Dr. T. T. Church was then called upon to read his paper-"A Few Interesting Cases." This paper, together with the discussions which followed will appear in the December number of the REPORTER. In discussing "The Future of Medicine" Dr. Biggar said: "The title of my paper is wrong, it should be The Future of Homeopathy. In order to forecast the future it is necessary to know the present and the past. Every successful merchant takes stock and compares his work year by year, noting whether he has been prosperous or stood still or gone back. It is necessary to gauge the work for the future from the past or from the present. With regard to the future of homeopathy, statements have been made as follows: The That we are not progressing, that we are standing still, and that we are retrograding. Now the question is—Are these statements correct? The other day I saw the statement made that in twenty years homeopathy had progressed only in proportion of 47%, while the dominant school had progressed 150 in the same time. other day the statement was made, coming from the large firm of Boericke & Tafel, that in ten years they had not added to their directory of homeopathic physicians in the United States. The question was asked:] What is the reason you have not increased your directory? There were reasons given. I will not explain these reasons. I will merely say that if you will look over the reports of the American Institute of homeopathy you will find in 1895 there were graduated from homeopathic colleges 486 physicians, in 1892 there were only 293 graduates, a falling off of 193. In 1895 there were 1183 homeopathic students attending college. In 1902 there were 1299, showing a gain in matriculates of 116. Now it was officially stated at the American Institute in June that in the past five years there were 284 proselytes from the old school to the new school that number had forsaken the dominant school and had come over to the new school. We heard the report of the president of this Society of the great growth and spread of homeopathy. We judge of our growth by the increased number of colleges, by the increased number of journals, hospitals, etc. There are two other points to be considered, one is has the number of patrons of homeopathy increased? The next, has the number of homeopathic doctors increased? Now if the laity is not supporting homeopathy and the doctors not increasing, there is something wrong. Are these statements correct, and if so what should be done to advance homeopathy? I consider it of great importance that the materia medica should be revised. I am not as thorough a student of materia medica as I should be, owing perhaps, to the fact that I am not so much in general practice as in a specialty, but I must say that I am often discouraged when I study the materia medica. I think it is for the best interests of the homeopathic profession that there should be a thorough and proper revision of the materia medica. Those with whom I have consulted agree with me, that the materia medica should be thoroughly revised. Have we the means to do it? We have nothing in connection with our colleges to carry out this work. Dr. Van Lennep said: "If I had $30,000 a year to spare I would put it in physiological laboratory work." How are we going to do this? We are all homeopaths and have homeopathy at heart and wish to advance this cause, but we have not the money to do it. Now in all organizations such as political organizations or church organizations they levy a tax. I presume there is not a gentleman here who has not been asked to contribute $5.00 toward the political campaign. I think that we as homeopaths, should be willing to be taxed for the revision of the materia medica. There are 14000 or 15000 homeopathic physicians in this country; how many are members of the American Institute? About one-seventh. Is there a doctor in the whole United States who would not be willing to be taxed 50c. or $1 to carry on that work? This is what we should do. The next point I would suggest is the neces sity for arousing a deeper interest among and increased patronage from homeopathic patients. What are we doing with regard to this evangelistic work? You go through English countries and many will tell you that Sharpe's tracts converted them. Are we giving the laity information of what has been done by our physicians in the cure of disease? I say to you that the evangelistic work is one of our greatest needs and should be encouraged by the National, State and the County Societies. Through all these there should be a hearty co-operation in the advancement of the work in this particular field. Next, I would suggest that we have a superin tendent of education, a person appointed by the American Institute of Homeopathy, whose duty it would be to report to us the condition of our colleges. Every college should be graded. Then we would know its exact standing. The New York State Board of Regents have graded all of our colleges. I do not know that their basis for grading is correct. The New York Homeopathic College has stood highest in examination of any college in New York state. The students have stood 100 in every department, and therefore they put the New York Homeopathic as AI. This grading should not be left to the Regents. A superintendent of education appointed by the Institute would personally investigate and report. The Inter-Collegiate Committee does not give us the