8 



final success in the study as well as the practice of the profession, it 

 would rapidly bring about a new era in the condition of medical 

 science in this State, and place it upon a more dignified and elevated 

 basis. 



A want of harmony in carrying out the great ethical and reciprocal 

 obligations of our profession, is a serious obstacle to its progress 

 amongst us. This proverbial strife among medical men, often leads 

 them to abjure the influence and authority of medical associations, 

 which have projected and set in operation important measures of re- 

 form. Personal influence and dignity are likewise lessened, and 

 growing out of this dissociation are some of the worst evils that can 

 curse a learned profession ; jealousy, which would rob a brother of 

 his hard earned fame, and instigate an opposition as incongenial to 

 the true principles of science as are the demands of God and mam- 

 mon ; a competition which deprives the honest and capable physician 

 of his daily and nightly earnings, or reduces them to a pittance bare- 

 ly adequate for his support, and totally insufficient to procure the means 

 of successful study. This kind of competition, depriving the physi- 

 cian of adequate remuneration for his services, has been a principal 

 means of driving into collateral pursuits many of the best physicians 

 in our country, and especially young men of talents just entering the 

 profession. Your committee know an old physician, in a beautiful 

 city in this State, who is in the habit of purchasing an attendance up- 

 on some families, and of doing the practice of many others at a mere 

 nominal sum, whenever a competitor of talents comes in his way. 

 Such practices are highly reprehensible and degrading. No class of 

 men are called upon to make the same sacrifices, to pass through the 

 same exposures, and to incur the same responsibilities as physicians, 

 and they should be rewarded according to their services. The gen- 

 eral influence of this central association, pervading every part of the 

 State, maintaining proper ethics and rules of amicable intercourse, 

 will, it is hoped, diminish these evils. 



The habit of some regular physicians of entering into consultation 

 with quacks of various kinds, is another cause of professional depre- 

 ciation, not sufficiently looked to. Although your committee are hap- 

 py to say, that but few examples of this kind have fallen under their 

 notice, still there are cases of this kind, and they always exercise an 

 evil influence. Besides the absolute incompatibility of medical science 

 with any form of empiricism, there is an obvious inconsistency in the 

 amalgamation, which the community will not fail to perceive ; since 

 the general mass of our profession, impelled by a sense of duty, havp 

 constantly exposed and drnouncrd these systems to the world. 



