ARGUMENT OF HON. GEORGE M. STEARNS, BEFORE THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE, AGAINST A BILL PRESENTED BY M.O. ADAMS TO REGULATE THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. DELIVERED AT THE STATE HOUSE, FEBRUARY 5, 1889.
Boston: L. Barta, [1889]. Original printed wrappers, spine reinforced in black tape. 38, [2 blanks] pp. Front wrapper with an area of discoloration. Text clean, except for occasional underlining. Good plus.
A highly regarded lawyer, Stearns had just finished his appointment, by President Cleveland, as U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts. This Argument set him against the State's medical establishment, "which formally arrayed themselves against the untutored professional curers of all descriptions, not excepting, of course, the Christian Science cranks, and have prepared a bill for their utter annihilation to be introduced into the Massachusetts Legislature. To fight this measure the so-called quacks all over the country are combining. They are organizing, if you please, a quack trust, and have engaged the very best legal talent available." [V The Medical Visitor 109-110, No. 4, April 1889.]
Stearns defiantly, but with humor, defends the right of Christian Scientists to practice their profession. "I take great pleasure, personal pleasure, in appearing to-day before you for the quacks of Massachusetts... God forbid that in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts we shall live to see Mrs. Choate, and Mrs. Eddy, and Mrs. Batchelder, and other ladies, dragged to jail under this bill, and with fetters on their limbs, for teaching the people that God is health and sickness is sin. It makes my blood boil to talk about it." The galleries, evidently packed with the Bill's opponents, repeatedly applaud.
OCLC records four locations under three accession numbers as of October 2023 [Harvard, Yale, State Lib. MA, Lloyd Library]. Item #36899
Price: $600.00