country at present; because he treats of the Ethics or moral principles
of Medical Practice, he deals with what is ever the same for all men
where-ever they dwell, it being consequent on the very nature of man and
his essential relations to his Maker and his fellow-man. Unfortunately
the term "Medical Jurisprudence" has been generally misused. Dr. Ewell,
in his text-book on the subject, writes "While the term 'Medical
Jurisprudence' is a misnomer,--the collection of facts and conclusions
usually passing by that name being principally only matters of evidence,
and rarely rules of law,--still the term is so generally employed that
it would be idle to attempt to bring into use a new term, and we shall
accordingly continue the employment of that which has only the sanction
of usage to recommend it" (Ch. I).

I prefer to use terms in their genuine meaning; for misnomers are out of
place in science, since they are misleading. Yet, to avoid all danger of
misunderstanding, I will call my subject "Moral Principles and Medical
Practice," and distinctly style it "The Basis of Medical Jurisprudence."

On what lines will my treatment of the subject depart from the beaten
path? On the same lines on which most other improvements have been made
in the science of medicine. Science has not discovered new laws of
physical nature that did not exist before; but it has succeeded in
understanding existing laws more perfectly than before, and has shaped
its practice accordingly. So, too, the leaders of thought among
physicians, especially in English-speaking countries, now understand the
laws of moral nature--the principles of Ethics--more thoroughly than
most of their predecessors did, and they have modified their treatment
so as to conform it to these rules of morality. Hitherto Medical
Jurisprudence had regulated the conduct of practitioners by human,
positive laws, and sanctioned acts because they were not condemned by