May 12, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



675 



FRATERNITAS MEDICO RUM; A RE- 

 PORT AND A DISCUSSION 



In the issue of Science for August 6, 1915, 

 an " Appeal to the Men and Women Engaged 

 in Medical Practise and the Advancement of 

 Medical Sciences " was published, asking them 

 to join the organization of the Medical 

 Brotherhood for the Furtherance of Interna- 

 tional Morality. It was signed by about 150 

 members of high standing in the profession 

 of this country, many of whom enjoy an inter- 

 national reputation. Soon after its publica- 

 tion, we began sending out the appeal and an 

 enrollment card to members of the medical 

 profession. We wish now to give an account 

 of the results thus far attained, and to discuss 

 the nature of this venture and its merits. 



Report. — To this date about 14,000 Ameri- 

 can physicians have enrolled as members of 

 the Medical Brotherhood, the greatest part of 

 whom are either members of medical societies 

 of good standing or of societies which culti- 

 vate medical sciences. The appeal was also 

 sent to some of the leading members of the 

 profession of other neutral countries. Here 

 again we obtained very encouraging results. 

 We received, and continue to receive, requests 

 from members of the medical profession of 

 these countries to be enrolled as members of 

 the Brotherhood of our country. Among our 

 correspondents are such well-known men as 

 Theodor Kocher, Einthoven, Thalma, Eovsing, 

 Thunberg, Von Monakow, Zwaardemaker, de- 

 Quervain, Jacquet, Marsden and others of sim- 

 ilar high standing. The appeal was published 

 in some of the medical and scientific journals 

 of these countries, and we have the encourag- 

 ing information that organizations similar to 

 oujs were started there. Quite recently the 

 Nederlandsche Vereeniging voor Heelkunde 

 (Holland) requested to be enrolled as a mem- 

 ber of the Medical Brotherhood of this coun- 

 try. We did not approach mernbers of the 

 profession in any of the helligerent countries; 

 nevertheless, we received requests to be en- 

 rolled from medical men in Finland (Russia) 

 who probably read the appeal in Swedish med- 

 ical journals. 



The 14,000 members of the medical profes- 

 sion of this country who have enrolled as mem- 



bers of the Brotherhood represent about 15 

 per cent, of the niimber of physicians to whom 

 the appeal was sent. We have, therefore, good 

 reasons to consider henceforth the Fraternitas 

 Medicorum as an established organization. 



Analysis of Objections. — ^While it is idle to 

 speculate as to the real attitude of those who 

 did not respond to the appeal, certain instruc- 

 tive facts, capable of shedding light upon this 

 question, may, nevertheless, be learned from 

 an analysis of part of the correspondence 

 we have had. We shall not include in the 

 discussion the numerous letters in which the 

 writers unreservedly and enthusiastically ap- 

 prove our movement. But we have to mention 

 that among the enrolled members are some 

 who originally looked upon the enterprise with 

 misgivings. We shall mention further the 

 instructive fact that a number of physicians 

 asked for enrollment cards months after the 

 appeal was sent to them, stating frankly that 

 they threw away the appeal without even hav- 

 ing read it, because they were bothered with 

 too many war and peace circulars. 



However, we received about 27 letters, the 

 contents of which were unmistakably adverse 

 to our movement. Nine of these communica- 

 tions were anonymous; they contained of- 

 fensive remarks, assuming that the Medical 

 Brotherhood was a part of an organized Ger- 

 man propaganda, that the expenses were met 

 by the German Kaiser. 



Among those who signed the adverse letters 

 are several from men who are of high stand- 

 ing in the profession and are personally known 

 to us. Several of our correspondents, some of 

 whom were during the present war for short 

 periods in France, stated that there is not a 

 neutral fiber in them. 



Two correspondents objected to the idea that 

 physicians have a higher claim to interna- 

 tional morality than other people. Several of 

 our correspondents said that they either could 

 not see the object of the movement or, as one 

 expressed it, he could not see where " the up- 

 lift comes in " ; or, on the contrary, that the 

 aim of the Brotherhood is too Utopian for 

 them. Finally, several writers approved the 

 idea in general, but thought that the organi- 



