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PROCEEDINGS
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OF  NEW-ORLEANS,
IN RELATION TO THE
TRIAL, ANTD EXPULSION
(WITH COMMENTS ON THE SAME.)
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Published by order of the Society.
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PROCEEDINGS
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NEW-ORLEANS.
On the 9th June, the following Preamble and Resolutions were

  -  adopted by the Physico Medical Society  of New-Orleans.


  Whereas, after a patient and dispassionate investigation of the charges
preferred against Dr. Charles A. Luzenberg, and of the testimony adduced
by him in his defence;  it is the solemn and deliberate opinion of the mem-
bers of the Physico Medical Society, that he stands fully convicted of con-
duct and practices at once immoral, ungentlemanly and empirical. Therefore
be it resolved, that said Dr. Charles A. Luzenberg, a graduate of Jefferson
Medical College of Philadelphia, be expelled from this society; and that his
expulsion be published  in all  the medical journals of the Union, and com-
municated to all the medical societies of the same.

                    By order of the Society,

                             H.  DAVIDSON, M. D. President.
    A true copy—

             J. W. PICTON, M. D. Recording Secretary.
    Attest—
C. F.  SNOWDEN,  Corresponding Secretary. 
I
  On the 15th June inst. Dr. Luzenberg, with a view to the
counteract effect of the above sentence; to bring the Physico
Medical Society into general odium ;  and to enlist the sym-
pathy of the  public in his  behalf as a wronged and perse-
cuted man, published  in  the American of this city his Card
or appeal to the public.  That appeal is indeed a most extra-
ordinary production.   It is stamped throughout with malice,
falsehood,  low cunning, hypocrisy and  calumny.  It is every
where lavish of personal abuse : and its invectives, revilings
and execrations are poured out in the most scurrilous and in-
decent terms against gentlemen  of the  strictest integrity and
honor. In some instances it invents,in others it suppresses facts;
now it grossly mistates, and now artfully perverts.  It resorts
to every means of misleading public opinion and public feel-
ing ; but it exerts itself chiefly in cunning efforts to make up
false issues; to direct attention from  the charges and  evi-
dence on which the expulsion is  based,  to matters of personal
strife and quarrel, in  no way connected with  those charges
and the proofs which sustain them.
  To turn the public mind to  the  examination of the  real
questions involved in the sentence of expulsion ;  to make
known fully the charges against Dr. Luzenberg  and  the
evidence in relation to them ; to demonstrate  the judgment
pronounced in the case by the Physico Medical Society to
be just and equitable; to expose the true nature of Dr. Luzen-
berg's appeal as we have above described it; to bring to light
the facts  omitted  and suppressed in  that appeal; to  co-
rect the numerous mistatements and  perversions  of truth
to be found  in  the same paper; to vindicate the conduct
of the members of the  Society who have been maliciously
assailed for  the conscientious discharge of their duty j  and
to exhibit  in  its true colors the character of C. A. Luzen-
berg M. D.  who  has too  long abused the kindness of an
honorable,  humane  and sensible community :  this is  the
task which a sense of duty to ourselves and the public  now
impels us to perform.
  On the 17th April, 1838, the following  account of an
operation said to have been performed by C.  A. Luzenberg
appeared in the editorial column of the True American. 
5
                  Sight given to the Bom Blind.

  In all the great schools of medicine throughout the world, there has seldom
been witnessed a prouder triumph for human art than was achieved in our
city on Saturday  last by Dr. Luzenberg, in the  successful removal of con-
genital cataract.  That the  cataract has been successfully operated, upon
before, all are aware;  but it has always been where civilization has aided the
operator by inculcating a reliance on his skill; anxl when the mind is so dis-
posed, the surgeon's path is smoothed of many of its obstacles.   But in the
recent triumph of Dr. Luzenberg,  every sort  of difficulty and impediment
lay in his way.  His patient was a savage of the wilderness, with no particle
of faith in the operator, nor consciousness of privation to nerve her to endure
the operation.   The circumstances are these.
  Among the Seminole prisoners is a female named Mary, about thirty years
of age, and born blind.  Her life had been passed in the wilds of Florida and
among its wilder natives; and ignorance, and a belief in its immobility, have
ever made her resigned to her affliction. When arrived here, it was  stated
to her that her blindness could be removed; that the  "great medicine" of
the white man could give her sight.  The proposition was  referred to her
relatives  and the chiefs of her tribe.  Superstition naturally entered into their
councils, and the result of their deliberations was this oracular decree: "what
the great spirit has denied, the  pale face cannot give; what the Manito has
ordained, it would be bad in its children to wish to change."  Frequent im
portunity, however, induced a better state of feeling, and the patient at length
consenting, the operation was performed at the barracks, on Saturday, the
14th inst., by Dr. Luzenberg, assisted by Dr.  Labatut, in the  presence of
several physicians, and some of the chiefs of the Seminoles.  Many singular
difficulties presented themselves; firstly,  from the impossibity of prompt com-
munication between the patient and the surgeon: secondly, because from habit
the pupils of both eyes were thrown in the interal canthus: and  thirdly, be-
cause mental  agitation caused  the  eyeballs to rush from side  to side as if
under the operation of galvanism. But skill and perseverance can overcome
all impediments, and the poor savage of the woods prepared to receive  from
the white man  the  inestimate blessing of sight.   The  eyes, which in their
blind state were additionally afflicted with obliquity, will henceforth assume
their natural position.
  The spell  of beauty, the sway of wealth, the charm of oratory, and the
resources of art, are as motes in the air, compared with the power of science.
We speak not of that  kind of science which by abstruse calculations gives us
the dimensions of a far off star, or tells us when eclipses come, although un-
doubtedly  it is great,  it is wonderful;  it fills the  imagination, but it touches
not the heart.   But the science of surgery, which can only arrive at maturity
in the human mind almost made perfect: where the skill of man approaches
nearest the attributes of God; fills the intellect with wonder, and the heart
with joy; for  its  aim, its purpose is to minister to the  wants of man, to
alleviate  human  suffering.  The physical requisites alone of the good sur-
geon are "the heart of a lion, the eye of an eagle, and the hand of a lady;"
but what  wealth must  not that mind possess whose resources can thus give
sight to the "born blind." 
6
   During the first operation, Cloud, the  Seminole chief, watched it over
 Dr. Luzemberg's shoulder almost as intently as the surgeon himself; and when
 in her agony and dread the poor woman refused to submit again, the chief
 assured her he had observed the pale face closely, and ivns satisfied he could
 give her sight: that their own great "medecin," their prophet, Felix-Haya,
 could do nothing for her; but if she would submit a few moments longer, the
 medecin of the pale face would enable her to gaze upon her children  and
 their father, and to look out upon the beauty  of the country where they
 were going lo dwell; that she could then mingle in their dances, and see how
 their braves could defend her whigwam ! Bound by habit to obey her chief,
 and with some ray of hope to support her, the patient submitted to the second
 operation, which was performed with matchless skill, and well requited
 success.  Under all the circumstances of the case, this may well be con-
 sidered one of the  proudest  achievements of surgery; and we cannot avoid
 envying  the Doctor the gratification he must feel when he reflects upon the
 result of his benevolence and skill. Mary has a child, nine years old, also
 born blind, who will be operated upon by Dr. Luzenberg in the course of the
 week.  May success again crown his noble efforts.

