9 



The practice, pursued by sonic members of ottf profession, of vend 

 tog and retailing nostrums, and lending their influence to the sale of 

 nostrums, deserves the most decided reprehension. Scarcely less in- 

 jurious is the practice of very many, in giving a tacit consent to the 

 use of these iniquitous drugs. Some of the more popular, and seem- 

 ingly harmless preparations, derive much of their importance in the 

 public mind from the fact, that respectable regular physicians give 

 their consent to their occasional use. A patient in a convalescent 

 state, or afflicted with a chronic malady, will ask his physician if a 

 bottle of Cherry Balsam, or Bull's Sarsaparilla, will not do him good, 

 and, heedless of what he does, or from a desire to please the patient, 

 he sanctions a resort to the miserable stream of filth and trash which 

 is now inundating the country, with an influence scarcely less destruc- 

 tive than the curse of pestilence. Your committee cannot withhold 

 the expression of a strong hope, that the Society will fulfil one of its 

 most benevolent objects, by strongly impressing upon its members the 

 importance of entering an earnest and decided protest against the use 

 of all secret medicines upon any pretext whatever. This is the more im- 

 portant now, because organized quackery has but few representatives in 

 Iowa; the great majority of the people at the present time favoring the 

 regular profession, whose enlightened influence would, therefore, dis- 

 courage, to a great extent, a resort to this species of quackery. 



The practice of attending families by the year, as your committee 

 believe, is calculated to forfeit, to the medical man, the permanent res- 

 pect of the community. The medical services of an enlightened and 

 benevolent physician are not to be made an article of traffic and bar- 

 gain. His commerce is with health, the lives and happiness of the 

 human race, and should be as free from purely mercenary influence, 

 as his honor and reputation. But there is a principle of justice as 

 well as propriety, outraged by this practice. If an intelligent man's 

 estimate of a physician is not reduced by the mere fact of the bargain 

 itself, it certainly is affected at the end of the year, when he comes to 

 pay the physician 815 or $20 for nothing done, or for four times that 

 amount of service. Again, physicians are often retained in a family 

 by virtue of a contract of this kind, long after they have ceased to be 

 preferred, — a circumstance which almost invariably causes them to. 

 lose the respect, as well as confidence of those who are thus bound. 

 A physician who is not the first choice of a family, must always exer- 

 cise his profession at a great disadvantage. Your committee would,, 

 therefore, urge the adoption of a resolution by this Society, calculated 

 to discourage this practice, which, they are convinced, does much t< 

 ijfogrode the profession 



