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profession and a trade. For the exercise of his intellect, the law yet awards him a tardy, if not a questionable, remunera- tion. He is permitted aremunerative profit on the materials of his druggist,—on the mechanical agents of treatment, not on the exercise of the judgment that selects them. For his loss of time, or his knowledge, however superior to others, he obtains no certain compensation.
This system is fraught with the greatest evils, not only to the profession of medicine, but to society, who are its greatest sufferers. It is an injustice to the profession, by depriving it of the legitimate recompence due to years of study, by assimilating us to the tradesmen who supply our daily wants.
If the law awards payment for physic only, of necessity the medical attendant disposes of as large a quantity as is compatible with the digestive capabilities of his patient; and as this quantity demands some skill and judgment, in this sense, confessedly, his intellect is remunerated. It is nota question how little physic such a person requires, but how much will he take,—how much will repay his daily loss of time, for so many days, weeks, or months. His object is “to buy in the cheapest market, and sell in the dearest.”
I do not hesitate to assert that it is impossible in many cases for the medical attendant to be remunerated, but by the resort to means, which high principle must proclaim in his own breast, to be indirect, and even disingenuous. Is it to be expected that a medical man should ride to a distance from home, to devote his talents and knowledge to the immediate relief of a person in great bodily suffering from accident, such as a dislocation of a finger, or of the jaw,—to pass a probang, to remove a piece of dead bone, or to employ a
