,,quacks ,,and ,,grafters ,,by ,,ex-,,osteopath ,,being ,,an ,,expose ,,of ,,the ,,state ,,of ,,therapeutics ,,at ,,the ,,present ,,time1 ,,with ,,some ,,reasons ,,why ,,such ,,grafters ,,flourish1 ,,and ,,suggestions ,,to ,,remedy ,,the ,,deplorable ,,muddle ,,published ,,in ,,the ,,year #aijh ,,by ,,the ,,cincinnati ,,medical ,,book ,,company ,,cincinnati ,,ohio ,,copyrighted1 #aijh1 ,,by ,,the ,,cincinnati ,,medical ,,book ,,co4 ,,the ,,lancet-,,clinic ,,press1 ,,cincinnati1 ,,ohio4 ,,to ,,the ,,great ,,american ,,public ,,is ,,dedicated ,,this ,,book1 ,,with ,,every ,,confidence ,,in ,,its ,,proverbial ,,common ,,sense ,,and ,,discrimination1 ,,and ,,with ,,the ,,hope ,,of ,,having ,,added ,a ,,mite ,,toward ,,greater ,,and ,,better ,,things ,,in ,,the ,,art ,,of ,,aesculapius4 ,,preface4 ,there has been but one other period in the history of medicine when so many systems of the healing art were in vogue4 ,in the seventeenth century1 during the ,reform ,period1 following the many epoch-making discoveries1 as the blood and lymph circulation2 when alchemy was abandoned and chemistry became a science2 when ,galileo regenerated physics1 and zoology and botany were largely extended2 when ,newton enunciated the laws of gravitation2 when cinchona bark1 the great febrifuge1 was introduced into ,europe1 and the cell doctrine was founded by ,hooke1 ,malpighi and ,grew1 the old ,hippocratic1 ,galenic and ,arabic systems of medicine were undermined4 ,in that transition period1 when the medical profession was trying to adjust its practice with the many new theories1 its authoritative voice was lost1 and in the struggle for something tangible1 innumerable new systems sprang up4 ,four systems stood out most prominently--the pietistically colored ,paracelsism of ,von ,helmont1 with its sal1 sulphur and mercury2 the chemical system of ,sylvius and ,willis1 with its acid and alkali theory of cause and cure of disease2 the iatro-chemical system1 with its fermentation theory2 and the iatro-physical system1 which contended that health was dependent upon proper adjustment of physical and mechanical arrangements of the body4 ,the old humoral theory of ,galen had its adherents1 influencing all of the newer systems4 ,and suggestive therapeutics was rampant in most grotesque and fanciful forms4 ,witchcraft1 superstition and cabalism were fostered even at the various ,european courts4 ,as ,roswell ,park says in his ,history of ,medicine3 ,with delightful satire ,harvey divided the physicians of the day into six classes--the ,ferrea1 ,asinaria1 ,jesuitica1 ,aquaria1 ,laniaria and ,stercoraria--according as their favorite systems of treatment were the administration of iron1 asses' milk1 cinchona1 mineral water1 venesection or purgatives4 ,that history repeats itself is a truism well illustrated in medicine to-day4 ,the new cellular pathology1 founded by ,virchow and ,cohnheim and elaborated by innumerable men since2 the discovery of parasitism and the germ theory by ,davaine1 ,pasteur and ,koch2 antisepsis by ,lister2 the introduction of anesthesia by ,morton1 ,simpson and ,koller2 the application of more exact methods in diagnosis by ,skoda and others1 and many other innovations and discoveries have revolutionized medicine in the nineteenth century4 ,the transition period of to-day is very analogous to that of the seventeenth century4 ,suggestive therapeutics has its advocates in the ,emmanuel movement1 ,lourdes water1 ,christian ,science1 ,new ,thought1 faith cure and psycho-therapy4 ,the uric acid theory is a curious survival of the old chemical system4 ,the iatro-chemical system is the prototype of ,metchnikoff's theory of longevity4 ,and1 strange to relate1 despite the claims of wonderful discovery by ,a4 ,t4 ,still and ,d4 ,d4 ,palmer1 the iatro-physical system of the seventeenth century was more complete as a guide to healing than is ,osteopathy and ,chiropractics to-day4 ,verily1 there is nothing novel under the solar rays4 ,that graft in surgery and shystering in internal medicine exists no one in the medical profession denies4 ,it has come so insidiously that the profession itself was taken unawares4 ,however1 that sweeping denunciation of the entire profession should follow is unwarranted4 ,every other profession and calling has its black sheep1 and it is the duty of the leaders in each to eliminate them4 ,elimination1 however1 cannot come entirely from within4 ,the public has its share of responsibility and duty to perform1 and the sooner this is realized1 the better for all concerned4 ,to aid in the work of obtaining better things in therapeutics1 the establishment and extension of a national bureau or department of health is imperative4 ,any effort along this line will hasten the day of rational healing4 ,preventive medicine will then gradually supplant the present haphazard system of palliation and cure4 ,and education is the watchword of the day6 ,g4 ,,strohbach1 ,m4,d4 ,cincinnati1 ,ohio1 #aijh4 ,,publishers' ,,note4 ,though written in a satirical vein1 this book is intended as a warning to the medical profession and the public alike4 ,and1 while amusing1 the wealth of information and comment on certain abuses in the healing art should lead to serious consideration4 ,this book is published without bias or prejudice toward any school of medicine or system of therapeutics as such4 ,but that quackery and graft are rampant among those who pose as healers has become so apparent that we believe every influence to expose and weed out the pretenders is timely4 ,the author is an ,osteopath who abandoned the practice of ,osteopathy after a few years' earnest endeavor1 convinced of the untenable position of those professing the practice of this art4 ,he returned to the more congenial profession of teaching4 ,for obvious reasons he publishes this book under a nom de plume4 ,he is abundantly fortified with facts to substantiate his criticism4 ,that his effort may be of some service in clarifying the situation and lead to better therapeutics in the near future1 is the sincere hope of ,,the ,,publishers4 ,,contents4 ,,part ,i--,,in ,,general4 ,,chapter ,i--,,by ,,way ,,of ,,introduction #ag ,the ,augean ,stables of ,therapeutics--,the ,remedy--,reason for ,absence of ,dignified ,literary ,style--,diploma ,mills--,all but ,holy--,dr4 ,geo4 ,h4 ,simmons' ,opinion--,american ,medical ,association ,not ,tyrannical--,therapeutics a ,deplorable ,muddle4 ,,chapter ,,ii--,,graft ,,and ,,failurephobia #be ,the ,commercial ,spirit--,commercialism in ,medicine--,stock ,company ,medical ,colleges--,graft in ,medicines1 ,drugs and ,nostrums--,encyclopedia ,graft--,get-,rich-,quick ,propositions--,paradoxes in ,character of ,shysters--,money ,madness--,professional ,failurephobia--,the ,fortunate ,few and the ,unfortunate ,many--,a ,cause of ,quackery--,the ,grafter's ,herald--,the ,world's ,standard--,solitary ,confinement--,the ,prisoner's ,dream--,working up a ,cough--,situation ,appalling ,among ,st4 ,louis ,physicians--,a ,moral ,pointed4 ,,chapter ,,iii--,,why ,,quacks ,,flourish #cg ,american ,public ,generally ,intelligent--,but ,densely ,ignorant in ,important ,particulars--,cotton ,mather and ,witchcraft--,a4,b4s1 ,a4,m4s1 ,m4,d4s and ,ph4,d4s ,espousing ,christian ,science1 ,chiropractics and ,osteopathy-- ,gullibility of the ,college ,bred--,the ,ignorant ,suspicious of ,new ,things--,the ,educated ,man's ,creed--,dearth of ,therapeutic ,knowledge by the ,laity--,is the ,medical ,profession to ,blame8--,physician's ,arguments ,controvertible--,host of ,incompetents ,among the ,regular ,physicians--,report of ,committee on ,medical ,colleges--,the ,big ,doctors--,doc ,booze--,the ,leading ,doctor--,osler's ,drug ,nihilism--,the ,x-,ray ,graft4 ,,chapter ,,iv--,,turbid ,,therapeutics #ea ,an ,astounding ,array of ,therapeutic ,systems--,diet--,water--,optics--,hemot herapy--,consumption ,cures--,placebos--,inconsistencies and ,contradictions-- ,osler's ,opinion of ,appendicitis--,fair ,statement of ,limitations in ,medicine ,desirable4 ,,chapter ,v--,,the ,,expert ,,witness ,,and ,,proprietary ,,medicines #eg ,the ,great ,nerve ,specialist--,the ,professional ,witness a ,jonah--,the ,railway ,spine--,is it ,lack of ,fairness and ,honesty or ,lack of ,skill and ,learning8--,destruction of ,fine ,herds of ,cattle ,without ,compensation--,koch's ,dictum and ,denial--,koch's ,tuberculin--,the ,serum ,tribe--,stupendous ,sale of ,nostrums--,druggist's ,arguments--,use of ,proprietary ,medicines ,stimulates ,sale of ,nostrums4 ,,chapter ,,vi--,,faith ,,cure ,,and ,,graft ,,in ,,surgery #fb ,suggestive ,therapeutics ,chief ,stock in ,trade--,advice of a ,medical ,college ,president--,disease ,prevention ,rather than ,cure--,hygienic ,living--,the ,medical ,pretender--,dangerous ,diagnosis ,graft--,great ,flourish of ,trumpets--,no ,starving ,time for ,him--,big ,operations--,mutilating the ,human ,body--,dr4 ,c4 ,w4 ,oviatt's ,views--,dr4 ,maurice ,h4 ,richardson's ,incisive ,statements--,crying ,need for ,reform--,surgery that is ,useless1 ,conscienceless and for ,purely ,commercial ,ends--,spirit of ,surgical ,graft ,especially in the ,west--,fee-,splitting and ,commissions--,a ,nation of ,dollar-,chasers--,the ,public's ,share of ,responsibility--,senn's ,advice--,the ,surgical ,conscience4 ,,part ,,ii--,,osteopathy4 ,,chapter ,,vii--,,some ,,definitions ,,and ,,histories #gi ,romantic ,story of ,osteopathy's ,origin--,an ,asthma ,cure--,headache ,cured by ,plowlines--,log ,rolling to ,relieve ,dysentery--,osteopathy is ,drugless ,healing--,osteopathy is ,manual ,treatment--,liberty of ,blood1 ,nerves and ,arteries--,perfect ,skeletal ,alignment and ,tonic1 ,ligamentous1 ,muscular and ,facial ,relaxation--,andrew ,t4 ,still in #ahgd--,kirksville1 ,mo41 as a ,mecca--,american ,school of ,osteopathy--,the ,promised ,golden ,stream of ,prosperity--,the ,mossbacks--,who's ,who in ,osteopathy4 ,,chapter ,,viii--,,the ,,osteopathic ,,propaganda #hh ,wonderful ,growth ,claimed to ,prove ,merit--,osteopathy is ,rational ,physio-,therapy--,growth is in ,exact ,proportion to ,advertising ,received--,booklets and ,journals for ,gratuitous ,distribution--,osteopathy ,languishes or ,flourishes by ,patent ,medicine ,devices--,circular ,letter from ,secretary of ,american ,osteopathic ,association--,boosts by ,governors and ,senators--,the ,especial ,protege of ,authors--,mark ,twain--,opie ,reed--,emerson ,hough--,sam ,jones--,the ,orificial ,surgeon--,the ,m4,d4 ,seeking ,job as ,professor--,the ,lure of ,honored ,doctor with ,big ,income--,no ,competition4 ,,chapter ,,ix--,,the ,,principles ,,and ,,practice ,,of ,,osteopathy #ig ,infallible1 ,touch-the-,button ,system that ,always ,cured--,indefinite ,movements and ,manipulations--,wealth of ,undeveloped ,scientific ,facts--,osteopaths ,taking ,m4,d4 ,course--,the ,standpatter and the ,drifter--,the ,lesionist--,bone ,setting--,inhibiting a ,center--,chiropractics--,finest ,anatomists in the ,world--,how to ,cure ,torticollis1 ,goitre and ,enteric ,troubles--,a ,successful ,osteopath--,timid ,old ,maids--,osteopathic ,philanthropy4 ,,chapter ,x--,,osteopathy ,,as ,,related ,,to ,,some ,,notorious ,,fakes #aaa ,sure ,shot ,rheumatism ,cure--,regular ,practitioner's ,discomfiture--,medicines ,alone ,failed to ,cure ,rheumatism--,osteopathy ,relieves ,rheumatic and ,neuralgic ,pains--,move ,things--,pop ,stray ,cervical ,vertebrae--,find ,something ,wrong and ,put it ,right--,terrible ,neck-,wrenching1 ,bone-,twisting ,ordeal4 ,,chapter ,,xi--,,tapeworms ,,and ,,gallstones #aai ,plug-hatted ,faker--,frequency of ,tapeworms--,some ,tricks ,exposed--,how the ,defunct ,worm was ,passed--,rubber ,near-,worm--,new ,gallstone ,cure--,relation to ,osteopathy--,perfect1 ,self-,oiling1 ,autotherapeutic ,machine--,touch the ,button--,the ,truth ,about the ,consumption and ,insanity ,cures4 ,,the ,,moral ,,to ,,the ,,tale #abe ,honesty--,plain ,dealing--,education4 ,,part ,,one ,,in ,,general ,quacks and ,grafters ,by ,,ex-,,osteopath ,,chapter ,i4 ,,by ,,way ,,of ,,introduction4 ,the ,augean ,stables of ,therapeutics--,the ,remedy--,reason for ,absence of ,dignified ,literary ,style--,diploma ,mills--,all but ,holy--,dr4 ,geo4 ,h4 ,simmons' ,opinion--,american ,medical ,association ,not ,tyrannical--,therapeutics of ,to-day a ,deplorable ,muddle4 ,in writing this booklet ,i do not pose as a ,hercules come to cleanse the ,augean stables of therapeutics4 ,no power but that of a public conscience awakened to the prevalence of quackery and grafting in connection with doctoring can clear away the accumulated filth4 ,like ,marc ,antony1 ,i claim neither wit1 wisdom nor eloquence2 but as a plain1 blunt man ,i shall speak right on of the things ,i do know about quacks and grafters4 ,in writing of ,osteopathy ,i claim the right to speak as one having authority1 for ,i have been on the inside4 ,as to grafting in connection with the practice of medicine ,i take the viewpoint of a layman1 who for years has carefully read the medical literature of the popular press1 and of late years a number of representative professional journals1 in an effort to get an intelligent conception of the theory and practice of therapeutics4 ,i have not tried to write in a professional style4 ,i have been reading professional literature steadily for some time1 and need a rest from the dignified ponderosity of some of the stuff ,i had to flounder through4 ,i have just read an exposition of the beautiful and rational simplicity of ,osteopathy4 ,this exposition is found in a so-called great ,american encyclopedia that has been put into our schools as an authoritative source of knowledge for the making of intelligent citizens of our children4 ,it is written by a man whose name1 like that of the scholar ,james ,whitcomb ,riley describes1 is set plumb at the dash-board of the whole indurin' alphabet1 so many are his scholarly degrees4 ,how impressive it is to look through an ,osteopathic journal1 and see exhaustive 7and exhausting7 dissertations under mighty names followed by such proof of profound wisdom as1 ,a4,m41 ,m4,s41 ,d4,o41 or ,a4,b41 ,a4,m41 ,m4,d41 ,d4,o4 ,who could believe that a man with all the wisdom testified to by such an array of degrees 7no doubt there were more1 but the modesty that goes with great learning forbade their display7 could be imposed upon by a fad or fake8 ,or would espouse and proclaim anything that was not born of truth1 and filled with blessing and benefaction for mankind8 ,scholarly degrees should be accepted as proof of wisdom1 but after reading such expositions as that in the cyclopedia1 or some of those in the journals1 one sometimes wonders if all the above degrees might not be condensed into the one--,d4,f4 ,as for dignified style in discussing the subject before me1 ,i believe my readers will agree that dignity fits such subjects about as appropriately as a ten-dollar silk hat fits a ten-cent corn doctor1 or a hod-carrier converted into a first-class ,osteopath4 ,while speaking of dignity1 ,i want to commend an utterance of the editor of the ,journal of the ,american ,medical ,association1 made in a recent issue of that journal4 ,it was in reply to a correspondent who had jumped onto the editor of a popular magazine because in exposing graft and quackery he had necessarily implicated a certain brand of medical practitioners4 ,the man who criticised the editor of the popular magazine impresses a layman as one of that class of physicians that has done so much to destroy the respect and confidence of intelligent students of social conditions for medical men as a class1 and in the efficacy of their therapeutic agencies4 ,although the committee appointed by the great society1 of which he is presumably a member1 reported that more than half of the medical colleges in this country are utterly unfit by equipment to turn out properly qualified physicians2 that a large per cent of these unworthy schools are little better than diploma mills conducted for revenue only1 and in spite of the incompetency and shystering that reputable physicians1 in self-defense and in duty to the public must expose1 this man proclaims that the medical profession is all but holy in its care for the souls and minds as well as the bodies of the people4 ,with all respect for the devoted gentlemen among physicians we ask1 ,is it any wonder that the intelligent laity smile at such gush8 ,and this man goes on to say that #ii per cent4 of the practicing physicians of the country belong to this genuine class4 ,members of the ,american ,medical ,association may think that such discussions are for the profession1 and should be kept in the family4 ,perhaps they should1 and no doubt it would be much better for the profession if many of the things said by leading medical men never reached the thinking public4 ,but the fact remains that the contradictory and inconsistent things said do reach the public1 and usually in garbled and distorted form4 ,the better and safer way is1 if possible1 to see to it that there is no cause to say such things1 or if criticisms must be made let physicians be fair and frank with the people1 and treat the public as a party deeply concerned in all therapeutic discussions and investigations4 ,and here applies the utterance of the editor of the ,journal of the ,american ,medical ,association that ,i wanted to commend3 ,the time has passed when we can wrap ourselves in a cloak of professional dignity and assume an attitude of infallibility toward the public4 ,the more intelligent of the laity have opinions on medical subjects1 often bizarre1 it must be admitted1 but frequently well grounded1 and a fair discussion of such opinions can result only in a greater measure of confidence in and respect for the medical profession4 ,such honest1 fair-minded declarations1 together with expressions of similar import from scores of brainy physicians and surgeons in active practice1 are the anchors that hold the medical ship from being dashed to wreckage upon the rocks of public opinion by the currents1 cross-currents and counter-currents of the turbid stream of therapeutics4 ,the people have strongly suspected graft in surgery1 many of them know it1 and nearly all have been taught by journals of the new schools that such grafting is a characteristic of medical schools1 and is asserted to be condoned and encouraged by the profession as a whole4 ,how refreshing1 then1 to hear a representative surgeon of the ,american ,medical ,association say3 ,the moral standards set for professional men are going to be higher in the future1 and with the limelight of public opinion turned on the medical and surgical grafter1 the evil will cease to exist4 ,contrast such frankness with the gush of the writer who1 in the same organ1 said #ii per cent4 of the medical men were all but holy soul guardians1 and judge which is most likely to inspire confidence in the intelligent laity4 ,right here ,i want to say that since ,i have been studying through a cartload of miscellaneous medical journals1 ,i have changed my opinion of the ,american ,medical ,association4 ,it is a matter of little consequence to medical men1 of course1 what my individual opinion may be4 ,it may1 however1 be of some consequence and interest to them to know that the opinion of multitudes are being formed by the same distorting agencies that formed the opinion ,i held until ,i studied copies of the ,journal of the ,american ,medical ,association in comparison with the riff-raff1 rag-tag and bob-tail of the representative organs of the myriad cults1 isms1 fads and fancies that swarm like half-formed insects on the banks of the ,nile4 ,as portrayed by the numerous new school journals ,i receive1 the ,american ,medical ,association is a tyrannical monster1 conceived in greed and bigotry1 born of selfishness and arrogance1 cradled in iniquity and general cussedness1 improved by man-slaughter1 forced upon the people at the point of the bayonet and maintained by ignorance and superstition4 ,most magazines representing various drugless therapies1 ,i found1 spoke of the ,american ,medical ,association in about the same way4 ,and not only these1 but a number of so-called regular medical journals1 as well as independent journals and booklets circulated to boost some individual1 all added their modicum of vituperation4 ,when you consider that thousands of ,osteopaths 7yes1 there are several thousand of them in the field treating the people7 are buying some one of the various ,osteopathic journals by the hundreds every month and distributing them gratis to the people until the whole country is literally saturated1 and that other cults are almost as busy disseminating their literature1 do you wonder that the people are getting biased notions of the medical profession in general and the ,american ,medical ,association in particular8 ,while my faith in the integrity and efficacy of the new school remained intact and at a fanatical pitch1 my sympathy was with the independent journals4 ,the doctrine of therapeutic