   This piece owing to  its  very singular and romantic details
 attracted very general  attention, and as will appear in  the
 sequel, did not escape the vigilant observation of some of the
 physicians in this city.   On the 19th May, 1838, it  was read
 to the Society by Dr. Palmer.
   After reading it, Dr. P. said that he and other medical gen-
 tlemen had carefully examined the case it referred to, and had
 found that the  statements in the American were nearly  all
 false; that the woman had never  been afflicted with blindness
 from  congenital cataract;  that  on  the  contrary she had
 seen from her birth up  to the time of the operation, and that
 she had even seen so well as to sew garments for herself and
 her children ; to observe birds in the air, &c. ; that the ope-
ration had  not  only proved successful, as had been asserted
 but had utterly  failed,  the woman having been  deprived alto-
 gether of vision in the  left eye  which she had  previously
 enjoyed, and  having had the sight  of the  right eye seriously
impaired.   Dr.  P. further said  that  he  had found no diffi,
culty in  conversing with the woman who  spoke English
 clearly enough  for all purposes,  and who informed him that
 she had at one period of her life resided in Tallahassee.   He
concluded by making some remarks against publications of
surgical cases in newspapers :  after  which he  offered the
following preamble and resolutions. 
7
   "Whereas, to establish and to maintain the respectability of the medical
 profession in New-Orleans, and to vindicate its conventional rights; and to
 protect the public against imposition, are among the chief objects for which
 the Physico Medical Society has been revived.
   Be it therefore resolved, that a committee of three be appointed to report
 On the case  of Mary, the Seminole woman, described (in the True Ameri-
 can  of April 17th,  1838,) in an anonymous article under the  caption of
 "Sight given to Born Blind," and the said committee be instructed to render
 a written  report on  the same, and on the influence of the profession of such
 publications in general."

   A discussion then took place, in  which Dr. Snowden con-
 firmed the statement of facts made  by Dr. Palmer.  During
 the  discussion a doubt was expressed as to Dr.  Luzenberg's
 membership, and  consequently as to his responsibility to the
 Society  : but this  doubt was cleared away by the President
 who said he had been handed a letter of Dr. Luzenberg as a
 member of the  Society, with a request  to present it to the
 meeting then assembled.   TiVM-yni?rti?n utit .tVn put on
 L^padBdmcu'iLi'pviMtmblo^H^ I'UBiUritenc; Dwdwoaiuied in the
 affi—iiwnDi   Duotepis Pa'hiwi'j Bmwwlin u'ud'O.iiiiplJU'll,' wUie —
 "jTiflifp'H  Q  ™™mjfrpp  to  rpprrf ™  t1kQ  p»-—k]~  —h
 re Till ati'* m i
   By referring to  this letter printed below, and marked A,
 it will be seen that Dr. Luzenberg  does not pretend to  have
 been  ignorant  of  the fact that  he was  a Member of the
 Society, although  he subsequently set up that  pretence in
 his card, and  that he admits impliedly, that he had known of
 previous meetings of the Society, although  he  had  only
 received an official  summons to  attend the meeting of the
 19th May, the date of his letter.  The  question  was  then
 put  on  the Preamble and Resolutions of Dr. Palmer, and
 carried  in the affirmative; and Drs. Palmer, Snowden and
 Campbell were  appointed a Committee to report upon the
 aforesaid Preamble and Resolutions.  The Committee with-
 drew to  frame their report, and the Society took a recess.  A
 short time after,  the Committee  returned with their report.
 The Society was called to order; Dr. Palmer read the report
 to the Society, and the question being put upon the adoption
of the same, it was determined affirmatively. 
N
                       Report  of the  Committee.

