Page:Quackery Unmasked.djvu/326

322 rational medicine. These, with their millions of inmates, are so many fortresses which she has established; and who but a fanatic or idiot can suppose that any scheme which quackery may devise will ever be able to destroy them? As well might a corporal's guard undertake to conquer every citadel in the known world.

Political revolutions may dethrone monarchs or abolish republics, and commotions may overturn established institutions of society; nations may be overwhelmed and conquered by enemies; but scientific medicine must continue undisturbed, every where the same and invincible.

Although quackery is everywhere acknowledged to be a crying evil, some appear to think that it should not be opposed. You can do nothing, say they, to suppress or diminish it; it is useless to try. Is this good philosophy? Do sound statesmen or moralists ever act upon such a principle? Certainly not. The most efficient legal and moral means are constantly employed against vice. And will any physician who regards the honor and usefulness of his profession, or any intelligent citizen who values the