History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

" Jtr. James Pottei-, of New Fairfield, when on his way to our annual cunvention, at which he was tt> deliver an address, called and spent a night with his friend Dr. Davis. Theoratur being elated with his antici- pated exhibition, and several of his acquaiutances, among wln.ini was a County Court judge, calling on him in the evening, they united with his host in persuading him to rehearse before them his grandiloquent .-speech. After the family and domestics, including an Afi-ican, ha<l been siiin- niuned. w ith the view numerically to multiply the audience, the durtur, with oratorical pump, niuiinted the rostu:ni (whi< h being a large aimed chair), and delighted himself and audib.ry by il.-> rehearsal. "The chair thus rendered memorable has been presented to a member of the medical suciety. Kev. Thomas F. Davi*, one uf our must respect- able divines, is the only male descendant of Di-. Davis. "The subjejt tj wliicli I have diiucte 1 ycuir attention has led to a retrospect into the darker enis of our professional histjry, when both jihysicians and the public enjoyed few of the advantages of mental cul- ture that now exist. Credulity aud ignorance, fostered by knavery, there appear as the prominent agents in misguiding the public mind in its estimate of medical sci(-nce and the object and impurtance uf its eul- tivati-'U, ;ls well as to lead it essenti.tlly to underestimate the character and object of the profession directing its legitimate administration. "The undiminished influence which credulity still exerts over the public mind, in the present comparatively enlightened period, aflbrds no small evidence in favor uf the position, that it is an innate propensity, holding a no less important relation to tlie mind than that of one of its elementary constituents, w hi h will probably manifest its activity in every coudilioii of sjciety, whatever may be tlie advantages enjoyed for its discipline and cultivation. " In such view of the origin of credulity, it is true that the apprehen- sion can but be indulged, that in some form of manifestation, it will long continue to counteract the teachings of reason and experience, and thus ever prove an obstacle that will be likely to ol struct our pro- fession, in its efforts for the advancement of the sanative interests of the cummunity. "The hope, however, may be entertained, that among the many im- provements of tlie age, such a i-ystem of culture for the mind will ulti- mately be devised,that its several faculties may be taught to act in their appropriate spheres, and a healthy ratit>nalily be substituted fur the nurbid excrescences of reason which impostors in science luiginato and cherish, with the object of accomplishing their detestable designs. It is* those wlio, at the present time, no less than fornieily. distract the opinion which the public attempt to fonn ieL,'arding the value and im- portance of medical science, ;us \\ell ;is that of tbeido|j;y and general spiiitual agency. " The professions of medicine and tliet)logy,as enduucing within their confines a larger amount ()f iierpU-xing and indefinite mysteiies, the one of the organic, the other of the spiiitual world, have ever been the pro- lific si)Urce whence impostors in science derive the aliment indispensablo for the germinal i.in and growth of their baleful prtigeny of errois whi, h distract and mislead jiublir seiitiuieiit in its estimate uf tlieir respective meiits. The in'ofeshioiis of law aud the common aits enjoy a compara- tive exempliun for tbe reason that their piincijiles are b;uved upon sen- tiljle ubservaliou, and therefure are uioie readily comjueheiide<i and defined by the ordinary powers of sense and reus ui, wlii. h most i)erBon9 jiussess. It is true that the otfspiing of evils whi.h aflliet the lespeclive profes&i uis of medicine and theology are diversified in theii* forms, those i>i each being mouhled Jiy the varied aliment which they respectively su] ply ; yet they are the product of an anaK>goii6 germ of mental oiigin, and it is therefoie undoubted that through the s;inie remedy, a salutary inculcation of truth to the minds uf the allectcd, the malady i.pf each (if eiadi ■aide) is to be suppressed. " It i-* manifc-jt, therefure, that any efloi ts liaving lefeience to the sup- prestioii of evils fiowing from credulity, that alllict the several profes- siiuts, must be ilirected agaiust the genus rather than the inu'licular species ur variety which each presents. The mental fountain nuist be cla:ified before the Protean errors which it emanates can be corrected. It is futile fur the pl■ofes^i.ln of medicine or theology, or even the politi- cal leformer, to attempt singly to combat the impostor or fanatic in tlie vaiieil form which he ai^Bumes in their respective depaitnients. He can alone successfully be encountered by the nioie rati-uial of all tbe pro- fes^iuus unitedly instniLling the atlected in a judi« ions e\eicise of their senses and reason, and the rejectiun of all such appeals made to their imagination, which are unsustaiued by evidence derived from these geiieiaUy safe guides and