Page images
PDF
EPUB

token of genial sunbeams in our hearts, thinking of the members of the Paul F. Eve Society who have been separated from us; and in years to come, if we should chance to meet, we will meet each other with that cordial grasp of the hand, and each one of us will remember the pleasant scenes and associations that can never be forgotten in this hall. Students will meet students with a warmth of feeling that tells as plainly as a whisper in the ear of the joy of our meeting here, while a silent tear will start from our eyes as the name of some fallen ones who have passed away, and who there sleep under the sod.

We

And now to my fellow-classmates, who hail from the Northwest and the mountains of the East and the beautiful snowy cotton-fields of the South. Allow me, in behalf the Tennesseans assembled here, to welcome you to our grand old State, and to say to you from the North, that we live in a reunited country; that the people of our grand republic are no longer aliens and enemies, but, thank God, we all live under one grand flag. We are glad that you have come among us, so that you can see more of the Southerner, and in the destiny of our great country, the Southern man feels as much pride and patriotism as his Northern brother. The feelings of the war are forgotten with us. are rejoiced to know that we have medical schools springing up in the South as well as in the North; and by the touch of the magician's wand from our hills and valleys, the grand strides made by our people have astonished the world. Our young men, by their heads and hearts, have shown to the world that it is adversity that develops true worth. The Southern woman, a noble type of her sex, bowed like a flower with the dew-drops of morning, has lifted her head to proudly glitter in the dazzling radiance of the rising sun of Southern prosperity, and Southern power.

But while we rejoice in this meeting to-night, our hearts can but gratefully and kindly turn to one of the grandest men whom the world has ever known, and for whom our Society is namedone who was one of the founders of this grand institution; and it was through him, although he sleeps in his silent grave to-night in a sister State-I say it was he who conceived the plan and

originated this successful institution. He is absent from us tonight, yet he is most ably represented here in the persons of two of his sons, perfect specimens of physical manhood as their most worthy sire, courteous, gentlemanly, and in every way well qual ified to wear his distinguished mantle; and by their energy, patience, and indomitable will, aided by their talented and gifted colleagues, will continue in the future, as in the past, to press forward their good work, and place this institution in the very front rank among the educational enterprises of our progressive country.

And now, gentlemen, again thanking you for the honor conferred on me, I announce that the Society is ready to proceed with the regular business.

NATURE'S EFFORT AT GETTING RID OF A FOREIGN SUBSTANCE IN THE ALIMENTARY

CANAL.

BY

O. SNEED, M.D., OF M'KENZIE, TENN.

On the 1st of October, 1886, I was called to see a negro child, æt. 7 weeks. Its mother stated that "one of its ribs was coming through its belly."

On a careful examination of the child, I noticed the appearance of an abscess on the right side of the abdomen, just a little to one side and above the umbilicus, which the mother stated that she had opened with a sharp-pointed pocket-knife two days before. It was discharging pus in abundance. Noticing something at the place from whence the pus was welling up that did not seem to belong there, I grasped it with a pair of dressing forceps, and drew from the abscess cavity the blossom end of a "broom-corn stalk," with eighteen straws attached to the stalk, and measuring in length four inches; and, to my surprise, it was well wrapped and bound around with the long hair of a white

woman. The foreign substance must have passed by ulcerating through the upper part of ascending colon. The child having been nursed by a small boy, its brother, I suppose he gave the child to pacify it the bundle of broom-straws, which had been wrapped together by some woman, used as a tooth-brush, and dropped on the floor.

The nurse gave it to his little brother to please him, who at once put it into his mouth and swallowed it. It passed on to the colon, and then became lodged, and, infringing against the walls of the bowel, acted as an irritant, produced ulceration, the resulting abscess, and was withdrawn by me on the 1st of October. At this writing (October 17th), the child is doing well, the abscess entirely healed, and everything seems all right.

Correspondence.

LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENT FOR MEDICINE.

GAMBLES, TENN., November 10, 1886.