liberty seemed a fair one1 and one that was only ,american4 ,after studying both sides1 and comparing the journals1 ,i have commenced to wonder if the man who preaches universal liberty so strenuously is not1 in most cases1 only working for individual license4 ,i wrote a paper some time ago1 out of which this booklet has grown1 and sent it to the editor of the ,journal of the ,american ,medical ,association4 ,he was kind enough to say it was full of severe truth that should be published to the laity4 ,in that paper ,i diagnosed the therapeutic situation of to-day as a deplorable muddle1 and ,i am glad to have my diagnosis confirmed by a prominent writer in the ,journal of the ,association4 ,he says3 ,therapeutics to-day cannot be called a science1 it can only be called a confusion4 ,with a dozen dissenting opinions as to the most essential and efficacious therapeutic agents inside the school1 and a horde of new school pretenders outside1 each with his own little system that he heralds as the best and only right way1 and all these separated in everything but their attack on the regulars1 there certainly is a 'turbidity of therapeutics6' ,and this therapeutic stream is the one that flows for the healing of nations6 ,should not its waters be pure and uncontaminated1 so that the invalid who thirsts for health may drink with confidence in their healing virtues8 ,if the stream shows turbid to the physician1 how must it appear to his patient as he stands upon the shore and sees conflicting currents boil and swirl in fierce contention1 forming eddies that are continually stranding poor devils on the drifts of discarded remedies1 while streams of murky waters 7new schools7 pour in from every side and add their filth4 ,to the patient it becomes confusion1 worse confounded4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,graft ,,and ,,failurephobia4 ,the ,commercial ,spirit--,commercialism in ,medicine--,stock ,company ,medical ,colleges--,graft in ,medicines1 ,drugs and ,nostrums--,encyclopedia ,graft--,get-,rich-,quick ,propositions--,paradoxes in ,character of ,shysters--,money ,madness--,professional ,failurephobia--,the ,fortunate ,few and the ,unfortunate ,many--,a ,cause of ,quackery--,the ,grafter's ,herald--,the ,world's ,standard--,solitary ,confinement--,the ,prisoner's ,dream--,working up a ,cough--,situation ,appalling ,among ,st4 ,louis ,physicians--,a ,moral ,pointed4 ,this chapter is not written because ,i possess a hammer that must be used4 ,my liver is sound1 and ,i have a pretty good job4 ,neither palpation nor osculation 7as one of our bright ,osteopathic students once said in giving means used in physical diagnosis7 reveals any lesion in my domestic affairs4 ,however1 it doesn't take the jaundiced eye of a pessimist to see the graft that abounds to-day4 ,the grafter is abroad in the land like a wolf seeking whom he may devour1 and the sheep-skin 7sometimes a diploma7 that once disguised his wolfish character has become so tattered by much use that it now deceives only the most foolish sheep4 ,once a sheep-skin of patriotism disguised the politician1 and people fancied that a public office was a public trust4 ,the revelations of the last few years have taught us that too often a public office is but a public steal4 ,the commercial spirit dominates the age4 ,nothing is too sacred for its defiling hands to touch4 ,the church does not escape4 ,preachers accuse each other of following their ,lord for the loaves and fishes4 ,lawyers accuse each other of taking fees from both sides4 ,leading physicians unhesitatingly say that commercialism is the bane of the medical profession4 ,they say hundreds are rushing into medicine because they have heard of the large earnings of a few fortunate city physicians1 and think they are going into something that will bring them plenty of easy money4 ,stock company medical colleges have been organized by men whose main object was to get a share of the money these hosts of would-be doctors had to spend4 ,even the new systems of therapeutics such as ,osteopathy1 that have boomed themselves into a kind of popularity1 have their schools that1 to believe what some of them say of each other1 are dominated by the rankest commercialism1 being1 in fact1 nothing but ,osteopathic diploma mills4 ,not alone has graft pervaded the schools whose business it is supposed to be to make capable physicians4 ,the graft that has been uncovered lately in connection with the preparation and sale of medicines1 drugs and nostrums is almost incredible when we think of the danger to health and human life involved4 ,the same brand of ghouls who tamper with and juggle medicines for gain1 do not hesitate to adulterate and poison food4 ,with their inferior1 filthy and preserved milk they slaughter the innocents to make a paltry profit4 ,the story ,sinclair wrote of the nauseating horrors of slaughter-houses was enough to drive us all to the ranks of vegetarians forever4 ,only recently ,i chanced to learn that even in the business of publishing there is a little world of graft peculiar to itself4 ,i was told by a responsible book man that the encyclopedia containing a learned 787 exposition of the science of ,osteopathy is the product of grafters1 who took old material and worked in a little new matter1 such as the exposition of ,osteopathy1 to make their work appear up to date to the casual observer4 ,then1 to make the graft worse1 for a consideration1 it was alleged1 a popular publisher let his name be used1 and thus thousands were caught who bought the work relying on the reputation of the publisher1 who1 it appears1 had nothing whatever to do with the encyclopedia4 ,physicians1 school teachers and preachers1 all supposedly poor financiers1 know about the swarms of grafters who hound them with get-rich-quick propositions into which they want them to put their scant surplus of salary or income as they get it4 ,a physician told me he would have been #b1jjj better off if a year or two before he had been a subscriber to a certain medical journal that poses as a sort of watch dog of the physician's treasury4 ,pessimistic as this review may seem1 there is yet room for optimism1 and1 paradoxical as it may sound1 men are not always as bad as their business4 ,i know of a lawyer who in his profession has the reputation of being the worst shyster that ever argued a case4 ,no scheme is too dishonest for his use if it will win his case4 ,yet this man outside of his profession1 in his home1 and in his society1 is as fine a gentleman as you would wish to meet--a model husband and father1 a kind and obliging neighbor1 a generous supporter of all that is for the upbuilding and bettering of society4 ,strong case1 do you say8 ,i believe our country is full of such cases4 ,and ,i believe the medical profession has thousands of just such men1 men whose instincts are for nobility of character and whose moral ideals are high1 but whose business standards are groveling4 ,they live a sort of ,dr4 ,jekyll and ,mr4 ,hyde life1 and why8 ,are they not to blame8 ,and are they not to be classed as scoundrels8 ,yes--and no4 ,these men are diseased4 ,their contact with the world has inoculated them with the world's contagion4 ,what is this disease8 ,the diagnosis has been considered simple4 ,so simple that the world has called it commercialism1 or money madness1 and treated the disease according to this diagnosis without studying it further4 ,may it not be true that1 for many cases at least1 the diagnosis is wrong8 ,do men choose the strenuous1 money-grabbing life because they really love it1 or love the money8 ,i believe thousands of men in professional life to-day1 who are known as dollar-chasers1 really long for a more simple life1 but the disease they have has robbed them of the power to choose that better part4 ,and that disease is not money madness1 but failurephobia4 ,the fear of failing1 or of being called a failure1 dominates the professional world as no other power could4 ,it claims thousands of poor fellows who were brought up to the active1 worth-while life of the farm or of a trade1 and chains them to a miserable1 sham1 death-in-life sort of existence1 that they come to loathe1 but dare not leave because of their disease1 failurephobia4 ,success is the world's standard4 ,succeed in your business or profession1 by honest means if you can1 but succeed6 ,at least1 keep up the appearance of succeeding1 and you may keep your place in society4 ,it may be known that your business is poor1 and that you go to your office and sit in solitude day in and day out1 and that you starve and skimp at home1 but so long as you keep up the show1 you are a professional man6 ,what mighty courage it takes to acknowledge what everybody else knows1 and quit6 ,a writer in a medical journal told of a young physician in ,boston who put an ad4 in a daily paper asking for a job in which a strong man could use the strength a manly man ought to be proud of1 to earn an honest living4 ,if men only had the courage1 ,i wonder how many such ads4 would appear in the columns of our papers6 ,an old schoolmate1 who is a lawyer in a ,western city1 told me that of the more than two hundred lawyers of that city1 twenty had practically all the law business1 and of that twenty a half dozen got the big cases in which there was most money4 ,it is largely so in every city and town4 ,and what applies to the lawyer applies to the physician1 though perhaps not to so great an extent4 ,and while the fortunate few get most of the practice1 and make most of the money1 what are the unfortunate many doing8 ,holding on1 starving1 skimping1 keeping up appearances1 and1 while young1 hoping against hope for better days4 ,but when hope long deferred has made the soul sick1 and hope itself dies1 what then8 ,keep up appearances1 you are a professional man4 ,you can't be a quitter4 ,it would be humorous1 were it not so pathetic1 to see the old doctor who has dragged along for years1 barely eking out a living1 put on the silk hat of his more ambitious days and wear it with dignity along with his shiny threadbare trousers and short coat1 making a desperate spurt to keep up with the dashing young fellow just out of school4 ,failurephobia6 ,among professional men what a terrible disease it is6 ,i have known it to drive a young man1 who might have been happy and useful as a farmer or mechanic1 into a suicide's grave4 ,such cases are not uncommon4 ,who are the ,m4,d4s whose pictures and glaring ads4 appear in those #ae-;cent papers published in ,augusta1 ,me41 and in many daily and even religious papers8 ,are they men who took to graft and disgraced their profession because they loved that kind of life1 and the stigma it brings8 ,not in many cases4 ,most of them perhaps come from the ranks of ambitious fellows who lost out in the strife for legitimate practice1 but who would not acknowledge failure1 so launched into quackery1 and became notorious if they could not become noted4 ,strange as it may seem1 the fact that a professional man is a notorious grafter abroad does not necessarily deprive him of social standing at home4 ,i have in mind a man whose smug face appears in connection with a page of loud and lurid literature in almost every #ae-;cent ,grafters ,herald from ,maine to ,california2 yet this man at home was pointed to with pride as an eminently successful man4 ,he wore his silk hat to church1 and the church of which he was a valued member was proud of the distinction he gave it4 ,a ,western city has an industry to which it points with pride1 and the pictures of the huge plant appear conspicuously placed in illustrated boom editions of the city's enterprising papers4 ,this octopus reaches out its slimy tentacles to every corner of the ,united ,states1 feeling for poor wretches smitten by disease1 real or fancied4 ,when once it gets hold of them it spews its inky fluids around them until they cough up their hard-earned dollars that go to perpetuate this pride of the ,west4 ,the most popular themes of the preacher1 lecturer and magazine writer to-day are ,honesty1 ,anti-graft1 ,tainted ,money1 ,true ,success1 etc4 ,you have heard and read them all1 and have been thrilled with the stirring words ,an honest man is the noblest work of ,god4 ,the preacher and the people think they are sincere1 and go home congratulating themselves that they are capable of entertaining such sentiment4 ,when we observe their social lives we are led to wonder how much of that noble sentiment is only cant after all4 ,,the ,,world',s ,,standard4 ,the world will say that goodness is the only thing worth while1 ,but the man who's been successful is the man who gets the smile4 ,if the good man is a failure1 a fellow who is down1 ,he's a fellow up against it1 and gets nothing but a frown4 ,the fellow who is frosted is the fellow who is down1 ,no matter how he came there1 how honest he has been1 ,they find him just the same when being there's a sin4 ,a man is scarce insulted if you tell him he is bad1 ,to tell him he is tricky will never make him mad2 ,if you say that he's a schemer the world will say he's smart1 ,but say that he's a failure if you want to break his heart4 ,if you want to be respected and pointed to with pride1 ,air yourselves in autos when you go to take a ride2 ,no matter how you get them1 with the world that cuts no ice1 ,your neighbors know you have them and know they're new and nice4 ,the preacher in the pulpit will tell you1 with a sigh1 ,that rich men go with ,dives when they come at last to die2 ,and men who've been like ,lazarus1 failures here on earth1 ,will find their home in ,heaven where the angels know their worth4 ,but the preacher goes with ,dives when the dinner hour comes2 ,he prefers a groaning table to grabbing after crumbs4 ,yes2 he'll take ,dives' tainted money just to lighten up his load4 ,enough to let him travel in the little camel road4 ,that may sound like the wail of a pessimistic knocker1 but every observing man knows it's mostly truth4 ,the successful man is the man who gets the world's smile1 and he gets the smile with little regard to the methods employed to achieve his success4 ,this deplorable social condition is largely responsible for the multitudinous forms of graft that exist to-day4 ,to cut any ice in society you must be somebody or keep up the appearance of being somebody4 ,even if the world knows you are going mainly on pretensions1 it will wink the other eye and give you the place your pretensions claim4 ,most of the folk who make up society are slow to engage in stone slinging1 for they are wise enough to consider the material of which their own domiciles are constructed4 ,to make an application of all this1 let us not be too hard on the quack and the shyster4 ,he is largely a product of our social system4 ,society has placed temptations before him to get money1 and he must keep up the appearances of success at any cost of honesty and independent manhood4 ,the poor professional man who is a victim of that fearful disease1 failurephobia1 in his weakness has become a slave to public opinion4 ,he is made to tread the mill daily in the monotonous round to and from his office where he is serving a life sentence of solitary confinement1 while his wife sews or makes lace or gives music lessons to support the family4 ,i say solitary confinement advisedly1 for now a professional man is even denied the solid comfort of the old-time village doctor or lawyer who could sit with his cronies and fellow-loafers in the shade of the tavern elm1 or around the grocer's stove1 and maintain his professional standing 7or rather sitting74 ,in the large towns and cities that will not do to-day4 ,if the professional man is not busy1 he must seem busy4 ,a physician changed his office to get a south front1 as he felt he must have sunshine1 and he dared not do like ,dr4 ,jones1 get it loafing on the streets4 ,not that a doctor would not enjoy spending some of his long1 lonely hours talking with his friends in the glorious sunshine1 but it would not do4 ,people would say3 ,doctor ,blank must not get much to do now4 ,i see him loafing on the street like old ,doc ,jones4 ,i guess ,doctor ,newcomer has made a 'has been' of him1 too4 ,i know a young lawyer who sat in his office for two long years without a single case4 ,yet every day he passed through the street with the brisk walk of one in a hurry to get back to pressing business4 ,he was so busy 787 that he had to read the paper as he walked to save time to--wait6 ,did you ever sit in the office with one of these prisoners and watch him looking out of his window upon prosperous farmers as they untied fine teams and drove away in comfortable carriages8 ,did you know how to translate that look in his eye1 and the sad abstraction of manner into which he momentarily sank1 in spite of his creed1 which taught him to always seem prosperous and contented8 ,the translation was not hard4 ,his mind was following that farmer out of town and along the green lanes1 bordered by meadows and clover bloom1 and on down the road through the cool twilight of the quiet summer evening1 to where the ribbon of dark green forest1 whose cool cadence had called to him so often1 changed to groves of whispering trees that bordered the winding stream that spoke of the swimming holes and fishing pools of his boyhood4 ,and on up the road again1 across the fertile prairie lands1 until he turns in at the gate of an orchard-embowered home4 ,and do you think the picture is less attractive to this exile because it has not the stately front and the glistening paint of the smart house in town8 ,not at all4 ,the smart house with glistening paint is the one he must aspire to in town1 but his ideal home is that snug farmhouse to which his fancy has followed the prosperous farmer4 ,that picture is not altogether a product of poetic fancy4 ,we get glimpses of such pictures in confidential talks with lawyers and doctors in almost every town4 ,these poor fellows may fret and sigh for change1 and spend their lives for naught1 but the hunger never leaves them4 ,not long ago a professional man who has spent twenty-five years of his life imprisoned in an office1 most of the time just waiting1 spoke to me of his longing to get out4 ,his longing had become almost a madness4 ,he forgot the creed1 to always appear prosperous1 and spoke in bitterness of his life of sham4 ,he said he was like the general of the old rhyme who marched up the hill and--marched down again4 ,he went up to his office and--went home again1 day in and day out1 year in and year out1 and for what8 ,but failurephobia held him there1 and he is there yet4 ,what schemes such unfortunates sometimes concoct to escape their fate6 ,i was told of a physician who was working up a cough1 to have an excuse to go west for his health4 ,how often we hear or read of some bright doctor or lawyer who had a growing practice and a bright future before him1 having to change his occupation on account of his health failing6 ,this is not an overdrawn picture4 ,i believe old and observing professional men will bear me out in it4 ,statistics of the conditions in the professions are unobtainable1 but ,i feel sure would only corroborate my statement4 ,in a recent medical journal was an article by a ,st4 ,louis physician1 which said the situation among medical men of that city was appalling4 ,of the #a1ajj doctors there1 dozens of them were living on ten-cent lunches at the saloons1 and with shiny clothes and unkempt persons were holding on in despair1 waiting for something better1 or sinking out of sight of the profession in hopeless defeat4 ,this is a discouraging outlook1 but it is time some such pictures were held up before the multitude of young people of both sexes who are entering medical and other schools1 aspiring to professional life4 ,and it is time for society to recognize some of the responsibility for graft that rests on it1 for setting standards that cause commercialism to dominate the age4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,why ,,quacks ,,flourish4 ,american ,public ,generally ,intelligent1 but ,densely ,ignorant in ,important ,particulars--,cotton ,mather and ,witchcraft--,a4,b4's1 ,a4,m4's1 ,m4,d4's and ,ph4,d4's ,espousing ,christian ,science1 ,chiropractics and ,osteopathy--,gullibility of the ,college ,bred--,the ,ignorant ,suspicious of ,new ,things--,the ,educated ,man's ,creed--,dearth of ,therapeutic ,knowledge by the ,laity--,is the ,medical ,profession to ,blame8--,physicians' ,arguments ,controvertible--,host of ,incompetents ,among the ,regular ,physicians--,report of ,committee on ,medical ,colleges--,the ,big ,doctors--,doc ,booze--,the ,leading ,doctor--,osler's ,drug ,nihilism--,the ,x-,ray ,graft4 ,in spite of the apparent prevalence of graft and the seemingly unprecedented dishonesty of those who serve the public1 there are not wanting signs of the coming of better things4 ,the eminent physician who spoke of the turbidity of therapeutics thought it was only that agitation that precedes