A brief address to the American people / by N.W. Seat ; with remarks by Addison Kendall.

  • Seat, N. W.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A brief address to the American people / by N.W. Seat ; with remarks by Addison Kendall. 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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    [ * ] my assertions aa impossibilities,- mid hence would not try it, or scarcely deign to give it a passing thought; others when convinced that fevers might be and were cured in a few hours by pleasant means, would not use it in practice, as they thought it opposed to their interests to do so; others feared that it might compromise their professional dignity, to make use of an article, the composi- tion or mode of preparation of which they did not fully compre- hend ; a few only had the candor aud independence to use it or speak in its -favor. In mechanics and almost all departments of Science and the A.rte the inventor is protected by law, even the mental labor of the Author is secured by a copyright. In medi- cine the Patent Law will not apply, as by a little simple admixturo or disguise it would be difficult to prove one's rights invaded, and ' I cannot in duty to those dependent on me for a subsistence, or to myself, give the result of the labor uf years, to the public without some adequate compensation. So far from being protected by law, the contrary exists, and that to such an extent as to prevent even an opportunity of proving in a public way the merits of any preparation ; as the law prohibits the use of anything in the Army, Navy and all public Hospitals or Institutions ; even the Physicians in charge of the Quarantine of this City are debarred from all exper- iment unless approved by the Faculty; they in turn will not try it until the formula is given; when once given it is beyond my con- trol ; then what am I to do ? Let the Government take it in hand—this is what I vvnnt; but how shall I prove to Government that my pretensions are valid ? I am forbid by law the opportu- nity of demonstrating its qualities in an official way, by being shut out of the Hospitals ; opposed by the Medical Faculty, whose opin- ions and interests conflict with all it purports, and when so many secret preparations and nostrums are claiming to be a sine qua non, suspected by the masses as being a humbug.