December 8, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



805 



ing. I know of no one who has placed him- 

 self in this class by the reputable practise 

 of medicine. Some medical men have made 

 riches by fortunate investments, but this is 

 an exception. Some marry wealth, but this 

 is usually fatal to professional efficiency. I 

 know of but one man who has demonstrated 

 his ability by winning the highest distinc- 

 tions in the profession notwithstanding the 

 fact that he married a wealthy woman. 

 While on this point, I may say that prac- 

 tise coming from the ultra rich is not to be 

 coveted. They are exacting in their de- 

 mands for service. They object to ordi- 

 nary bills and cry out that they are being 

 sandbagged. As I write this, I have before 

 me such a letter from a millionaire. He ad- 

 mits that he selected the medical man on ac- 

 count of his recognized skill, that he knew 

 what the charges would be before the serv- 

 ices were closed and that he did not object 

 at that time, because he was afraid that the 

 medical man would desert him, but when 

 payment was demanded, he claimed that he 

 was being sandbagged because he was 

 known to be rich. The ultra rich are fa- 

 miliar with the use of the sandbag in ex- 

 torting money from others and they see its 

 phantom in even the most moderate bills 

 presented them. 



The medical practitioner endowed with 

 intelligence, fortified with industry and 

 with his every action controlled by strict 

 integrity is sure to make a decent living, 

 care for himself and family in comfort and 

 he need not sleep in a pauper's grave. He 

 is not compelled to sacrifice his self-respect 

 to expediency. His calling is quite as in- 

 dependent as any other. He can choose his 

 own friends, church and political affilia- 

 tion. The man who is sick with pneumonia 

 or has an inflamed appendix does not eon- 

 suit the society columns, the church direc- 

 tory nor the polling lists when he selects 

 his medical attendant. He prefers the man 



who is likely to render him the best service, 

 and the intelligent public in the long run 

 and on the whole judges wisely. There 

 never has been a time when individual 

 worth among medical practitioners was 

 more correctly evaluated and, I may add, 

 more highly estimated, than the present. 

 Medicine has cast off the veil of mystery 

 which once covered her face and walks 

 among men uncovered and unashamed. 

 The days of ' ' divine healers, ' ' Indian medi- 

 cine fakirs, and of Mrs. Winslow and Lydia 

 Pinkham, are passing away. Some may say 

 that these statements are contradicted by 

 the wide prevalence of christian science, 

 osteopathy and other cults. These are only 

 the vagaries which have taken form in the 

 delirium-racked brain of a fast-dying 

 superstition. Did our government select 

 any of these agencies in its successful com- 

 bat with yellow fever in Cuba or on the 

 Canal Zone? Has it relied upon them to 

 keep Asiatic cholera or the plague out of 

 this country? Did it send christian scien- 

 tists or osteopaths to stay the epidemic 

 threatened by the Dayton floods? Are 

 these cults now busy healing the wounds 

 and adjusting the dislocated bones so 

 abundant on European battlefields? Our 

 Lady of Lourdes and Ste. Anne Beauprie 

 are apparently not on duty at a time when 

 shell-torn and flame-tortured humanity is 

 in greatest need of their much extolled, 

 miraculous powers of healing. The genu- 

 ine worth of scientific medicine has never 

 been so thoroughly tested as in the present 

 war. Amid unprecedented difficulties, in 

 the camps where millions are congregated, 

 in the quick transportation of corps after 

 corps, in the trenches and even among the 

 prisoners of war, always cared for grudg- 

 ingly and reluctantly, everywhere, preven- 

 tive medicine has successfully met her old 

 foes, typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, 

 tetanus and other epidemics, which in 