crystallization and clarification that brings purity1 and not greater pollution4 ,may the seeming bad condition not be due in part also to the fact that a larger number of our ,american people are becoming intelligent enough to know the sham from the genuine1 and to know when they are being imposed upon8 ,that our ,american people are generally intelligent we know2 but that a people may be generally intelligent and yet densely ignorant in important particulars has been demonstrated in all ages1 and in no age more clearly than in our own4 ,we wonder how the great scholar1 ,cotton ,mather1 could have believed in and taught witchcraft4 ,what shall we think1 in this enlightened age1 of judges pleading for the healing 787 virtues of ,christian ,science1 or of college professors taking treatment from a ,chiropractor or magnetic healer2 or of the scores of ,a4,b4s1 ,a4,m4s1 ,m4,d4s1 ,ph4,d4s1 who espouse ,osteopathy and use the powers of their supposedly superior intellect in its propagation8 ,we can only come to this conclusion3 ,the college education of to-day does not necessarily make one proof against graft4 ,in fact1 it seems that when it comes to belief in new scientific discoveries1 the educated are even more easily imposed upon than the ignorant4 ,the ignorant man is apt to be suspicious of new things1 especially things that are supposed to require scientific knowledge to comprehend4 ,on the other hand1 the man who prides himself on his learning is sure he can take care of himself1 and often thinks it a proof of his superior intelligence to be one of the charter members of every scientific fad that is sprung on the people by some college professor who is striving for a medal for work done in original research4 ,whatever the reason may be1 the fact remains that frauds and grafts are perpetrated upon educated people to-day4 ,in the preceding chapter ,i tried to tell in a general way what some of the grafts are1 and something of the social conditions that help to produce the grafters4 ,i shall now give some of the reasons why shysters find so many easy victims for their grafts4 ,when it comes to grafting in connection with therapeutics1 the layman's educational armor1 which affords him protection against most forms of graft in business1 seems utterly useless4 ,true1 it affords protection against the more vulgar nostrum grafting that claims its millions of victims among the masses2 but when the educated man meets the new discovery1 new method grafter he bares his bosom and welcomes him as a friend and fellow-scientist4 ,it is the educated man's creed to-day to accept everything that comes to him in the name of science4 ,the average educated man knows nothing whatever of the theory and modus operandi of therapeutics4 ,he is perhaps possessed of some knowledge of everything on the earth1 in the heaven above1 and in the waters beneath4 ,he is1 however1 densely ignorant of one of the most important things of all--therapeutics--the matter of possessing an intelligent conception of what are rational and competent means of caring for his body when it is attacked by disease4 ,a man who writes ,a4,m41 ,d4,d41 or ,,ll4,d4 after his name will send for a physician of any old school1 and put his life or the life of a member of his family into his hands with no intelligent idea whatever as to whether the right thing is being done to save that life4 ,is this ignorance of therapeutics on the part of the otherwise educated the result of a studied policy of physicians to mystify the public and keep their theories from the laity8 ,i don't know4 ,such accusations are often made4 ,i read in a medical magazine recently a question the editor put to his patrons4 ,he told them he had returned money sent by a layman for a year's subscription to his journal1 and asked if such action met their approval4 ,if the majority of the physicians who read his journal do approve his action1 their motives may be based on considerations that are for the public good1 for aught ,i know1 but as a representative layman ,i see much more to commend in the attitude of the editor of the ,journal of the ,a4 ,m4 ,a4 on the question of admitting the public to the confidence of the physician4 ,as ,i have quoted before1 he says3 ,the time has passed when we can wrap ourselves in a cloak of professional dignity and assume an attitude of infallibility toward the public4 ,such sentiment freely expressed would1 ,i believe1 soon change the attitude of the laity toward physicians from one which is either suspicion or open hostility to one of respect and sympathy4 ,the argument has been made by physicians that it would not do for the public to read all their discussions and descriptions of diseases1 as their imagination would reproduce all the symptoms in themselves4 ,others have urged that it will not do to let the public read professional literature1 for they might draw conclusions from the varied opinions they read that would not be for the good of the profession4 ,both arguments remind one of the arguments parents make as an excuse for not teaching their children the mysteries of reproduction4 ,they did not want to put thoughts into the minds of their children that might do them harm4 ,at the same time they should know that the thoughts would be1 and were being1 put into their children's minds from the most harmful and corrupting sources4 ,so in therapeutics4 ,are not all symptoms of disease put before the people anyway1 and from the worst possible sources8 ,if medical men do not know this1 let them read some of the ads4 in the ,grafter's ,herald4 ,and are the contradictions and inconsistencies in discussions in medical journals kept from the public8 ,if medical men think so1 let them read the ,osteopathic and independent journals4 ,the public knows too much already1 considering the sources from which the knowledge comes4 ,since people will be informed1 why not let them get information that is authentic8 ,before ,i studied the literature of leading medical journals ,i believed that the biggest and brainiest physicians were in favor of fair and frank dealing with the public4 ,i had learned this much from observation and contact with medical men4 ,after a careful study of the organ of the ,american ,medical ,association my respect for that organization is greatly increased by finding expressions in numbers of articles which show that my opinion was correct4 ,in spite of all the vituperation that is heaped upon it1 and in spite of the narrowness of individual members1 the ,american ,medical ,association does seem to exist for the good of humanity4 ,the strongest recommendation ,i have found for it lies in the character of the schools and individuals who are most bitter against it4 ,it is usually complimentary to a man to have rascals array themselves against him4 ,there are many able men among physicians who feel keenly their limitations1 when they have done their best1 and this class would gladly have their patients understand the limitations as well as the powers of the physician4 ,in sorrow and disgust sometimes the conscientious physician realizes that he is handicapped in his work to either prevent or cure disease1 because he has to work with people who have wrong notions of his power and of the potency of agencies he employs4 ,with shame he must acknowledge that the people hold such erroneous ideas of medicine1 not because of general ignorance1 but because they have been intentionally taught them by the army of quacks outside and the host of grafters and incompetents inside the regular medical profession4 ,incompetent physicians1 to succeed financially 7and that is the only idea of success incompetents are capable of appreciating71 must practice as shysters4 ,they fully understand how necessary it is to the successful working of their grafts to keep the people in ignorance of what a physician may legitimately and conscientiously do4 ,our medical brethren who preach the all but holy doctrine1 and want to maintain the attitude of infallibility toward the public1 will disagree with me about there being a host of incompetents in the regular school of medical practice4 ,i shall not ask that they take the possibly biased opinion of an ex-,osteopath1 but refer them to the report of the committee appointed by the ,american ,medical ,association to examine the medical colleges of the ,united ,states as to their ability to make competent physicians4 ,one-half of all the medical schools of our country are utterly unfit to turn out properly qualified physicians1 and many of them are so dominated by commercialism that they are but little better than diploma mills6 ,that's what the committee said4 ,it has been argued that the capable physician need not fear the incompetent pretender1 for1 like dregs1 he must settle to the bottom and find his place4 ,this might be true if the people had correct notions of the true theory of therapeutics4 ,as it is1 the scholarly1 competent physician knows 7and intelligent laymen often know7 that the pretenders too often are the fellows who get the reputations of being the big doctors4 ,why8 ,i think mainly because1 being ignorant1 they practice largely as quacks1 and by curing 787 all kinds of dangerous 7on their own diagnosis7 diseases quickly1 breaking up this and aborting that unbreakable and unabortable disease 7by hot air treatment mainly71 they place the whole system upon such a basis of quackery that the deluded masses often pronounce the best equipped and most conscientious physician a poor doctor1 because he will not pretend to do all that the wind-jamming grafter claims he has done and can do4 ,here is a case in point which ,i know to be true4 ,the farce began some years ago in a small college in ,oregon4 ,a big1 awkward1 harmless-looking fellow came to the college one fall and entered the preparatory department4 ,at the end of the year1 after he had failed in every examination and shown conclusively that he had no capacity to learn anything1 he was told that it was a waste of time for him to go to school1 and they could not admit him for another year4 ,was he squelched8 ,not he4 ,the fires of ambition yet burned in his breast1 and the next year he turned up at a medical college4 ,i presume it had the same high educational requirements for admission that some other medical colleges have1 and enforced them in about the same way4 ,at any rate he met the requirements 771 and pursued his medical researches with bright visions of being a doctor to lure him on4 ,but his inability to learn anything manifested itself again1 and1 presumably1 his money gave out4 ,at any rate he was sent away without a diploma4 ,still the fire of ambition was not extinguished in his manly bosom4 ,regulations were not strict in those days1 so he went to a small town1 wore fine clothes1 a silk hat and a pompous air1 and--within a short time was being called for forty miles around to counsel little doctors in their desperate cases4 ,such cases are all too common1 as honest physicians know4 ,how humiliating to the conscientiously equipped doctor to hear people say of a man who never had more brains than he needed1 and had hopelessly muddled what he had by using his own dope and stimulants3 ,i tell you ,doc ,booze is the best doctor in town yet when he's half sober6 ,strange1 isn't it1 that in many communities people have an idea that an inclination on the part of a physician toward whisky or dope indicates some peculiar mental fitness for a doctor8 ,poor fellow1 he formed the habit of taking stimulants to keep up when he had to go night and day during the big typhoid epidemic1 you know4 ,for what per cent4 of cases of medical dipsomaniacs this constitutes a stock excuse1 only medical men know4 ,as an ,osteopathic physician ,i was never rushed so that ,i felt the necessity for keeping up on stimulants4 ,if ,i had been1 to be consistent1 ,i should have had to stimulate 787 mechanically1 of course4 ,not only do shysters and pretenders abuse the confidence of the masses in matters of diagnosis and medication1 but of late years they are working another species of graft that is beginning to react against the profession4 ,this graft consists in the over-use of therapeutic appliances that are all right in their place when legitimately used4 ,by what standard is the physician judged by the people who enter his office8 ,it used to be the display of medical literature4 ,sometimes some of it was pseudo-medical literature4 ,did you ever know a shyster to pad his library with ,congressional reports8 ,i have4 ,the literature used to be conspicuously placed in the waiting-room1 with a ponderous volume lying open on the desk4 ,have you a leading doctor in your town8 ,often he is not only in the lead but has flagged all the others at the quarter post--put them all into the has been class4 ,what an elegant office he has6 ,plush rugs and luxurious couches in the waiting-room4 ,double doors into the private and operating-rooms1 left open when not in actual use to give impressive glimpses of glass cases filled with glittering instruments1 any one of which would give the lie to ,solomon's declaration that there is nothing new under the sun4 ,an ,x-ray machine fills a conspicuous corner4 ,in the same room are tanks1 tubes1 inhalers1 hot-air appliances1 vibrators1 etc4 ,one full side of the room is filled with shelves that groan under a load of the medicines he keeps and dispenses4 ,what are all of these hundreds of bottles for if it is true1 as many of our greatest physicians say1 that a comparatively few people are benefited by drugs8 ,these numerous bottles may contain placebos4 ,i do not know as to that1 but ,i do know something of the impression such a display makes on the mind of an intelligent layman4 ,the query in his mind is how much of that entire display is for its legitimate effect on the minds of the patients1 and how much of it is to impress the people with the powers of this physician1 with his wonderful equipment to cope with all manner of disease8 ,if there is any doubt in the minds of physicians that laymen do know and think well over the sayings of drug nihilists1 let them talk with intelligent people and hear them quote from the editorial page of a great daily such sentiments as this 7from the ,chicago ,record-,herald73 ,prof4 ,william ,osier1 the distinguished teacher of medicine1 who was taken from this country a few years ago to occupy the most important medical chair in ,great ,britain1 has shocked his profession repeatedly by his pronouncements against the use of drugs and medicines of almost every kind4 ,only a few days ago he made an address in which he declared that even though most physicians will be deprived of their livelihood1 the time must soon come when sound hygienic advice for the prevention of disease will take the place of the present system of prescription and pretense of cure4 ,the most able physicians agree with him1 even when they are not frank enough to express themselves to the same effect4 ,medical men need not think1 either1 that the people who happened to read the editorial pages referred to are the only ones who know of that declaration from ,osier4 ,osteopathic journals1 ,christian ,science journals1 health culture journals1 and all the riff-raff of journals published as individual boosters1 are ever on the watch for just such things1 and when they find them they roll them under their tongue as sweet morsels4 ,they chew them1 as ,carleton says1 with the cud of fancy1 and hand them along as latest news to tens of thousands of people who are quick to believe them4 ,going back to the physician who has the well-equipped office1 is he a grafter in any sense8 ,i shall not give my opinion4 ,perhaps every thing he has in the office is legitimate4 ,in the opinion of the masses of that community he is the greatest doctor that ever prescribed a pill or purloined an appendix4 ,taking the word of the physicians whom he has put into the has been class for it1 he is the greatest fake that ever fooled the people4 ,most of those outclassed doctors will talk at any time1 in any place1 to any one1 of the pretensions of this type of physician4 ,they will tell how he dazzles the people with his display of apparatus kept for show2 how he diagnoses malarial fever as typhoid1 and thus gets the reputation of curing a larger per cent4 of typhoid than any other doctor in town2 how he gets the reputation of being a big surgeon by cutting out healthy ovaries and appendices1 and how he assists with his knife women who do not desire ,rooseveltian families4 ,they point to the number of appendectomies he has performed1 and recall how rare such cases were before his advent1 and yet how few people died with appendicitis4 ,is it to be wondered that intelligent laymen sometimes lose faith in and respect for the profession of medicine and surgery8 ,to show that people may be imposed upon by illegitimate use of legitimate agencies ,i call attention to an article published recently in the ,iowa ,health ,bulletin4 ,the ,iowa ,medical ,board is winning admiration from many by conducting a campaign to educate the people of the ,state in matters pertaining to hygienic living4 ,in line with this work they published an article to correct the erroneous idea the laity have of the ,x-ray4 ,they say3 ,the people think that with the ,x-ray the doctor can look right into the body and examine any part or organ and tell just what is the matter with it1 when the fact is all that is ever seen is a lot of dim shadows that even the expert often fails to understand or recognize4 ,why do the people have such erroneous conceptions of the ,x-ray8 ,is it accidental1 or the result of their innate stupidity8 ,certainly it is not4 ,the people have just such conceptions of the ,x-ray as they receive from the faker who uses it as he uses his opiates and stimulants--to get an effect and give the people wrong ideas of his power4 ,a lady of a small town who was far advanced in consumption was taken to a city to be examined by a big doctor who possessed an ,x-ray4 ,he examined her thoroughly by the aid of the penetrating light made by his machine1 and sent them home delighted with the assurance that his wonderful instrument revealed no tuberculosis4 ,he assured her that if she would avail herself of his superior skill she might yet be restored to health4 ,she died within a year from the ravages of tuberculosis4 ,a boy of four had an aggravated attack of bronchitis4 ,his symptoms were such that his parents thought some object might have lodged in his trachea4 ,a noted surgeon who had come one hundred miles from a hospital to see another case was consulted4 ,he told the parents that the boy had sucked something down his windpipe1 and advised them to bring him to the hospital for an operation4 ,they did so1 and a #ajj incision was made after the ,x-ray had located 787 an object lodged at the bifurcation of the trachea4 ,the knife found nothing1 however1 and the boy still had his bronchitis1 and the parents had their hospital and surgeon's bills1 and1 incidentally1 their faith in the ,x-ray somewhat shattered4 ,the ,x-rays1 ,finsen rays1 electric light and sunlight have their place in therapy4 ,informed people do not doubt their efficacy4 ,however1 the history of the use of these agents is a common one4 ,a scientist1 after possibly a lifetime of research1 develops a new therapeutic agent or a new application of some old agent4 ,he gives his findings to the world4 ,immediately a lot of half-baked professional men seize upon it1 more with the object of self-laudation and advertisement than in a true scientific spirit4 ,serious study in the application of the new agent is not thought of4 ,the object is rather to have the reputation of being an up-to-snuff man4 ,the results obtained are not what the originator claimed1 which is not to be wondered at4 ,the abuse of the remedy leads to abuse of the originator1 which is entirely unfair to both4 ,this state of affairs has grown so bad that scientists now are beginning to restrict the application of their discoveries to their own pupils4 ,a ,berlin savant1 assistant to ,koch1 has developed the use of tuberculin to such a point as to make it one of the most valuable remedies in tuberculosis4 ,it is manufactured under his personal supervision1 and sold only to such physicians as will study in his laboratory and show themselves competent to grasp the principles involved4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,turbid ,,therapeutics4 ,an ,astounding ,array of ,therapeutic ,systems--,diet--,water--,optics--,hemot herapy--,consumption ,cures--,placebos--,inconsistencies and ,contradictions--,osler's ,opinion of ,appendicitis--,fair ,statement of ,limitations in ,medicine ,desirable4 ,to be convinced that therapeutics are turbid1 note the increasing numbers of diametrically opposed schools springing up and claiming to advocate the only true system of healing4 ,look at the astounding array3 ,allopathy1 ,homeopathy1 ,eclecticism1 ,osteopathy1 ,electrotherapy1 ,christian ,science1 ,emmanuel movement1 ,hydrotherapy1 ,chiropractics1 ,viteopathy1 ,magnetic ,healing1 ,suggestive ,therapeutics1 ,naturopathy1 ,massotherapy1 ,physio-,therapy1 and a host of minor fads that are rainbow-hued bubbles for a day4 ,they come and go as ,byron said some therapeutic fads came and went in his day4 ,he spoke of the new things that astounded the people for a day1 and then1 as it has been with ,cowpox1 tractors1 galvanism and gas1 ,the bubble bursts and all is air at last4 ,one says he has found that fasting is a panacea4 ,another says3 ,he is a fool2 you must feed the body if you expect it to be built up4 ,one says drinking floods of water is a cure-all4 ,another says the water is all right1 but you must use it for the internal bath4 ,still another agrees that water is the thing1 but it must be used in hot and cold applications4 ,one faker says he has found that most diseases are caused by defective eyes1 and proposes to cure anything from consumption to ingrown toe-nails with glasses4 ,another agrees that the predisposing cause of diseases is eye strain1 but the first fellow is irrational in his treatment4 ,glasses are unnatural and therefore all wrong4 ,to cure the eyes use his wonderful nature-assisting ointment2 that goes right to the optic nerve and makes old eyes young1 weak eyes strong1 relieves nerve strain and thereby makes sick people well4 ,another has found that infused blood is the real elixir of life4 ,he reports #ajj per cent4 of twenty cases of tuberculosis cured by his beneficent discovery4 ,i wonder why we have a ,great ,white ,plague at all2 or why we have international conventions to discuss means of staying the ravages of this terrible disease2 or why ,state medical boards are devoting so much space in their bulletins to warn and educate the people against the awful fatality of consumption1 when to cure it is so easy if doctors will only use blood8 ,even if the hemotherapist does claim a little too much1 there is yet no cause for terror4 ,a leading ,osteopathic journal proclaims in large letters that the ,osteopath can remove the obstruction so that nature will cure consumption4 ,christian ,scientists and ,magnetic ,healers have not yet admitted their defeat1 and there are many regulars who have not surrendered to the plague4 ,so the poor consumptive may hope on 7while his money lasts74 ,our most conscientious physicians not only admit limitations in curing tuberculosis1 but try to teach the people that they must not rely on being cured if they are attacked1 but must work with the physician to prevent its contagion4 ,the intelligent layman can say ,amen to that doctrine4 ,the question may be fairly put3 ,why not have more of such frankness from the physician8 ,the manner in which the admissions of doctors that they are unable to control tuberculosis with medicine or surgery alone has been received by intelligent people should encourage the profession4 ,it would seem more fair to take the stand of ,professor ,osler when he says that sound hygienic advice for the prevention of diseases must largely take the place of present medication and pretence of cure4 ,as a member of the ,american ,medical ,association recently said1 ,the placebo will not fool intelligent people always4 ,and when it is generally known that most of a physician's medicines are given as placebos1 do you wonder that the claims of drugless healers receive such serious consideration8 ,the absurd1 conflicting claims of quack pretenders are bad enough to muddle the situation and add to the turbidity of therapeutics2 but all this is not doing the medical profession nearly as much harm1 nor driving as many people into the ranks of fad followers1 as the inconsistencies and contradictions among the so-called regulars4 ,this was my opinion before ,i made any special study of therapeutics1 and while studying ,i found numbers of prominent medical men who agree with me4 ,one of them says that the criticisms1 quarrels1 contradictions1 and inconsistencies of medical men are doing more to lower the profession in the estimation of the intelligent laity and to cause people to follow the fads of new schools than all else combined4 ,think for a moment of some of these inconsistencies and contradictions4 ,one doctor in a town tells the people that he breaks up typhoid fever4 ,his rival1 perhaps from the same college1 tells the people that typhoid must run its course and cannot be broken up1 and that any man who claims the contrary is a liar and a shyster4 ,one surgeon makes a portion of the people believe he has saved dozens of lives in that community by surgical operations2 the other physicians of the town tell the people openly1 or at least hint1 that there has been a great deal of needless butchery performed in that community in the name of surgery4 ,and then the people see editorials in the daily press about the fad of having operations performed1 and read in their health culture or ,osteopathic journals from articles by the greatest ,m4,d4s1 in which it is admitted that surgery is practiced too largely as a graft4 ,professor ,osler is quoted as saying3 ,surgeons are finding altogether too many cases of appendicitis these days4 ,appendicitis is becoming so common and so easily detected that the physician's wife can diagnose a case of it over the telephone4 ,one leading physician says medical treatment has little beneficial effect on pneumonia2 another claims to be able to cure it1 and lets the friends of his patient rely entirely on his medicine in the most desperate cases4 ,another says the main reliance should be heat4 ,another says ice-packs4 ,another says ,antiphlogistine4 ,another says1 ,all those clay preparations are frauds1 and the only safe way to treat pneumonia is by blood letting4 ,thus it goes1 and this is only a sample of contradictions that arise in the treatment of diseases4 ,nor is the above an overdrawn picture4 ,most of it was from the journal of the editor who said he refused to send it to a layman who had sent his money in advance4 ,but all that same stuff has been hashed and rehashed to the people through the sources ,i have already mentioned4 ,there are not only these evidences of inconsistencies to edify 787 the people1 but constantly recurring examples of incompetency and pretensions4 ,there is no doubt a middle ground in all this1 but it is not evident to the casual observer4 ,if the true physician would honestly admit his limitations to the intelligent laity1 much of this muddle would be avoided4 ,while by such a course he may occasionally temporarily lose a patient1 in the end both the public and profession would gain4 ,the time has gone by to assume an air of infallibility toward the public4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,expert ,,witness ,,and ,,proprietary ,,medicines4 ,the ,great ,nerve ,specialist--,the ,professional ,witness a ,jonah--,the ,railway ,spine--,is it ,lack of ,fairness and ,honesty or ,lack of ,skill and ,learning8--,destruction of ,fine ,herds of ,cattle ,without ,compensation--,koch's ,dictum and ,denial--,koch's ,tuberculin--,the ,serum ,tribe--,stupendous ,sale of ,nostrums--,druggist's ,arguments--,use of ,proprietary ,medicines ,stimulates ,sale of ,nostrums4 ,i wonder what the patrons of the sanitarium of the great nerve specialist thought of his display of knowledge of the nervous system when he was on the witness stand in a recent notorious case8 ,a lawyer tangled him up completely1 and showed that the doctor had no accurate knowledge of the anatomy of the nervous system4 ,when asked the origin of the all-important pneumogastric nerve1 he thought it originated in a certain segment of the spinal cord6 ,this noted specialist was made perfectly contemptible1 and the whole profession must have blushed in shame at the spectacle presented4 ,and that spectacle was not unnoticed by the intelligent laity4 ,the professional witness has in most cases been a ,jonah to the profession4 ,it is about as easy to get the kind of testimony you want from a professional witness in a suit for damages for personal injuries as it is to get a doctor's certificate to get out of working your poll-tax1 or a certificate of physical soundness to carry fraternal life insurance4 ,let me recall the substance of a paper read a few years ago by perhaps the greatest lawyer in ,iowa 7afterward governor of that ,state74 ,he told of a trial in which he had examined and cross-examined ten physicians4 ,it was a trial in which suit was brought to recover damages for personal injury1 a good illustration of the railway spine4 ,one physician testified that the patient was afflicted with sclerosis of the spinal cord2 another said it was a plain case of congestion of the cord2 another diagnosed degeneration of the cord2 yet another said it was a true combination of all the conditions named by the first three4 ,they all said there was atrophy of the muscles of the left leg1 and predicted that complete paralysis would surely supervene4 ,on the other side five noted physicians testified as positively that neither the spinal cord nor any nerve was injured2 that there was no sign of atrophy or loss of power in the leg2 and they seemed to think the disease afflicting the patient was due to a fixed desire to secure a verdict for large damages from the railway company4 ,one eminent specialist made oath that the electrical test showed the partial reaction of degeneration2 another as famous challenged him to make the test again in the presence of both4 ,after it was made this second specialist went before the jury and positively declared that there was no trace whatever of the reaction of degeneration1 and that the muscles responded to the current precisely as healthy muscles should4 ,then this eminent attorney adds3 ,if the instances of such diversity were rare they might pass unnoticed1 but they occur and re-occur as often as physicians are called to the temple of justice for the expression of opinions4 ,the lay mind imputes this clash of opinions either to lack of fairness and honesty or lack of skill and learning4 ,in either case the profession suffers great injury in the estimation of those who should have for it only the profoundest admiration and the most implicit faith4 ,again ,i ask1 ,is it any wonder people have lost implicit faith when they read many reports of similar cases rehashed in the various yellow journals put into their hands8 ,farmers submitted with all possible grace to the decrees of science when1 by the authority of such a great man as ,koch1 their fine herds of cattle were condemned as breeders and disseminators of the great white plague and destroyed without compensation4 ,but how do you think these same farmers feel when they read in yellow journals that ,koch has changed his mind about bovine and human tuberculosis being identical1 and has serious doubts about the one contracting in any way the disease of the other4 ,people read with renewed hope the glowing accounts of the wonderful achievements of ,dr4 ,koch in finding a destroyer for the germ of consumption4 ,somehow time has slipped by since that renowned discovery1 with consumption still claiming its victims1 and many physicians are saying ,koch's great discovery is proving only a great disappointment4 ,drugless therapy journals are continually pouring out the vials of their wrath upon vaccination1 antitoxin and all the serum tribe1 and their vituperation is even excelled by vindictive denunciations of the same things by the individual boomer journals that flood the land4 ,another bitter contention that is confusing some1 and disgusting others1 is the acrimonious strife between users and non-users of proprietary medicines4 ,this usually develops into a sort of rough house affair1 the druggist mixing up as savagely as the doctors before the fight is finished4 ,i know nothing of the rights or wrongs of the case nor of the merits or demerits of proprietary medicines1 but ,i do know this1 however3 ,the stupendous sale of nostrums that in #aijg represented a sum of money sufficient to have provided every practitioner of medicine in the ,united ,states with a two thousand dollar salary1 has been helped by the use of proprietary medicines4 ,i am aware that my position is likely to be called in question by many physicians4 ,but they should hear druggists arguing with people who hesitate about buying patent medicines because their physicians tell them they should seldom take medicine unless prescribed by a doctor4 ,they would hear him say3 ,your doctor gives you medicines that are put up in quantities for him just as these patent medicines are put up for us4 ,he then produces literature and proves it--at least beyond the refutation of the patient4 ,physicians would then realize1 perhaps1 how the use of proprietary medicines stimulates the sale of nostrums4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,faith ,,cure ,,and ,,graft ,,in ,,surgery4 ,suggestive ,therapeutics ,chief ,stock in ,trade--,advice of a ,medical ,college ,president--,disease ,prevention ,rather than ,cure--,hygienic ,living--,the ,medical ,pretender--,dangerous ,diagnosis ,graft--,great ,flourish of ,trumpets--,no ,starving ,time for ,him--,big ,operations--,mutilating the ,human ,body--,dr4 ,c4 ,w4 ,oviatt's ,views--,dr4 ,maurice ,h4 ,richardson's ,incisive ,statements--,crying ,need for ,reform--,surgery that is ,useless1 ,conscienceless and for ,purely ,commercial ,ends--,spirit of ,surgical ,graft1 ,especially in the ,west--,fee-,splitting and ,commissions--,a ,nation of ,dollar-,chasers--,the ,public's ,share of ,responsibility--,senn's ,advice--,the ,surgical ,conscience4 ,i think we have enough before us to show why intelligent people become followers of fads4 ,seeing so many impositions and frauds1 they forget all the patient research and beneficent discoveries of noble men who have devoted their lives to the work of giving humanity better health and longer life4 ,they are ready at once to denounce the whole medical system as a fraud1 and become victims of the first new system or healing fad that is plausibly presented to them4 ,and here a question arises that is puzzling to many4 ,if these systems are fads and frauds1 why do they so rapidly get and retain so large a following among intelligent people8 ,the answer is not hard to find4 ,the quacks of these fad schools get their cures1 as every intelligent doctor of the old schools knows1 in the same way and upon the same principle that is so important a factor in medical practice1 i4 e41 faith cure--the psychic effect of the thing done1 whether it be the giving of a dose of medicine1 a ,christian ,science pow-wow1 the laying on of hands1 the removal of a lesion by an ,osteopath1 the adjustment of the spine by a ,chiropractor1 or what not4 ,the principles of mind or faith cure are legitimately used by the honest physician4 ,suggestive therapeutics is being systematically studied by many who want to use it with honesty and intelligence4 ,they realize fully that abuse of this principle figures largely in the maintenance of the shysters in their own school1 and it is the very foundation of all new schools and healing fads4 ,the people must be made to know this1 or fads will continue to flourish4 ,the honest physician would be glad to have the people know more than this4 ,he would be glad to have them know enough about symptoms of diseases to have some idea when they really need the help of a physician4 ,for he knows that if the people knew this much all quacks would be speedily put out of business4 ,i wonder how many doctors know that observing people are beginning to suspect that many physicians regulate the number of calls they make on a patient by motives other than the condition of the patient--size of pocketbook and the condition of the roads1 for instance4 ,i am aware that such imputation is an insult to any physician worthy of the name1 but the sad fact is that there are so many1 when we count the quacks of all schools1 unworthy of the name4 ,the president of a ,st4 ,louis medical college once said to a large graduating class3 ,young men1 don't go to your work with timidity and doubts of your ability to succeed4 ,look and act your part as physicians1 and when you have doubts concerning your power over disease remember this1 ninety-five out of every hundred people who send for you would get well just the same if they never took a drop of your medicine4 ,i have never mentioned this to a doctor who did not admit that it is perhaps true4 ,if so1 is there not enough in it alone to explain the apparent success of quacks8 ,again ,i say there are many noble and brainy physicians1 and these have made practically all the great discoveries1 invented all the useful appliances1 written all the great books for other schools to study1 and they should have credit from the people for all this1 and not be misrepresented by little pretenders4 ,their teachings should be applied as they gave them4 ,the best of them to-day would have the people taught that a physician's greatest work may be done in preventing rather than in curing disease4 ,physicians of the ,osler type would like to have the people understand how little potency drugs have to cure many dangerous diseases when they have a firm hold on the system4 ,they would have some of the responsibility removed from the shoulders of the physician by having the people understand how much they may do by hygienic living and common-sense use of natural remedies4 ,but the conscientious doctor too often has to compete with the pretender who wants the people to believe that he is their hope and their salvation1 and in him they must trust4 ,he wants them to believe that he has a specific remedy for every disease that will go right to the spot and have the desired effect4 ,people who believe this1 and believe that without doctoring the patient could never get well1 will sometimes try1 or see their neighbors try1 a doctor of a new school4 ,when they see about the same proportion of sick recover1 they conclude1 of course1 that the doctor of the new school cured them1 and is worthy to be forever after intrusted with every case of disease that may arise in their families4 ,this is often brought about by the shyster ,m4,d4 overreaching himself by diagnosing some simple affection as something very dangerous1 in order to have the greater credit in curing it4 ,but he at times overestimates the confidence of the family in his ability4 ,they are ready to believe that the patient's condition is critical1 and in terror1 wanting the help of everything that promises help1 call in a doctor of some new school because neighbors told how he performed wonderful cures in their families4 ,when the patient recovers speedily1 as he would have done with no treatment of any kind1 and just as the shyster ,m4,d4 thought he would1 the glory and credit of curing a bad case of a dangerous disease go to the new system instead of redounding to the glory of ,dr4 ,shyster1 as he planned it would4 ,is it any wonder true physicians sometimes get disgusted with their profession when they see a shyster come into the town where they have worked for years1 patiently and conscientiously building up a legitimate practice that begins to promise a decent living1 and by such quack methods as diagnosing cases of simple fever1 such as might come from acute indigestion or too much play in children1 as something dangerous1 typhoid or threatened typhoid1 or cases of congestion of the lungs as lung fever1 and by aborting or curing these terrible diseases in short order and having his patients out in a few days1 jumps into fame and 7financial7 success at a bound8 ,because the typhoid 7real typhoid7 patients of the honest doctor lingered for weeks and sometimes died1 and because frequently he lost a case of real pneumonia1 he made but a poor showing in comparison with the new doctor4 ,he's just fresh from school1 you know1 from a post-graduate course in the ,east4 ,or1 ,he's been to the old country and knows something4 ,just as if any physician1 though he may have been out of school for many years1 does not1 or may not1 know of all the curative agencies of demonstrated merit6 ,would a medical journal fail to keep its readers posted concerning any new discovery in medicine1 or helpful appliance that promises real good to the profession8 ,yet people speak of one doctor's superior knowledge of the best treatment of a particular disease as if that doctor had access to some mysterious source of therapeutic knowledge unknown to other physicians4 ,it is becoming less easy to work the dangerous diagnosis graft than formerly1 for many people are learning that certain diseases must run their course1 and that there are no medicines that have specific curative effects on them4 ,there is another graft now that is taking the place of the one just mentioned1 to some extent at least4 ,in the hands of a fellow with lots of nerve and little conscience it is the greatest of them all4 ,this is the graft of the smart young fellow direct from a post-graduate