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when its high services, shall no longer pass unnoticed and unrewarded. I would claim for eminent superiority in either department, some “order of merit,’ to be granted by the Government, to such men as have distinguished them- selves, either in the cause of medical science, or in that of humanity.
I may be told, perhaps, by such as are content “to stand upon the ancient ways,” that the purposed distinctions will be invidious, and I will point in reply, to the jealousies of our profession ; or, I may be told that however plausible the scheme, it cannot work practically, without great difficulty. I will reply that difficulty is no argument. If the profession be resolved to possess such a boon, they have but to demand it with one voice. Divinity, arms, law,—each has its public rewards, in the dispensation of which, if the voice of society does not exercise an immediate control, at least its sym- pathies are enlisted in their award, and most jealous is the public mind of their misappropriation.
These causes exercise a most pernicious influence on the public estimate of the profession of medicine, and for the removal of which, so indispensable are our duties, we may fearlessly call on society to co-operate with us in our endea- vour to remove them, nor should we call in vain.
Among these four causes of depression, viz.—l. The want of high classed education: II. The low standard of medical ethics: III. The present imperfect state of the law: IV. The absence of public and national honours—it is obvious that the first and greatest, 1s irremediable as regards the present generation; but there is no other reason why the remaining causes should not undergo consideration with a view to their
