1885 v. 28 - Lane Medical Library Digital Document Repository

Editorial 27
wrongs inflicted upon him, and does not appear to have contemplated
a measure which would have been most effective and immediate
in its results.
Every medical man knows that the chances of successful
results are greatly increased by excluding all bat assistants
from the operation, as nothing can be more annoying to a surgeon
than the talking and movements of spectators who are
crowding round him and asking questions, at a time when his
whole attention should be devoted to the work before him; his
mind is distracted by these petty interruptions, and that concentration
of purpose, which is so necessary a qualification in a successful
operation, is destroyed by the criticisms and opinions of
lookers-on.
If the Police Surgeon has not the power to lay down rules for
the restraint of importunate visitors to the Receiving Hospital,
the civic authorities have, and they could not refuse to grant an
order which would be so eminently beneficial to the sufferers. Let
ns not be understood to insinuate that Dr. Dennis encouraged the
public to visit the Receiving Hospital, merely for the purpose of
witnessing his surgical skill; we sincerely believe that this indiscretion
sprang from a mistaken conviction that the citizens are entitled
to have free access to all institutions which their money assists
to maintain. But things that are lawful are not always expedient,
and there is no more reason for the Receiving Hospital
becoming a resort for the citizens of San Francisco, than there is
for the Industrial School or Magdalen Asylum becoming recreation
grounds for their sons and daughters.
It is eminently proper that the names of persons taken to the
Receiving Hospital should appear in the public papers, but it is
as highly objectionable that reporters should be avowed to obtain
the minute descriptions of operations which can only shock the
feelings of the refined, and pander to the tastes of the depraved.
In justice to Dr. Dennis, we would make it known that none of
the objectionable paragraphs have appeared since the Medical
Society called his attention to them.
There are too many medical men in the employment of the
municipality, and in our opinion it would be much better to combine
two or three of these offices under one man, who would receive
a liberal salary, and be debarred from engaging in private
practice during his term of office. A similar experiment has been
tried in the Stockton and Napa Asylums, and has succeeded admirably.