EDITORIAL. 
189 
present  in  (he  city  of  St.  Louis.  Missouri,  where  a  man.  who  was  brought  up 
to  honest  business  in  this  good  city  ol  Dublin,  went  lo  St.  Louis,  and  having 
the  audacity  to  write  Doctor  before  his  name,  is  now  nearly  twelve  months 
in  practice  as  an  apothecary  and  dortor,  though  he  never  lost  one  hour  in 
the  attainment  of  medical  or  pharmaceutical  knowledge ;  and  here  is  this  im- 
postor making  his  fortune,  while  men  who  have  wasted  years  of  toil  and 
some  hundreds  of  pounds  before  they  could  obtain  a  degree,  are  not  able  to 
get  a  crust  in  the  same  city.  Now,  sir,  if  a  proper  law  was  instituted  by 
the  legislature,  I  ask  you  would  this  be  the  case?  If  the  Colleges  of  Phila- 
delphia had  a  branch  committee  in  every  city  and  town  in  the  States,  whose 
duty  should  be  to  go  around  annually  and  deman'l  the  diploma  of  every 
person  calling  himself  a  doctor,  surgeon,  or  apothecary,  and  practising  as 
such — if  such  an  arrangement  was,  I  ask  you  would  this  state  of  things  con- 
tinue'? By  taking  the  names  and  dates  of  the  several  diplomas  exhibited, 
they  could  communicate  with  the  colleges  at  home,  and  soon  discover 
whether  the  holder  of  each  diploma  was  its  original  possessor :  thus  would 
the  chaff  be  separated  from  the  wheat,  and  while  the  legal  praciitioner 
would  be  thus  protected,  the  culprit,  when  exposed,  would  be  greatly 
benefited  by  a  three  months'  dance  upon  the  treadmill,  or  twelve  months 
solitary  confinement ;  with  a  caution  that  if  caught  so  offending  again,  the 
full  rigor  of  the  law  would  be  brought  to  bear  upon  him. 
To  each  sub-committee,  some  little  trouble  in  the  carrying  out  of  the  fore- 
going arrangement  may  be  given  for  the  first  year,  but  there  it  would  cease, 
for  every  year  after  it  would  be  only  the  diploma  of  those  who  had  com- 
menced practice  since  the  previous  examination  that  they  would  have  to  in- 
spect, and  by  men  who  love  their  profession  as  a  noble  and  an  honorable  one, 
this  task  would  be  cheerfully  performed  ;  and  believe  me,  all  quacks  and  im- 
postors, glorying  in  stolen  or  borrowed  imaginary  plumage,  would  very  soon 
sink  into  their  former  insignificance. 
When  the  Philadelphia  colleges  act  thus  for  the  safet)r  and  honor  of  their 
profession,  then  will  their  brethren  at  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  lead  with 
pleasure  every  paper  and  advice  emanating  from  them,  and  America  will 
bless  the  day  that  they  came  forward  to  save  her  children  from  being 
butchered  and  poisoned  by  those  despicable  wretches  -  those  self-made 
M.  D.'s  and  apothecaries  of  her  Western  States.    I  am,  sir,  yours, 
A  Sufferer  by  Quackery. 
Report  to  Congress  of  a  select  Committee  on  the  claims  of  William  T.  G. 
Morton,  M.  D.,  as  the  discoverer  of  the  ancesthetic  power  of  Sulphuric 
Ether  when  inhaled.  By  Dr.  William  H.  Bissell,  of  Illinois,  Chairman. 
Congressional  Document,  pp.  120. 
Dr.  Bissell's  Report  awards  the  merit  of  the  discovery  of  the  anaesthetic 
properties  of  Ether  to  Dr.  Morton,  in  the  following  language: 
Upon  a  full  examination  of  the  whole  case,  so  far  as  time  and  means  were 
afforded  to  your  committee,  they  have  come  to  the  conclusion — - 
1st.  That  Dr.  Horace  Wells  did  not  make  any  discovery  of  the  anaesthetic 
properties  of  the  vapor  of  sulphuric  ether,  which  he  himself  considered  re- 
liable, and  which  he  thought  proper  to  give  to  the  world.  That  his  experi- 
ments were  confined  to  nitrous  oxide,  but  did  not  show  it  to  b^  an  efficient 
and  reliable  anaesthetic  agent,  proper  to  be  used  in  surgical  operations  and  in 
obstetrxal  cases. 
For  the  rest,  your  Committee  have  come  to  the  same  conclusions  that  were 
arrived  at  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  at  their 
meeting  in  January,  1848,  and  reconsidered  and  confirmed  in  1849,  and 
adopted  by  the  former  Committee  of  the  House,  viz  : 
