NEW YORK COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY. ARTICLE 73.-List of Officers, Delegates, Committees and Members. 74.-Opposition to Homœopathy in New York. Annual Address. By 75.—Medico-Legal Diagnosis of Insanity. By F. W. HUNT, M. D. 77.-History of the Homœopathic Materia Medica. By S. B. BArlow, 78.-Thermometrical Phenomena in Disease. By Jonn J. MITCHELL, M. D. 79.-Prolapsus Uteri; its Surgical Treatment. By E. F. HOFMANN, M. D. 80.-Report of the New York Ophthalmic Hospital. By H. D. Paine, M. D. 81.-Extract from the Report presented to the Half-Orphan Asylum. By B. F. BOWERS, M. D. 82.-Report of the New York Homoeopathic Dispensary. By JOHN S. LINSLEY, M. D. 83.-Report of the Bond Street Homœopathic Dispensary. By Oгro 84.-Statement of Diseases treated at the Hospital in connection with the Drs. Barlow, Dunham and Lilienthal. Materia Medica. Bradford, Hunt and White ... --- Statistics. Drs. T. F. Allen ... Members. 105 Fourth avenue.. Auburn, New York. do New York. do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do 6 West 14th street..... R. Blackelock..... 410 West 24th street..... S. P. Burdick..... 303 West 34th street..... H. S. Gilbert...... 23 Park avenue... E. Guernsey...... 18 West 23d street.. J. B. Holtby...... 116 East 20th street..... F. W. Hunt................... 107 West 36th street............. do 38 East 20th street... do do do do do do do do do O. R. King - C. Kiersted....... 238 West 26th street.. 163 West 22d street.... S. R. Kirby.......... do do do do do do do do do do do do do do D. D. Smith...... 20 East 21st street..... 9999 do do do do Drs. T. F. Smith...... 1 West 124th street... Emma R. Still..... 74 East 12th street..... 146 Hudson street..... A. P. Throop..... 223 West 34th street..... New York. do do do do do do do do do do ARTICLE LXXIV. Opposition to Homœopathy in New York. Annual Address. By B. F. BOWERS, M. D., President. Ladies and Gentlemen-Our last anniversary was held during the excitement of war and the clash of arms. Truth and justice were confronted by that sum of all villianies, slavery, and forced into a war, which threatened the national life, and disturbed the civilized world. Discomfited, the enemy of equal rights in its dying struggle, inflicted a wound in every loyal breast, and filled the land with woe, by the hand of the assassin, striking down him, the highest and best, our chosen leader. Now, we can rejoice together, and give thanks to God, that the conflict is over, and right is triumphant. At immense cost of blood and treasure, it is proved, beyond all peradventure, that we have a country, and the people honest and intelligent, with stout hearts and strong hands, will establish impartial liberty and universal justice, not upon the sands of compromise, but upon the rock of principle. Conservatism in medicine, like conservatism in politics, is intol erant of change, and the most beneficent reforms, both political and medical, sweeping away only time-honored abuses, are blindly resisted as destructive radicalism. Be it ours, gentlemen, while enjoying and diffusing the blessings of liberty, faithfully to labor for the triumph of that great reformation in medicine inaugurated by him, whose birth we this day commemmorate-the immortal Hahnemann. The axiomatic principles lying at the foundation of republican ism, that all men are created free and equal; that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and the corollary, no taxation without representation, are fraught with blessings to mankind; and yet they are destined to overthrow principalities and powers, and to meet the most determined opposition. So homoeopathy, the gift of the beneficent Creator, for the healing of his dependent creatures, a great innovation, because the greatest improvement ever made in medicine, must overthrow errors and encounter opposition somewhat proportioned to the blessings it confers. On former occasions we have been interested and instructed by eloquent discourses on the introduction and early history of homœopathy in this city. Its trials and its triumphs are well known to most of you; but the spirit and the manner in which it has been opposed by a majority of the profession here, has never, so far as I know, been set forth in a succinct and connected form. The importance of the subject and the interest of the public in a right understanding of it must be my apology for bringing forward on this occasion, matters which to some may seem stale and unprofitable. Let it be remembered that the law looks upon all regularly educated physicians as equals. It requires of every one a prescribed course of study and a rigid examination by legally appointed censors, before admission to the duties, privileges and honors of the medical profession. It aims to give, and in return requires, such a knowledge of the science and art of medicine as shall qualify the physician properly to treat the sick committed to his care. It seeks further to protect the public against ignorance and unskillfulness, by making every practitioner liable to prosecution and punishment for malpractice. Moreover, every true physician is bound to increase his skill and improve his art, by careful observation, by study, by reflection, by earnest devotion to his work. A trust is committed to him, a duty is imposed on him; in the fear of God and in love to his neighbor, let him do the duty and execute the trust. The profession ever jealous of its honor and the rights of individuals, has a code of medical ethics, regulating the conduct of its members to one another aud to their patients, to prevent misunderstandings, to settle difficulties and to punish offences, intended to secure courtesy, harmony and justice in professional intercourse. There is a state medical society, and county medical societies in every county, auxilliary to the state. |