EDITORIAL.

"Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri."-H03.

Transactions of the Louisville Obstetrical, the Mobile and Tuskaloosa Medical Societies.-The transactions of these societies, as published in this number, will be read with interest and profit. As the papers from the Obstetrical Society refer entirely to questions of clinical medicine, no reference will be made here to them, further than to assure the reader that he will be fully remunerated for their study. In the papers from the Tuskaloosa and Mobile Societies the position is assumed that the rate of fees is not a factor in the problem of efficient medical teaching. There is no space here for argument, but this question will be asked: Should a vacancy occur in one of the chief medical schools of New York or Philadelphia, and it were announced that the trustees had so reduced the tuition fees in price that there could be no revenue for the teachers, how many of the distinguished medical men throughout this country who could shed lustre upon any institution would apply for this vacancy? Who that had acquired a high and lucrative position at home could be tempted to accept such a position, even were it offered to him? The vacancy would be filled by local practitioners; the entire Faculty would be, must in time be made up of such men, and the school, instead of resting upon an eclectic and catholic basis as to merit, would become a mere theatre for the display of local aspirants to medical fame. Declare a chair in one of these colleges, however, vacant, and let it be understood that the fees of the institution were such as to afford a full reward for the labors of the incumbent, and who does not know that the Trustees would no longer be compelled to make their selection from a local and circumscribed field, but that this could and would be made from the whole country? Would they not

justly be enabled to exclaim "No pent up Utica contracts our powers, for the whole boundless continent is ours?" Experience proves this. What gave celebrity to the Jefferson School at Philadelphia? The local talent of that city? Who does not know otherwise. Its great teachers were drawn from abroad, and every candid, logical mind must admit that this alone gave this school a name. Who among those who moved to Philadelphia. to build up that school would, could have done so had the treasury of the institution been bankrupted by free teaching or by low fees? No one is absurd enough to reason to the effect that a course of lectures will be less valuable because those who deliver them are not paid for their labor (though non-payment must certainly impair the usefulness of a teacher, because he is driven to other labor for support), but the important, the significant question is, who will deliver lectures under such cir cumstances? What are the characters, the antecedents, the ability of those who would be willing to do so, and what is the value of the lectures that would thus be delivered? The history of medical colleges in this country furnishes the reply.

These societies at Mobile and Tuskaloosa are under the impression that medical education in Europe is obtained at a nominal rate. If any one will seek to obtain a medical diploma in Europe he will learn the contrary very speedily and expensively. As this delusion seems to have taken possession of the minds of so many, and as it is a delusion evidently tending to mislead and betray every one into untenable and mischievous assertions, it is proper to remove it; to destroy it at once and forever. It costs any one to take the full medical degree (the degree corresponding to that of Doctor of Medicine in America) in Paris, nearly $400 in gold. To take the full degree in Vienna costs not less than eleven. hundred guilders, or a little over $500. In Berlin the full degree is obtained at a cost of at least three hundred and fifty thalers, or a little over $250. All know how very expensive the degree of M. D. is in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. Is it not time, then, that such mischievously erroneous statements as are made by the Mobile and Tuskaloosa Medical Societies, and

by such a large number of influential physicians, should cease? That graduates can attend European schools at nominal rates is true, but can they not do the same in America? To obtain the degree of M. D. in any first-class school in Europe or America costs the recipient dearly; not less in fees alone than $275. The sooner this fact is known, the sooner will there be sound and tenable views held and advocated in this connection.

