Daily Circulation, 1500. The Oamaru Mail THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1888.

Oamaru Mail, Volume X, Issue 4072, 29 March 1888, Page 2

Daily Circulation, 1500. The Oamaru Mail THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1888.

We have been asked, in the interests of Buffering humanity, to annoonoe that the Canadian lady doctor, Madame Duflot, and her husband, who are now In Christchurch, will shortly pay Oamaru a professional visit. If we were sure that the endeavors of suoh persons were really beneficent, we would willingly make the announcement pure and simple. But this travelling-doctor business is one that places journalists in a serious dilemma as to what aotion they should take in reference to it. Journalists may, without precipitating any very serious results, re-1 commend, or at least take such action as might induce the people to patronise, an entertainment given bv travelling artlßts, But, when health and life are involved, they have no right to assume an attitude of sanctioning unconcern; and it is questionable whether the Press can, without grave neglect of duty, abstain from warning people of the danger of reposing confidence in "dootors" who are practically irresponsible, and who, being birdß of passage, may be utterly careless of every consideration except money-making.-We do not mean to say that every travelling "doctor" Is necessarily a charlatan. We have no means other than those available to the public of arriving at a conclusion on suoh a subject. But we have a tongue with which to make known the results of our observations, and they are not by any means creditable to the peripatetic medico. The Yankee Cheap Jack, who, 'cnte to a degree, attracts the publlo in crowds }[by hiß patter, and creates a clamorous demand for articles that have actually lain on the shelves In the shop of a local tradesman for years, is less a humbug than the individual who, being endowed with a superabundance of selfconfidence as almost his sole stock-in-trade/ sets up in business as a curer of the ills to which flesh is heir. The one takes merely your money—ten ohances to one that the other deprives you of your health as well, and leaves you dispirited and hypochondriacal. Where are the deluded patients of Wallenberg, of Stanioh, and of Milner Stephen! We have heard some of them utter thanks that, though poorer, they escaped with their lives. They were as surely glamored by barefaced deception, as was the boy who purchased a sixpenny knife from the Cheap Jack at eighteeapenoe. One might just as well trußt a man who w»s not even a blacksmith to mend his watch, as to entrust suoh quacks or highly scientific and spiritualistic empirics to tamper with hhi own delicate organism. We do not say that Madame Duflot is an Impostor. Personally we know nothing about her. But, we are given to understand that her methods are in close imitation of the Cheap Jack, and we are informed by persons who submitted themselves to her that they experienced no relief except in pooket. These persons, hqweyer, were not sufferers from either bad teeth or tumors, in dealing with which Madame Duflot is said to possess miraculous power. But if there ia anything in medical science worth knowing is it more likely to be known by such persons as Madame Duflot than by ordinary accredited medical men? We will not believe that it h possible for an organisation that is ever on the alert and is kept well informed by journals conducted by the cleverest-phy-sicians of the day, to be Ignorant of any medioament, or medical or Burgical expedient. We know nothing about Madame Duflofa reputed deftness in extracting teeth and tumors. She play be as olever as she is said to be; but one cannot be bjamed for discounting pretty liberally statements that may have been the product of a momentary enthusiasm highly favorable to exaggeration. But, whatever may be Madame Duftot's skill in dealing with teeth and tumors, failure has signalised her endeavors ia other departments. There are other maladies besides bad teeth and tumors that demand the attention of the physician, and Madame Duflot seems tg have had some of these, Possibly the mo3t expert accredited physician would have failed, in some or all pf '** ieee esses —some of them may even have '" , -»ted by the cleverest medical men been fax. -lt gnipowner does no t place In Dunediu —bu„ - ~ » t ' t.„ , , t. ~ .*' the first man he his vessels in oharge o. t . meets because a certificated capta J} ln wnom he trusted has been unfortunate or uusuc cessful. Much has been made pf Madame Doflot's charitableness. It is said tfesfc she never takes money from the poor. This has ! gained for her much sympathy and patronage. Bat the truth of the matter is that she does not, and cannot, take fees from anybody, for she is not registered in this colony as a duly qualified medical practitioner, Bat she takes payment for medicine, and on this score we have heard complaints that her charges were excessive. That may or may not have been the case—we do not profess to know mnch about the j value of medicine of the composition of which we are entirely ignorant—though we can say that, judged by results, much of Madams Duflot'a medicine would have been dear at any price. But Ib there no charity in our medieal|men? Who does not. know that, with all their faults, they are continually, and requently voluntarily, forfeiting fees

in the interest of poor patients; and in their case this liberality has some semblance of virtue, for they cannot make up what they lose by transferring it to the cost of medicine. That was what was done by one of the "foreign doctors" who recently visited Oamaru. He charged nothing; but received from two widows L 3 for medicine that \ras absolutely useless. We may not be thanked for what we have written on tbis snl jeot. There will always be people in the world who will run after novelties, even at the rick of their health, their lives, and their pockets.