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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    CHARGES AGATNST DR. L. E. JONES. The undersigned, members of the Faculty, are compelled to declare, that If Prof. L. E. Jones continues to occupy his position as a member of the Faculty, they will, without hesitation, resign their respective chairs; and in this declaration they believe that two or three of the gentle- men who have been announced as professors, but who are absent at this time, will heartily concur. Subsequently, Drs. Newton and Bicklcy signed with their colleagues, Drs. Buchanan, King, and Sherwood, the fol- lowing arraignment: The undersigned, members of the Faculty of the Eclectic Medical Institute, hereby arraign Dr. L. E. Jones, the present Professor of Theory and Practice, as unworthy of a position in the Institute, and request his expulsion ; in proof of the propriety and necessity of which, we offer the following charges, which we declare to be true, to the best Of our knowledge and belief. There are eight separate charges, from which I copy merely the leading passages of each paragraph : Charge 1. Falsehood, fraud, and imposition practiced upon the Board of Trustees and Faculty. * * 2. Inveterate hostility to the existing Faculty of the Institute. * * * 3. Systematic war/are against the Eelectic Medical Institute, by invectives, intrigues, Ac, aiming to estab- lish a separate school. 4. Dishonorable and undignified bearing as a Pro- fessor, * * 5. Violations of lavj and order, by refusing to obey the regulations of the school — and by a lawless course which compelled the Faculty, in self-deftnse, to lock and fasten the doors of the Institute. 6. A discordant and quarrelsome temper, rendering him unfit to associate with any but his inferiors — * * [Query—is he associated with his inferiors at present?] 7. Intense selfishness, and unwillingness to participate in any liberal measures for the promotion of the reputa- tion of the Institute, * * 8. Confirmed and hopeless incompatibility with the present Faculty— * * Another charge was embodied in this paper at first, and would have been retained, but for the fact that it was expunged by Dr. Buchanan, for the reason that he con- sidered it absurd for Dr. Newton to present such charges of illiteracy against Dr. L. E. Jones, who could have retorted on Dr. Newton with justice aud truth, in a simi- lar style. The following is the charge : Professional disqualification for his present position, not being a practitioner of medicine, being incompetent to sustain Vie reputation of the Institute by authorship — being incompetent to address an enlightened public audi- ence in a respectable manner, or in any other way to give the Institute an honorable position in the public mind — being defective as to the general knowledge of the differ- ent branches of medical science, remarkably ignorant of medical literature, and settled in confirmed fiabils of illiteracy, which render it certain that he can not keep pace with the progress of the profession. This expressed the sentiments of the Faculty, and but for their having one illiterate member among them, would have been among their charges. These were the charges which, in the opinion of the Faculty, required his expul- sion, and by a curious coincidence there is not one of these eight charges against Dr L. E. Jones in 1852-53, which was not substantially applicable to Dr. K. S. Newton in 1856. There was the same amount of perfidy and false- hood, the same intrigue and hostility, the same selfish- ness, differently and more artfully managed, the same illiteracy, and a much greater degree of turbulence and lawlessness. To complete the parallel, he made the same pledges to keep the peace, and broke them a» treacherously. BEACn, NEWTON, AND DIPLOMA SHOPS. But at that time Dr. Newton was comparatively modest and inoffensive, understood the interests of the College. and, like the rest of the faculty, regarded the three indi- viduals who, since their removal for incompetence and unprofessional conduct, have united together, (Drs. Jones, Beach and Baldridge,) as utterly unworthy i f sympathy. Beach and Baldridge, after Dr. Jones had cooperated in their removal for worthlessness and other causes, did not hesitate to help him in abusing the Faculty. Dr. New- ton's estimate of Dr. Beach was shown by the l-.clertic Journal, and also by Dr. Jones' third pamphlet, page 27— speaking of Dr. Beach, he says: Although charged by Dr. Buchanan with imbecility, &c. and by Dr. Ncwtou with ignorance, incompetency, and incapacity to write