of plain common sense which Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson employed in their day, all the fascinating schemes of modern empiricism would be overthrown and demolished.
The necessity and importance of a well-qualified and well-regulated medical profession can never be doubted by civilized men. Infidels may scoff at religion, and quiet men may see little need of lawyers, but all will acknowledge that the sick and wounded must be cared for; and it must certainly be important that those on whom that care devolves, should be qualified for the task, and that some standard of qualifications should be established, in order to guard society, as far as possible, from unworthy and incompetent individuals. In despotic countries, the edict of a sovereign may fix the standard; but in the United States, that standard must be settled by public opinion, and the greatest good of the greatest number should be the basis upon which it is predicated. Physicians will never be too well qualified. Let the standard be as high as will best promote the safety and welfare of society, and let all good men unite to sustain it.
