Protective Association THE ORGANIZED AT WINNIPEG, 1901 Under the Auspices of the Canadian Medical Association HE objects of this Association are to unite the profession of the Dominion for mutual help and protection against unjust, improper or harassing cases of malpractice brought against a member who is not guilty of wrong-doing, and who frequently suffers owing to want of assistance at the right time; and rather than submit to exposure in the courts, and thus ain unenviable notoriety, he is forced to endure blackmailing. The Association affords a ready channel where even those who feel that they are perfectly safe (which no one is) can for a small fee enrol themselves and so assist a professional brother in distress. Experience has abundantly shown how useful the Association has been since its organization. The Association has not lost a single case that it has agreed to defend. The annual fee is only $2.50 at present, payable in January of each year. The Association expects and hopes for the united support of the profession. We have a bright and useful future if the profession will unite and join our ranks. EXECUTIVE. President-R. W. POWELL, M.D., Ottawa. Vice-President J. O. CAMARIND, M.D., Sherbrooke. SOLICITOR F. H. CHRYSLER, K.C., Ottawa. Send fees to the Secretary-Treasurer by Express Order, Money Order, Postal Note or Registered letter. If cheques are sent please add commission. PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVES.} ONTARIO - E. E. King, Toronto; I. Olmsted, Hamilton; D. H. Arnott. London: J. C. Connell, Kingston; J. D. Courtenay, Ottawa. QUEBEC F. Buller, Montreal; E. P. Lachapelle, Montreal; J. E. Dube, Montreal; H. R. Ross, Quebec; Russell Thomas, Lennoxville. NEW BRUNSWICK-T. D. Wa'ker, St. John: A. B. Atherton, Fredericton; Murray MacLaren, St. John. NOVA SCOTIA- John Stewart, Halifax; J. W. T. Patton, Truro; H. Kendall, Sydney. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND-S. R. Jenkins, Charlottetown. MANITOBA - Harvey Smith, Winnipeg; J. A. MacArthur, Winnipeg: J. Hardy, Morden. NORTH WEST TERRITORIES-J. D. Lafferty, Calgary; M. Seymour, Regina. BRITISH COLUMBIA-S. J. Tunstall, Vancouver; 0. M. Jones, Victoria; A. P. McLennan, Nelson. Published on the 15th of each month. Address all Communications and make all Cheques, Post Office Orders and Postal Notes payable to the Publisher, GEORGE ELLIOTT, 203 Beverley St., Toronto, Canada. VOL. XXIV. TORONTO, APRIL, 1905. No. 4. COMMENT FROM MONTH TO MONTH. The attention of the profession throughout the Province is again called to the coming meeting of the Ontario Medical Association, June 6th, 7th and 8th next. As was the case last year the sessions will be held in the west lecture hall of the Medical Buildings, Queen's Park. The programme is being rapidly filled and any one desirous of presenting a paper should inform the Secretary at an early date. The officially-invited guests for the meeting are Dr. A. J. Ochsner and Dr. W. B. Pritchard. Dr. Ochsner, Surgeon to St. Augustine's Hospital, Chicago, is he whose aggressive surgery and whose courtesy to many Canadians visiting his crowded clinic, have made him so very popular with men on this side the line. The names of Dr. Ochsner and his friend, Dr Mayo, are, perhaps, more upon the lips of men studying the advances in surgical thought than those of any other two operating surgeons on this continent. Dr. Pritchard, of the Post-Graduate College of New York City, has identified himself by his work in nervous diseases. He likewise is well-known to many in Ontario, his friends predicting for him a very warm reception here. The President of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. John Stewart, of Halifax, has been paying a visit to Montreal and Toronto in the interests of the next annual meeting of that body, which is to take place from the 22nd to the 25th of August, in the city down by the sea. There has not been a meeting of the Canadian Medical Association in Halifax since 1881, and the number present at that meeting just numbered fifty-three. That was twenty-four years ago. The meeting was held on the 3rd and 4th of August, and Dr. William Canniff (now in Toronto) was the president. Dr. William Osler was elected general secretary. Amongst those present at that meeting were Dr. Adam H. Wright, Toronto (who we believe acted as secretary in the absence of the then secretary, Dr. David of Montreal); Dr. William Canniff, Toronto; Dr. Daniel Clark, Toronto; Dr. A. B. Atherton, Fredericton; Dr. William Oldright, Toronto; Dr. F. R. Eccles, London, Ont.; Dr. James Stewart, Brucefield, Ont. A page and a half held all the signatures on the Treasurer's register, where at the annual meetings now-a-days eight to ten pages are required. From Montreal, Drs. Robillard, Fenwick, Bessey, Hingston and Ross were present, the bulk of the attendance coming from Nova Scotia, which contributed thirty-four. Six came from New Brunswick and none from Prince Edward Island. We believe that the Maritime Provinces alone have a medical population something like 800, from which 200 should be got together to a great medical convention like this is going to be. There will almost be sure to be from 100 to 200 present from Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and the West. Indeed, the signs are good that every province will be fitly represented as it ought to be. An interesting item showing the signs of the times and the advances which have been made since, was a notice of motion at the last Halifax meeting, presented by one of the members: "Whereas the system of specialism and specialists which at present obtains to a certain extent in the Dominion and which has developed to very large proportions in the neighboring Republic, is for the most part the outgrowth of superficial professional education and a want of success as practitioners of medicine and surgery, therefore resolved: That it is the opinion of this Society that specialism should be discountenanced by the members of the Society, and that