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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII, No. 1115 



and -without agitation and publicity about 

 14,000 members of the medical profession of 

 the United States alone should have joined 

 the Medical Brotherhood shows that we struck 

 the right chord. This group of medical men 

 and women, the vast majority of whom surely 

 have more or less idealism, represents about 10 

 per cent, of the medical profession of this 

 country. Moreover, there can be no doubt that 

 the appeal issued by the committee exerted a 

 morally favorable influence upon many mem- 

 bers of the profession who did not formally 

 join the Medical Brotherhood; and there is 

 great probability that a good many will join it, 

 when the war approaches its end. 



In this connection we may call attention to 

 the most encouraging fact that the medical 

 journals of our country act in a most ex- 

 emplary manner with relation to the war. 

 None of the journals, at least none known to 

 us, has indulged in offensive discussions of the 

 various belligerent nations or made dispar- 

 aging comments on the behavior of the med- 

 ical members of these nations. The subject 

 of the present war has been handled by the 

 medical journals with rare good sense and tact. 

 In a general way, the same may be claimed 

 for the utterance of the members of the med- 

 ical profession when made in lay gatherings 

 or publications, although here the unavoid- 

 able small fraction of exceptions has not been 

 lacking. The Medical Brotherhood has had 

 occasion to remonstrate in two instances: in 

 one with complete and in the other with par- 

 tial success. 



From the point of view of the scientific in- 

 vestigator, who is not afraid of Utopian ideals 

 which may give him the direction for his work, 

 but who works for his goal by small and prac- 

 ticable steps, we may claim for the movement 

 of the Medical Brotherhood that it has a defi- 

 nite object, " an uplift," that it is not Utopian 

 in its direction, that it was undertaken at the 

 right time — when the medical mind was in a 

 state of fermentation — in statu nascenti, and, 

 best of all, that the movement has already at- 

 tained a gratifying success: it has aroused the 

 m,oral, humane spirit in a great many mem- 



bers of the profession in this country as well 

 as in other neutral countries. 



We have no quarrel with those of our col- 

 leagues who do not wish to join the Brother- 

 hood, because, as they say, they can not be 

 neutral in this war. JSTo matter with which 

 party one sides, and what his wishes may be, 

 we do not question the moral nature of his 

 motives. But we wish to make the following 

 remarks: First, the Medical Brotherhood does 

 not aim for mere neutrality. Neutrality is 

 neither impartiality nor humanity. A neutral 

 occupies, with reference to war, the same moral 

 level as the belligerents, with the mere differ- 

 ence that he is not in it, or not yet in it. The 

 Medical Brotherhood wishes to occupy a posi- 

 tion above this level. War represents a very 

 backward place in the development of human 

 ethics. The various belligerent nations are 

 simply products of the same moral phase, the 

 same development period. The medical pro- 

 fession is fortunate to be able to occupy an 

 advanced ethical position. Its members should 

 be aware of it and should adhere to it. Sec- 

 ondly, the Medical Brotherhood is, from 

 practical considerations, concerned only with 

 the medical part of its members. As pri- 

 vate indi^dduals the members are at liberty 

 to sympathize chiefly or exclusively with 

 one side or the other of the warring parties. 

 What we expect of members of the Medical 

 Brotherhood is that they should commit no 

 public act which is not in harmony with the 

 advanced moral standing of the medical pro- 

 fession. One who does not feel that he can 

 bind himself to this simple obligation, or 

 one who does not believe, or does not want to 

 assume, that the medical profession occupies 

 an advanced moral position, should, of course, 

 not join the Medical Brotherhood. This or- 

 ganization must consist of medical men and 

 women who believe in the advanced ethical 

 position of the medical profession and are will- 

 ing to live up to this belief. It is as certain 

 as day that only good and no harm can come 

 from such a belief. 



We shall not risk presentation of a list of 

 problems which we may be called upon to try 

 to solve now or later ; " each bridge will be 



