An Open Letter.-By L. T. BEAM, M. D.

PROF. E. YOUNKIN, M. D.-My Dear Sir:-I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your invitation to a place among the contributors to the AMERICAN MEDICAL JOURNAL, of which I learn by your postal card, bearing date of November 21st, you are about to assume editorship. Accept my congratulations and best wishes for your success.

My esteemed friend, Prof. Pitzer, has done well; he gave Eclecticism a creditable journal, and managed very successfully the affairs of the cause for which we love and labor. May you, as his successor, be well sustained, especially by the Eclectics in the West.

American Eclecticism has a grand work before it. Its advocates should not hesitate, but step boldly to the front, and take their places in the rank and file of the great army of progress. The fire of purification is burning under the caldron of medical bigotry and error. Every one who yearns for freedom in our profession is required to place some fuel under the distilling crucible. I am aware that some, with cartilaginous vertebra, in our ranks, are showing signs of despondency-entertaining gloomy forebodings of evil to the cherished Temple of American Medicine-but to all such let the AMERICAN MEDICAL JOURNAL be a source of encouragement. May its monthly visits cheer us all up. With the Greeks, let our war cry be:

"Again to the battle, Achaians!

Our hearts bid the tyrants defiance;

Our land, the first garden of Liberty's tree,

It has been, and shall yet be, the land of the Free."

Each of us have a duty to perform to the after-time of his own brief act of life. And now, as you assume the responsible and arduous duties of an editor, even though you may not accomplish all that you desire, think, as you succeed to another, that there are others coming after you who will take up the little thread-be it woof or warp-which warp-which you have dropped, and weave the fabric you designed, beautifying its texture, it may be, with something from the coloring of their own imagination and thought. Like the pigmy builders of the mountains in the sea, who toil patiently on while the centuries elapse-each short-lived worker comes and brings his little mite and casts it down, and at

length, behold! the coral island peers above the waters-so we should toil with patience for the age in which we live, for posterity, and that, too, without envy of the lot of those who may live in the "good time coming," but with a strong desire cheerfully to contribute our little mite to the glory of that golden age.

It cannot be questioned but that there is a growing interest among a large and respectable portion of the community with reference to the success of the principles of American Eclecticism in medicine, and this interest is constantly extending further and further, taking a wider range and a deeper hold of the minds of the people every day. But if we are to continue this rate of progress, our physicians and journals must not abandon the practice among themselves, and the promulgation among the people of the original, humanizing ethics of Eclecticism. We do not want medical autocrats, or Mother Grundy Eclectics.

In order that Eclecticism in medicine may be perpetuated, it must be instilled into the minds of the people; make the people thoroughgoing Eclectics in sentiment and principle, and but few physicians would find employment except such as were imbued with similar views. The demand in this section of the country for Eclectic physicians far exceeds the supply. I venture the prediction that none of the professions will prove more honorable and lucrative, and that none promise more usefulness, than the Eclectic practice of medicine to the young men and women of the present generation who are about to enter upon a professional career. Unlike the graduates from "regular schools," Eclectic graduates do not find "the profession crowded beyond the limits of remuneration."

Yes, Brother Younkin, a beneficent spirit of Eclecticism is spreading. Homœopathy, and the Mind or Faith cure, are convincing the world that the harsh and heroic measures of " regular" medicine are unnecessary, while the Eclectic profession are demonstrating that there is a golden mean between the two extremes-that there are mild, safe and efficient means, without resorting to ultra measures or extravagant doctrines. For this reason, if for no other, the Eclectic school of medicine can justly claim to occupy an advanced position in the medical world, and that "as a school of medicine it has" an "inherent right of existence," the position taken by the Investigator to the contrary notwithstanding.

I enclose in this letter two dollars to pay for the AMERICAN MEDI. CAL JOURNAL for 1887. Although I scarce have time for thought or action, much beyond my practice, yet a little time will be devoted now and again to promote and carry forward this gigantic work. Each and every one should and can do something for the benefit of our common cause-to promote the noble work in which we are engaged-the amelioration of the physical ills of man.

May good health and abundant prosperity attend you in your new field of labor.

The Lost Status of the Physician.-BY GEO. COVERT, M. D., Clinton, Wis.

As is well known, in ancient days the medicine man was regarded with superstitious awe and veneration. Even now, in Europe, the physician is absolute dictator in his own province. To question his wisdom, to pry into his occult learning, to doubt his methods, is in no wise to be permitted to the laity. In' our boyhood days, we remember that the dictum of the doctor and the doctrines of the "dominie" were reckoned without the pale of dispute.