    The undersigned, appointed by the  Physico Medical Society to report on
  the case of Mary, the Hpminole woman, described in an article which was
  printed in the  True  American,  at New-Orleans, on the 17th day of April,
  1838, and which, on the 26th  day  of the  same month did appear  in the
  National Intelligencer at Washington, D. C, in the full and conscientious
  discharge of the duty assigned  to them, respectfully report: First, that said
  Mary  has been visited by the undersigned at the United States Military
  Barracks, near New-Orleans, where, among other Seminole prisoners they
  identified her to be the person  designated in the article above referred to,
  and therein said to have been "born blind," and that she speaks the English
  language with facility, having conversed with  the undersigned, to whom she
  stated that during her childhood she had lived with a white family at Talla-
  hassee.  Second, that the disease, for the removal of which an operation had
  been attempted, was a  simple and incomplete cataract of both eyes, and that
  this said Mary was not born blind, nor  was she ever blind anterior  to the
  operation, having stated clearly and definitively that up to that  period she
  could distinguish objects, and see to cut and make her own  and the garments
  of her children ; a dress nearly completed, which  she said was the  work  of
  her own hands, has been examined  by the  undersigned, who are fully con-
  vinced that her signtnad been comparatively good up to  the time  of the
~6'p-ef^tr<m;^nu,,fTffi,,oh'nTfe'9ffl,^nW'a,yV'ffi?'"caVe^oTYne "sa'icfMl^r^lbs
— visited* by a -..*j*^—^«i—-DL-r;----•-f-J-f-- ^f^ -rrhrr-n£Tri'il'rfnMniJn
  opinion with the undersigned, namely, that the operation had proved an entire
  failure; the left eye being irrecoverably Tost,  the  pupil of which,  nearly
  closed, exhibits through a small aperture the cataract undestroyeel" ancl the
  adhesions between the iris and the  anterior capsula of the crystaline lens
  together with  the remaining inflammation in the internal eye, leave no pro-
  mise of the  benefit from any future attempt at an operation ; and that the
  vision of the right eye had been manifestly impaired by the operation.
    Your Committee, in the further discharge of their duty, and in justice to
  the dignity of the Medical Profession, respectfully and conjointly represent,
  that inasmuch as the  Medical Journals, and not the Newspapers, are the
  proper media of publication for all cases appertaining to the profession, the
  former being accessible to the medical philosopher, but to  every pretender
  the  latter; and this  distinction, by public  consent, being  established, and
  inasmuch as Newspaper details  of cases  are detrimental  to  our science, and
  are  calculated to rob it of public consideration, your Committee regret to
  have seen the  respectable name of  a  regular Physician so often  and impro-
  perly used by over-zealous or misguided friends.  That to  publish an opera-
  tion so trivial, and. so frequently performed, as  the couching of common
  cataract, and  under  any circumstances to  style it "proud achievement  of sur-
  gery," at this advanced period of our science, underrates not only  the
  standard of professional attainment among the  Physicians of New-Orleans
  but the intelligence even  of its inhabitants.  Whether Dr. Luzenberg did
  write, dictate, or has been in any manner accessory to the publication of the
  many Newspaper cases in  which his name has from time to time appeared
  your Committee do  not assume the  right to decide.  But inasmuch as it was 
9
an imperative duty, which he owed to himself and to the profession of which
he is a regular member, to discountenance the abuse of his name, and thereby
undeceive the public; any future declaration of his ignorance of their source,
or that such pieces have been published without his sanction, cannot, in the
opinion of your Committee, exculpate him from the charge of unprofessional
deportment.
          (Signed)              EUGENE PALMER,
                               G. W. CAMPBELL,
                               C. F. SNOWDEN,
                                           Committee.

  Dr. Hunt  then called for the reading of Dr. Luzenberg's
letter of resignation.   The letter having been read, Dr,
Hunt offered  the following  resolutions, which  were adopted
by the Society.

  Resolved, That the report be considered as containing charges and accusa--
tions against the moral and professional conduct of Charles A. Luzenberg.
  That the letter of resignation of Dr. Luzenberg, tendered this evening, be
hot accepted^ but laid on the table subject to the call of the Society.

  The  resolutions  were supported on  the  ground, that the
report contained charges affecting the professional and moral
character of Dr. Luzenberg, and that it was  due therefore
to Dr.  Luzenberg, and to the Society,  that it  should be  at
once brought to the view of Dr. Luzenberg, so that he might
have a full opportunity of answering to the same, and receive,
after a  thorough investigation of  all the facts of  the case, an
acquittal Or condemnation  from the Society ;  that  the con-
templated hearing could only be given by  laying the letter
of resignation  on the table, and so allowing Dr.  Luzenberg
to appear before the Society, as a member, to  vindicate his
character.  Dr. D. C. Ker concurred in the remarks made
by Dr.  Hunt.   He said that some members  had  inquired
whether the report contained  charges  or  not?  he thought
that in  the absence  of all direct accusations, the fact of Dr.
Luzenberg permitting the article published  in  the  True
American to be promulgated without immediate contradic-
tion on  his part, he  (T)r. L.) being at the same time aware
that the statements in that publication were not true, was  in
itself, a  serious charge of moral and professional misconduct;
and in order that he  might have an opportunity of excul- 
10
pating himself from the charges contained in  the report, he
(Dr. K.) would propo'se the following resolution, in addition
to the resolutions offered by Dr. Hunt:

  Resolved, That a copy of the report of the Committee, as well as of the
proceedings relating thereto, be transmitted to Dr Luzenberg, in conformity
with Article 11 of the By-Laws.—See appendix.

   The resolutions  were unanimously adopted.
   Pursuant to adjournment the Society met on Saturday the
2d June.   The resolutions of the last meeting, in relation to
Dr. Luzenberg, had  been  complied with.   The President
announced that he had received from Dr. Luzenberg, a com-
munication with three accompanying documents, which the
Secretary then proceeded to read, and which was as follows :

                             New-Orleans, Jun^e 2d, 1838.

To the President and Members of the Physico  Medical  Society.

  The report signed by G. W. Campbell, &c, accompanying your pro-
ceedings of the 19th May last, was received on the 22d of the same month.
  The malicious intention of that report to injure  my professional and moral
character, requires not at this time a detailed refutation of all the falsehoods
it contains.
  In obedience to the respect I feel towards some of the members of the Phy-
sico Medical  Society, I present to you through one of your members, (Dr.
Osborn,)  the testimony necessary to establish for the authors of that report,
the character which no doubt has long since been merited by them.   '
  I beg the documents may be read in my justification.  I fully concur with
Dr. Simons in his denounciation of the man or men who, without the con-
sent of Dr. Simons, or mine, surreptitiously introduced themselves to  a
patient under our charge.
  I state in addition, that'the report is composed of a tissue of the most infam-
ous falsehoods, unexampled in its atrocity, and unequalled in the history of
the most debased.
                                 C. A.  LUZENBERG, M. D.
  N. B.  Drs. Labatut, Beugnot, De Valetti, Easton, Lindoe, Wiedeman,
and Simons, were the only physicians present during the operation.

                                  New-Orleans, May 30,  1838.
                          [ Translation.]
  We, the undersigned, Physicians of the Medical Faculty of Paris, certify:
that we assisted Dr. Luzenberg in the performance of an operation on an
Indian squaw.  The patient  was submitted to our examination before pro-
ceeding to the removal of two complete congenital cataracts, with which she
was afflicted   The presence of complete  cataracts was unanimously and
positively recognized by us, of a milky or soft consistency, producing abso- 
11
lute blindness, and requiring the performance of an operation as  the only
means of cure.  We  witnessed  every step of the operation ; and notwith-
standing the extreme  mobility of the eyes of the patient, which in  our
opinion seem to offer almost insurmountable difficulties to the immediate
execution of the operation, it was accomplished  with ability, and without
any accident.
                             (Signed)      BEUGNOT, M. D.
                                           C. De VALETTI, M. D.
                                           i. LABATUT, M.  D.

