By C. F. BUCKLEY, M. D., San Francisco. "Let it fall rather, though the fork invade The region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly, When Lear is mad. What would'st thou do, old man? This hideous rashness." As Professor Thorne thinks proper to select his text from Shakespere, "To spurn the foreign beggar from him," I too might be permitted to quote the "immortal William" in an opposite vein, and I only wish that this beautiful passage may be drunk deeper by the community at large than the brawling politician ever attempts to drink in anything that is good or wholesome. The man who dares to face the surface of the whirling stream probably gets drowned, even though the highest sense of duty leads him on, but is it not higher to face the storm bravely rather than sail before the wind with the free full sails of flattery? The true friends of America and American institutions, among whom I count myself a very humble one, cannot but be pained at the modern turn of affairs, cannot but be grieved at the nauseous, wretched clap-trap and venom spewed out every now and then by the third rate political hirelings and journals of this country against "Foreign immigration;" against "Invasion by the hungry hordes of Europe of this fair, broad domain of America; " against "The ignorant monstrosities of the obsolete and effete monarchies of Europe," etc. The spirit of '76 is apostrophized and the Fourth of July orator is patted on the back and his "glory is undying; " so runs the current on, and so powerful is it that a gentleman who occupies a high and honorable position in the profession of medicine is whirled along in VOL. XXXVII-46. this vicious maelstrom without the capacity to resist; without even the power to correct his English; without even the power to acquire a knowledge of the facts on either sideso rapid is the stream. See this magnificent rhapsody, "If the blood that warms in my veins as I write at this moment is a sample of that which should inspire my countrymen, wE OPINE that it will not be long." And such is the writing of a highly educated man who would insist that all foreigners should be "examined in English!" When such a man and “id genus omne" representing the learned professioLs indulge in the same stock in trade as the bar-room politician, as the mountebank who erects his platform on the street corner, it is time for those who love and admire American institutions to call "Halt!” "Your narrow and acrimonious vituperation nowise represents the noble spirit of '76, with its glorious memories, breathing love and peace and harmony and hope, to the humble and lowly of all nations. This heritage of earth is not yours because you happened to be born here; aye, you have forfeited your birthright, because you have spurned the undying traditions handed over to their successors by the patriot fathers of the Declaration of Independence." Because they were natives, were the dandies and the dudes who dined and wined the British all through that sad winter in Philadelphia, more entitled to American citizenship than Rochambeau, or Lafayette, or the band of Irish patriots who, bare-legged and frost-bitten, stood firm by Washington at Valley Forge? The political charlatan who loves no country, as ignorant of political economy as he is desirous of playing to the gallery on all occasions, and who persistently refuses to recognize the fact that the young man or woman brought up to the age of maturity without expense to the nation, and fully equipped in health and training arrives in a new country, and yet is not a benefit to that country, is a deplorable spectacle; but when a prominent member of the great profession of medicine "spurns from him as a beggar" the young professional man who seeks those shores equipped with all the training that the more enlightened American physicians anxiously seek, the question arises, is he honest or insane? But, rhetoric aside, let us investigate the statements. One put forward without directly expressing it in so many words, is that national examinations prevail all over Europe, including the British Islands. Such is not the fact. Any man or woman can practice medicine in Great Britain or Ireland, even more freely than they can here,-though they may not find it quite as safe to practice certain off-shoots of it,-but no person can put surgeon or M. D. on his or her door plate or recover fees in court unless duly qualified in one of the recognized colleges or universities. The degrees of the universities of Paris, Berlin, and Vienna as well as those of the universities of Pennsylvania and New York entitle the holder to practice in the British Islands. The university degrees of Great Britain and Ireland— not the other medical qualifications-have been recognized in France, unless the law has recently changed. Not only this but it is quite a common thing in the British Islands to import from the Continent eminent men of other nationalities and place them in their professional chairs because of their renown and distinetion, and the local gentlemen do not boil over with the blood of "76. According to Professor Thorne benighted Mexico admits graduates of France without examination. And why not? Does any sane man doubt that the facilities for medical education both in the personnel of its professors and the general equipment of the colleges are better in France than they can possibly be in Mexico? On calm reflection, not when the hot blood of '76 disturbs the cerebral circulation, I am sure that Dr. Thorne will admit that where these