Moral Principles and Medical Practice The Basis of Medical Jurisprudence   By: Charles Coppens (1835-1920)

MORAL PRINCIPLES AND

MEDICAL PRACTICE,

THE BASIS OF MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.

BY

REV. CHARLES COPPENS, S.J.,

Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in the John A. Creighton Medical College, Omaha, Neb., author of Text Books on Metaphysics, Ethics, Oratory, and Rhetoric.

NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO: BENZIGER BROTHERS, Printers to the Holy Apostolic See.

TO

MR. JOHN A. CREIGHTON,

THE FOUNDER OF THIS MEDICAL COLLEGE AND OF ST. JOSEPH'S HOSPITAL, AS A SLIGHT TRIBUTE OF HONOR FOR HIS ENLIGHTENED PATRONAGE OF LEARNING AND HIS CHRISTIAN CHARITY TOWARDS HIS FELLOW MEN, THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.

=Permissu Superiorum.=

The undersigned, Provincial of the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus, in virtue of faculties granted to him by Very Rev. L. MARTIN, General of the same Society, hereby permits the publication of a book entitled "Moral Principles and Medical Practice," by Rev. CHARLES COPPENS, S.J., the same having been approved by the censors appointed by him to revise it.

THOMAS S. FITZGERALD, S.J.

ST. LOUIS, MO., July 2, 1897.

=Imprimatur.=

MICHAEL AUGUSTINE, Archbishop of New York.

NEW YORK, July 20, 1897.

COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY BENZIGER BROTHERS.

PREFACE.

The science of Medicine is progressive; genius irradiates its onward march. Few other sciences have advanced as rapidly as it has done within the last half century. Hence it has happened that in many of its branches text books have not kept pace with the knowledge of its leading minds. Such is confessedly the case in the department of Medical Jurisprudence. This very term, Medical Jurisprudence, as now used in colleges, is generally acknowledged to be a misnomer. There is no reason why it should be so used. The leading medical writers and practitioners are sound at present on the moral principles that ought to direct the conduct of physicians. It is high time that their principles be more generally and distinctly inculcated on the younger members, and especially on the students of their noble profession. To promote this object is the purpose aimed at by the author. His brief volume is not intended to be substituted for existing text books on Medical Jurisprudence, but to supply some chapters imperatively demanded by science for the thorough treatment of this important subject.

CONTENTS.

PAGE LECTURE I. INTRODUCTION THE FOUNDATION OF JURISPRUDENCE, 11