specialists, except in the rare cases where long experience, extended study and peculiar aptitude have placed a medical man. in a special position towards his brethren, should be treated and looked upon as irregular practitioners. Be it therefore resolved, that the members of this society pledge themselves to do all in their power to check the growth of this species of evil." One or two incidents of the past month invite our attention to patent medicines once again. It will not be necessary to say any thing about analysing any of these multifarious nostrams. We simply desire to call attention to two very commendable articles appearing in the March and April issues respectively of that wellknown periodical, The Ladies' Home Jounal, from the pen of the talented editor thereof, Mr. Edward Bok, who is an uncompromising opponent of fraud as it stalks forth in the guise of patent medicines. It is gratifying that the opposition is a genuine and consistent one, for no patent medicine concern could purchase a single line, to say nothing of a page, wherein to besmirch the pages of that journal and damage the health and physical well-being of its readers. It would appear to us that it is about time that some legislators moved in the direction of keeping these articles and their mendacious advertisements out of our country. An article which is manufactured in Cincinnati, for instance, or any other point in the United States, of the patent medicine variety, should be totally prohibited importation into Canada. We desire as well in this connection, speaking of magazine articles, of a medical character, to call attention to the fact that McClure's Magazine is another high-class periodical prohibiting patent medicine advertisements. In the April issue of this magazine there is a readable and highly interesting article by Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, who devotes his life and his energies to the fisherfolk of Newfoundland and Labrador. The first number of a new magazine, the Grand Magazine, will scarcely appeal to the medical profession on account of a nasty article, which seeks to stir up strife by endeavoring to turn people away from hospitals where clinical instruction is allowed. 'Tis strange how some people would do away with this and that, never for a moment thinking that the very best thing they could do would be to do away with themselves. Talking about advertisements, medical men are in duty bound to read or to look at, at the least, from time to time, if not every week or month, the advertisements appearing in the front and rear forms of their medical journals. Why is it incumbent on the medical profession to give a few moments each month to an inspection of the advertising pages of the medical journals? Simply because of the fact that there is not a medical journal published which could profit and live by subscriptions alone, unless, indeed, it be the journals of strong and powerful organizations. As the medical profession must look to and depend upon medical journals for diffusion of knowledge, medical journals are therefore necessities, though all are willing to admit that we could get along with half the number at present published. If, then, manufacturers of chemicals, physicians' and surgeons' supplies, come to the aid of the medical journals and by so doing help the diffusion. of good and practical as well as scientific knowledge through the medium of the medical press, ought not the medical profession to realize that they have some duty to perform in this direction? The medical journal and those interested therein stand as a medium between the manufacturing and supply houses on the one hand and the profession on the other; and in ways which are not apparent to the eye nor yet preached from the house tops, does a certain amount of good, more in fact than chronic fault-finders, who can only sneer and emit spite on the conduct of medical journals and their advertising pages in particular. Plain speaking is generally honest speaking; and we cannot help saying it, after due consideration of the subject, that that house which advertises in the medical journals is the house which should be patronized by the medical profession, and that that house which is too small and too mean to help along medical journalism, even a trifle in some direction, does not deserve the patronage of the medical profession. This is, practically speaking, preaching a boycott, and a boycott seldom, if ever, appeals to honest or decent men; but where there are large manufacturing houses making millions of money out of the medical profession and doing absolutely nothing but making money out of that profession, and never returning one cent or one dollar to it, its associations or its medical press, or its medical colleges, the call to boycott them in the interests of those houses who do spend money in reaching the medical profession through the medium of the medical press is just. The houses which do something for the medical press or the medical associations are the houses which should receive the loyal support of the medical profession. We are very well aware of the fact that this doctrine will not receive endorsement in certain quarters, and that in others it will. We are perfectly well aware, too, of the fact that the doctor, like any other individual, will follow the instincts. of economics, and purchase where he gets cheapest and best; but we are well aware, at the same time, that there is a just and righteous esprit de corps in the body medic which is not to be found in any other class or toly of men; that the profession of medicine, on great, broad and liberal lines, cares more for the tenets of its ethics, than for mere paltry financial gain, and that when once brought to a clear understanding of the fact that there are some houses which deserve their sympathy and patronage, and that there are others which are quite beyond the pale of their attention or support, will follow out, on these lines, the dictates of a reasoning and righteous mind. |