The analytical system of medicine, or, The treatment of disease according to the principles and requirements of nature / by J. Clawson Kelley.

  • Kelley, John Clawson, 1793-1863.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The analytical system of medicine, or, The treatment of disease according to the principles and requirements of nature / by J. Clawson Kelley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    moral right has any person to interfere ? What right have any set of men to say, You shall have this kind of doctor or none ? To deprive the people of this right is fraud; it is aristocratical imposition to obtain pecuniary advantages, and cannot but excite disgust and indignation in every honest, disin- terested citizen who reflects one moment upon the subject. Why should not every practitioner stand upon his own merits ? If he does well, let him have the credit of it—if ill, let him be made accountable for his ignorance. In some States the law was so rigid, and the interest of the doctor so cared for, that a mother could not administer to her infant a little catnip tea without incurring severe penalties. That such laws are uncon- stitutional and cannot long be maintained in a free government like the United States, where every individual is left free to pursue whatsoever profession or business he pleases, is becoming too conclusive in the public mind to be longer a matter of con- troversy. The time, however, has arrived when the public begin to realize that they have rights and intend to exercise them; al- though in many particulars they are yet somewhat fettered; yet are they gradually emerging into that condition which will event- ually characterize them in reality as the Sons of Liberty. Notwithstanding the opposition and persecutions the harbin- gers of a botanical; practice have had to contend with for up- wards of three hundred years, and which for a while rendered the practice almost or quite extinct, yet, like the phenix, it has again arisen from its ashes, and its future destiny cannot be in- volved in mystery to the discerning mind. From time to time, through this long and dark period, have many come forward as bold champions in its cause, and with the ir ost surprising calm- ness and perseverance have they withstood the malicious and reckless fire of their aristocratical adversaries. They have been hunted from place to place—the law, with all its rigor, has been enforced against them—they have been imprisoned, fined, tried