course in the clinics of some great surgeon4 ,he comes to town with a great flourish of trumpets4 ,of course1 he observes the ethics of the profession6 ,the long accounts of his superior education and unusual experience with operative surgery are only legitimate items of news for the local papers4 ,certainly6 ,it is only right that such an unusual doctor should have so much attention4 ,there is no starving time for him4 ,no weary wait of years for patients to come4 ,at one bound he leaps into fame and fortune by performing big operations right and left1 when before his coming such cases were only occasionally found1 and then taken to surgeons of known ability and experience4 ,the reputable physician respects surgery1 and would respect the bright young fellow fresh from contact with the latest approved methods who has nerve to undertake the responsibility of a dangerous operation when such an operation is really indicated4 ,but when it comes to mutilating the human body by cutting away an appendix or an ovary because it is known that to remove them when neither they nor the victim are much diseased is a comparatively safe and very quick way to get a big reputation--that is the limit of quackery4 ,and no wonder such a man is so cordially hated by his brethren4 ,he not always hated because he mutilates humanity so much1 as because his spectacular graft in surgery is sure to be taken as proof conclusive that he is superior in all other departments of therapeutics4 ,and it puzzles observing laymen sometimes to know why all the successful 787 operations are considered such desirable items of news1 while the cases that are not flattering in their outcome pass unmentioned4 ,i find most complete corroboration of my contention in the president's address1 delivered before the ,western ,surgical and ,gynecological ,association at ,st4 ,louis1 in #aijg1 by ,charles ,w4 ,oviatt1 ,m4,d4 ,this address was published in the ,journal of the ,american ,medical ,association1 and ,i herewith reprint it in part3 ,the ambitious medical student does not usually get far into college work before he aspires to become a surgeon4 ,he sees in the surgical clinics more definite and striking results than are discernible in other branches4 ,without being able to judge of his own relative fitness or whether he possesses the special aptitude so essential to success1 he decides to become a surgeon4 ,there will always be room for the young surgeon who1 fitted by nature for the work1 takes the time and opportunity to properly prepare himself4 ,there is more good surgery being done to-day than ever before1 and there are more good surgeons being educated to do the work4 ,if1 however1 the surgeon of the future is to hold the high and honorable position our leaders have held in the past1 there must be some standard of qualification established that shall protect the people against incompetency and dishonesty in surgeons4 ,that there is much that passes under the name of surgery being done by ill-trained1 incompetent men1 will not be denied4 ,what standard1 then1 should be established1 and what requirement should be made before one should be permitted to do surgery8 ,in his address as chairman of the ,section on ,surgery and ,anatomy of the ,american ,medical ,association1 at the ,portland 7#aije7 meeting1 ,dr4 ,maurice ,h4 ,richardson deals with this subject in such a forceful1 clear-cut way1 that ,i take the liberty to quote him at some length3 ',the burden of the following remarks is that those only should practice surgery who by education in the laboratory1 in the dissecting-room1 by the bedside1 and at the operating-table1 are qualified1 first1 to make reasonably correct deductions from subjective and objective signs2 secondly1 to give sound advice for or against operations2 thirdly1 to perform operations skillfully and quickly1 and1 fourthly1 to conduct wisely the after-treatment4 ',the task before me is a serious criticism of what is going on in every community4 ,i do not single out any community or any man4 ,there is in my mind no doubt whatever that surgery is being practiced by those who are incompetent to practice it--by those whose education is imperfect1 who lack natural aptitude1 whose environment is such that they never can gain that personal experience which alone will really fit them for what surgery means to-day4 ,they are unable to make correct deductions from histories2 to predict probable events2 to perform operations skillfully1 or to manage after-treatment4 ',all surgeons are liable to error1 not only in diagnosis1 but in the performance of operations based on diagnosis4 ,such errors must always be expected and included in the contingencies of the practice of medicine and surgery4 ,doubtless many of my hearers can recall cases of their own in which useless--or worse than useless--operations have been performed4 ,if1 however1 serious operations are in the hands of men of large experience1 such errors will be reduced to a minimum4 ',many physicians send patients for diagnosis and opinion as to the advisability of operation without telling the consultant that they themselves are to perform the operation4 ,the diagnosis is made and the operation perhaps recommended1 when it appears that the operation is to be in incompetent hands4 ,his advice should be conditional that it be carried out only by the competent4 ,many operations1 like the removal of the vermiform appendix in the period of health1 the removal of fibroids which are not seriously offending1 the removal of gall-stones that are not causing symptoms1 are operations of choice rather than of necessity2 they are operations which should never be advised unless they are to be performed by men of the greatest skill4 ,furthermore1 many emergency operations1 such as the removal of an inflamed appendix and other operations for lesions which are not necessarily fatal--should be forbidden and the patient left to the chances of spontaneous recovery1 if the operation proposed is to be performed by an incompetent4 ',and is not the surgeon1 appreciating his own unfitness in spite of years of devotion1 in the position to condemn those who lightly take up such burdens without preparation and too often without conscience8 ',in view of these facts1 who should perform surgery8 ,how shall the surgeon be best fitted for these grave duties8 ,as a matter of right and wrong1 who shall1 in the opinion of the medical profession1 advise and perform these responsible acts and who shall not8 ,surgical operations should be performed only by those who are educated for that special purpose4 ',i have no hesitation in saying that the proper fitting of a man for surgical practice requires a much longer experience as a student and assistant than the most exacting schools demand4 ,a man should serve four1 five or six years as assistant to an active surgeon4 ,during this period of preparation1 as it were1 as much time as possible should be given to observing the work of the masters of surgery throughout the world4' ,while ,dr4 ,richardson's ideal may seem almost utopian1 there being so wide a difference between the standard he would erect and the one generally established1 we must all agree that however impossible of attainment under present conditions1 such an ideal is none too high and its future realization not too much to hope for4 ,while there is being done enough poor surgery that is honest and well intended1 there is much being done that is useless1 conscienceless1 and done for purely commercial ends4 ,this is truly a disagreeable and painful topic and one that ,i would gladly pass by1 did ,i not feel that its importance demands some word of condemnation coming through such representative surgical organizations as this4 ,the spirit of graft that has pervaded our ranks1 especially here in the ,west1 is doing much to lower the standard and undermine the morals and ethics of the profession4 ,when fee-splitting and the paying of commissions for surgical work began to be heard of something like a decade ago1 it seemed so palpably dishonest and wrong that it was believed that it would soon die out1 or be at least confined to the few in whom the inherited commercial instinct was so strong that they could not get away from it4 ,but it did not die2 on the other hand1 it has grown and flourished4 ,in looking for an explanation for the existence of this evil1 ,i think several factors must be taken into account1 among them being certain changes in our social and economic conditions4 ,this is an age of commercialism4 ,we are known to the world as a nation of dollar chasers1 where nearly everything that should contribute to right living is sacrificed to the ,moloch of money4 ,the mad rush for wealth which has characterized the business world1 has in a way induced some medical men1 whether rightfully or wrongfully1 to adopt the same measures in self-protection4 ,the patient or his friends too often insist on measuring the value of our services with a commercial yard-stick1 the fee to be paid being the chief consideration4 ,in this way the public must come in for its share of responsibility for existing conditions4 ,so long as there are people who care so little who operates on them1 just so long will there be cheap surgeons1 cheap in every respect1 to supply the demand4 ,the demand for better physicians and surgeons must come in part from those who employ their services4 ,another source of the graft evil is the existence of low-grade1 irregular and stock-company medical schools4 ,in many of these schools the entrance requirements are not in evidence outside of their catalogues4 ,with no standard of character or ethics1 these schools turn out men who have gotten the little learning they possess in the very atmosphere of graft4 ,the existence of these schools seems less excusable when we consider that our leading medical colleges rank with the best in the world and are ample for the needs of all who should enter the profession4 ,their constant aim is to still further elevate the standard and to admit as students only those who give unmistakable evidence of being morally and intellectually fit to become members of the profession4 ,enough men of character1 however1 are entering the field through these better schools to ensure the upholding of those lofty ideals that have characterized the profession in the past and which are essential to our continued progress4 ,i think1 therefore1 that we may take a hopeful view of the future4 ,the demand for better prepared physicians will eventually close many avenues that are now open to students1 greatly to the benefit of all4 ,with the curtailing of the number of students and a less fierce competition which this will bring1 there will be less temptation1 less necessity1 if you will1 on the part of general practitioners to ask for a division of fees4 ,he will come to see that honest dealing on his part with the patient requiring special skill will in the long run be the best policy4 ,he will make a just1 open charge for the services he has rendered and not attempt to collect a surreptitious fee through a dishonest surgeon for services he has not rendered and could not render4 ,then1 too1 there will be less inducement and less opportunity for incompetent and conscienceless men to disgrace the art of surgery4 ,the public mind is becoming especially active just at this time in combating graft in all forms1 and is ready to aid in its destruction4 ,the intelligent portion of the laity is becoming alive to the patent medicine evil4 ,it is only a question of time when the people will demand that the secular papers which go into our homes shall not contain the vile1 disgusting and suggestive quack advertisements that are found to-day4 ,a campaign of reform is being instituted against dishonest politicians1 financiers1 railroad and insurance magnates1 showing that their methods will be no longer tolerated4 ,the moral standards set for professional men and men in public life are going to be higher in the future1 and with the limelight of public opinion turned on the medical and surgical grafter1 the evil will cease to exist4 ,hand in hand with this reform let us hope that there will come to be established a legal and moral standard of qualification for those who assume to do surgery4 ,i feel sure that it is the wish of every member of this association to do everything possible to hasten the coming of this day and to aid in the uplifting of the art of surgery4 ,our individual effort in this direction must lie largely through the influence we exert over those who seek our advice before beginning the study of medicine1 and over those who1 having entered the work1 are to follow in our immediate footsteps4 ,to the young man who seeks our counsel as to the advisability of commencing the study of medicine1 it is our duty to make a plain statement of what would be expected of him1 of the cost in time and money1 and an estimate of what he might reasonably expect as a reward for a life devoted to ceaseless study1 toil and responsibility4 ,if1 from our knowledge of the character1 attainments and qualifications of the young man we feel that at best he could make but a modicum of success in the work1 we should endeavor to divert his ambition into some other channel4 ,we should advise the 'expectant surgeon' in his preparation to follow as nearly as possible the line of study suggested by ,richardson4 ,then ,i would add the advice of ,senn1 viz3 ',to do general practice for several years1 return to laboratory work and surgical anatomy1 attend the clinics of different operators1 and never cease to be a physician4 ,if this advice is followed there will be less unnecessary operating done in the future than has been the case in the past4' ,the young man who enters special work without having had experience as a general practitioner1 is seriously handicapped4 ,in this age1 when we have so frequently to deal with the so-called border-line cases1 it is especially well never to cease being a physician4 ,we would next have the young man assure himself that he is the possessor of a well-developed1 healthy1 working 'surgical conscience4' ,no matter how well qualified he may be1 his enthusiasm in the earlier years of his work will lead him to do operations that he would refrain from in later life4 ,this will be especially true of malignant disease4 ,he knows that early and thorough radical measures alone hold out hope1 and only by repeated unsuccessful efforts will he learn to temper his ambition by the judgment that comes of experience4 ,pirogoff1 the noted surgeon1 suffered from a malignant growth4 ,billroth refused to operate or advise operation4 ,in writing to another surgeon friend he said3 ',i am not the bold operator whom you knew years ago in ,zurich4 ,before deciding on the necessity of an operation1 ,i always propose to myself this question3 ,would you permit such an operation as you intend performing on your patient to be done on yourself8 ,years and experience bring in their train a certain degree of hesitancy4' ,this1 coming from one who in his day was the most brilliant operator in the world1 should be remembered by every surgeon1 young and old4 ,oh1 surgery6 ,modern aseptic surgery6 ,in the hands of the skilled1 conscientious surgeon how great are thy powers for good to suffering humanity6 ,in the hands of shysters what crimes are committed in thy name6 ,with his own school full of shysters and incompetents1 and grafters of new schools and systems to compete with on every hand1 the conscientious physician seems to be between the devil and the deep sea6 ,with quacks to the right of him1 quacks to the left of him1 quacks in front of him1 all volleying and thundering with their literature to prove that the old schools1 and all schools other than theirs1 are frauds1 impostors and poisoners1 about all that is left for the layman to do when sick is to take to the woods4 ,,part ,,two ,,osteopathy ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,some ,,definitions ,,and ,,histories4 ,romantic ,story of ,osteopathy's ,origin--,an ,asthma ,cure--,headache ,cured by ,plowlines--,log ,rolling to ,relieve ,dysentery--,osteopathy is ,drugless ,healing--,osteopathy is ,manual ,treatment--,liberty of ,blood1 ,nerves and ,arteries--,perfect ,skeletal ,alignment and ,tonic1 ,ligamentous1 ,muscular and ,facial ,relaxation--,andrew ,t4 ,still in #ahgd--,kirksville1 ,mo41 as a ,mecca--,american ,school of ,osteopathy--,the ,promised ,golden ,stream of ,prosperity--,shams and ,pretenses--,the ,mossbacks--,who's ,who in ,osteopathy4 ,the story of the origin of ,osteopathy is romantic enough to appeal to the fancy of impressionists4 ,it is almost as romantic as the finding of the mysterious stones by the immortal ,joe ,smith4 ,in this story is embodied the life history of an old-time doctor and pioneer hero in his restless migrations about the frontiers of ,kansas and ,missouri4 ,his thrilling experiences in the days of border wars and through the ,civil ,war are narrated1 and how the germ of the idea of the true cause and cure of disease was planted in his mind by the remark of a comrade as the two lay concealed in a thicket for days to escape border ruffians4 ,then1 later1 how the almost simultaneous death of two or three beloved children1 whom all his medical learning and that of other doctors he had summoned had been powerless to save1 had caused him to renounce forever the belief that drugs could cure disease4 ,he believed ,nature had a true system1 and for this he began a patient search4 ,he wandered here and there1 almost in the condition of the religious reformers of old1 who wandered up and down clad in sheep-skins and goat-hides1 of whom the world was not worthy4 ,in the name of suffering humanity he desecrated the grave of poor ,lo1 that he might read from his red bones some clue to the secret4 ,one ,osteopathic journal claims to tell authentically how ,still was led to the discovery of the great truth4 ,it states that by accidentally curing a case of asthma by fooling with the bones of the chest1 he was led to the belief that bones out of normal position cause disease4 ,still himself tells a rather different story in a popular magazine posing of late years as a public educator in matters of therapeutics4 ,in this magazine ,still tells how he discovered the principles of ,osteopathy by curing a terrible headache resting the back of his neck across a swing made of his father's plowlines1 and next by writhing on his back across a log to relieve the pain of dysentery4 ,accidentally the lesion was corrected1 or the proper center inhibited1 and his headache and flux immediately cured4 ,you can take your choice of these various versions of the wonderful discovery4 ,ever since ,osteopathy began to attract attention1 and people began to inquire ,what is it8 its leading promoters have vied with each other in trying to construct a good definition for their great new science4 ,here are some of the definitions3 ,osteopathy is the science of drugless healing4 ,for a genuine lesion ,osteopath that would not do at all4 ,it is too broad and gives too much scope to the physicians who would do more than pull bones4 ,osteopathy is practical anatomy and physiology skillfully and scientifically applied as manual treatment of disease4 ,that definition suits better1 because of the manual treatment4 ,if you are a true ,osteopath you must do it all with your hands4 ,it will not do to use any mechanical appliances1 for if you do you cannot keep up the impression that you are handling the body with the skilled touch of a master who knows every part of his machine4 ,the human body is a machine run by the unseen force called life1 and that it may run harmoniously it is necessary that there be liberty of blood1 nerves1 and arteries from the generating point to destination4 ,this definition may be impressive to the popular mind1 but1 upon analysis1 we wonder if any other string of big words might not have had the same effect4 ,liberty of blood is a proposition even a stupid medical man must admit4 ,of course1 there must be free circulation of blood1 and massage1 or hot and cold applications1 or exercise1 or anything that will stimulate circulation1 is rational4 ,but when liberty of blood is mentioned1 what is meant by liberty of arteries8 ,osteopathy seeks to obtain perfect skeletal alignment and tonic ligamentous1 muscular and facial relaxation4 ,some ,osteopaths and other therapeutic reformers 787 have contended that medical men purposely used big words and ,latin names to confound the laity4 ,what must we think of the one just given as a popular definition8 ,a good many ,osteopaths are becoming disgusted with the big words1 technical terms and high-sounding nothings used by so many ,osteopathic writers4 ,the limit of this was never reached1 however1 until an ,a4,b41 ,ph4,d41 ,d4,o4 wrote an article to elucidate ,osteopathy for the general public in an ,american encyclopedia4 ,it takes scholarly wisdom to simplify great truths and bring them