Page:Quackery Unmasked.djvu/308

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
304
QUACKERY UNMASKED.

should be made for the newness of our institutions and the unsettled state of public opinion. And it is confidently to be hoped that the time is not far distant, when the profession of medicine shall be allowed to occupy the same rank in America that it does in Europe, and no young American shall think of going to Edinburgh, Paris or Vienna, to complete his medical education, any more than he would think of going to Egypt to finish a study of theology.

I know it will be said that if the term of pupilage is lengthened, and a more thorough acquaintance with clinical and hospital practice required, the expenses will be increased to such an extent as to render it impossible for young men of small means to obtain medical degrees. To this I answer, that neither the public nor the young men with small means would suffer if it should so operate. If physicians were more thoroughly educated, and better qualified for the duties of their calling, the public would certainly gain by it, and the profession itself would enjoy a higher degree of public confidence. And if by such means some meritorious young men should