good of society, stand still and look on in culpable apathy whilst the tide of empiricism rolls on, prostrating at the same time the honor of the profession and the best interests of humanity? Shall the public continue to contribute its millions annually, to enrich empirics and nostrum-mongers, and enable them to build palaces, purchase cities, and fill their coffers with treasures filched from the hard earnings of the poor? Shall the widow deprive herself of bread, whilst she gives her last mite for some worthless nostrum? And will no one raise his voice against it? Evils of other kinds are suppressed, abated, or kept in abeyance, by public opinion, and no wise moralist thinks proper to let them alone to take their own way, hoping they may eventually die out or be superseded by some greater evils. This mistaken policy has too long prevailed. It is idle to say that nothing can be done. Men adopt false notions for want of correct information. Spread before them the necessary intelligence, and public opinion will, to a great extent, correct errors and reform abuses. Knowledge is the sovereign remedy against
