804 



SCIENCE. 



IN. S. Vol. XVII. No. 438. 



quite as impoi'.tant as the scientific quali- 

 fication. Of course his personal moral 

 character should be above reproach. To 

 place a drunkard or a libertine in a posi- 

 tion of so much responsibility and influ- 

 ence is to abuse a trust. No patient should 

 be confided to the care of such a man and 

 still more no such man should be made an 

 instructor of young men, upon whom his 

 influence would be most disastrous. 



It is often extremely difficult for a lay- 

 man to reach a correct conclusion as to the 

 qualifications of medical men for college 

 or hospital appointments, because of the 

 confident, yet conflicting, statements of 

 their friends. But there is apt to be a 

 certain clear partisanship in such state- 

 ments which betrays the purpose of the 

 speaker. Especially will this be so if he 

 advocates the election of A or B on the 

 lower grounds of friendship, social posi- 

 tion, or for other similar motives. The 

 man who is advocating the best man be- 

 cause he is the best man has the stamp of 

 sincerity upon every word. 



Perhaps the most striking example I can 

 advance of such an iinfortunate misjudg- 

 ment is Dr. S. "Weir Mitchell, who was 

 denied a professorship in both the medical 

 institutions of his native city, thus de- 

 priving them of the most brilliant medical 

 genius that America has produced within 

 my personal recollection. For him it is 

 now a matter of indifference, and for 

 American literature it has been a gain. 

 But for medicine, and especially for physi- 

 ology, it was an immense loss. Both of 

 his rivals were estimable, worthy gentle- 

 men who held an honorable position in the 

 profession, it is true, but Mitchell is a 

 genius. 'Eclipse was first; the rest were 

 nowhere. ' 



One of the best methods of bringing the 

 medical board and the board of trustees 

 into more intimate contact would be to 



have the dean or a committee of the fac- 

 ulty, or, in a hospital, if the staff is not 

 too large, the whole staff invited to the 

 meetings of the board. Here I can speak 

 from personal experience. At the Ortho- 

 pedic Hospital and Infirmary for Nervous 

 Diseases in Philadelphia, there are three 

 surgeons and three physicians. These 

 members of the medical staff are invited 

 to meet with the board of managers at 

 each monthly meeting, excepting the an- 

 nual meeting, when the medical staff is 

 elected. They are free to express their 

 opinions on any topic relating to the man- 

 agement of the hospital to which their 

 judgment may contribute something of 

 value, but when a decision is taken they 

 have no vote. It is purely in an advisory 

 capacity and for the purpose of giving 

 and receiving information that they are 

 present. The plan works exceedingly well. 

 When economy is necessary in the hospital, 

 the staff is fully acquainted with the fact 

 and can cooperate with the trustees; when 

 expenses have run up from carelessness in 

 the wasteful use of dressings or appliances, 

 a halt is called ; when, alas, very rarely, the 

 treasurer is all smiles, and plans for the 

 extension of the hospital, or the installa- 

 tion of some new addition to the plant is 

 contemplated, their knowledge as to the 

 necessity, for instance, of a hydrothera- 

 peutic or an x-ray plant, or a new oper- 

 ating room, is of the greatest possible 

 value. Nothing but good, in my opinion, 

 can come from such personal cooperation. 

 One of the difficult questions which 

 boards of trustees have to face is whether 

 there shall be a fixed age at which a col- 

 lege professor or a hospital physician or 

 surgeon shall retire from the active duties 

 of his post. I firmly believe that they 

 should fix such a retiring age in the in- 

 terest of the students and the patients. 

 As age advances, a man's opinions and his 