                                      New-Orleans, May 30, 1838.
  We, the undersigned, Physicians, practising in  the city of New-Orleans.
visited the Seminole female operated upon by  Dr. Luzenberg, of  this city,
on  or about the 15th of April last.
  On examination of the patient, we recognized the presence of complete con-
genital cataract in both eyes.
  We also  witnessed  the performance of the operation, for the relief of the
blindness produced by the opaque condition of the lens in both eyes; and
unhesitatingly declare, that the operation alluded to and performed by Dr.
Luzenberg was in every respect successful.
  We have seen the patient since the  operation,  and noticed that by  the
process of absorption, the right eye was nearly free  from any obstacle to
vision.  The left was  labouring  under inflamation, yet absorption of  the
broken lens was evidently going on.
  We consider that vision in the right eye was enjoyed by the patient to as
great an extent as was possible to be afforded, without the aid of cataract
classes.
                     (Signed)      ROBERT F. LINDOE, M.  D.
                                   R. B.  EASTON, M.  D.
                                   EDMUND WIEDEMAN, M. D.

                                      New Barracks,           )
                             Near New-Orleans, May 20th,  1838.  5
  Dear Doctor: I feel bound in justice  to furnish you with the particulars
regarding the Seminole female you operated upon some weeks since, at the
New Barracks, below the city of New-Orleans.
  The operation for congenital cataract was performed on Mary, a Seminole
woman, about thirty years of age, on or  about the 15th April last, in  my
presence, and with the full consent of the patient, by Dr. Luzenberg, of this city.
  The method  (the cataracts being considered soft) adopted for the relief of
the malady, was couching  with Dupuytren's needle.  Many difficulties pre-
sented themselves during the operation; both eyes were successively operat-
ed  upon:  notwithstanding these difficulties,  the success of the operation in both
eyes was perfect.   Subsequent to the couching, inflammation to a high degree
developed itself in both eyes.  The usual remedies were had recourse to for
the  relief of the inflammation, but from the  utter impossibility of confining
the  patient to diet,  &c, opacity of the cornea of the left eye resulted; the
right eye, however, was three days since entirely free from all inflammation,
and with the exception of an exceedingly small portion of the capsule of the
lens floating in the posterior chamber, in  as  satisfactory a condition as it is 
12
 possible to place or wish the organ to present, after the operation for cataract.
 She enjoys vision without the aid of cataract glasses to as great degree as it is pos-
 sible.  I have frequently seen  her selecting small objects, such as grains of corn,
 S(c.,for the purpose of testing the success of the operation.
  I will also add, that the committee or persons purporting to have been
 sent by the Physico Medical Society of the city, for the purpose of reporting
 on the*ondition of the patient above alluded to, made their examination of
 the patient without my knowledge or consent.
  I consider their conduct in this matter as ungenerous, uncalled for, and un-
professional.  I  was the physician in whose charge the patient was placed,
 and I should have been consulted, or apprised of a desire on the part of any
 medical gentlemen to visit my  patient.  This was not done, but clandestinely
 effected by the committee.  I never  authorized any person or persons to
 permit  physicians or others to examine my patients, unless in my presence.
      I am yours, respectfully,
                          JAMES SIMONS, M. D.,
                             Directing Physician Seminole Emigration,
    To Dr. C. A. Luzenberg, New-Orleans,


   After the  reading of the above,  it was  moved by Dr.
Mackie:
   That the communication  of Dr. Luzenberg, be laid on the
table;  and that the President be directed to call  a meeting
on  Saturday  next for its consideration ;  and that Dr. Lu-
zenberg  be  duly apprized by the Recording Secretary of
the same.  The motion was adopted.
   From the foregoing, it will be seen that two opportunities
with considerable intervals  of time  between them  had so far
been afforded Dr. Luzenberg for his  exculpation.   Before
entering upon the examination of the evidence in relation
to the charges against Dr.  Luzenberg, let us pursue still fur-
ther the history of the proceedings of the Society in the case.
  Pursuant to adjournment, the Society met  on  the 9th
June,  1838.   Dr.  Hunt read  the  following  preamble and
resolutions, as  containing  proper  rules and regulations for
the conduct of the trial of Dr. C. A.  Luzenberg, and after
some appropriate remarks, moved for their adoption.

  Whereas,  Drs, E, Palmer,  G.  W.  Campbell, and C.  F. Snowden, the
committee appointed  by this  Society to report  on  the case  of Mary, the
Seminole woman, designated in an article printed in the True American, at
New-Orleans, on the 17th  April, 1838, and  inserted in the National Intelli-
gencer, at Washington, D. C, on the 26th of the same month:  made a writ- 
13
 ten report on  the  19th  day of May 1838, containing  charges against the
 moral and professional  conduct of C. A. Luzenberg. M. D., a member of
 this Society:
   And whereas, in pursuance  of  an order  of this  Society, the Recording
 Secretary duly  advised  the said Dr.  Luzenberg of the said written report
 and charges by letter; enclosing him a copy of the said report and charges,
 and informing him that, on this  evening, the Society would proceed to inves-
 tigate  the same, and that he should be prepared to exculpate himself from
 the said charges contained in the said report:
   And whereas, it  is due to truth and justice, that Dr. Luzenberg should
 have a full and fair  hearing on the  charges reported against him :
   Be it, therefore, resolved, that Drs. E.  Palmer, G. W. Campbell,  and C.
 F. Snowden, the committee who  made the report containing the charges
 against Dr. Luzenberg, be appointed  to conduct the investigation  on  said
 charges against him:
   Resolved, that Dr. C. A. Luzenberg, shall be admitted to appear, and be
 heard  by himself or counsel, or  by  both :
   That all the motions, or disputed questions, &c, occurring in the course
 of the  investigation, shall be addressed to the President of the Society; and
 if he shall require  it, shall be committed to writing, and read by the Presi-
 dent;  and all decisions shall be made by the Society by ayes and noes, and
 without debate, which shall be entered on the records:
   That witnesses shall be sworn  in the following form, to wit: "You, do
 swear  or affirm (as  the case may be) that the evidence you  shall  give on
 the charges now pending against Dr. Luzenberg, shall be the  truth, the whole
 truth, and nothing but the truth.  So help you God."  Which oath  shall be
 administered by the Secretary :
   That witnesses shall  be examined by the party producing  them, and then
 cross examined in the usual form:
   That if a member of the Society  be  called as a witness, he shall be sworn,
 and give his testimony, standing in his place:
   That if a member of the Society wishes a question to be put to a witness
 it shall be reduced to writing, and put by the President:
  That testimony shall first be produced by the committee who made the
 report, in support of the  charges against Dr.  Luzenberg; and that then Dr.
 Luzenberg shall produce testimony in his defense:
  That after the testimony on both sides is closed, argument shall be heard,
 first on the part of the managers, next in behalf of Dr. Luzenberg, and then
in reply on the part of the managers :
  That after the argument is concluded, Dr.  Luzenberg shall retire,  and the
 Society will proceed, with closed  doors, to deliberate upon, and discuss, if
they think proper, the charges against Dr. Luzenberg; but the members who
made the report containing the charges, and conducted the investigation,
shall not be allowed to participate  in this deliberation and  discussion; nor
shall they be allowed to vote upon the  charges:
  That the deliberation and discussion being over, the report containing the
charges against Dr. Luzenberg, shall be read by the President:  who shall
then take  the opinion of the members of the Society respectively, in the
form following: 
14
   "Dr -----how say you? Is Dr. C. A. Luzenberg guilty or not  guilty
 of moral and professional misconduct, as charged in  the  report of the
 committee?"
   To which each member shall answer in the form following:
   "On my honor, aye, or no" (as his opinion may be.)