The proposition made by the Tuskaloosa Society that the Alabama Medical College should be owned by the State, and the professors paid by the State, while the teaching should be gratuitous, is open to this objection, that it is impracticable. No State will do more than pay such salaries, while making such charges as will remunerate the State for the risk and outlay. A Legislature would smile at any other proposition. If gentlemen are to be comfortably supported by the State for teaching. (what are commonly termed) allopathic doctrines, why should not the representatives of other doctrines, the homoeopathic, the hydropathic, etc., be dry-nursed in the lap of State? Legislators are compelled by their constituents to take this view. There is, however, this historical objection to all such schemes; teachers thus having removed from them almost all stimulus for energy, enterprise, and industry, become, in the main, slothful; routinists; anodynes to their listeners; prosy and dull. All effort at progress and progressiveness ceases, and as teachers their efficiency becomes, if not destroyed, most seriously impaired. When those thus placed in endowed colleges do not manifest such results, it is because they are so personally as well as intellectually superior that they subordinate and overcome the causes which entail such disastrous results. There are many such noble men, but it is not safe to expect that they can always be procured. The combination of intellectual and professional superiority, with personal energy, industry, and general excellence, is rare indeed. Therefore endowed medical schools, with or without fees, are not desirable; they are not, as a rule, safe and efficient. The highest testimony (European. and American) can be adduced in support of such a statement.

The best incentive to vigor and efficiency in a school is the stimulus of personal interest, personal pride and rivalry. Subsidize a medical college, and there will be the same result that history furnishes in connection with all subsidies; loss of energy, industry, vigor, and efficiency. All parasites, whether botanical, collegiate, or entomological in character, should be subjected to vigorous and destructive treatment. Above all things, let no one be encouraged who proposes to establish nurseries for their future creation and development.

One of the most remarkable statements ever found in the medical literature germain to the question of colleges and collegiate education is that which is announced by the committee of the Mobile Medical Society. It is the statement that the management of medical institutions is a "question over which the medical profession have no jurisdiction." It is only necessary to state this proposition for every one to realize its danger, its objectionable character, its total untenability. The position is assumed by those making it that a college owes no allegiance to the profession directly, and none to the State of which physicians are members. A college may be so conducted as to render it an engine of mischief and danger to the public, a reproach and an injury to physicians; the example of its Faculty may cast a stigma and a stain upon all physicians, but these are, or should be, powerless because "it is a question over which they have no jurisdiction." This is a position which the most dogmatic, ignorant, and self-asserting private citizen never takes even in regard to his own household and its management. So long as this household is by fair management in fair repute, the public justly takes no cognizance of it, but should this household become a nuisance or source of annoyance and turmoil, it is justly regarded a sore upon the social body, which can only be properly dealt with by the caustic application of the law. If the State and her citizens require safe management of all trusts, (banks, insurance companies, guardianships, etc.,) shall less be exacted of medical colleges; shall the State care more for property than for lives and the safety of the people?

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Who can support such a monstrous position? Those who think thus are representatives of the most delusive and dangerous Medical colleges, like all corporations to which the State has bequeathed important trusts, should never be allowed to claim that they are not severely responsible for the trust confided to them. Physicians, above all members of society, are soonest cognizant of any abuses of this trust; and as these abuses reflect upon their fame, their calling and character, they should make it their duty, as it is their manifest interest, to study the management of such trusts, and to have all errors and dangers connected with them conspicuously exposed; summarily corrected.

The very best men in the profession are too prone to assume that this is not their business; too prone to evade the responsibility and ill will and criticism entailed upon them by manly speech and manly action in this connection. Are they not laborers in a great field, the gates of which are entrusted to the Faculties of medical colleges? Are they willing and content that the keepers of these gates shall be irresponsible; that they shall admit those who are not worthy of admission into this domain, to destroy its character, its fruitfulness, and its value? If these keepers of the gates are paid so much for every one admitted, does not the commonest prudence require that those to whom so great a trust is confided should be closely observed; that for any folly or inefficiency on their part, entailing injury in purse or person upon the owners of this field, that they should be held to a just and strict account? It is impossible to interest the idle, the indolent, the dissolute, the worthless, in the profession in regard to this subject; but the conviction will never be abandoned, that it is the great body of the true and noble practitioners of this country who can and will grasp vital problem and secure for all interested a safe, a just, and equitable solution of it.

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Of course there is nothing herein stated which is designed to reflect upon the members of any College Faculty. The subject is one of universal interest, and it has been discussed irrespect