Who, which, what and wherefore, or, A few facts for the homoeopathic profession.

Date:
1860
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Who, which, what and wherefore, or, A few facts for the homoeopathic profession. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    The gentlemen to whom these were sub- mitted, declined examining them, with the exception of W. Williamson, M. D., who said he would look at them out of courtesy. The Committee would not examine Mr. Jones on the conditions stated, and he with- drew. J. Reed, Jr., was next called. He declined a full examination;—asking only the privilege of proving how false and foul was the vote of Prof.'s Ward, Coxe and Beakley. He was dismissed without an ex- amination. F. H. Ehrman submitted himself to a full examination, and was again black-balled ; though, thanks to the presence of Drs. Hel- muth and Williamson, not so badly as at the Faculty ballot.* Prof. Moore, not approving of the conduct of Drs. Beakley, Coxe, and Ward, tendered his resignation to the Board of Managers. After his resignation had been handed in, reports were circulated among the students, stat- ing that the Professor of Anatomy icas resign- ing from pecuniary considerations. Upon hearing of these statements, Dr. Moore presented the following document to the Hon. President and Board of Managers. ''Philadelphia, March 1st, 1860. To the Honorahle President and Board of Managers of the Homoeopathic Medical Col- lege of Pennsylvania: Gentlemen :—The Dean of the Faculty will present you my resignation as Professor of Anatomy in the Homoeopathic Medical Col- lege of Pennsylvania. I deem it my duty to you, as Managers of the Institution, to state plainly the reasons inducing this step. Firstly. I cannot consent to remain a mem- ber of the Faculty, when I am convinced that questionable influences have prevented a fair ballot in the case of some of our candi- dates for the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Secondly. I hold that no Professor has a moral or legal right to allow any influence to come between him and the ballot-box, except the medical attainments of the candi- date. Thirdly. Each of the candidates, S. A. Jones, J. Reed, Jr., and F. H. Ehrmann, had been declared by the Faculty entitled to an examination according to the requisitions expressed in the fourth paragraph of the published regulations for the session of 1859 and '60. Fourthly. The fact of their having been admitted to the examinations before the cast my full rote in Lis favor at the ballot given on Saturday, 25th inst. (jigued) THOMAS MOORE. M. D.. Prof. Anatomy. Horn. Med. Coll. of Peuua.' * You will remember that at thp Faculty ballot Mr. Ehrmann was declared totally ignorant upon the branches of Surgery, and the Practice of Medicine. As a comment upon this allow us to state that at the re-examination Mr. Khrmann was catechised upon Anatomy, Surgery, Practice and Materia Medica, by Drs. Ilelmuth and Williamson; and their votes were 5, 5, 5, i. Well done Beakley, Coxe <SL Col Professors shows that they had complied with every requisition laid down in the above mentioned paragraph. Fifthly. I have had personal acknowledg- ments made to me by the Professor of Practice that, he had the right to be influenced in his ballot by other considerations than the merit of the Student: and by the Prof, of Chemistry, that F. H. Ehrmann could not have pas-ed even if the first ballot had been conducted with- out bias; thereby implicitly admitting that such bias existed. Sixthly. I cannot consent to remain a member of a Faculty where colleagues, who have discharged their duty as teachers and gentlemen,* can be removed by the Board of Managers upon the ex parte testimony of avowed enemies. Seventhly.—I cannot afford to sacrifice my time and money to assist in sustaining an institution where such things are allowed and justified. In conclusion, let me state that I shall be found ever ready to work for your institu- tion, if I can be associated with colleagues in whose ability and devotion to Homoe- opathy I can have full confidence; and that even pecuniary sacrifices shall never deter me from performing my whole duty in this (Signed,)' THOMAS MOORE, M.D. On Thursday, March 1st, the Com- mencement transpired, and Prof. Beakley's threat, that the expression of our opinion of him as a surgeon should prove fatal, was fulfilled to his complete satisfaction. We were told, by a respectable Homoeo- pathic physician, that the publishing of this paper would injure the School, and we were advised to await the annual meeting of the corporators of the College, to lay our case before them, and to publish only if they denied us justice. The Corporators met: the party were so strong (numerically) that a most unconstitu- tional motion to omit reading the Minutes of the Board of Managers for the past year was put, and although protested against, carried. Of course, we obtained no hearing. This ends the chapter. We have stated the facts of our case; we have told '' the truth, and nothing but the truth,'' yet, not '' the whole truth,'' for there are circum- stances which we can only state from the witness-box; we are without our degree; disgraced before the Profession and our * Note.—Henry P. Lloyd, (one of this Board of Man- agers,'' in a conversation with S. A. Jones, said: We have a right to turn out a professor without asking him any questions. This was a reply made to a remark of Mr. Jones', that the Board of Managers had turned out Profs llempel and Keed, without allowing them the prerogative of the guiltiest criminal: the riglit to be hrard in their own behalf; and, added Mr. J., you should have granted this to Drs. llempel and Reed, inasmuch as they were turned out upon the ex parte testimony of their enemies. Gentlemen assuming a professorial chair in the Ho- moeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, will do well to consider in what a position they place their profes- sional character. We hope this is a logical deduction.