    The motion was withdrawn  at  the request of Dr. McFar-
 lane, who said that he  had  not attended  the  last meeting,
 and was anxious to be informed  what had been  done at it.
 Dr.  Mackie called  for  the  reading  of the  proceedings of
 the last meeting.  The proceedings were read.  Dr. McFar-
 lane then addressed the Society in  opposition  to  Dr. Hunt's
 preamble and  resolutions, and  proposed  the following  sub-
 stitute.

   Whereas, Charles A.  Luzenberg, a practising Physician in the  City of
 New-Orleans, and a Member of the Physico Medical Society, having been
 charged with  moral and  professional misconduct, and the  said Charles A.
 Luzenberg having been fairly apprised  by the  Recording Secretary of the
 said Physico Medical Society of the above mentioned charges, in accordance
 with the llth article 1st section of the  Constitution of said Society, which
 requires that  a member  so charged shall have  a fair hearing before said
 Society;  and  whereas the said C.  A. Luzenberg, instead of responding to
 the aforesaid notification, in the manner usually adopted amongst gentlemen
 of any respectable profession, under similar circumstances: and whereas the
 said C. A. Luzenberg, instead of appearing before  the said  Society and
 exculpating himself from the charges aforesaid, did transmit to this Society
 an offensive and ungentlemanly communication, together with a resignation
 of his membership.   Therefore be  it resolved, That  the  Physico  Medical
 Society, from  the immoral, unprofessional and ungentlemanly conduct of
 Charles A. Luzenberg, and after a solemn and deliberate investigation being
 unable hereafter to  consider  him  a suitable  associate, hereby accept his
 resignation, and consider him unworthy of  further notice or attention.—
 Rejected.

   Dr. Palmer here  asked  leave, which  was granted  him, to
 have a certificate, confirmatory of the report of the  committee
 on the case  of the Indian woman, read.   The  certificate was
 read and is  as follows :

                           Certificate.

  We the undersigned, practitioners of Medicine and Surgery in  the City
 of New-Orleans, certify in good faith, that on or  about the 5th day of May,
 1838, we called on Dr. Lee of the United States Army, then post Surgeon at
the New Barracks, when and where (in strict accordance with professional
 etiquette) we  obtained permission of him to visit the Seminole woman 
15
Mary, said to have beenoperated on by Dr. Luzenberg. We next proceeded
to her apartments accompanied by Dr. Warren, where we identified her to
be  the person designated in the True American of April 17th, under the
caption of " Sight given to the born blind" and  after an attentive examination
of her eyes, we unhesitatingly declare, that the vision  in her left eye is
irrecoverably lost, and* that of her right eye  manifestly impaired.  We
heard her converse in the English language, and remember to have heard her
say distinctly, that she had been able to see to cut and make the garments of
her family up to the period of the operation.  We saw a specimen of sewing
which she said was the work of her own hand;  and consequently, she was
not born blind, as stated in the True American, or ever entirely blind.
  We have also seen the report of the committee appointed by the Physico
Medical Society,  and attest fully to the truth of the statements contained
therein.
         Signed—              C. F. SNOWDEN, M. D.
                              J. W. THOMPSON, M. D.
                              J. M. PICTON, M. D.
                              EUGENE PALMER, M. D.
                              E. B. HARRIS, M. D.
                              J. MARTIN, M. D.
                              Ed. FORTIN, M. D.
                              A. BYRENHEIDT, M.  D.