desired information, therefore a superintendent of education is a necessity. We have examiners in insurance companies, why not have one for our colleges? Why should not all colleges have the same text-books and the same requirements? Another place where we make a mistake, and that is, there is not the proper relationship between the college and the alumni. If you had a closer relationship between the alumni and college, you wonld have stronger professional forces and better business. When in New York a short time ago-at the Utica meeting-I was greatly pleased that the New York college men were so strenuous in their efforts to secure the support of their alumni. I am not going to scold the colleges. But I do say this -that if the alumni had a voice in the management of the college they would be willing to be taxed for its support. If you had some voice in the control of your college would you not be willing to be assessed five or ten dollars a year? Who has so much at heart as the alumni the success of the college? You must get the alumni interested, and you must offer some inducement in regard to the management and the appointment of professors. Take the University of Edinburgh, when they elect a professor they send out postal card notices, giving the names of the different candidates and soliciting the vote of each alumnus. I am told that at Oberlin the same method is adopted. All colleges must be endowed or affiliated with state or other universities or they will not succeed. The way to get an endowment is to secure the support of the alumni, and when interested the monied men would have more confidence that their donations would be well utilized. Supposing there were a thousand of the Cleveland College alumni who would be willing to pay $5.00 a year, what would not that do? We have got to do something along the line of evangelistic work to secure the patronage of the laity, and the closer relationship of the alumni must be carefully considered if our colleges expect prosperity. Discussion. Dr. Croft.-The matter which has just been presented is one of great importance. It is a matter upon which this Society should take action to follow out. We might start the ball rolling from here. Dr. Horner.-There are two points in Dr. Biggar's address which I would like to emphasize. One is the relationship which exists, or which should exist, between the Inter-Collegiate Committe of the American Institute and the colleges. I think that every man who graduates from a college should know that the Inter-Collegiate Committee is the power which controls the actions of his college. I believe that this thought should be properly presented to the attention of every man who attends a homeopathic medical college. This committee is composed of two delegates from each college and it is through their work that our colleges occupy the high standing they now occupy in the country. There is no question but that in the majority of colleges laboratory work is deficient, and the reason it is deficient is because there is a lack of money to provide the necessary apparatus and the necessary teachers. We cannot expect a man to go into the laboratory of the college, spend his whole day there and not receive a salary for it. He cannot afford to do it. The only way to overcome the difficulty is to create a fund from which these men can be paid. It is not a salary, it is an honorarium that would enable them to set aside a part of their other duties in order to spend more time in college work. There is another thing which Dr. Biggar suggested, and that is, a superintendent of education. I believe we ought to have a man paid by the American Institute of Homeopathy, whose duty it would be to investigate the work of the colleges in regard to the teaching of the student and note whether the curriculum as provided by the Inter-Collegiate Committee is carried out. I believe that we, as a Society, at this meeting, should pass a resolution calling upon the American Institute to appoint a superintendent of instruction, whose duties as I say, shall be to inspect the work done by the colleges throughout the country. With your permission later I propose to offer a resolution to that effect. Dr. Eggleston.-I am very sorry not to have heard this address in full. The part I did hear is so full of points of interest that it is pretty hard to select any one to discuss. The one that strikes me particularly is that with regard to materia medica revision. We all realize the necessity for it, but to realize it and to bring it about are two different things. Suppose at this moment you were going to revise the materia medica, how would you go about it? You would appoint a committee as suggested by the doctor. But what, meantime, would you do with the organon? Do just as the doctor suggests with the materia medica, revise the Organon first. Let the Organon be re-written and revised. It would be practically a new book. A great many of the principles of the Organon should be modified. Then the materia medica There will be no antagonism will revise itself. between them. The other point that I would like to call to your attention is that with regard to the standing of colleges with reference to the New York College, standing as it does AI in the list of colleges in the state of New York. That is the trouble. AI is a standard so high that it can only reach the students of New York state. Step over into our own state. The standing of our State Board is so high that our colleges are being choked to death by it. As one of our men said to me, "Our colleges are being choked to death by the State law." We cannot get beyond the material of which our colleges is composed. It is impossible. There must of course be a high average for the section of the country in which the college is situated. When you come to Ohio you must measure the standard by the Ohio standard and not the New York standard. It might do for the eastern college but it would not do for the Ohio college. Dr. Garrigues.