faithful nnuiitors. " It wuuM appear that evils thus identical in their chaiacter and oii- gin (uight to iuHiiire a mutuality of interest in the sulleriiig professions fi»r their eiadicati ui. It is, however, a fact much to be regretted, that, whilst the influence of medical si iciice, and generally the etlorts of phy- sicians, have been applie 1 to counteract the common maladies migina- ting from credulity, they have not received corresponding aid from the ( leiical profesj-ion, their joint suflerer from the evil. \\ Idle the latter lijis been Blreniious in its attempts to suppress the impostor and fanati.; in religion, a large portion of its membei-s have too frequently Mip])Iied thiir influence in aid of the ipiack iu medicine, in lli^ adveiituies for fill tune upttu the health and lives of the credulous in tbe coiuniiinily. "It is a matter of regret that men of education and influence like these, who by their profession hold the exalted jiusition of moral and religious instructors aud conservators, should thus ui.i:itentionalIy be made instrumental in furtherance of the basely selfisli dcj-igns nf the knave and impostor in medicine. Tbe explanation ot the jiheiioTtteitoH may possibly be derived from the fact that their minds, thiough habits acqiiiied in their investigation of the revealed mysteries of theology, ami the haldtuul assent which they are accusUmied to bestow, ou evi- dence supplied by faith, uixm the important truths wliii h tlieir profession requires tliem to leach, are more prune than uthers of equal mental dis- cipline and un.lerslanding to yield their credence to the pretended mar- velous revelations of the quack ; especially when such are assumed as results of unweaiied investigation into the mysteries embraced iu the laws of organic structure, aud its concomitant, the vital piiiniple. "lam gratified, however, in expressing my conviction, that far the larger imrtiou of the more intelligent and influential of this most re- spectable and useful body of our fellow-citizens are in i\o degree cliargeable with this error of judgment reganling the merits of the medical profes>i.in, of which we complain. Tlu.>e have ever bestowed their imiiviilual iiithience lu su^taiuing the claims which it holds upon the community for a just ai'predation of its labors in its bnhalf. Could their powerful influence be madt; available in their several public bodies, the hordes of empiiicism would be weakened in their nnst important intreiichmenls, and the lesser poMtiuns U> which they wuuld be com- pelleil to rcsiut would curtail their ability of inflicting the evils in which they have too hmg and too successfully leveled. "I Would therefore close this address, aheady extended beyond the liniils oiiginally designed, by tbe suggestion for your 4onsideratioli, whether, by instituting otfiiiully Joint nieasure>< (could such be effected) between clerical and medical pulilie associ;itions iu leference to the emergency arieing fiom the evils througli whicli both arc sufferers, they 38 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. might not be cflsontinlly leseneil, ir not eradicated. Could Buch con- certed action bo effuctCMl, it is rational to hope, nay it is morally certain, that their united iiilluence would effect much in the correction of public Hciitiment in itji erroni-Miis vicm's of the ol«i:urilie8 which the 8;:ience of each embraces. IJy a salutary disL-ipIine thus forcibly iiiculcatod, there can be uo doubt that the Aucceas or the imitostor, botli in rdigiau and modicinc, would bo materially checked and hia influence curtailed, if nut erodicutvd. " Although the vicwg guggesteJ may bo deemed too Utopian for human nature witli its existing nlructure, yi-t permit mo to cxpre*^ the belief, that by judi<jiuu8ly directed concurrent effjils of the twu pn.fetwious, aided by the intelligent of all classes, the hydra would be effectually BUppredjkid, and Ha inllnence, litiherto so detrimental to the lulvancc- nicnt of UHeful soienco and the public welfare, would be enfeebled and poworlces, by thu>* exhausting the aliment rf;quircd to sustain its growth. " In retiring from tliis presidential scat which you have Buccessivcly amigned me, accept, gentlemen, my thanks for the honor yuu liave con- ferreil, and fur your indulgence of the imperfect ability which I am con- eciou!4 uf having diMphiyed in the diacliargc of its responsible duties. During the jwriod of my occupancy of tliiu station, and a long previous experience o^ a mem)>cr of thi^ convention, it hna been my good fortune unifuruily to witness amanire^tation of u most harmonious and fi-alernal feeling among iti members, amid all the discussions of the various sub- jects of logiilalion that have been submitted to its action. While in most deliberative boflies party or sectional inti^rests are too prone to originato unsocial pa^'^lon, and to excite angry debate, no such exhibi- tion has hero boon indulged. On the contrary, a unity of purpose, directed solely to the adrunccraont of the medical profession in respect- ability and usefulness, has ever signally appeared as the actuating prin- ciple governing each of its members.