   The discussion of Dr. Hunt's preamble was then  continued.
Dr.  Ker said he  was willing, notwithstanding Dr.  Luzen-
berg's conduct had been  indecorous and contumacious, to give
him yet another opportunity  of  being heard in his  excul-
pation.   A warm and protracted  debate  followed, during
which several members made disclosures of facts, disreputa-
ble to Dr.  Luzenberg.   A motion was then  made for an
adjournment  and carried; but before the members dispersed,
it  was stated  that Dr. Osborne had a communication from
Dr.  Luzenberg to present to the Society.  The Society was
thereupon called to order by the President, and the commu-
nication of Dr  Luzenberg addressed  to  Dr. Osborne,  but
intended for  the Society, was read.    The communication
declared that Dr. Luzenberg had given all the explanation
he had to make to the Society, demanded that his letter and
resignation be returned to him, and denied the right of the
Society to  entertain any question  touching his  moral  and
professional conduct.   Dr. Hunt withdrew his preamble and
resolutions.   Dr. Harrison  then  said, in substance, that as
the evidence in relation to the statements in the report in the
True American, headed "Sight to the born blind," and to the 
1()
report of the committee in contradiction and disproof of those
statements was before the Society, and as the Society there-
fore  was prepared to pass upon  the  charges against  Dr.
Luzenberg,  growing out of those contradictory statements,
he moved that the charges against Dr. Luzenberg, be con-
sidered as embraced in the three following questions, which
he desired to be submitted successively and separately.
  First question.—Is the report of the case published in the
True American false?
  Second.—Did Dr. C.  A. Luzenberg directly or indirectly
authorise or instigate that report?
  Third.—Is he (Dr. L.) guilty of unprofessional conduct,
in failing to contradict that report in a  formal manner?
  Let us examine these questions. First—"is the report of
the case published in the True American false?" The report
in the True American says, "that the woman was afflicted
with a congenital cataract and total blindness from birth."
In support of this statement,  we find in Dr. Luzenberg's
"Card," the following certificates, to  wit, the  certificate of
Drs. Beugnot, C.  D. Valetti, J. Labatut; the  certificate of
Drs. Lindoe, Easton and Wiedeman, and Dr.  Simons' certi-
ficate of the 20th May ; all these certificates are inserted
above.  The first is  the certificate of honorable men, who
it will be seen  have fallen into error ;  an error which, in all
probability, has arisen from a misplaced  confidence in Dr.
Luzenberg.  The two other  certificates are signed by gen-
tlemen unknown to the Society and this community.
  Now let us see what is the evidence shewing that this case
was not one of total  blindness from birth.  The certificate
of C. F.  Snowden, M. D.,  J.  W. Thompson, M. D., J. M.
W. Picton, M. D., E. Palmer, M. D., E. B. Harris, M. D.,
J. Martin, M. D., E.  Fortin, M. D., A.  Byrenheidt, M. D.,
to be found above, declares that they heard her say distinctly
"that she had been able to see  to  cut and make the garments
of her family up to the period of the operation," and  that
there was exhibited  to them, a specimen  of sewing of Mary's
own hand work,  and that consequently she  was not blind
as stated  in the True American.  The certificate further
attests to the  truth of  the statement in the report of the 
17
 committee in the case of Mary.  We have further the evi-
 dence of Dr. Simmons, who told Dr.  Stone, that previous to
 the operation, Mary could perceive birds in  the air, and the
 evidence of Dr. Crawford, who says that he saw Mary pre-
 vious to the operation, carefully inspecting and examining a
 four bit bill.  From the above evidence on the point before
 us, it is clear that the case  was not  one of total blindness
 from congenital cataract, and that therefore, the statement
 on this subject in the report of the True American is false.
   The report states  that one of the singular difficulties of the
 operation arose from the impossibility of prompt communi-
 cation  with the patient; and it gives it throughout to  be
 understood, that the woman could not speak English.   Now
 not a single  witness says that she could not speak English.
 On  the contrary, all the witnesses on this point say, that
 she spoke English well  enough for all practical purposes,
 and some of them say that she frequently interpreted for her
 Indian brethren.  This will be distinctly seen by reference
 to the certificates forming a part of this report.  The report
 then of the  case in  the True American certainly is  false, in
 the respect just indicated.
   The report in the  True American gives a speech said  to
 have been  made by Cloud, a Seminole Chief.  It will  be
 seen from the certificate of Dr. Stone of Dr. Simmons' account
 of the statement made by Mary to him, (Dr. Simmons) that
 the speech  is the offspring  of imagination.   Cloud never
 said  any thing of the "great medicine," nor did he call the
 whites "the  pale faces," an expression which Mary said was
 never applied to them.  The report is therefore  false, as to
 the speech put in Cloud's mouth.
  The report in the American further says, that some of the
 Chiefs of the Seminoles were present  at the operation.  No
 witness supports this  statement, and Dr. Crawford says he
 saw only Cloud present.   Thus  it would seem that in  this
particular the report is false.
  The report says, that Mary's life had been passed in the
wilds of Florida.  But Mary told Drs. Palmer, Snowden,
Simmons and others, that she had lived two years with a fam-
ily in Tallahassee, and that she had spoken English from her
             3 
IS
infancy.  .The report then is false, as to Mary's life  having
been passed in the wilds of Florida.
  The report says,  that the cataract was  successfully re-
moved.   Drs.  Lindoe, Easton and Wiedeman, declare that
the operation was successful in every respect.  Dr. Simmons
testifies too that  it was successful in one eye.  In opposition
to the above statements of Messrs Lindoe and Company, we
have the statement of the following gentlemen, to wit: Drs.
Thompson, Snowden, Picton, Palmer, Harris, Martin, For-
tin, Byrenheidt and  Lee, which says that the vision of the
left eye  has been irrecoverably lost, and  that of the right
materially  injured.  The report then is false, in regard to
the claim of a successful operation.
  From the above review of facts,  it appears  that  all the
material statements in the report of the American are false,
and that the contrary statements of the Committee of the
Society are true.  And yet Dr. Luzenberg has the effrontery
to say that the statements  of the committee are "a tissue of
falsehoods."
  The  next question is, did  Dr. C.  A. Luzenberg  directly
or indirectly authorise or instigate the report?
   Dr.  Luzenberg in his letter does  not expressly deny that
he wrote the  report in the  American ; but we understand
him virtually to  do so, from the letters enclosed in that re-
port.   But though  Dr.  Luzenberg may have denied the
authorship of that paper, has he not sanctioned, or to use the
word in the question we are considering, authorised its publi-
cation.   He styles the report of the committee "a  tissue of
falsehoods." Now as the statements  in the report of the com-
mittee are  chiefly contradictions of the statements in the
report of the True American, is it not fair to conclude that
Dr.  Luzenberg's  denunciation of the  former report, is  an
endorsement of  the latter?
   But further, Dr. Luzenberg appears  by letter before the
Society "in justification of himself," and to that end encloses
certificates to prove the statements in the  True American
correct.  Here  then is conclusive evidence of his identifying
himself with, or giving his sanction or authority to the re-
 port in the True American.  But there is still more conclu- 
19
   sive, more positive evidence on  the  subject.   Before we
   adduce  that testimony, we  will take a brief notice of the
   letters  of Messrs Gibson  and Fisher, a notice  which will
   add another to the thousand illustrations of the truth, that
   falsehood walks in  crooked paths and  by-ways, and knavery
   oft betrays itself by the very pains it takes to screen the
   objects of its care.   Messrs Fisher and Gibson both say they
   met Dr. Luzenberg the day after the operation.   Gibson
   says, that at the meeting, in reply to the question  put bv
   him to Dr. Luzenberg, whether the operation on  Mary had
   terminated  successfully, Dr. Luzenberg  gave him  "quite
  scanty information."  But  Fisher says, in his  letter  to Dr.
  Luzenberg, that he  (Fisher) wrote  the  report "from his own
  unbiased feelings, and beyond a brief invitation to zoitness the
  operation,  and a simple announcement of its termination,
  without a word in conversation or communication, directly
  or indirectly passing between  us."  Now there  is evidently a
  want of dove-tailing in this Editorial job work. Why should
  Dr.  Luzenberg give his  regular puffer,  for such Gibson has
  notoriously  been for years,  "scanty information?" and why
  should Fisher, present  when that information said to be
  scanty was given, hear nothing but that the operation had
  terminated successfully? an assertion which we have seen
  was false.  The whole story  has been badly made up. Messrs
  Gibson and Fisher seem to  be very much perplexed to ac-
 count for the technicalities in  the report; but if they had
 only  read it  over before writing  their  letters, they would
 have seen  that it is not  stuffed with technicalities, and that
 it is nothing more than an attempt to mislead the public.
   Gibson  says he was  very much interested in the case,
 because he had been  among the Indians  last summer at Pass
 Christian.  But yet so much did the love of sport exceed in
 him the interest of humanity, that he preferred witnessing a
 horse race  to the  operation.   And Fisher says, when  he
 indicted the report, "he  felt enthusiasm supplying the place
 of knowledge," which being  translated into a more homely
 phrase, means that he indulged his imagination at the ex-
pense of his character. 
20
   Now would it not have been better for Messrs Gibson and
 Fisher, instead of all the fictions they have dealt in, to have
 told the  truth at once; to have  said that  the  piece  was
 written  by Fisher, upon the information  furnished him by
 Dr. Luzenberg, and was then submitted  to Dr. Luzenberg,
 who approved it  and authorised  its publication.    The fol-
 lowing certificate shews that the report was written by Fisher
 and submitted to  Luzenberg previous  to its publication, and
^approved by him.