But in our democratic age, where one man is as good as another (and no better), the iconoclastic spirit of the times makes no distinctions-knows no privileged classes. It strips the physician of his ex-officio garb of authority, and exposes him to the domination of those whom he serves. As one has pertinently observed, "the doctor often ranks second to the family almanac."

This irreverent attitude is significant of several things. It signifies, first of all, lack of confidence in the knowledge and skill of the medical fraternity. This again has arisen from the lack of uniformity in medicine, the many isms and pathies, the low standard of jugglerism to which the medical art has been debased, the ignorance and charlatanry of professed physicians, and, last but not least, the venality of the patent medicine man.

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." The masses know just enough to distrust their doctors, just enough to understand the physiological information conveyed through the seductive advertisements with which the papers of the land, secular, scientific and religious, are dally teeming. There is no escaping the contagion. The reader finds his own condition portrayed; he reads what seem

to be most conclusive and reliable testimonials; he invests forthwith in the stuff, swallows he knows not what and feels better. Soon he "wears it out"-then there is more study of advertisements and another trial.

The old-fashioned "cut and dry" method of practice has fostered a "cut and dry" spirit among the people. In fact, the physician is often recommended by his patrons to "try" this, that or the other remedy. Sometimes they "try," on their own responsibility, like the woman who was troubled with some urinary difficulty. Some one told her cow urine would cure her. Unbeknown

to her physician, who remained ignorant of the auxiliary to his treatment, she followed the cow about the pasture with a pail until the desired remedy was obtained. The idea was that it would do no hurt if it did no good!

How, under the existing state of things, the physician can secure and maintain a position of dignified independence is a question of some importance. Since, when he assumes the title of Dr., he does not, with it, secure the prerogative of immunity from criticism, it follows that, if he rules at all, he must rule by virtue of his inherent superiority. Assumption of superiority will not fill the bill. He must be able to identify pathological conditions, and, at least, diagnose simple diseases with facility.

A quack of my acquaintance, called to some cases of measles, the eruption hardly diagnostic, declared one case to be scarlatina, the second measles, while the third "had 'em mixt." It is needless to add that he was discharged, and another doctor had three cases of measles. At another time, this same man diagnosed some cases to be scarlatina because they vomited; the next day he diagnosed pneumonia, the third day he was discharged. His successor found only simple catarrhal fever. In another instance, error in diagnosis was followed by more serious consequences. A case pronounced measles proved to be small-pox, and thus unwittingly, through culpable ignorance, the germs of infection were scattered.

The physician who demonstrates his superiority daily by his accuracy of diagnosis, and by his skillful handling of disease, is not thereby rendered exempt from the annoying meddlesomeness of his patrons and their friends. He has suggestions as to treatment thrust upon his attention. To remain "suaviter in modo," to cater

to the notions of the ignorant and yet retain his manly independence, requires some little tact and knowledge of human nature. It will not do to heed the advice of well-meaning but incompetent advisers. A graduate of a Homoeopathic institution learned this to his sorrow. Ignorant and therefore not self-reliant, and the more anxious to please everybody and give general satisfaction, not long since he was called to a child in a fit. Some kind attendant suggested a fomentation of hops to the head. It was ordered, and applied hot for twenty-four hours. Child no better. Another suggested cold applications, after the manner of her family physician. Therefore salt and water with ice was used. On the third day there was effusion, and the child died in convulsions. The physician

who understands his business may put his would-be advisers to rout by the Socratic method: "What do you understand the nature of the proposed remedy to be?" "What is its therapeutic value in this case?" etc., etc. It is not necessary that he should condemn the whole category of common domestic medicines, although even these should be employed discriminatingly. Catnip tea, a hop pillow, or a hot mustard-water footbath for insomnia, are not objectionable; but to feed a child raw onions to make it sleep well is one of the absurd things of which we sometimes hear.

It is the privilege, if not the duty, of the medical adviser to explain the "reasons why" of simple household remedies. The well-informed physician has it in his power to make his opinion final among his followers; not by sealing up the fountains of knowledge, not by a pedantic show of learning, but by correcting the erroneous conceptions of medicine and disease, and by adding to the popular information concerning the rationale of medication. Thus may he make himself an authority in his line, and, for himself, retrieve his lost status as a physician.

A STETHOSCOPE has been patented by Mr. Louis D. Radzinsky, of McKeesport, Pa. Its cup is made of soft rubber, in order to be practically a non-conductor of external sounds, and it has a peculiarly constructed tambourine, or drum, whereby the sounds from different regions of the chest or other parts of the body are intensified, the ear-muffs being also of soft rubber, with an ear canalicula of hard rubber or similar material. This is a valuable invention for both old and young physicians.-National Druggist.