To the Editors of the Southern Practitioner:

As the subjects of vital statistics and medical legislation seem to be a "free fight," and as it concerns every practitioner of medicine in Tennessee, I take the liberty to send you this communication.

I have carefully read Dr. Fite's communication to the Legislative Committee of the State Medical Society, and must say that I heartily concur with the Doctor in the main, but differ in some points of minor detail.

Dr. Fite says that "without we know who and what constitutes, under the law, a physician, vital statistics would be a farce and a sham," and then adds that the failure of the late vital statistics act was from that cause. So far as regards this particular portion of the Commonwealth, the Doctor's statement is as true

as gospel; and I take it for granted that it is so of other portions of the State.

We need a good vital statistics law, and must have it; but it will accomplish nothing so long as Tennessee is infested with the quacks and knaves that now roam at liberty over her domain. What would statistics reported by such doctors be worth to science? How are we to know them? Their ear-marks are not always visible; and if they make reports, will their diagnosis be correct? If it is not, of what account will be their reports?

It is a crying shame that so grand a State as ours should have no record of the prevailing types of disease that affects our population at different times and places, and no record of marriages, births, and deaths; but such will continue to be the case until we can get a law that will clearly define who and what constitutes a physician. Accuracy in diagnosis or failure in vital statistics is inevitable, and accuracy in diagnosis can only be accomplished by compelling the medical practitioners to qualify themselves; and that can only be attained through a good practical law, rigorously enforced, requiring every graduate and every undergraduate to appear before an impartial, just, non-political, and thoroughly competent board, there to be carefully examined, in order that his or her qualifications may be made known and certified to, or their incompetency ascertained, and then relegated to the rear, there to follow an honest calling, or to prepare themselves for the responsible duties of physicians and surgeons.

I have often heard the learned and beloved Bowling declare that "medicine and things medical belong to medical men," and, like his students generally, believed that what he said could not be wrong, and that belief is very strong to this good day. But it seems to me that if medical men will prepare a vital statistics bill and a bill to regulate the practice of medicine, and the legislators endorse them, and the Governor approves them, and affixes the great seal of State, and the Boards of Health undertake their execution, that will eminently be things medical in the hands of medical men. It is difficult to understand the cause of the opposition to such laws by many of our most distinguished teachers and practitioners.

Nevertheless, as Dr. Fite has pointed out,

such opposition does exist, and from the best talent the State conteins. Perhaps these distinguished gentlemen are not brought into daily contact with the stupendous ignoronce of a considerable class of so-called regular practitioners of the present day; perhaps they have not seen typhoid fever treated for worms; perhaps they have not been called to assist instrumental delivery a week before labor commenced; perhaps they have not been called upon to assist in an operation for a pelvic hæmatocele when none existed, and no sign of one. From another class, perhaps, they have not seen a common wart gravely pronounced a cancer, and saw a plaster of chlor. zinc applied, for which the sum of thirty-five dollars first had to be obtained at a sacrifice of double that amount of property that could ill be spared! Perhaps the law-makers themselves have never seen such sights; hence, their apathy on the subject. Nevertheless, such scenes have been enacted, and doubtless will be again, unless the "powers that be" interfere to prevent it.

Recently, in conversation with a candidate for legislative honors, this subject was introduced, to which he replied that the only cause for opposing such a measure that he could see was the fear that if such a law was to be enacted the poor could not get a doctor when they needed one. I stated to that gentleman that nine-tenths of the charity practice was done by the reputable, conscientious physicians; that the insatiable greed of the charlatan recognizes no charity, and such a law would not injure the poor, but reäct to the good of all. Observation bears me out in the assertion.

The point of difference with Dr. Fite, is the advice he seems to adopt: "Commence low and build up. Do not interfere with the practitioners who are at work." I can advocate no such doctrine. Let us have a good law, or none. Give us a fair and impartial board that knows its duty, and will do it well. Send us all before it, graduate and non-graduate, to stand a close examination, and let merit win. Such a measure may halt you and me for a season, gentle reader, but we would rise and come again, refreshed in mind and body.

Respectfully,

C. D. MCNABB, M.D.

« PreviousContinue »