The emoluments of the medical profession and the means of attaining them : an introductory address delivered at Sydenham College, Birmingham, October 1st, 1856, on occasion of the opening of the winter session / by George Elkington.

  • Elkington, George.
Date:
1856
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The emoluments of the medical profession and the means of attaining them : an introductory address delivered at Sydenham College, Birmingham, October 1st, 1856, on occasion of the opening of the winter session / by George Elkington. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    is with difficulty I can restrain my indignation when I think of those who, armed with the sanction of a Medical Diploma, and possessed of some knowledge of the sound principles of medicine, so prostitute the science and outrage the dictates of common sense, as publicly to avow their belief in a lie, and to practise upon the credulity of the simple for the sake of ill-gotten gains. I believe the practice of Homoeopathy is on the decline, and that, although it may never cease to exist, it will ere long retire to the level of the Morisons, the Holloways, and all the host of empirics, and if I were addressing any other than a Medical audience I should have hesitated before I ventured to allude to the subject, believing that the less notice is taken of it, the better. I cannot however refrain from alluding to a strange inconsistency which has taken possession of the minds of some of the dupes of Homoeopathy, that its professors are actuated by such generous and disinterested motives, and that the opposi¬ tion to, or non-reception of their dogmas by the profession at large, is the result of a selfish and persecuting spirit. It is in vain to argue with such people, or it would seem, a priori, that there is much more reason to question the sincerity and the purity of motive in an individual, who suddenly changes his views and adopts others diametrically opposed to them, especially when it is shown to bring him additional gain, than to impugn the honour and integrity of the many, who, without any personal advantage, whose honour and consistency have not previously been doubted, act in accordance with principles they have always maintained. One lesson may be learnt from these circumstances, the importance of a more rigid observance of the laws which should regulate the conduct of medical practitioners towards each other, of the cultivation of a higher sense of our moral, social, and religious duties, that by a life of honour and integrity, we may raise ourselves above the power of suspicion and calumny. There is one other view of this subject to which I allude with surprise and regret, the frequent sanction given to Homoeopathy, Mesmer¬ ism, and Quackery in all its forms, by many of the clergy and ministers of religion. It is strange to see persons of enlightened education, of en- l.uged views of the dealings of Providence, and conversant with the depravity of the human heart, so easily led away by the specious pretences Gi ^8noiant .nid unprincipled men. It is but a few years since a clergy¬ man, who is now called to his account, was permitted in the ardour of his moibid zeal foi the cause of this wrould-be science, wdien advocating in