Page:Quackery Unmasked.djvu/232

228 its origin to the present time it has ever been regarded as empirical—it has never prevailed to any very great extent, or embraced among its advocates many talented individuals. Sometimes the sect has become nearly extinct, and again it has sprung up anew and solicited public patronage. There are now several small institutions in the United States which are supported by that sect, but most of those who practise under that name are men who have never had any thorough medical education, but who have wrongfully assumed its responsibilities without being properly qualified to fulfil its requirements.

Now if Eclecticism was, or could be, what the term implies, we would not make the slightest objection to it, except on account of the cognomen in which it appears. We would never object to the use of the very best medical means. The regular profession always endeavors to do that, and is continually increasing and improving her resources for that purpose. As fast as Botany, Chemistry and Materia Medica develop new and improved agents, she instantly selects and employs such as are found, upon sufficient trial, to be important. No class of physicians