to the comprehension of ordinary minds4 ,if writers for the medical profession want a lesson in the art of simplifying and popularizing therapeutic science1 they should study this article on ,osteopathy in the encyclopedia4 ,a brief history of ,osteopathy is perhaps in place4 ,the following summary is taken from leading ,osteopathic journals4 ,as to the personality and motives of its founders ,i know but little2 of the motives of its leading promoters a candid public must be the judge4 ,but judgment should be withheld until all the truth is known4 ,the principles of ,osteopathy were discovered by ,dr4 ,andrew ,t4 ,still in #ahgd4 ,he was at that time a physician of the old school practicing in ,kansas4 ,his father1 brothers and uncles were all medical practitioners4 ,he was at one time scout surgeon under ,general ,fremont4 ,during the ,civil ,war he was surgeon in the ,union army in a volunteer corps4 ,it was during the war that he began to lose faith in drugs1 and to search for something natural in combating disease4 ,then began a long struggle with poverty and abuse4 ,he was obstructed by his profession and ridiculed by his friends4 ,fifteen years after the discovery of ,osteopathy found ,dr4 ,still located in the little town of ,kirksville1 ,mo41 where he had gradually attracted a following who had implicit faith in his power to heal by what to them seemed mysterious movements4 ,his fame spread beyond the town1 and chronic sufferers began to turn toward ,kirksville as a ,mecca of healing4 ,others began to desire ,still's healing powers4 ,in #ahib the ,american ,school of ,osteopathy was founded1 which from a small beginning has grown until the present buildings and equipment cost more than #ajj1jjj4 ,hundreds of students are graduated yearly from this school1 and large1 well-equipped schools have been founded in ,des ,moines1 ,philadelphia1 ,boston and ,california1 with a number of schools of greater or less magnitude scattered in other parts of the country4 ,more than four thousand ,osteopaths were in the field in #aijg1 and this number is being augmented every year by a larger number of physicians than are graduated from ,homeopathic colleges1 according to ,osteopathic reports4 ,about thirty-five ,states have given ,osteopathy more or less favorable legal recognition4 ,the discussion of the subject of ,osteopathy is of very grave importance4 ,important to practitioners of the old schools of medicine for reasons ,i shall give further on1 and of vital importance to the thousands of men and women who have chosen ,osteopathy as their life work4 ,it is even of greater importance in another sense to the people who are called upon to decide which system is right1 and which school they ought to rely upon when their lives are at stake4 ,i shall try to speak advisedly and conservatively1 as ,i wish to do no one injustice4 ,i should be sorry indeed to speak a word that might hinder the cause of truth and progress4 ,i started out to tell of all that prevents the sway of truth and honesty in therapeutics4 ,i should come far short of telling all if ,i omitted the inconsistencies of this new science of healing that dares to assume the responsibility for human life1 and makes bold to charge that time-tried systems1 with their tens of thousands of practitioners1 are wrong1 and that the right remedy1 or the best remedy for disease has been unknown through all these years until the coming of ,osteopathy4 ,and further dares to make the still more serious charge that since the truth has been brought to light1 the majority of medical men are so blinded by prejudice or ignorance that they will not see4 ,this is not the first time ,i have spoken about inconsistencies in the practice of ,osteopathy4 ,i saw so much of it in a leading ,osteopathic college that when ,i had finished ,i could not conscientiously proclaim myself as an exponent of a complete and well-rounded system of healing1 adequate for every emergency1 as ,osteopathy is heralded to be by the journals published for ,osteopathic physicians to scatter broadcast among the people4 ,i practiced ,osteopathy for three years1 but only as an ,osteopathic specialist4 ,i never during that time accepted responsibility for human life when ,i did not feel sure that ,i could do as much for the case as any other might do with other means or some other system4 ,because ,i practiced as a specialist and would not claim that ,osteopathy would cure everything that any other means might cure1 ,i have never been called a good disciple of the new science by my brethren4 ,i would not practice as a grafter1 find bones dislocated and subluxated1 and tell people that they must take two or three months' treatment at twenty-five dollars per month1 to have one or two subluxations corrected4 ,in consequence ,i was never overwhelmed by the golden stream of prosperity the literature that made me a convert had assured me would be forthcoming to all ,osteopathic physicians of even ordinary ability4 ,as ,i said1 this is not the first time ,i have spoken of the inconsistencies of ,osteopathy4 ,while yet in active practice ,i became so disgusted with some of the shams and pretences that ,i wrote a long letter to the editor of an ,osteopathic journal published for the good of the profession4 ,this editor1 a bright and capable man1 wrote me a nice letter in reply1 in which he agreed with me about quackery and incompetency in our profession4 ,he did not publish the letter ,i wrote1 or express his honest sentiments1 as ,i had hoped he might4 ,if what ,i wrote to that editor was the truth1 as he acknowledged in private1 it is time the public knew something of it4 ,i believe1 also1 that many of the large number of ,osteopaths who have been discouraged or disgusted1 and quit the practice1 will approve what ,i am writing4 ,there is another class of ,osteopathic practitioners who1 ,i believe1 will welcome the truth ,i have to tell4 ,this consists of the large number of men and women who are practicing ,osteopathy as standing for all that makes up rational physio-therapy4 ,speaking of those who have quit the practice of ,osteopathy1 ,i will say that they are known by the ,osteopathic faculties to be a large and growing number4 ,yet ,osteopathic literature sent to prospective students tells of the small per cent4 of those who take the course who fail4 ,it may not be known how many fail1 but it is known that many have quit4 ,a journey half across one of our ,western ,states disclosed one ,osteopath in the meat business1 one in the real estate business1 one clerking in a store1 and two1 a blind man and his wife1 fairly prosperous ,osteopathic physicians4 ,this was along one short line of railroad1 and there is no reason why it may not be taken as a sample of the percentage of those who have quit in the entire country4 ,i heard three years ago from a bright young man who graduated with honors1 started out with luxurious office rooms in a flourishing city1 and was pointed to as an example of the prosperity that comes to the ,osteopath from the very start4 ,when ,i heard from him last he was advance bill-poster for a cheap show4 ,another bright classmate was carrying a chain for surveyors in ,california4 ,i received an ,osteopathic journal recently containing a list of names1 about eight hundred of them1 of mossbacks1 as we were politely called4 ,i say we1 for my name was on the list4 ,the journal said these were the names of ,osteopaths whose addresses were lost and no communication could be had with them4 ,they were wanted badly1 it seemed4 ,just for what1 aside from the annual fee to the ,american ,osteopathic ,association1 was not clear4 ,i do know what the silence of a good many of them meant4 ,they have quit1 and do not care to read the abuse that some of the ,osteopathic journals are continually heaping upon those who do not keep their names on the ,who's ,who in ,osteopathy list4 ,there is a large percentage of failures in other professions1 and it is not strange that there should be some in ,osteopathy4 ,but when ,osteopathic journals dwell upon the large chances of success and prosperity for those who choose ,osteopathy as a profession1 those who might become students should know the other side4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,the ,,osteopathic ,,propaganda4 ,wonderful ,growth ,claimed to ,prove ,merit--,osteopathy is ,rational ,physio-,therapy--,growth is in ,exact ,proportion to ,advertising ,received--,booklets and ,journals for ,gratuitous ,distribution--,osteopathy ,languishes or ,flourishes by ,patent ,medicine ,devices--,circular ,letter from ,secretary of ,american ,osteopathic ,association--,boosts by ,governors and ,senators--,the ,especial ,protege of ,authors--,mark ,twain--,opie ,reed--,emerson ,hough--,sam ,jones--,the ,orificial ,surgeon--,the ,m4,d4 ,seeking ,job as ,professor--,the ,lure of ,honored ,doctor with ,big ,income--,no ,competition4 ,but what about ,osteopathy8 ,why has it had such a wonderful growth in popularity8 ,why have nearly four thousand men and women1 most of them intelligent and some of them educated1 espoused it as a profession to follow as a life work8 ,these are questions ,i shall now try to answer4 ,osteopathic promoters and enthusiasts claim that the wonderful growth and popularity of ,osteopathy prove beyond question its merits as a healing system4 ,i have already dealt at length with reasons why intelligent people are so ready to fall victims to new systems of healing4 ,the perfect adjustment1 perfect functioning theory of ,osteopathy is especially attractive to people made ripe for some drugless healing system by causes already mentioned4 ,when ,osteopathy is practiced as a combination of all manipulations and other natural aids to the inherent recuperative powers of the body1 it will appeal to reason in such a way and bring such good results as to make and keep friends4 ,i am fully persuaded1 and ,i believe the facts when presented will establish it1 that it is the physio-therapy in ,osteopathy that wins and holds the favor of intelligent people4 ,but ,osteopathy in its own name1 taught as a well-rounded system of healing adequate for every emergency1 has grown and spread largely as a patent medicine flourishes1 i4 e41 in exact proportion to the advertising it has received4 ,i would not presume to make this statement as merely my opinion4 ,the question at issue is too important to be treated as a matter of opinion4 ,i will present facts1 and let my readers settle the point in their own minds4 ,every week ,i get booklets or sample copies of journals heralding the wonderful curative powers of ,osteopathy4 ,these are published not as journals for professional reading1 but to be sold to the practitioners by the hundreds or thousands1 to be given to their patients for distribution by these patients to their friends4 ,the publishers of these boosters say1 and present testimonials to prove it1 that ,osteopaths find their practice languishes or flourishes just in proportion to the numbers of these journals and booklets they keep circulating in their communities4 ,here is a sample testimonial ,i received some time since on a postal card3 ,gentlemen3 ,since using your journals more patients have come to me than ,i could treat1 many of them coming from neighboring towns4 ,quite a number have had to go home without being treated1 leaving their names so that they could be notified later1 as ,i can get to them4 ,your booklets bring them ,o4 ,k4 ,the boast is often made that ,osteopathy is growing in spite of bitter opposition and persecution1 and is doing it on its merits--doing it because ,truth is mighty and will prevail4 ,at one time ,i honestly believed this to be true1 but ,i have been convinced by highest ,osteopathic authority that it is not true4 ,as some of that proof here is an extract from a circular letter from the secretary of the ,american ,osteopathic ,association3 ,now1 ,doctor1 we feel that you have the success of ,osteopathy at heart1 and if you realize the activity and complete organization of the ,american ,medical ,association and their efforts to curb our limitations1 and do not become a member of this ,association1 which stands opposed to the efforts of the big monopoly1 we must believe that you are not familiar with the earnestness of the ,a4 ,o4 ,a4 and its efforts4 ,we must work in harmonious accord and with an organized purpose4 ,when we rest on our oars the death knell begins to sound4 ,can you not see that unless you co-operate with your fellow-practitioners in this national effort you are sounding your own limitations8 ,this from the secretary of the ,american ,osteopathic ,association1 when we have boasted of superior equipment for intelligent physicians4 ,incidentally we pause to make excuse for the expressions3 ,curbing our limitations and sounding your own limitations4 ,but does the idea that when we quit working as an organized body our death knell begins to sound1 indicate that ,osteopathic leaders are content to trust the future of ,osteopathy to its merits8 ,if ,osteopathic promoters do not feel that the life of their science depends on boosting1 what did the secretary of the ,a4,o4,a4 mean when he said1 ,upon the success of these efforts depends the weal or woe of ,osteopathy as an independent system8 ,if truth always grows under persecution1 how can the ,american ,medical ,association kill ,osteopathy when it is so well known by the people8 ,nearly four thousand ,osteopaths are scattered in thirty-six ,states where they have some legal recognition1 and they are treating thousands of invalids every day4 ,if they are performing the wonderful cures ,osteopathic journals tell of1 why are we told that the welfare of the system depends upon the noise that is made and the boosting that is done8 ,has it required advertising to keep people using anesthetics since it was demonstrated that they would prevent pain8 ,has it required boosting to keep the people resorting to surgery since the benefits of modern operations have been proved8 ,does it look as if ,osteopathy has been standing or advancing on its merits8 ,does it not seem that ,osteopathy1 as a complete system1 is mostly a name1 and lives1 moves1 and has its being in boosting8 ,it seems to have been about the best boosted fad ever fancied by a foolish people4 ,governors and senators have boosted for it4 ,osteopathic journals have published again and again the nice things a number of governors said when they signed the bills investing ,osteopathy with the dignity of ,state authority4 ,a certain ,united ,states senator from ,ohio has won more notoriety as a champion of ,osteopathy than he has lasting fame as a statesman4 ,osteopathy has been the especial protege of authors4 ,mark ,twain once went up to ,albany and routed an army of medical lobbyists who were there to resist the passage of a bill favorable to ,osteopathy4 ,for this heroic deed ,mark is better known to ,osteopaths to-day than even for his renowned history of ,huckleberry ,finn4 ,he is in danger of losing his reputation as a champion of the under dog in the fight4 ,lately he has gone on the warpath again4 ,this time to annihilate poor ,mother ,eddy and her fond delusion4 ,opie ,reed is a delightful writer while he sticks to the portrayal of droll ,southern character4 ,ella ,wheeler ,wilcox is admirable for the beauty and boldness with which she portrays the passions and emotions of humanity4 ,but they are both better known to ,osteopaths for the bouquets they have tossed at ,osteopathy than for their profound human philosophy that used to be promulgated by the ,chicago ,american4 ,emerson ,hough gave a little free advertising in his ,heart's ,desire4 ,there may have been method in his madness1 for that ,osteopathic horse doctoring scene no doubt sold many a book for the author4 ,sam ,jones also helped along with some of his striking originality4 ,sam said1 ,there is as much difference between ,osteopathy and massage as between playing a piano and currying a horse4 ,the idea of comparing the ,osteopath's manipulations of the human body to the skilled touch of the pianist upon his instrument was especially pleasing to ,osteopaths4 ,however1 ,sam displayed about the same comprehension of his subject that preachers usually exhibit who try to say nice things about the doctors when they get their doctoring gratis or at reduced rates4 ,these champions of ,osteopathy no doubt mean well4 ,they can be excused on the ground that they got out of place to aid in the cause of struggling truth4 ,but what shall we say of medical men1 some of them of reputation and great influence1 who uphold and champion new systems under such conditions that it is questionable whether they do it from principle or policy8 ,osteopathic journals have made much of an article written by a famous orificial surgeon4 ,the article appears on the first page of a leading ,osteopath journal1 and is headed1 ,an ,expert ,opinion on ,osteopathy4 ,among the many good things he says of the new science is this3 ,the full benefit of a single sitting can be secured in from three to ten minutes instead of an hour or more1 as required by massage4 ,i shall discuss the time of an average ,osteopathic treatment further on1 but ,i should like to see how long this brother would hold his practice if he were an ,osteopath and treated from three to ten minutes4 ,he also says that ,osteopathy is so beneficial to cases of insanity that it seems quite probable that this large class of terrible sufferers may be almost emancipated from their hell4 ,i shall also say more further on of what ,i know of ,osteopathy's record as an insanity cure4 ,there is this significant thing in connection with this noted specialist's boost for ,osteopathy4 ,the journal printing this article comments on it in another number2 tells what a great man the specialist is1 and incidentally lets ,osteopaths know that if any of them want to add a knowledge of orificial surgery to their complete science1 this doctor is the man from whom to get it1 as he is the great and only in his specialty1 and is big and broad enough to appreciate ,osteopathy4 ,the most despicable booster of any new system of therapeutics is the physician who becomes its champion to get a job as professor in one of its colleges4 ,of course it is a strong temptation to a medical man who has never made much of a reputation in his own profession4 ,you may ask1 ,have there been many such medical men8 ,consult the faculty rolls of the colleges of these new sciences1 and you will be surprised1 no doubt1 to find how many put ,m4,d4 after their names4 ,why are they there8 ,some of these were honest converts to the system1 perhaps4 ,some wanted the honor of being ,professor ,doctor1 maybe1 and some may have been lured by the same bait that attracts so many students into ,osteopathic colleges4 ,that is1 the positive assurance of plenty of easy money in it4 ,one who has studied the real situation in an effort to learn why ,osteopathy has grown so fast as a profession1 can hardly miss the conclusion that advertising keeps the grist of students pouring into ,osteopathic mills4 ,there is scarcely a corner of the ,united ,states that their seductive literature does not reach4 ,practitioners in the field are continually reminded by the schools from which they graduated that their alma mater looks largely to their solicitations to keep up the supply of recruits4 ,their advertising1 the tales of wonderful cures and big money made1 appeal to all classes4 ,it seems that none are too scholarly and none too ignorant to become infatuated with the idea of becoming an honored doctor with a big income4 ,college professors and preachers have been lured from comfortable positions to become ,osteopaths4 ,shrewd traveling men1 seduced by the picture of a permanent home1 have left the road to become ,osteopathic physicians and be rich and honored4 ,other classes come also4 ,to me1 when a student of ,osteopathy1 it was pathetic and almost tragic to observe the crowds of men and women who had been seduced from spheres of drudging usefulness1 such as clerking1 teaching1 barbering1 etc41 to become money-making doctors4 ,in their old callings they had lost all hope of gratifying ambition for fame and fortune1 but were making an honest living4 ,the rosy pictures of honor1 fame and twenty dollars per day1 that the numerous ,osteopathic circulars and journals painted1 were not to be withstood4 ,these circulars told them that the fields into which they might go and reap that #bj per day were unlimited4 ,they said3 ,there are dozens of ministers ready to occupy each vacant pulpit1 and as many applicants for each vacancy in the schools4 ,each hamlet has four or five doctors1 where it can support but one4 ,the legal profession is filled to the starving point4 ,young licentiates in the older professions all have to pass through a starving time4 ,not so in ,osteopathy4 ,there is no competition4 ,the picture was a rosy dream of triumphant success6 ,when they had mastered the great