-There is such a thing as a state management of each state's individual affairs; it is almost like a family, while the national government has to do with things like the mail service all over the whole country. But when it comes to the management of state affairs the state government has control of that and has control of it to such an extent that the government cannot interfere unless it is asked to interfere. Now, then, the application of that to this matter. New York has a standard of education, Ohio has an educational standard, Indiana another, California another, and Texas another. Each one of these differs from the others. We graduate at Cleveland and practice a year or so and find it necessary to go to Missouri, what is our practical experience when we get there? We have to be subjected to an examination that probably we are well able to stand-perhaps not. It is a trial to us. I have noticed articles in medical journals for some time, regarding it as an imposition. It seems to me it is a weakness. It seems to me as if it weakens us as physicians before the laity. There is a necessity for getting together and having a regularly graded rate or standard that should be universal and that should cover the United States, so that if a physician graduates from one of the colleges he will stand as a practitioner of medicine in the other states without being subjected to an examination. It is the idea of getting a standard that is the same all over the country. It seems to me that that would increase the strength of homeopathy as much as anything I can think of. Of course after that is done the other matters are of great importance. Dr. Schneider.-As a member of the InterCollegiate Committee of the American Institute of Homeopathy, I believe that a superintendent of instruction would be an annoyance and furthermore, would probably not receive the support of medical colleges. Many colleges have prepared their students to meet the requirements of the various state boards. The requirements of the Ohio board are very high, both as to the preliminary examination and the final examination for registration. The students particularly of the Cleveland College have for years met the requirements of New York, Pennsylvania, and all the states that required examinations prelimininary to registration. That-it seems to me-is a sufficient evidence of the work of the school. Different sections of this country present different conditions. A man who comes from an Ohio college, for instance now with the increased entrance requirements, might not be fitted for or at least they are too finely timbered to take up the work in some sections of the country. Thousands of small towns and communities of this country are without homeopathic physicians. You cannot get homeopaths to go there because conditions are such that they are not suited for it. There must be colleges to meet these requirements. If you appoint a superintendent of instruction in connection with the American Institute and insist upon his carrying out a graded curriculum or all colleges coming up to a certain requirement you will force out men who are very well suited for the profession. Dr. Kapp.-There is another fact which Dr. Biggar brought forward, and that is that New York College places itself as A 1. I think that there is a reason for that, and I believe that with certain conditions changed her graduates would have stood much higher than graduates from other colleges. I believe that the colleges should get together and adopt the same textbooks and the same method of teaching. I believe if you took the average college and put it under examination there would not be the difference in favor of the New York school. Dr. Cranz.-There is one point.-The position of a medical college depends on two things, the first is the corps of professors and the second, and no less important, is its equipment. The college that is not endowed cannot live. There is another point about the number of students not being as many as there might be. It probably is due to the same cause I heard a cite of some time ago in regard to the want of more preachers, claiming that you could hardly get a person to study for the ministry because there are so many other professions. Ten years or more ago manufacturers would put up with men with a moderate education-so far as a technical education was concerned; at the present time the very best is demanded. Are we keeping pace in a medical way with the technical schools, for the best training possible is going to succeed in manufacturing lines? These institutions are well endowed. Their equipment is of the best. Can we compare with them? Without equipment we cannot do very much. Discussion closed. Dr. Croft. We have the report of the committee on resolutions on the death of Dr. House. It is with the most sincere regret that