342 
Secret — Private — Personal: 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1919., 
own;  not  public;  not  general;  separate;  as,  a  man's  private  opinion;  private 
property;  a  private  purse;  private  expenses  or  interests;  a  private  secretary. 
Not  publicly  known;  secret;  as,  a  private  negotiation;  a  private  under- 
standing. 
Private,  n. — A  secret  message;  a  personal  unofficial  communication. 
In  private,  secretly;  not  openly  or  publicly. 
To  apply  these,  fairly,  to  pharmacy  or  to  medicine  shocks  no 
ethical  sensibility,  if  claims  for  "  occult "  superiority  or  unwarrant- 
able pretensions  be  avoided.  A  physician  is  warranted  in  having 
private  opinions  concerning  therapeutic  problems,  and,  so  far  as 
this  writer  can  perceive,  he  has  a  right  either  to  maintain  them  in  his 
own  practice  or  announce  them  by  open  discussion,  as  he  personally 
elects.  But  to  herald  to  the  world  unwarranted  claims  for  posses- 
sion of  exceptional  qualifications  is  as  improper  as  for  a  bank  to 
announce  the  possession  of  capital  that  does  not  exist.  To  each 
the  common  law  of  ethics  alike  applies — the  word  private  is  debased 
if  complicated  with  falsehood. 
It  may  be  forcibly  argued  that  the  profession  of  medicine  is  a 
humanitarian  cult,  that  of  the  banker,  materialistic ;  that  the  physi- 
cian is  not  in  general  business  and  has  no  right  to  anything  private, 
regardless  of  personal  needs  or  professional  opportunities.  To  this 
some  might  answer,  the  establishing  of  a  personal  conspicuity  that 
makes  self-deputation,  is  in  itself  a  personal  business  service;  that 
the  physician  who  makes  a  superior  reputation  either  in  diagnosing 
a  class  of  ailments,  or  in  the  treatment  thereof  and  announces  the 
fact,  brings  to  himself  the  return  of  merit  from  other  afflicted 
persons,  who  prefer  to  trust  the  successful  originator,  even  though 
the  process  of  treatment  and  the  agents  employed  are  by  him  broadly 
published.  It  might  be  argued  that  the  more  widely  a  surgeon 
publishes  his  processes  and  reports  successes,  disclaiming  anything 
private,  the  more  cosmopolitan  becomes  his  personal  opportunity. 
Publicity  means  business.  Again,  one  might  argue,  as  concerns 
the  public's  responsibilities  to  a  benefactor,  that  it  is  sophistry  to 
attempt  to  draw  a  distinction  between  the  iron-monger  who  serves 
the  people  and  profits  thereby,  and  the  physician  who  likewise  de- 
votes to  them  his  care  and  thought,  taking  a  fee  therefor.  If  the 
iron-monger  succeeds  in  accomplishing  something  of  general  value, 
through  private  or  patented  processes,  the  people,  including  physi- 
cians and  surgeons,  pay  the  bill.  In  like  manner,  if  the  physician  or 
surgeon  makes  discoveries  that  are  valuable,  he  should  be  financially 
