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Show HUMORS OF LEGISLATION. The Utah Legislature once passed n law that one might begin t6 fish for certain fishes on the 1st dny of July, but must not catch any until the 16th of that month. At another session It put Its stamp of disapproval upon the practice prac-tice of vaccination, though 'not a man so voting was In the slightest degree qualified to pass upon the question. And other sessions have Indulged In vagaries va-garies of the same order. Not to be outdone In grotcsquery, certain cer-tain members of the present Legislature Legisla-ture are pressing for the passage of a bill to regulate the practice of medlclnp In Utah, which among a multitude of provisions of varying degrees of soundness, sound-ness, has these definitions of "unprofessional "unpro-fessional conduct," for which the certificate cer-tificate entitling a medical man to practice prac-tice may be revoked; H. B. No. 122-SectIon 9, third subdivision: subdivi-sion: Tho obtaining of any fee on the a3-Hurance a3-Hurance that a manifestly Incurablo dls-caso dls-caso can bo cured. Fifth All advertising of medical business busi-ness in which grossly Improbable statements state-ments aro made. Manifestly, the. whole force of these extraordinary provisions lies in the application ap-plication of them. In the hands of bigots or conservatives, they would destroy de-stroy all medical progress, and stifle independent in-dependent Investigation. They would tend to confine practice exclusively within old ruts, even In the hands of the best of medical men. What is an Incurablo disease? That which was Incurable a few years ago Is curable today, and we may without heresy, we trust, indulge In hope that medical skill will eventually deny that any disease Is incurable. To say that we must not attempt to realize this hope; that medical progress must stop where it is; or even that medical progress prog-ress shall bo hampered and put under the ban of the law, would be to put Utah in such a humiliating position In the eyes of scientific men that our legislators leg-islators should be ashamed to court tho contempt they would earn by passing any such provision. Tho next provision, that of opposition to advertising "grossly Improbable statements," is of prccisoly the same character as the third prohibition quoted. Every new curotlve, remedy, or treatment is Improbable in the minds of thoBc wedded to old methods, thosb schooled in tho idea that there must be a certain procedure and no other. The anti-toxin treatmont, the 'serum treat-ments treat-ments one and all, the modern trcat- ment of tuberculosis, the FInsen rays, were nil declared wildly Improbable if not absolutely Impossible by medical men. Nay, vaccination itself was also generally dcnounccdiby the profession as well as by the public, ns "grossly Improbable," Im-probable," and mnny did not hesitate to pronounce it an Impiety, a disgusting proposition to whjch smallpox itself was to be preferred, a "corrupter of blood" to the filth of which no man made In the Image of the Creator, and reverencing his Maker could possibly submit. Tbe "grossly improbable" of today is the accepted truth, the very commonplace, of tomorrow. Tbe Utah Legislature may well take the hint, and cllmlnntc such absurdities ns are noted in this bill. |