science and become ,doctors of ,osteopathy1 the world was waiting with open arms and pocketbooks to receive them4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,theory ,,and ,,practice ,,of ,,osteopathy4 ,infallible1 ,touch-the-,button ,system that ,always ,cured--,indefinite ,movements and ,manipulations--,wealth of ,undeveloped ,scientific ,facts--,osteopaths ,taking ,m4,d4 ,course--,the ,standpatter and the ,drifter--,the ,lesionist--,bone ,setting--,inhibiting a ,center--,chiropractics--,finest ,anatomists in the ,world--,how to ,cure ,torticollis1 ,goitre and ,enteric ,troubles--,a ,successful ,osteopath--,timid ,old ,maids--,osteopathic ,philanthropy4 ,how desperately those students worked4 ,many of them were men and women with gray heads1 who had found themselves stranded at a time of life when they should have been able to retire on a competency4 ,they had staked their little all on this last venture1 and what was before them if they should fail heaven only knew4 ,how eagerly they looked forward to the time when they should have struggled through the lessons in anatomy1 chemistry1 physiology1 symptomatology and all the rest1 and should be ready to receive the wonderful principles of ,osteopathy they were to apply in performing the miraculous cures that were to make them wealthy and famous4 ,need ,i tell the physician who was a conscientious student of anatomy in his school days1 that there was disappointment when the time came to enter the class in theory and practice of ,osteopathy8 ,there had been vague ideas of a systematized1 infallible1 touch-the-button system that always cured4 ,instead1 we were instructed in a lot of indefinite movements and manipulations that somehow left us speculating as to just how much of it all was done for effect4 ,we had heard so often that ,osteopathy was a complete satisfying science that did things specifically6 ,now it began to dawn upon us that there was indeed a wealth of undeveloped scientific facts in ,osteopathy1 as those glittering circulars had said when they thought to attract young men ambitious for original research4 ,they had said1 ,much yet remains to be discovered4 ,some of us wondered if the undeveloped and undiscovered scientific facts were not the main constituents of the science4 ,the students expected something exact and tangible1 and how eagerly they grasped at anything in the way of bringing quick results in curing the sick4 ,if ,osteopathy is so complete1 why did so many students1 after they had received everything the learned 787 professors had to impart1 procure ,juettner's ,modern ,physio-,therapy and ,ling's ,manual ,therapy and ,rosse's ,cures ,without ,drugs and ,kellogg's work on ,hydrotherapy8 ,they felt that they needed all they could get4 ,it was customary for the students to begin treating after they had been in school a few months1 and medical men will hardly be surprised to know that they worked with more faith in their healing powers and performed more wonderful 787 cures in their freshman year than they ever did afterward4 ,i have in mind a student1 one of the brightest ,i ever met1 who read a cheap book on ,osteopathic practice1 went into a community where he was unknown1 and practiced as an ,osteopathic physician4 ,in a few months he had made enough money to pay his way through an ,osteopathic college1 which he entered professing to believe that ,osteopathy would cure all the ills flesh is heir to1 but which he left two years later to take a medical course4 ,he secured his ,d4,o4 degree1 but ,i notice that it is his ,m4,d4 degree he flourishes with pride4 ,can students be blamed for getting a little weak in faith when men who told them that the great principles of ,osteopathy were sufficient to cure everything1 have been known to backslide so far as to go and take medical courses themselves8 ,how do you suppose it affects students of an ,osteopathic college to read in a representative journal that the secretary of their school1 and the greatest of all its boosters1 calls medical men into his own family when there is sickness in it8 ,there are many men and women practicing to-day who try to be honest and conscientious1 and by using all the good in ,osteopathy1 massage1 ,swedish movements1 hydrotherapy1 and all the rest of the adjuncts of physio-therapy1 do a great deal of good4 ,the practitioner who does use these agencies1 however1 is denounced by the stand-patters as a drifter4 ,they say he is not a true ,osteopath1 but a mongrel who is belittling the great science4 ,that circular letter from the secretary of the ,american ,osteopathic ,association said that one of the greatest needs of organization was to preserve ,osteopathy in its primal purity as it came from its founder1 ,a4 ,t4 ,still4 ,if our medical brethren and the laity could read some of the acrimonious discussions on the question of using adjuncts1 they would certainly be impressed with the exactness 787 of ,osteopathic science4 ,there is one idea of ,osteopathy that even the popular mind has grasped1 and that is that it is essentially finding lesions and correcting them4 ,yet the question has been very prominent and pertinent among ,osteopaths3 ,are you a lesion ,osteopath8 ,think of it1 gentlemen1 asking an ,osteopath if he is a lesionist6 ,yet there are plenty of ,osteopaths who are stupid enough 7or honest enough7 not to be able to find bones subluxed every time they look at a patient4 ,practitioners who really want to do their patrons good will use adjuncts even if they are denounced by the stand-patters4 ,i believe every conscientious ,osteopath must sometimes feel that it is safer to use rational remedies than to rely on bone setting1 or inhibiting a center1 but for the grafter it is not so spectacular and involves more hard work4 ,the stand-patters of the ,american ,osteopathic ,association have not eliminated all trouble when they get ,osteopaths to stick to the bone setting1 inhibiting idea4 ,the chiropractic man threatens to steal their thunder here4 ,the ,chiropractor has found that when it comes to using mysterious maneuvers and manipulations as bases for mind cure1 one thing is about as good as another1 except that the more mysterious a thing looks the better it works4 ,so the ,chiropractor simply gives his healing thrusts or his wonderful adjustments1 touches the buttons along the spine as it were1 when--presto6 disease has flown before his healing touch and blessed health has come to reign instead6 ,the ,osteopath denounces the ,chiropractor as a brazen fraud who has stolen all that is good in ,chiropractics 7if there is anything good7 from ,osteopathy4 ,but ,chiropractics follows so closely what the old liner calls the true theory of ,osteopathy that1 between him and the drifter who gives an hour of crude massage1 or uses the forbidden accessories1 the true ,osteopath has a hard time maintaining the dignity 787 of ,osteopathy and keeping its practitioners from drifting4 ,some of the most ardent supporters of true ,osteopathy ,i have ever known have drifted entirely away from it4 ,after practicing two or three years1 abusing medicine and medical men all the time1 and proclaiming to the people continually that they had in ,osteopathy all that a sick world could ever need1 it is suddenly learned that the ,osteopath is gone4 ,he has silently folded his tent and stolen away1 and where has he gone8 ,he has gone to a medical college to study that same medicine he has so industriously abused while he was gathering in the shekels as an ,osteopath4 ,going to learn and practice the science he has so persistently denounced as a fraud and a curse to humanity4 ,the intelligent1 conscientious ,osteopath who dares to brave the scorn of the stand-patter and use all the legitimate adjuncts of ,osteopathy found in physio-therapy1 may do a great deal of good as a physician4 ,i have found many physicians willing to acknowledge this1 and even recommend the services of such an ,osteopath when physio-therapy was indicated4 ,when a physician1 however1 meets a fellow who claims to have in his ,osteopathy a wonderful system1 complete and all-sufficient to cope with any and all diseases1 and that his system is founded on a knowledge of the relation and function of the various parts and organs of the body such as no other school of therapeutics has ever been able to discover1 then he knows that he has met a man of the same mental and moral calibre as the shyster in his own school4 ,he knows he has met a fellow who is exploiting a thing1 that may be good in its way and place1 as a graft4 ,and he knows that this grafter gets his wonderful cures largely as any other quack gets his2 the primary effects of his scientific manipulations are on the minds of those treated4 ,the intelligent physician knows that the ,osteopath got his boastedly superior knowledge of anatomy mostly from the same text-books and same class of cadavers that other physicians had to master if they graduated from a reputable school4 ,all that talk we have heard so much about the ,osteopaths being the finest anatomists in the world sounds plausible1 and is believed by the laity generally4 ,the quotation ,i gave above has been much used in ,osteopathic literature as coming from an eminent medical man4 ,what foundation is there for such a belief8 ,the ,osteopath may be a good anatomist4 ,he has about the same opportunities to learn anatomy the medical student has4 ,if he is a good and conscientious student he may consider his anatomy of more importance than does the medical student who is not expecting to do much surgery4 ,if he is a natural shyster and shirk he can get through a course in ,osteopathy and get his diploma1 and this diploma may be about the only proof he could ever give that he is a superior anatomist4 ,great stress has always been laid by ,osteopaths upon the amount of study and research done by their students on the cadaver4 ,i want to give you some specimens of the learning of the man 7an ,m4,d47 who presided over the dissecting-room when ,i pursued my profound research on the lateral half4 ,this great man1 whose superior knowledge of anatomy1 ,i presume1 induced by the wise management of the college to employ him as a demonstrator1 in an article written for the organ of the school expresses himself thus3 ,it is needless to say that the first impression of an ,m4 ,d4 would not be favorable to ,osteopathy1 because he has spent years fixing in his mind that if you had a bad case of torticollis not to touch it1 but give a man morphine or something of the same character with an external blister or hot application and in a week or ten days he would be all right4 ,in the meanwhile watch the patient's general health1 relieve the induced constipation by suitable means and rearrange what he has disarranged in his treatment4 ,on the other hand1 let the ,osteopath get hold of this patient1 and with his vast and we might say perfect knowledge of anatomy1 he at once1 with no other tools than his hands1 inhibits the nerves supplying the affected parts1 and in five minutes the patient can freely move his head and shoulders1 entirely relieved from pain4 ,would not the medical man be angry8 ,would he not feel like wiping off the earth with all the ,osteopaths8 ,doctor1 with your medical education a course in ,osteopathy would teach you that it is not necessary to subject your patients to myxedema by removing the thyroid gland to cure goitre4 ,you would not have to lie awake nights studying means to stop one of those troublesome bowel complaints in children1 nor to insist upon the enforced diet in chronic diarrhea1 and a thousand other things which are purely physiological and are not done by any magical presto change1 but by methods which are perfectly rational if you will only listen long enough to have them explained to you4 ,i will agree that at first impression all methods look alike to the medical man1 but when explained by an intelligent teacher they will bring their just reward4 ,gentlemen of the medical profession1 study the above carefully--punctuation1 composition1 profound wisdom and all4 ,surely you did not read it when it was given to the world a few years ago1 or you would all have been converted to ,osteopathy then1 and the medical profession left desolate4 ,we have heard many bad things of medical men1 but never 7until we learned it from one who was big-brained enough to accept ,osteopathy when its great truths dawned upon him7 did we know that you are so dull of intellect that it takes you years to fix in your minds that if you had a bad case of torticollis not to touch it but to give a man morphine4 ,and how pleased ,osteopaths are to learn from this scholar that the ,osteopath can take hold of a case of torticollis1 and with his vast and we might say perfect knowledge of anatomy inhibit the nerves and have the man cured in five minutes4 ,we were glad to learn this great truth from this learned ex-,m4,d41 as we never should have known1 otherwise1 that ,osteopathy is so potent4 ,i have had cases of torticollis in my practice1 and thought ,i had done well if after a half hour of hard work massaging contracted muscles ,i had benefited the case4 ,and note the relevancy of these questions1 ,would not the medical man be angry8 ,would he not feel like wiping off the earth all the ,osteopaths8 ,gentlemen1 can you explain your ex-brother's meaning here8 ,surely you are not all so hard-hearted that you would be angry because a poor wry-necked fellow had been cured in five minutes4 ,to be serious1 ,i ask you to think of the finest anatomists in the world doing their original research work in the dissecting-room under the direction of a man of the scholarly attainments indicated by the composition and thought of the above article4 ,do you see now how ,osteopaths get a vast and perfect knowledge of anatomy8 ,do you suppose that the law of the survival of the fittest determines who continues in the practice of ,osteopathy and succeeds8 ,is it true worth and scholarly ability that get a big reputation of success among medical men8 ,i know1 and many medical men know from competition with him 7if they would admit that such a fellow may be a competitor71 that the ignoramus who as a physician is the product of a diploma mill often has a bigger reputation and performs more wonderful cures 787 than the educated ,osteopath who really mastered the prescribed course but is too conscientious to assume responsibility for human life when he is not sure that he can do all that might be done to save life4 ,i once met an ,osteopath whose literary attainments had never reached the rudiments of an education4 ,he had never really comprehended a single lesson of his entire course4 ,he told me that he was then on a vacation to get much-needed rest4 ,he had such a large practice that the physical labor of it was wearing him out4 ,i knew of this fellow's qualifications1 but ,i thought he might be one of those happy mortals who have the faculty of doing things1 even if they cannot learn the theory4 ,to learn the secret of this fellow's success1 if ,i could1 ,i let him treat me4 ,i had some contracted muscles that were irritating nerves and holding joints in tense condition1 a typical case1 if there are any1 for an ,osteopathic treatment4 ,the fellow began his treatment4 ,i expected him to do some of that expert ,osteopathic diagnosing that you have heard of1 but he began in an aimless desultory way1 worked almost an hour1 found nothing specific1 did nothing but give me a poor unsystematic massage4 ,he was giving me a popular treatment4 ,in many towns people have come to estimate the value of an ,osteopathic treatment by its duration4 ,people used to say to me1 ,you don't treat as long as ,dr4 ----1 who was here before you1 and say it in a way indicating that they were hardly satisfied they had gotten their money's worth4 ,some of them would say3 ,he treated me an hour for seventy-five cents4 ,does it seem funny to talk of adjusting lesions on one person for an hour at a time1 three times a week8 ,my picture of incompetency and apparent success of incompetents1 is not overdrawn4 ,the other day ,i had a marked copy of a local paper from a town in ,california4 ,it was a flattering write-up of an old classmate4 ,the doctor's automobile was mentioned1 and he had marked with a cross a fine auto shown in a picture of the city garage4 ,this fellow had been considered by all the ,simple ,simon of the class1 inferior in almost every attribute of true manliness1 yet now he flourishes as one of those of our class to whose success the school can point with pride4 ,it is interesting to read the long list of changes of location among ,osteopaths1 yet between the lines there is a sad story that may be read4 ,how often ,i have followed these changes4 ,first1 ,doctor ,blank has located in ,philadelphia1 with twenty-five patients for the first month and rapidly growing practice4 ,a year or so after another item tells that ,doctor ,blank has located in ,san ,francisco with bright prospects4 ,then ,doctor ,blank has returned to ,missouri on account of his wife's health1 and located in ----1 where he has our best wishes for success4 ,their career reminds us of ,goldsmith's lines3 ,as the hare whom horn and hounds pursue ,pants to the place from whence at first he flew4 ,there has been many a tragic scene enacted upon the ,osteopathic stage1 but the curtain has not been raised for the public to behold them4 ,how many timid old maids1 after saving a few hundred dollars from wages received for teaching school1 have been persuaded that they could learn ,osteopathy while their shattered nerves were repaired and they were made young and beautiful once more by a course of treatment in the clinics of the school4 ,then they would be ready to go out to occupy a place of dignity and honor1 and treat ten to thirty patients per month at twenty-five dollars per patient4 ,gentlemen of the medical profession1 from what you know of the aggressive spirit that it takes to succeed in professional life to-day 7to say nothing of the physical strength required in the practice of ,osteopathy71 what per cent4 of these timid old maids do you suppose have panted to the place from whence at first they flew1 after leaving their pitiful little savings with the benefactors of humanity who were devoting their splendid talents to the cause of ,osteopathy8 ,if any one doubts that some ,osteopathic schools are conducted from other than philanthropic motives1 let him read what the ,osteopathic ,physician said of a new school founded in ,california4 ,of all the fraud1 bare-faced shystering1 and flagrant rascality ever exposed in any profession1 the circumstances of the founding of this school1 as depicted by the editor of the ,osteopathic ,physician1 furnishes the most disgusting instance4 ,men to whom we had clung when the anchor of our faith in ,osteopathy seemed about to drag were held up before us as sneaking1 cringing1 incompetent rascals1 whose motives in founding the school were commercial in the worst sense4 ,and how do you suppose ,osteopaths out in the field of practice feel when they receive catalogues from the leading colleges that teach their system1 and these catalogues tell of the superior education the colleges are equipped to give1 and among the pictures of learned members of the faculty they recognize the faces of old schoolmates1 with glasses1 pointed beards and white ties1 silk hats maybe1 but the same old classmate of--sometimes not ordinary ability4 ,i spoke a moment ago of old maids being induced to believe that they would be made over in the clinics of an ,osteopathic college4 ,that was not an exaggeration4 ,an ,osteopathic journal before me says3 ,if it were generally known that ,osteopathy has a wonderfully rejuvenating effect upon fading beauty1 ,osteopathic physicians would be overworked as beauty doctors4 ,another journal says3 ,if the aged could know how many years might be added to their lives by ,osteopathy1 they would not hesitate to avail themselves of treatment4 ,a leading ,d4 ,o4 discusses consumption as treated ,osteopathically1 and closes his discussion with the statement in big letters3 ,,consumption ,,can ,,be ,,cured4 ,another ,osteopathic doctor says the curse that was placed upon ,mother ,eve in connection with the propagation of the race has been removed by ,osteopathy1 and childbirth positively painless is a consummated fact4 ,the old made young6 ,the homely made beautiful6 ,the insane emancipated from their hell6 ,consumption cured6 ,childbirth robbed of its terrors6 ,asthma cured by moving a bone6 ,what more in therapeutics is left to be desired8 ,o grave1 where is thy victory8 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,osteopathy ,,as ,,related ,,to ,,some ,,other ,,fakes4 ,sure ,shot ,rheumatism ,cure--,regular ,practitioner's ,discomfiture--,medicines ,alone ,failed to ,cure ,rheumatism--,osteopathy ,relieves ,rheumatic and ,neuralgic ,pains--,move ,things--,pop ,stray ,cervical ,vertebrae--,find ,something ,wrong and ,put it ,right--,terrible ,neck-,wrenching1 ,bone-,twisting ,ordeal4 ,a discussion of graft in connection with doctoring would not be complete if nothing were said about the traveling medicine faker4 ,every summer our towns are visited by smooth-tongued frauds who give free shows on the streets4 ,they harangue the people by the hour with borrowed spiels1 full of big medical terms1 and usually full of abuse of regular practitioners1 which local physicians must note with humiliation is too often received by people without resentment and often with applause4 ,only last summer ,i was standing by while one of these grafters was making his spiel1 and gathering dollars by the pocketful for a sure shot rheumatism cure4 ,his was a sure cure1 doubly guaranteed2 no cure1 money all refunded 7if you could get it74 ,a physician standing near laughed rather a mirthless laugh1 and remarked that ,barnum was right when he said1 ,the ,american people like to be humbugged4 ,when the medical man left1 a man who had just become the happy possessor of enough of the wonderful herb to make a quart of the rheumatism router1 remarked3 ,he couldn't be a worse humbug than that old duffer4 ,he doctored me for six weeks1 and told me all the time that his medicine would cure me in a few days4 ,i got worse all the time until ,i went to ,dr4 ----1 who told me to use a sack of hot bran mash on my back1 and ,i was able to get around in two days4 ,in this man's remarks there is an explanation of the reason the crowd laughed when they heard the quack abusing the regular practitioner1 and of the reason the people handed their hard-earned dollars to the grafter at the rate of forty in ten minutes1 by actual count4 ,if all doctors were honest and told the people what all authorities have agreed upon about rheumatism1 i4 e41 that internal medication does it little good1 and the main reliance must be on external application1 traveling and patent medicine fakers who make a specialty of rheumatism cure would be put out of business1 and there would be eliminated one source of much loss of faith in medicine4 ,i learned by experience as an ,osteopath that many people lose faith in medicine and in the honesty of physicians because of the failure of medicine to cure rheumatism where the physician had promised a cure4 ,patients afflicted with other diseases get well anyway1 or the sexton puts them where they cannot tell people of the physician's failure to cure them4 ,the rheumatic patient lives on1 and talks on of ,doc's failure to stop his rheumatic pains4 ,all doctors know that rheumatism is the universal disease of our fickle climate4 ,if it were not for rheumatic pains1 and neuralgic pains that often come from nerves irritated by contracted muscles1 the ,osteopath in the average country town would get more lonesome than he does4 ,people who are otherwise skeptical concerning the merits of ,osteopathy will admit that it seems rational treatment for rheumatism4 ,yet this is a disease that ,osteopathy of the specific-adjustment1 bone-setting1 nerve-inhibiting brand has little beneficial effect upon4 ,all the ,osteopathic treatments ,i ever gave or saw given in cases of rheumatism that really did any good1 were long1 laborious massages4 ,the medical man who as professor in an ,osteopathic college said1 ,when the ,osteopath with his vast knowledge of anatomy gets hold of a case of torticollis he inhibits the nerves and cures it in five minutes1 was talking driveling rot4 ,i have seen some of the best ,osteopaths treat wry-neck1 and the work they did was to knead and stretch and pull1 which by starting circulation and working out soreness1 gradually relieved the patient4 ,a hot application1 by expanding tissues and stimulating circulation1 would have had the same effect1 perhaps more slowly manifested4 ,to call any ,osteopathic treatment massage is always resented as an insult by the guardians of the science4 ,what is the ,osteopath doing1 who rolls and twists and pulls and kneads for a full hour1 if he isn't giving a massage treatment8 ,of course1 it sounds more dignified1 and perhaps helps to preserve the purity of ,osteopathy as a separate system1 to call it reducing subluxations1 correcting lesions1 inhibiting and stimulating nerves4 ,the treatment also acts better as a placebo to call it by these names4 ,as students we were taught that all ,osteopathic movements were primarily to adjust something4 ,some of us worried for fear we wouldn't know when the adjusting was complete4 ,we were told that all the movements we were taught to make were potent to move things1 so we worried again for fear we might move something in the wrong direction4 ,we were assured1 however1 that since the tendency was always toward the normal1 all we had to do was to agitate1 stir things up a bit1 and the thing out of place would find its place4 ,how specific6 ,how scientific6 ,we were told that when in the midst of our agitation we heard something pop1 we could be sure the thing out of place had gone back4 ,when a student had so mastered the great bone-setting science as to be able to pop stray cervical vertebrae he was looked upon with envy by the fellows who had not joined the association for protection against suits for malpractice1 and did not know just how much of an owl they could make of a man and not break his neck4 ,the fellow who lacked clairvoyant powers to locate straying things1 and could not always find the missing link of the spine1 could go through the prescribed motions just the same4 ,if he could do it with sufficient facial contortions to indicate supreme physical exertion1 and at the same time preserve the look of serious gravity and professional importance of a quack medical doctor giving particular directions for the dosing of the placebo he is leaving1 he might manage to make a sound vertebra pop4 ,this1 with his big show of doing something1 has its effect on the patient's mind anyway4 ,we were taught that ,osteopathy was applied common sense1 that it was all reasonable and rational1 and simply meant finding something wrong and putting it right4 ,some of us thought it only fair to tell our patients what we were trying to do1 and what we did it for4 ,there is where we made our big mistake4 ,to say we were relaxing muscles1 or trying to lift and tone up a rickety chest wall1 or straighten a warped spine1 was altogether too simple4 ,it was like telling a man that you were going to give him a dose of oil for the bellyache when he wanted an operation for appendicitis4 ,it was too common1 and some would go to an ,osteopath who could find vertebra and ribs and hips displaced1 something that would make the community sit up and take notice4 ,if one has to be sick1 why not have something worth while8 ,where ,osteopathy has always been so administered that people have the idea that it means to find things out of place and put them back1 it is a gentleman's job1 professional1 scientific and genteel4 ,men have been known to give twenty to forty treatments a day at two dollars per treatment4 ,in many communities1 however1 the adjustment idea has so degenerated that to give an ,osteopathic treatment is no job for a high collar on a hot day4 ,to strip a hard-muscled1 two-hundred-pound laborer down to a perspiration-soaked and scented undershirt1 and manipulate him for an hour while he has every one of his five hundred work-hardened muscles rigidly set to protect himself from the terrible neck-wrenching1 bone-twisting ordeal he has been told an ,osteopathic treatment would subject him to--,i say when you have tried that sort of a thing for an hour you will conclude that an ,osteopathic treatment is no job for a kid-gloved dandy nor for a lily-fingered lady1 as it has been so glowingly pictured4 ,i know the brethren will say that true ,osteopathy does not give an hour's shotgun treatment1 but finds the lesion1 corrects it1 collects its two dollars1 and quits until day after to-morrow1 when it corrects and collects again as long as there is anything to co--llect6 ,i practiced for three years in a town where people made their first acquaintance with ,osteopathy through the treatments of a man who afterwards held the position of demonstrator of ,osteopathic movements and manipulations in one of the largest and boastedly superior schools of ,osteopathy4 ,the people certainly should have received correct ideas of ,osteopathy from him4 ,he was followed in the town by a bright young fellow from ,pap's school1 where the genuine lesion1 blown-in-the-bottle brand of ,osteopathy has always been taught4 ,this fellow was such an excellent ,osteopath that he made enough money in two years to enable him to quit ,osteopathy forever4 ,this he did1 using the money he had gathered as an ,osteopath to take him through a medical college4 ,i followed these two shining lights who ,i supposed had established ,osteopathy on a correct basis4 ,i started in to give specific treatments as ,i had been taught to do2 that is1 to hunt for the lesion1 correct it if ,i found it1 and quit1 even if ,i had not been more than fifteen or twenty minutes at it4 ,i found that in many cases my patients were not satisfied4 ,i did not know just what was the matter at first1 and lost some desirable patients 7lost their patronage1 ,i mean--they were not in much danger of dying when they came to me74 ,i was soon enlightened1 however1 by some more outspoken than the rest4 ,they said ,i did not treat as long as that other doctor1 and when ,i had done what ,i thought was indicated at times a patient would say1 ,you didn't give me that neck-twisting movement1 or that leg-pulling treatment4 ,no matter what ,i thought was indicated1 ,i had to give all the movements each time that had ever been given before4 ,a physician who has had to dose out something he knew would do no good1 just to satisfy the patient and keep him from sending for another doctor who he feared might give something worse1 can appreciate the violence done a fellow's conscience as he administers those wonderfully curative movements4 ,he cannot1 however1 appreciate the emotions that come from the strenuous exertion over a sweaty body in a close room on a ,july day4 ,incidentally1 this difference in the physical exertion necessary to get the same results has determined a good many to quit ,osteopathy and take up medicine4 ,a young man who had almost completed a course in ,osteopathy told me he was going to study medicine when he had finished ,osteopathy1 as he had found that giving treatments was too d----d hard work4 ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,tapeworms ,,and ,,gallstones4 ,plug-hatted ,faker--,frequency of ,tapeworms--,some ,tricks ,exposed--,how the ,defunct ,worm was ,passed--,rubber ,near-,worm--,new ,gallstone ,cure--,relation to ,osteopathy--,perfect1 ,self-,oiling1 ,autotherapeutic ,machine--,touch the ,button--,the ,truth ,about the ,consumption and ,insanity ,cures4 ,there is another trump card the traveling medical grafter plays1 which wins about as well as the guaranteed rheumatism cure1 namely1 the tapeworm fraud4 ,last summer ,i heard a plug-hatted faker delivering a lecture to a street crowd1 in which he said that every mother's son or daughter of them who didn't have the rosy cheek1 the sparkling eye and buoyancy of youth might be sure that a tapeworm of monstrous size was1 like a worm in the bud1 feeding on their damask cheeks4 ,to prove his assertion and lend terror to his tale1 he held aloft a glass jar containing one of the monsters that had been driven from its feast on the vitals of its victim by his never-failing remedy4 ,the person1 saved from a living death1 stood at the doctor's side to corroborate the story1 while his voluptuous wife was kept busy handing out the magical remedy and pursing the ducats given in return4 ,how about the worm exhibited8 ,how this one was secured ,i do not know2 but intelligent people ought to know that cases of tapeworm are not so common that eight people out of every ten have one1 as this grafter positively asserted4 ,an acquaintance once traveled with one of these tapeworm specialists to furnish the song and dance performances that are so attractive to the class of people who furnish the ready victims for grafters4 ,this is how the game was worked4 ,the specialist would pick out an emaciated1 credulous individual from his crowd1 and tell him that he bore the unmistakable marks of being the prey of a terrible tapeworm4 ,if he couldn't sell him a bottle of his worm eradicator1 he would give him a bottle1 telling him to take it according to directions and report to him at his hotel or tent the next day4 ,the man would report that no dead or dying worm had been sighted4 ,this was when ,dr4 ,grafter got in his expert work4 ,the man was told that if he had taken the medicine as directed the worm was dead beyond a doubt1 but sometimes the fangs were fastened so firmly to the walls of the intestines1 in their death agony1 that they would not come away until he had injected a certain preparation that always produced the goods4 ,the man was taken into a darkened room for privacy 7871 the injection given1 and the defunct worm always came away4 ,at least a worm was always found in the evacuated material1 and how was the deluded one to know that it was in the vessel or matter injected8 ,of course1 the patient felt wondrous relief1 and was glad to stand up that night and testify that ,dr4 ,grafter was an angel of mercy sent to deliver him from the awful fate of living where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched4 ,i was told recently of a new tapeworm graft that makes the old one look crude and unscientific4 ,this one actually brings a tapeworm from the intestines in every case1 whether the person had one before the magic remedy was given or not4 ,the graft is to have a near-worm manufactured of delicate rubber and compressed into a capsule4 ,the patient swallows the capsule supposed to contain the worm destroyer4 ,the rubber worm is not digested1 and a strong physic soon produces it1 to the great relief of the patient and the greater glory and profit of the shyster4 ,what a wonderful age of invention and scientific discoveries6 ,another journal tells of a new gallstone cure that never fails to cause the stones to be passed even if they are big as walnuts4 ,the graft in this is that the medicine consists of paraffine dissolved in colored oil4 ,the paraffine does not digest1 but collects in colored balls1 which are passed by handfuls and are excellent imitations of the real things4 ,how about tapeworms1 gallstones and ,osteopathy1 do you ask8 ,we heard about tapeworms and gallstones when we were in ,osteopathic college4 ,the one thing that was ground into us early and thoroughly was that ,osteopathy was a complete system4 ,no matter what any other system had done1 we were to remember that ,osteopathy could do that thing more surely and more scientifically4 ,students soon learned that they were never to ask1 ,can we treat this8 ,that indicated skepticism1 which was intolerable in the atmosphere of optimistic faith that surrounded the freshman and sophomore classes especially4 ,the question was to be put1 ,how do we treat this8 ,in the treatment of worms the question was1 ,how do we treat worms8 ,that was easy4 ,had not nature made a machine1 perfect in all its parts1 self-oiling1 autotherapeutic1 and all that8 ,and would nature allow it to choke up or slip a cog just because a little thing like a worm got tangled in its gearing8 ,not much4 ,nature knew that worms would intrude1 and had provided her own vermifuge4 ,the cause of worms is insufficient bile1 and behold1 all the ,osteopath had to do when he wished to serve notice on the aforesaid worms to vacate the premises was to touch the button controlling the stop-cock to the bile-duct1 and they left4 ,it was so simple and easy we wondered how the world could have been so long finding it out4 ,osteopathy was complete4 ,that was the proposition on which we were to stand4 ,if anything had to be removed1 or brought back1 or put in place1 all that was necessary was to open the floodgates1 release the pent-up forces of nature1 and the thing was done6 ,what a happy condition1 to have perfect faith6 ,i remember a report came to our school of an ,osteopathic physician who read a paper before a convention of his brethren1 in which he recorded marvelous cures performed in cases of tuberculosis4 ,the paper was startling1 even revolutionary1 yet it was not too much for our faith4 ,we were almost indignant at some who ventured to suggest that curing consumption by manipulation might be claiming too much4 ,these wonderful cures were performed in a town which ,i afterward visited4 ,i could find no one who knew of a single case that had been cured4 ,there were those who knew of cases of tuberculosis he had treated1 that had gone as most other bad cases of that disease go4 ,there was another world-startling case4 ,it is one of the main cases1 from all that ,i can learn1 upon which all the bold claims of ,osteopathy as an insanity cure are based4 ,i remember an article under scare headlines big enough for a bloody murder1 flared out in the local paper4 ,it was yet more wonderfully heralded in the papers at the county seat4 ,the metropolitan dailies caught up the echo1 which reverberated through ,canada and was finally heard across the seas6 ,osteopathic journals took it up and made much of it4 ,those in school read it with eager satisfaction1 and plunged into their studies with fiercer enthusiasm4 ,many who had been almost persuaded were induced by it to cross the ,rubicon1 and take up the study of this wonderful new science that could take a raving maniac1 condemned to a mad house by medical men1 and with a few scientific twists of the neck cause raging insanity to give place to gentle sleep that should wake in sanity and health4 ,was it any wonder that students flocked to schools that professed to teach how common plodding mortals could work such miracles8 ,was it strange that anxious friends brought dear ones1 over whom the black cloud of insanity cast its shadows1 hundreds of miles to be treated by this man8 ,or to the ,osteopathic colleges1 from which1 in all cases of which ,i ever knew1 they returned sadly disappointed8 ,the report of that wonderful cure caused many intelligent laymen 7and even ,dr4 ,pratt7 to indulge a hope that insanity might be only a disturbance of the blood supply to the brain caused by pressure from distorted neck bones1 or other lesions1 and that ,osteopaths were to empty our overcrowded madhouses4 ,where is that hope now8 ,what was its foundation8 ,i was told by an intimate friend of this great ,osteopath that all these startling reports we had supposed were published as news the papers were glad to get because of their important truths1 were but shrewd advertising4 ,i afterward talked with the man1 and his friends who were at the bedside when the miracle was performed1 and while they believed that there had been good done by the treatment1 it was all so tame and commonplace at home compared with its fame abroad that ,i have wondered ever since if anything much was really done after all4 ,,the ,,moral ,,to ,,the ,,tale4 ,honesty--,plain ,dealing--,education4 ,but ,i must close4 ,i could multiply incidents1 but it would grow monotonous4 ,i believe ,i have told enough that is disgusting to the intelligent laity and medical men1 and enough that is humiliating to the capable1 honest ,osteopath1 who practices his new science as standing for all that is good in physio-therapy4 ,i hope ,i have told1 or recalled1 something that will help physicians to see that the way to clear up the turbidity existing in therapeutics to-day is by open1 honest dealing with the laity1 and by a campaign of education that shall impart to them enough of the scientific principles of medicine so that they may know when they are being imposed upon by quacks and grafters4 ,i am encouraged to believe ,i am on the right track4 ,after ,i had written this booklet ,i read1 in a report of the convention of the ,american ,medical ,association held in ,chicago1 that one of the leaders of the ,association told his brethren that the most important work before them as physicians was to conduct a campaign of education for the masses4 ,it must be done not only to protect the people1 but as well to protect the honest physician4 ,there is another fact that faces the medical profession1 and ,i believe ,i have called attention to conditions that prove it4 ,that is1 that the hope of the profession of doctoring being placed on an honest rational basis lies in a broader and more thorough education of the physician4 ,a broad1 liberal general education to begin with1 then all that can be known about medicine and surgery4 ,is that enough8 ,no4 ,then all that there is in physio-therapy1 under whatsoever name1 that promises to aid in curing or preventing disease4 ,if this humble production aids but a little in any of this great work1 then my object in writing will have been achieved4