schools who are 

 quacks of the blackest dye. It is impossible for the law to reach 

 these scoundrels. "We find them advertising cure-alls in every form. 

 This mania for specifics and curative compounds is, I am sorry to 

 say, gradually extending to members of the " regular " profession. 

 Practitioners' offices are becoming littered up with samjile bottles of 



'' Dr. 's Viburnam " and other compounds, which, although 



not patented, are nothing else than quack medicines, being adver- 

 tised in the same manner, having on one label the diseases it is suj>- 

 posed to be good for and on the other the dose. In fact, this evil is 

 becoming so extended, that practicing M. D.'s, either too lazy or too 

 ignorant to correctly compile a prescription, now frequently write 

 "Dr. 's Compound," "one bottle — take as directed." "What les- 



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