                    Freeman's Certificate.

  The subscriber has been for some time an inmate in the  store of Mr. Shaw.
 He would be sorry to do any thingwhich could be construed into a violation
 of domestic confidence, and although a young man whose future interests
 may be compromised in this community by making the following statements,
 yet when called upon for information on the following  subject, he cannot
 hesitate to declare that he  has frequently heard it distinctly stated  by Dr.
 Shaw, that Mr. Fisher, the sub-editor of the True American, had declared
 to him, that Mr.  Fisher had exhibited to Dr Luzenberg a piece entitled
 "Sight given to the born blind" previous to its publication, and that the state-
 ments therein had met with the entire approbation of Dr. Luzenberg.
          (Signed)
                                 W. FREEMAN.
  N. B. The same statement  has been confirmed on a visit to Dr. Sbaw's
in the last forty-eight hours.

   Other testimony in the possession of the  committee  cor-
roborates this certificate.
   From the above facts and arguments, we think it is clear
that Dr. Luzenberg directly sanctioned  and  authorised the
report of the case in the True American ; and such was the
unanimous  decision of  the  Society.   Dr. Osborn, who has
since   declared himself opposed to  the  expulsion of  Dr.
Luzenberg, being present  and acquiescing  in, or not dis-
senting from that decision.
   The third question is, is Dr. Luzenberg guilty  of unpro-
fessional conduct in  failing to contradict that report in a
formal manner ?
   This question, as understood and voted on by the Society,
meant:  supposing  Dr. Luzenberg to have  known  of the
publication  of the false report in the True American,  and 
21
 supposing him not to have been the author of that publica-
 tion, was it not his  duty, as  a professional man, to have
 publicly exposed its mistatements, and prevented its empirical
 circulation ? This is a question of very easy solution.   The
 first of all moral obligations is to speak and to maintain the
 truth.  Upon its observance the honor and happiness of life
 chiefly depend.  Dispense with it, and  there is no longer
 any safety in society.  All confidence between man and man
 immediately ceases ;  and distrust, suspicions, dissentions and
 strifes take the place  of candor, mutual reliance, fair dealing
 and peace.  Correlative with the obligation to speak and to
 maintain the truth, is the obligation to expose and  defeat
 falsehood.  He  who silently suffers a statement, known by
 him to be false, to be proclamed and  circulated among  men
 as true, is in the eye of morality as criminal as the author and
 publisher of that statement himself.   Not  to  denounce is to
 sanction the untruth ; it is, to borrow an illustration from the
 bar, to aid and abet  in  passing as true a  counterfeit paper,
 knowing the same to be  counterfeit.  Hence, Dr. Luzen-
 berg's  silence as to  the mistatements in  the report of the
 True  American, was immoral  and  criminal: and as  that
 immorality related to a report of a surgicafroperationjsaid to
 have been performed by him, it was also a professional delin-
 quency.  Self love and  self conceit may so blind a man to
 his own demerits, as to  make him not only not rebuke, but
 even  receive  with  satisfaction  the unfounded compliments
 of the  dependent or sycophantic : but no self love, no self
 conceit, can be  an excuse for sanctioning a gross  and pal-
 pable  mistatement of the facts of an operation, and of the
 result of that operation.  The  Physico Medical Society felt
 disgusted  both at the falsehood of the report, and at the
 empirical and immoral conduct of Dr. Luzenberg, in suffer-
 ing those  falsehoods to  be circulated as true in the unusual
 and unprofessional form of a meagre newspaper article.  It
 was  thought by  them in relation to the latter view of the
 matter, that a daily  newspaper was not  the  most fit  and
 proper vehicle of medical information, that room could not
 be had in it for those details, which are necessary to render
a report satisfactory to an intelligent mind  ; that the  terms 
22
in which a medical man is obliged to convey his ideas, are
for the most part technical and unintelligible to the ordinary
reader ;  that ample space is afforded medical writers in the
scientific Magazines and  Previews of the country; that the
meagre,  extravagant and unscientific reports of cases pub-
lished in newspapers, only serve to deceive the ignorant and
credulous, and to encourage  fraud and imposture j and that
for all these  reasons, the practice of publishing brief and
unscientific reports of cases in newspapers, a practice pur-
sued only by  quacks and nostrum mongers, is to be discoun-
tenanced and reprobated by the  society.   With respect to
Dr.  Luzenberg's connexion  with such  a practice, it was
stated, that  an  empirical communication intended  to ad-
vance Dr. Luzenberg's popularity, had been  published for
two or three months in the  Picayune, a daily paper of this
city, and that Dr. Luzenberg had paid for its publication  :
and it was  further mentioned as a notorious fact, of which
the files of the True American are evidence, that numerous
reports of surgical cases in which Dr. Luzenberg had been
the operator, and a corresponding number of editorial puffs
from John  Gibson, had appeared from time to time in the
True American, with the knowledge, sanction and authority
of Dr. Luzenberg.
   The third question was then put to the vote, and carried
with but  one  dissenting voice ; that of Dr. Osborne who yet
had voted for the adoption of the two first questions.  The
opinions of the  members of the Society having been thus
ascertained, in respect to Dr. Luzenberg's  conduct, Dr.
Snowden offered the preamble and resolutions to be found
in the first page ; which were adopted.
   On the 12th June, 1838, an extra meeting of the Society,
