186 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. V., No. 100. 



of hypothetical views has, however, not pre- 

 vented attempts at the prediction of earth- 

 quakes, and the earthquake prophet must have 

 his mention. Falb, an Austrian, figured in 

 this rdle some years ago with such apparent 

 success as to inspire an Italian admirer to com- 

 pose a sonnet beginning 



' O uom, die non puoi tu? ' 



More recently, Capt. Delaunay of the French 

 marine artillery, and evidently a very different 

 man from the eminent mathematician of the 

 same name, made something of a stir b}' his 

 predictions. In spite of severe criticisms 

 from Faye and Daubree, he persisted in main- 

 taining that the Krakatoa outburst resulted 

 from the conjunction of Jupiter and the swarm 

 of August meteors, as he had foreseen it 

 would. Worse than this, he announces a more 

 violent ' seismic tempest ' in 1886.3, when the 

 malevolent Saturn lends a hand ; and colo- 

 nists in Java are reported to be troubled 

 thereby ! Another method of forecasting is 

 discovered b} r Mr. Charles Zenger, who finds 

 that electric and magnetic storms, aurorae, 

 tempests, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, 

 — all, simply enough, result from a single cause, 

 whose cycle agrees with a semi-rotation of the 

 sun. Nothing of this would be worthy of 

 mention, had it not soberly appeared in the 

 Comptes rendus of the French academy of 

 sciences, where it is airily entered under the 



heading of 



meteorology.' 



A bill is to be introduced into the legis- 

 lature of Massachusetts to regulate the practice 

 of medicine. It is framed closely upon those 

 already in force in several states in the union, 

 such as Illinois, West Virginia, Alabama, 

 North Carolina (Ohio, Maine, Pennsylvania, 

 and Texas have bills under consideration) , and 

 provides for a board of medical examiners who 

 shall not be connected with any medical school. 

 They are to be appointed by the governor, and 

 their function will be to issue licenses to prac- 

 tise medicine or dentistry, on the basis of a 

 diploma from some legally organized medical 

 college, or of ten years' practice, or of an 



examination of an elementary and practical 

 character in anatomy, surgery, chemistry, 

 pathology, obstetrics, and dentistry. After 

 July, 1886, all candidates are to be examined. 

 This board is to be endowed with legal powers 

 sufficient to carry out the purposes of this act. 



It will be noticed that this bill is not framed 

 in the interests of any so-called ' school ' or 

 ' pathy,' and contains no allusion, direct or 

 indirect, to points in dispute between such 

 schools. The necessity of some such bill in 

 the interests, not of medical science, but of 

 ordinary decency and humanit} 7 , is probably 

 hardly appreciated by more than a small frac- 

 tion of the communit}', even of the more intel- 

 ligent portions. One often hears expressions 

 used implying that the user supposes that a 

 diploma confers the right to practise medicine, 

 while the fact is that nothing of the sort is 

 necessary. The privilege of giving (or sell- 

 ing) medical advice to one's neighbor is re- 

 garded by the state of Massachusetts as one 

 of the most fundamental and inalienable of 

 rights, and on a par with " the right to life, 

 liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The 

 only medical function for which this state 

 legally demands even the pretence of a medical 

 education is the signing of certificates of in- 

 sanity. The practice of medicine, surgery, 

 and obstetrics, with the right to sign certificates 

 of death, ma} r be legally assumed by any horse- 

 car driver who some cold day feels that his 

 profession demands too much personal ex- 

 posure, steps from his platform, puts up his 

 sign with an ' M.D.,' and waits for patients. 

 If he publicly calls himself a doctor, he is legally 

 one ; and, if he escapes a suit for malpractice, 

 the law cannot touch him. 



This bill can hardly be objected to as too 

 strict by any physicians, except of the class 

 just described, or those immediately above it, 

 or, on the other hand, by that portion of the 

 community drawn from all social ranks who 

 consider education as a positive drawback, and 

 medical knowledge as a heaven-born inspira- 

 tion. Most persons, however, who patronize 



