According to Gresham's law, which, as has been shrewdly remarked, is as valid in edu-
cation as in finance, the inferior medium tends to displace the superior. If then, by
having in cities one doctor for every 2000 persons, we got four times as good a doc-
tor as now when we provide one doctor for every 500 or less, the apothecaries would
Had time hanging somewhat more heavily on their hands. Clearly, low standards
and poor training are not now needed in order to supply physicians to the towns.
1 Thillj'a trmnilation, p. 400.
* New York, I : *«) : Chicago. I ; SCO ; Washington. 1 : 8T0 s S«n Francisco, 1 : 3T0. These raUo« are
calculated on the basis of fif^rea obtained from Polk's Mtdieed R*fjiiUr, the Amtriean Hidieal Direc-
tory, and estimates prepared by the U. S. Census Bureau. The force of the fif^urea as to the number
of physicians cannot be broken by urging that many physicians no longer practiBe. Such have been
caKftUly excluded by the compifers of the Avuriean MtdietU Directory. Pigiu«s used throughout
this report were obtained (torn these sources.
