Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Politics, Government, Quackery

    Describes the medical bill passing through Parliament as such as 'disagreeable dose' that the House of Commons has 'pitched the measure to a Select Committee'. Warns that the bill will not achieve its goal of ending quackery because it will be hard to distinguish 'the vendor of the patent pill' from the 'family doctor, who continues to send medicine which he knows will do no good, for the mere purpose of running up a bill'. Believes that the legislation should be enforced against 'the more specious quacks, who get into one's house under the guise of regularly-qualified medical men'. Observes that hounding quacks would involve hounding those who make the 'first bold steps out of the ruts of routine', and therefore those who might 'make the most rapid advances in any science'. Suggests that quackery be traced 'in the ranks of regularly-qualified practitioners' and warns that examinations are not rigid enough to prevent quackery.