regulations prevail, they were inaugurated not with a view of "spurning the beggar stranger," as he would have it, but simply to protect the community as far as possible, and also to uphold the dignity of the noble profession of medicine. I desire to make no reflections on the present status of any medical college for I know nothing of it, but I had the simplicity once to accept a chair at the Toland Medical College some 25 years ago, and I believe Professor Thorne knows something of its status at that time, and I ask him now in all seriousness and honor, would he, if given the protection of the life of any community, entrust that community's welfare to the average graduate of that institution of that time? During my session there, out of a class of about 20, I can conscientiously say that only three were capable of even acquiring a knowledge of medicine in their then state of development. Two of those were Englishmen who had neither the funds nor education required for the pursuit of medical studies at home. Would it not be better for the community under those circumstances to have imported two men of a higher education, which cost them nothing, to whom to entrust their lives, than lean upon those two home-made products? It is also a well known fact that members of the bar of the British Islands are admitted to practice in the courts of this state without any examination; papers from the institution from which they have graduated alone being sufficient guarantee, and is it not a shame that the legal profession with its necessarily local application can afford to be more liberal than the medical profession with its universal application? Now, I would ask Dr. Thorne a few questions, to which I trust that the bubbling blood of "76 will not deny a judicious answer: 1st. If you or any dear friend of yours were seriously ill would you, "ceteris paribus," rather entrust his or your own life to a distinguished professor, say from Milpitas, or to one of those "European tramps" whom you have occasion to know has studied and graduated in the prominent schools of Europe? 2nd. As a professor of surgery do you prefer to recommend that astounding production of the late lamented H. H. Toland rather than the works of Langenbeck, Billroth, Verneuil, Holmes or Fergusson ? 3rd. Will you kindly state how many of those "disreputable foreign graduates" have been tried for the crime of pre-natal murder, euphemistically called "mal-practice" in the past 20 years in this State; and how many of the home product have been equally tarnished? 4th. Are Messrs. Bowers and West native or foreign graduates? All the readers of this journal know the answers to these questions, and they also know on reflection that this old hobby of Dr. Thorne is only on a par with the tactics of that idle and dissolute class from every part of this country, who, like camp followers, pursue the industrious pioneers until the latter have created a new commonwealth, and then come in to claim the spoils and drive from the public management of their affairs all those tramp "foreigners." We have a very good illustration of it in this State. Foreigners of all denominations settled here, they risked their lives and fortunes freely to conquer the country and place it forever under the starry banner,-the ægis of American liberty, but now in recent years arrives the magnifi cent Colonel from the "Sunny South," the New York potpolitician and the New England peanut vender, not any representative of the proper type of American manhood or American gentlemen, and they all want to drive out the "foreigner." "Examine the candidates in English," says the learned Professor Thorne. What English? Who is to gauge the fitness of the examiner? With that boiling blood of '76 coursing through the brain, may not the candidate's nose seem a little too long; the color of his skin a little too dark or light, or his accent insufficiently nasal? Let me suggest to this Pickwickian legislator to have it engrafted on our body politic that the foreign "tramp graduate" should only be allowed to practice his calling among the "worthless horde" of his own nationality, who had the temerity to come to these shores full of hope and buoyancy. That the American medical "gentleman" foreswear forever attending all these worthless foreign mendicants and limit his time and talents exclusively to the grandees of his own class. I should even go further and make it a penal offense that the medical dude from Texas should attend anybody who did not wear stockings. Revolting bombast!! Has it got to this that the science of the law with its necessary limits and its local technicalities should be wider in its scope and application than the science of medicine with its necessarily universal application to the whole human family. In writing this article I feel humiliated to think that in this fair "land of promise" any person or set of persons should seek to imitate the fatuous Chinese by building a wall around their country; humiliated that such insolence and arrogance should be ever seen in the land above all others inspiring hope to the people of the world, and above all I feel degraded to think that this narrow spirit of pernicious intolerance should desecrate that noble temple of science consecrated from its earliest dawn to the love, protection and elevation of humanity. "I would not enter on my list of friends, "Though graced with polished 'manners and fine sense,' Above all other men the physician should bear aloft for his motto: "Homo sum et nil humanum a me alienum puto." |