asingle sentence correctly or gram mati' ally, aud declared not to be the author of his many works,''Ac, 4c. Et tu Brute! It was certainly cruel in Dr. Newton to speak of Dr. Beach as being unable to write correctly, or not being the author of his own works — such charges, if true, should have produced a frier d\y fellow feeling and sympathy between the two illustrious authors. By what strange oversight or cruel iuju .lice was Dr. Beach omitted from the Jones and Newton Faculty ? Can they not give him an honorary emeritus title? It is no objection that the Faculty of the Eclectic Med- ical Intitule were unanimously ashamed of him, aud dropped his name as quietly as possible, that the public might forget his former connection with the Institute. The fact tiiat he is one of the offcasts of the Institute should be the highest recommendation to a Faculty of offcasts. We insist that the venerable Beach shall not be slighted to make room for mere fledglings. He can not be more incompetent than Dr. Baldridge, nor has the failure of his diploma shop been so much more disgraceful than the failures of Baldridge and Jones. If Beach considers Anatomy a superfluous study, Baldridge considers Chem- istry a humbug when it teaches that there is iron in the blood — a prodigious error, according to Dr. Baldridge. If Beach retailed his diplomas indiscriminately by his own authority, Baldridge's establishment disposed of, at least one of his, for <1U0 down, in advance, before medical study. If Beach aud Baldridge supplied diplomas to men who did not deserve them, Jones surpassed their devotion to suffering humanity, in giving diplomas to those who had been rejected by the tyrannical Faculty of the Eclcctio .Medical Institute, who practically deny the rights of American citizens to have diplomas whenever they can pay for them. Detestable aristocrats 1 They would make distinctions in a democratic profession, and give diplomas to their favorites, but refuse them to every young man who can not answer their troublesome scientific questions. The reign of such tyrants must soon come to an end. The generous liberality of Newton and Jones can supply all demands, and their '• learned brother, 0. E. Newton, the aspiring demonstrator of Anatomy, can furnish as many cliuique diplomas to first course students as are required to astonish the natives — each of which diplomas is based upon the fact that its learned bearer has attended thirty- two lectures, and is therefore entitled to a parchment! Ludicrous as these statements appear, they are all sim- ple naked facts, which can be iucoutestibly proved with names aud dates, to the respective transactions. What must be the necessary consequence? Simply, that the entire mass of smattering, indolent, profligate students and candidates for diplomas, who wish to possess a parch- ment upon any terms, and care nothing for the character of the school, will resort to the diploma shop where they believe there is the least amount of science aud the great- est williugness to drive the simple bargain —give me your money and your name, and I will insure that you shall have a diploma. The same class of men who have hereto- fore resorted to Dr. L. E. Jones for diplomas,* which they could not obtain from the Faculty of the Eclectic Medical Institute, will continue to resort to him and his associates; aid if that fungus establishment is maintained, it is difficult to see how the profession at large can escape the disgrace which it will bring upon the entire move- ment. But in addition to all this, Dr. Newton took the lead in fixing upon Dr. Jones charges which sunk him irre- coverably into infamy,—charges which were generally believed at the time, which are still believed, and which were made the basis of a legal prosecution. GROVELING MALICE. The leading charge was, that Dr. Jones, in order to vent his groveling malice against the College which had ejected * 1 have no record of the extent of this diploma busi- ness, but 1 know that in three installers, men who could not graduate in the institute, have been graduated by the school of Jones & Baldridge, and the members of the Faculty have received letters from worthy and intelligent physicians, complaining of such a course as discreditable to the profession. Of two of these individuals. Dr. J. T., one of (tie most intelligent graduates of the Institute, lays, ■■ 1 have felt it a duty that 1 owe alike to the cause and to myself, to disclaim any brotherhood with them, aud state to all who have said anything to me about it, that they did not get their diplomas at my alma mater.