Moral Principles and Medical Practice

Moral Principles and Medical Practice

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Title: Moral Principles and Medical Practice The Basis of Medical Jurisprudence
Author: Charles Coppens
Release Date: June 18, 2006 [EBook #18616]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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+------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Transcriber's Note | | | | In Lecture I, there are paragraphs numbered 1 to 8 but omitting | | 4. This is as in the original, as is the inconsistent | | hyphenation of the words "lawgiver" and "twofold". In two | | instances, errors of punctuation have been corrected, and in one | | case obscured words have been guessed. Full details can be found | | in the html version of this ebook. | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------+

MORAL PRINCIPLES AND
MEDICAL PRACTICE,
THE BASIS OF MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.
BY
REV. CHARLES COPPENS, S.J.,
Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in the John A. Creighton Medical College, Omaha, Neb., author of Text-Books on Metaphysics, Ethics, Oratory, and Rhetoric.
NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO: BENZIGER BROTHERS, Printers to the Holy Apostolic See.

TO
MR. JOHN A. CREIGHTON,
THE FOUNDER OF THIS MEDICAL COLLEGE AND OF ST. JOSEPH'S HOSPITAL, AS A SLIGHT TRIBUTE OF HONOR FOR HIS ENLIGHTENED PATRONAGE OF LEARNING AND HIS CHRISTIAN CHARITY TOWARDS HIS FELLOW-MEN, THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.

=Permissu Superiorum.=
The undersigned, Provincial of the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus, in virtue of faculties granted to him by Very Rev. L. MARTIN, General of the same Society, hereby permits the publication of a book entitled "Moral Principles and Medical Practice," by Rev. CHARLES COPPENS, S.J., the same having been approved by the censors appointed by him to revise it.
THOMAS S. FITZGERALD, S.J.
ST. LOUIS, MO., July?2, 1897.
* * * * *
=Imprimatur.=
MICHAEL AUGUSTINE, Archbishop of New York.
NEW YORK, July?20, 1897.

COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY BENZIGER BROTHERS.

PREFACE.
The science of Medicine is progressive; genius irradiates its onward march. Few other sciences have advanced as rapidly as it has done within the last half century. Hence it has happened that in many of its branches text-books have not kept pace with the knowledge of its leading minds. Such is confessedly the case in the department of Medical Jurisprudence. This very term, Medical Jurisprudence, as now used in colleges, is generally acknowledged to be a misnomer. There is no reason why it should be so used. The leading medical writers and practitioners are sound at present on the moral principles that ought to direct the conduct of physicians. It is high time that their principles be more generally and distinctly inculcated on the younger members, and especially on the students of their noble profession. To promote this object is the purpose aimed at by the author. His brief volume is not intended to be substituted for existing text-books on Medical Jurisprudence, but to supply some chapters imperatively demanded by science for the thorough treatment of this important subject.

CONTENTS.
PAGE LECTURE I.--INTRODUCTION--THE FOUNDATION OF JURISPRUDENCE, 11
" II.--CRANIOTOMY, 37
" III.--ABORTION, 58
" IV.--VIEWS OF SCIENTISTS AND SCIOLISTS, 81
" V.--VENEREAL EXCESSES, 104
" VI.--THE PHYSICIAN'S PROFESSIONAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES, 128
" VII.--THE NATURE OF INSANITY, 151
" VIII.--THE LEGAL ASPECTS OF INSANITY, 177
" IX.--HYPNOTISM AND THE BORDER-LAND OF SCIENCE, 197

MORAL PRINCIPLES AND MEDICAL PRACTICE.

LECTURE I.
INTRODUCTORY--THE FOUNDATION OF JURISPRUDENCE.
Gentlemen:--1. When I thoughtfully consider the subject on which I am to address you in this course of lectures, i.e., Medical Jurisprudence, I am deeply impressed with the dignity and the importance of the matter.
The study of medicine is one of the noblest pursuits to which human talent can be devoted. It is as far superior to geology, botany, entomology, zo?logy, and a score of kindred sciences as its subject, the body of man, the visible lord of the creation, is superior to the subject of all other physical sciences, which do so much honor to the power of the human mind; astronomy, which explores the vast realms of space, traces the courses and weighs the bulks of its mighty orbs; chemistry, which analyzes the minutest atoms of matter; physics, which discovers the properties, and mechanics, which utilizes the powers of an endless variety of bodies--all these noble sciences together are of less service to man than that study which directly promotes the welfare of his own structure, guards his very life, fosters the vigor of his youth, promotes the physical and mental, aye, even the moral, powers of his manhood, sustains his failing strength, restores his shattered health, preserves the integrity of his aging faculties, and throughout his whole career supplies those conditions without which both enjoyment and utility of life would