we, the members of the Eastern Ohio Homeopathic Medical Society, are called upon to take note of the removal from our midst of one who endeared himself to us all. Charles Everett House was a member of this organization for a number of years, and was ever faithful in his attendance upon its meeting. By his ever present geniality, his earnestness and steadfast adherence to the principles that govern us as members of the great Medical Profession, he won for himself a iasting place in our regard and affections. None more than his associates can realize the vacancy caused by death. Dr. House was a self made man,-the first few years of his professional career, were spent at Doylestown, Ohio, where he early surrounded himself with a large circle of friends and admirers. Removing in 1886 to Canton, he speedily built up a practice second to none in the city. His influence in social, church and professional circles was always directed with the full strength of his manhood toward that which he believed to be right. Conscientious to a degree, nothing could move him from the path of strictest integrity and rectitude. We desire to express to Mrs. House, his brother, and sisters, our sympathy with them in this great loss. We believe the influence of his upright life will last through the years to come, proving an incentive toward a desire to emulate his worthy example. (Signed) G. B. HAGGART. Dr. Kapp presented his paper, "Foreign Bodies in the Lungs." This paper, together with the discussion which followed will be found in the December number of the Reporter. Dr. Warren read his paper, "Was the Diagnosis Correct?" This paper, with the discussion following will be found in this number of the Reporter. At this point the Board of Censors reported three candidates for membership: Drs. H. F. Biggar, Jr., Cleveland; Lester E. Siemon, Cleveland; and C. C. Waltenbaugh, Canton. Dr. Horner introduced the following resolution: Resolved, That the Eastern Ohio Homeopathic Medical Society request the American Institute of Homeopathy to appoint a Superintendent of Education whose duties it shall be to have supervision over the course of study and methods of instruction pursued in the colleges accredited by the Inter-Collegiate Committee of the American Institute of Homeopathy. Dr. Nobles read his paper, "A Plea for the Correct Diagnosis of Ectopic Pregnancy." This paper and the discussion which followed will be found in the present number of the Reporter. Dr. A. A. Brooks read his paper, "Post Partum Hemorrhage." This paper, with the discussion which followed will be found in the December number of the Reporter. Dr. Biggar, Jr. then discussed in an informal way "Hyperaemization of the Sclerotic Organs.' We hope to be able to report this very interesting paper in a future number. N. T. B. Nobles, M. D Massillon, O. Cleveland, O. Akron, O. Cleveland, O. Barberton, O. Mt. Vernon, O. The regular meeting of the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical Society took place Friday evening, October 31st, in the parlors of the Weddell House. The members of the Society at six o'clock took dinner together, after which the meeting was called to order, with Vice Presi dent, G. D. Cameron in the chair. The minutes of the preceding meeting were read by Secretary [Barton and on motion approved. Present with the members was L. K. Max well, M. D., of Toledo, who was extended the courtesies of the floor. The evening was devoted entirely to the consideration of clinical subjects. Dr. James C. Wood related the history of a case involving gall-bladder and the tissues adjacent. He related also the history of a patient upon whom he had that day operated. The patient was one brought from Toledo by Dr. Maxwell, and the history preceding the operation was related by him. The case was one of pyosalpinx, upon which several operations had been performed, and which when Dr. Wood operated was found to be almost inoperable on account of extensive adhesions. However, an operation for removal of the tube was performed and twelve hours after the patient was reported in good condition. Dr. Nobles then reported a case of repeated curettment of the womb for supposed retention of placental remnants. Dr. Biggar reported several cases, two of them being conditions of the brain, which gave rise to an exceedingly interesting group of symptoms. Dr. Viets reported an interesting case of cataract, one of mastoid disease, and one of Belladonna poisoning. Dr. Bishop gave a report of the work done in the Huron Street Hospital during his present service. A number of abdominal sections were performed, all with good results. Dr. Somers reported a case, a history of which we expect to publish in a future number of the Reporter. Dr. Cameron reported a case of puerperal convulsions with mania, treatment resulting in recovery. Discussion was extremely interesting and profitable. Nearly every member of the Society present took part in it and on the adjournment of the meeting the concensus of opinion was that much of profit had been heard. We desire to call particular attention to the meetings of this Society. They combine the social with the scientific feature in such a way as to make them extremely pleasurable and profitable occasions. Meetings are held on the last Friday of each month. Information concerning the exact hour and place of meeting, with the program can be always obtained from the editor of the Reporter. |