History of the expulsion of Drs. R.S. Newton and Z. Freeman from the Eclectic Medical Institute : with the causes which rendered it necessary, and an exposition of the slanderous and factious course which has been pursued by the off-casts from the Institute / by W. Sherwood.

  • William Hall Sherwood
Date:
[1856?]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of the expulsion of Drs. R.S. Newton and Z. Freeman from the Eclectic Medical Institute : with the causes which rendered it necessary, and an exposition of the slanderous and factious course which has been pursued by the off-casts from the Institute / by W. Sherwood. 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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    not ingratiate himself sufficiently to make a few personal friends, even if they considered him in- competent. The class contained gentlemen of such a grade of intelligence that they were entirely disgusted with his lectures read from books, and interspersed with his own ungrammatical comments. RESOLUTIONS OP THE CLASS. At a meeting of the Students of the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, at which forty members of the Class were present (the entire class consisting, at this time, of about fifty Students,) the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted: Whereas, We, the students of the Eclectic Medical In- stitute of Cincinnati, being sensible of the loss which we hare sustained, during our attendance as students at the Institute, both from the utter incompetency of R. S. New- ton. Professor of Theory and Practice, as a teacher, and from his gross neglect of duty ; and in consideration of the fact, that he uses in his practice and advocates the use of Medicinal agents, which are known to lie base adul- terations, and that there is at this time in his office an established agency for the sale of said preparations, and further in consideration of the fact that he has taken forcible possession of the College building, by stealthily entering it with his friends, in the night, that he and his coadjutors have, by means of deadl}' weapons, prevented the class from entering the lecture room, with the excep- tion of the few whom he knew to be in favor of himself and his machinations; in consequence of which, the stu- dents are now deprived of the instruction which is due them ; that he is in alliance with individuals who are, and li:i\.' | n« avowed enemies of the Institute; and finally, in consideration of the fact, that the above are but a few of a long series of wrongs and insults, which the students, as well as the Faculty, have suffered at his hands; and feeling, as we do, that whatever of courtesy or defer- ence may, heretofore, have been clue from us. by virtue of the relation which we sustained to him, that '•the time to suffer and be silent is now past, and believing that justice 10 ourselves, to the Profession, and to the world, demands from us an expression of our senti- ments and feelings, with regard to the past condition of affairs; therefore, Raobetd, That as the interests of medical science, and the progress of medical reform, are dependent upon the character and ability of those who are engaged in them, the man. who, pretending to be a physician and teacher, will basely prostitute himself to professional trickery and dishonesty, and use the profession, (involving as it does, so many of the interests of humanity,) for the vile purpose of promoting his own pecuniary interests and personal aggrandizement, merits the honest indignation and severest censure of every friend of medical reform, and of humanity. ied, That we consider R. S. Newton wholly incom- petent to till a Professorship, with credit to himself or the Institution, or with profit to the class; not only from a want of medical kuowdedge, but also because of his general ignorance. Resolved. That we believe his boasted authorship to be merely titulary, such as any one mightobtain who possessed pecuniary means, to secure the labors of others ; and not- withstanding bis vaunted position in this regard, in his lectures he merely reads to the class from the so-called Newton and Powell's Practice, verbatim, et literatim, et seriatim. Resolved, That the course of conduct pursued by R. S. Newton, in recommending, and particularly to the class under his instruction, quack nostrums and adulterated medicines, and in making the Eclectic Medical Journal not only an advertising sheet for worthless agents, but also a channel for virulent attacks upon others, especially upon his brother Professors, merits the severest censure. Resolved, That in consideration of the empirical and unscientific course hitherto pursued by R. S. Newton and his associate, Z. Freeman, together with the alliance which they have formed with avowed enemies of the Institute and of Eclecticism, we regard them as foes of the Eclectic Reform, as well as of the Eclectic Medical Institute, and denounce, as an act unworthy phyicians or men, the means to which they have resorted for the purpose of breaking down the institute, by betraying it Judas-like into the hands of its foes. Resolved. That the connection of R. S. Newton with the Eclectic Medical Institute, has done much to bring dis- standing of Eclectic physicians, in the estimation of the community- , . ■ 1. /.' solved, That bis mobocratic demonstration in forcihly debarring the faculty and the students from the College building, after having signally failed in his attempt to embarrass tbeir operations by a process of law, by the cow- ardly exhibition of bowie knives and pistols, amputating knives, crowbars and otber such weapons, and to intimi- date, by cannon, those w horn words could not awe. together with the character of the persons employed by him. to assist in maintaining insurrectionary possession of the College building, are' all characteristic of the man, and indicative of the spirit and motives which have prompted the series of provocations and annoyances, which have so much marred the harmony and retarded the advance- ment of the class —for the welfare of which, he has hypocritically professed such tender regard. Resolved, that the act of R, S. Newton and associates in forcibly taking possession of the College building, upon an assumed right, which is now being contested in law, we regard and condemn as an act of usurpation. Retolved, That R. S. Newton, believing success in the legal controversy in which he has engaged altogether improbable, is endeavoring to effect his purpose of destroy- ing the Institution by pushing a series of petty annoy- ances to such an extent, that the students, becoming har- assed and discouraged, shall leave the Institution, and that he has so far succeeded in his base designs, that a considerable number of the students have already returned home. Rttolved, That while we feel called upon to reprobate the course pursued by Dm. Newton and Freeman as med- ical teachers and as men — we take great pleasure in expressing our entire satisfaction with the other members of the faculty, and their labors as medical Instructors, as well as our gratification at their pacific and gentlemanly bearing in the late controversy into which they havo unwillingly been driven. Resolved, That us students and friends of the Institute and of Eclecticism, our sympathy and co-operation are, and ever shall be, with those who have stood by and upheld both; while for the traitor to humanity and to truth, whose efforts are to obscure with dust the brightness ho can not emulate, and to tear down that which he can- not attain, in order that he may reigu over the ruins, wa have only the bitterest reprehension for his conduct and pity for bis utter destitution of those manly quali- ties which enoble and adorn humanity. R. P. WHITE, Chairman. J. Davison, Secretary. The foregoing resolutions were also voluntarily signed by thirty-three members of the class, to give the additional force of their personal testimony and cordial approbation. Among the names of tha signers were: W. E. Kemble, Jno. L. Morrill, Comly JessoP, Jas. Tallmadge, Peyton W. Henry, D. Y. Chalfant, M. W. Henry, F. M. Tate, T. K. Dashiell, II. G. Osgood, Ac., Ac. These resolutions were published in a Cincinnati daily, with editorial remarks. These resolutions (said the editor) show that the great majority of the students have undiminished confidence in and re- spect for the Faculty. Dr. L. E Jones denounced, also, what had often been denounced by numbers of the class—Dr. New- ton's clinical speculation, which consisted in getting the Faculty to appropriate one-fifth of the proceeds of their tuition fees to support a hospital for clin- ical instruction, then renting out the so-called hos- pital as a boarding house, and introducing dispen- sary patients from the street [which might have been done without a pretended clinic, as it had been done gratuitously by Prof. Morrow, at the College], and finally, after getting a large revenue from the College, for an affair of so little value, appropriating the whole credit to himself, by calling it Newton's Clinic, after he had agreed to discontinue that as- sumption and let it stand forth as it really was, a clinical lecture room, maintained, not by Dr. New-