Let me not be understood to claim, that the merits of physicians should not be canvassed at all by the community. There should be freedom of opinion upon this subject; and, when it will accomplish any good purpose, there should be freedom also in expressing that opinion. But the opinions of those who are ignorant of the subjects to which they relate, and who are not in possession of the facts in the case, ought at least to be uttered with some degree of modesty, and a mere blind preference is no justification of the bold opinionating, and the busy interference, which are so common with the train of zealous partizans, which some physicians draw after them. Some in their zeal carry their interference even into the chamber of the sick, and disturb its quiet with debates in regard to the propriety of the practice which is pursued. To say nothing of the evil resulting from the excitement thus produced, the influence of the physician over the mind of the patient, which, as you will see in another chapter, is sometimes of great importance, is often destroyed in this way. Hope is as real a cordial to the sick as any restorative medicine that can be given. And the meddler, who attempts to destroy the confidence of a patient in his physician, and thus take from him the hope that he will be relieved by his skill, does as cruel an act as if he entered the sick room and snatched from the very lips of the enfeebled, languishing, and perhaps dying man, the cordial draught which was to revive him. Some are zealous in their recommendation of medicines to the sick, and perhaps even urge the patient to take them without the knowledge of the attending physician. Such meddlers have no scruples in regard to this interference with the physician’s course, so long as the responsibility of the case remains upon his hands; but the moment that it is proposed to them to take the responsibility upon themselves, they shrink from it, notwithstanding the confidence and earnestness with which they urge the use of their favorite remedies. It is amusing to see what various, and even opposite measures are recommended by different persons in the same case. The friends of a patient, who are anxious that everything should be done to save a life so valuable and dear to them, are often perplexed and troubled by the great variety of remedies urged upon them, and the plausible reasons, and the asserted cures, upon which these recommendations are based. And not a little firmness is required to resist the importunity of these meddlers, especially as it is often prompted by undoubted kindness. But the welfare of the patient demands it, and no fear of giving offence should hinder from pursuing the proper course. The adequate remedy in such circumstances is to thank such meddlers for their kindness, and tell them that the measures which they recommend shall be mentioned to the physician, and, if he thinks proper, they shall be used.