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The Conservative.
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1 CURRENT COMMENT.
A Professional Burden.
The London Hospital veuts its edi
torial wrath on the existence of an un
necessary tux on time , energy and brain
vitality , which the hardworking mod
ern physician has to meet. There is no
profession which calls for such constant
study in legitimate ways. The immense
speculative progress of the curative
science and the new lines along which
it is expanding exact more time in re
ft search than the hard worked physician
( has to give. In addition to this it is
claimed that no professional literature
is so choked up with worthless contri
tuitions , which must be examined to
sift out the wheat from the chaff. So
the man of progressive ambition is
placed in a dilemma. The writer says
Medicine , in short , is swamped , drowned
etillod and paralyzed by innumerable exploit
era within and without its ranks oxploitei -
whose only object is the shortest possible cut
not to fame and fortune , but to notoriety and
pelf. Now , all this has an exaggerated sound
about it. But indeed and indeed , however ej :
aggeratedly it sounds , it does not express one
tenth part of the miserable truth. The steady
practitioner , whose aim is to supply his pu
tlonts with the very best resources which the
science of the times can afford , finds that about
half his busy hours are spent in the brain
wearing and what should bo quito unnecessary
operation of separating the precious from tin-
vile. And the vile is HO very vile and so over
wholniingly preponderant that he almost
wishes himself in the nether world and per
manently joined to the ranks of Sisyphus and
Tantalus
America , it seems , is not one whit
less oursed with this prolific crew oi
writing egotists than England and Ger
many. It may be said that the difficul
ty is in general harmony with the evi
dent fact that hook writing and publish
ing of every sort are prodigiously over
done. The man who is not successful as
practicing phvsiciau feels himself in
spired to write about the things which
ho knows to so little practical advan
tage.
The disgusted critio assigns a reason
for this plethora of medical books : "The
profession is swamped with pedants ,
with persons in the consulting and spe
oial ranks who have a little money , no
practice and unlimited leisure , and
these persons find their only consolation ,
the only salve of their disappointed sell
love , in writing and reading all the
rubbish which is annually pouiod out
upon the profession , and so in persuad
ing themselves that they are more learn
ed and scientific than their better em
ployed rivals. " Doubtless all this ib
very true. It is one of the necessary
evils of the age , though it may be spe
cially so.in medicine. The lawyer hah
stacks of legal books , and feels , too , that
he must have them , which ho never
uses. The theologian is impelled by a
hungry instinct to lay hands on every
professional book he can acquire , and
feels that they are rubbish afterward.
Every man who uses books is obliged to
wade through a vast deal of wretched
1
stuff. But the compensation may bo
suggested in a word. Out of great mul
iplicity emerges a corresponding quau-
ity of excellence. The worthless books (
die , but the good ones live on to ble.ss )
the world. i
The Bones of Columbus.- !
t
Santo Domingo has always disputed
with Cuba the possession of the mortu-
try relics of the great discoverer. But ,
those lying in the mausoleum in the
Havana cathedral are generally sup-
joeed to be all that remains of Coluni-
jus except his imperishable fame. These
ire now to be conveyed back to Spain
the great man's ungrateful stepmother
Nothing would be done by the United
States of course to prevent the transfer
but the question arises , Do these relics-
belong properly to Spain as a historical
right ? This is a query open to grave do
bate.
Columbus was not a Spaniard. It was
Isabella's womanly sympathy , not her
intellectual conviction , which gave tin
daring voyager his chances Even nt
that moment Bartholomew Columbus
was negotiating similar help from Hen
ry VII of England , close to the point of
success. A slight question of time per
haps determined the precedence ol
Spain Spanish ingratitude to the im
mortal trustee of her future greatness
needs no rehearsal. It was not till near
ly a half century later that a collateral
descendant of the Colons secured the
family honors , now perpetuated in the
Duke of Veragua. The claim of Spain
to hold the few handfnls of crumbling
bones remaining of the greatest man of
his ago seems to bo only valid because
none cares to contest it. The western
hemisphere was the monument of Co
lumbus. His fame was the world's , not
that of his niggardly employer
The influence of his deeds for good
was on the whole of civilization , Spain
excepted , for the gift of Columbus bo
cauie to her an abiding curse , even nt
the pinnacle of her power and glory
from which she fell into such an inexorable
exorablo decline. Had it not been tor
Columbus Spain might today have been
a much more powerful nation. Certain
ly , could the great Christopher have
known what an ocean of blood and tears
Spain would cause to How from her
successful patronage or him , ho nuglit
well have hesitated before Bailing ,
The bones of Columbus belong logic
ally to the regions which he made
known to the world. Next to the spot
where they have recently lain they
should properly rest in the Unite ; !
States , which illustrates most brilliant
ly the true beneficence of the discovery
of a now world. If the western hemis
phere is his monument , the history o :
the United States is the crowning in
scriptiou on that monument.
At last a gleam of justice has como
to the French conscience. At the in
stance of M. Brissou , the new premier ,
vehemently urged on his unwilling col-
leagues , the cabinet voted that the ap
peal for revision of the Dreyfus injus
tice should be sent to the court of cas
sation. If their examination of the pa
pers results in an affirmative degree ,
there will bo another trial before a
court martial , but this time with open
doors and not in the guilty secrecy of
a locked chamber. After all the revela
tions of forgery and other villainies by
which the prosecution of the case se
cured a verdict of guilty , there is but one
opinion among all candid minds
; hroughout the civilized world as to the
second result. One thing , however , has
insured itself as a growing root in the
conviction of Frenchmen whose vanity
and national pride kept them so long
purblind. This is that the French army
administration and its military honor
are rotten and worthless from core to
surface. The close touch which this
feature of governing life in Franco has
bad with every phase of political and
social movement makes the shock of a
lost illusion the more stunning. The
possibilities which may arise from this
chasm separating an awakened public
conscience from a great military clan ,
savage under the consciousness of its
own inept defense , are pregnant with
perils.
Mr. Shi/no Kondo , representative of
one of the largest trading associations
of Japan , recently addressed the Manu
facturers' association of New York in a
speech full of glowing anticipation of
the burden of the future for the United
States. The power of this country in
oriental commerce he instanced by cit
ing the fact that "while United States
exports increased 05 per cent in 18 ! ) ?
over 1890 , the total increase of export
to Japan from all other countries is
only 28 per cent during the same year. "
He attributed this increase not to any
judicious and skillfully applied zeal on
the part of our merchants ( that had been
lacking ) , but to the excellent qualities
of the goods which had won their way
unassisted. The Japanese government
and the association to which Mr. Kondo
belonged had opened a museum for the
express display of American products
witn remarkable success and it was con
tinually thronged with buyers. This
energetic co-operation of Japan in help
ing us to eell our own goods is an inter
esting phenomenon. It will bo a long
time before any American city or gov
ernment would put itself one step out
of its daily treadmill tramp to help sell
Japanese goods. The thoughtful courtesy
of our Japanese friends and neighbors ,
as they may now bo called in view of
the new half way house of Hawaii , is
much to be commended.
The philosopher is full of fine words
over the misfortunes of others. They
are very easy troubles to bear. But
when they como to himself they are al
ways the very biggest burdens which
ever bowed the shoulders of man.