was held.  The meeting was unusually large.  All the mem-
bers who were present  at the last meeting appeared in their
places; and other members, who had not attended that meet-
ing, were also present.  The minutes of the last meeting were
read.  Dr. Jones moved that they be adopted, with the ex-
ception of the  last article expelling Dr.  Luzenberg.  The
motion was  rejected nem. dis.  It was then moved, that the
proceedings  of the meeting  of  the 9th June, be adopted.
i 
2:3
 The motion was carried.  The following resolution was then
 offered.
   Resolved, That the vote of the expulsion of the said C. A. Luzenberg.
 M. D., passed at the last meetiug. (9th June, 1838) be confirmed: and that
 a notice of the expulsion be published in three of the gazettes of this city.
   The resolution was put to  the vote,  and adopted unani-
 mously.
   On a  calm consideration of  the  above proceedings, the
 public will perceive that the conduct of the Society towards
 Dr. Luzenberg, has  been throughout characterised by for-
 bearance,  charity,  and justice, and  that the sentence of
 expulsion  was demanded  by every consideration of honor
 and public duty.
   But what has  been the  conduct of Dr. Luzenberg in the
 matter of his trial  and expulsion ?  The  evidence in this
 paper, and in Dr. Luzenberg's card, clearly shows  that it has
 been contumacious  and insolent towards  the Society, and
 vulgar, insulting  and bullying towards some of its  members.
   Dr. Luzenberg  charges the  committee who  made the
 report against the publication in  the American, with having
 "surreptitiously"  visited  the  woman Mary.   The  falsehood
 of the charge will  appear from the certificate read  by Dr.
 Palmer on the 9th June, and inserted above, in which it is
 stated by eight most  respectable Physicians, that they ob-
 tained permission of Dr. Lee, of the  United States Army,
 to visit the squaw Mary.   But  suppose for the sake of argu-
 ment, that the committee did visit her without asking leave
 of any physician  ; would such a violation of mere etiquette
 on their  part prove that the  report  in the American is not
 false ;  that Dr. Luzenberg did not  give his  sanction to that
 report, and that in maintaining  falsehoods, and giving cur-
 rancy to empirical  communications, Dr.  Luzenberg has not
 been guilty of immoral and unprofessional conduct?   Then
 the charge of Dr. Luzenberg against  the committee is not
 only false, but it  has no  bearing  on the  questions touching
 Dr. Luzenberg's immoral and unprofessional conduct.
   Dr. Luzenberg insinuates in his "Card," that he has been
 the personal benefactor of  the members of the Society, and
that they had proved ungrateful to him.  The insinuation is 
24
 a most impudent and unblushing falsehood, and betrays a
 meanness and audacity of spirit, to be found only in those who
 never  enjoying, in early life, the advantages  of education,
 and of intercourse with the polite and honorable, acquire
 by fraud and imposture, notoriety without fame, and  a for-
 tune without those qualities which  make fortune enviable;
 and who suppose, that  because they possess the means of
 being liberal and charitable, the world will give them  credit
 for those virtues, whenever they may think  proper to lay
 claim to them.
   Dr.  Luzenberg knowing that the evidence adduced against
 him was conclusive, on the score of immoral and unprofes-
 sional  conduct, has attempted by bullying efforts to regain
 his former standing: but the attempt has signally failed.
 A sense of guilt may make a man desperate, but desperation
 will not make a guilty man innocent.  A question of evi-
 dence  is not to  be settled by a personal combat; and  when
 an individuals' conduct is  undergoing a  fair and proper
 investigation before a society, a sense of true chivalry and
 honor  suggests a resort  to  proofs,  and  not to swords and
 pistols.  A Bobadil calculation for despatching, under the
 circumstances just alluded to, all the members of a society,
 can only excite the contempt and ridicule of the brave and
 sensible.
   Having  thus vindicated  as  was  proposed, the members-
 assailed by Dr. Luzenberg, we will now proceed to establish
 still further, the justice of the sentence against Dr. Luzenberg,
 by exhibiting; very briefly, his character in its true colors.
   Dr. Luzenberg is a man of an ordinary capacity, very little
 improved by education  and study.  As a professional  man,
 his pretensions are without bounds, while his merits lie with-
 in very narrow  limits.  He has a little  acuteness of appre-
 hension, but no solidity of judgment.   In surgical operations
 he  frequently exhibits some dexterity in the use of an instru-
 ment, but he seldom fails to expose the want  of that know-
 ledge which makes dexterity skill, and elevates a mere  mani-
pulator into a scientific surgeon.  Having been a long time
employed in hospitals as a surgeon, he has a boldness of man-
ner which he passes on others, and  perhaps even on himself 
2r>
 for  that  genuine confidence  which springs  from accurate
 learning and enlightened experience.  Called in the infancy
 of the  Medical  College of  Louisiana-to a professorship in
 that institution,  he was subsequently  obliged to retire from
 a sense of the  contempt felt  towards  him by his confreres,
 and  by the medical class, on account of his mendacity, ignor-
 ance, presumption, and ill breeding.  He is abrupt in speech;
 uncouth in manners, irritable and petulant  in temper,  and
 arrogant  and  overbearing in his demeanor.  In the course
 of the debates  in relation to his conduct,  as before remarked,
 several disclosures of facts were  made  disreputable  to his
 moral and professional character.   As these disclosures had
 a strong influence on the minds of the members of the Society,
 and  as their publication is necessary to  show the true char-
 acter of Dr. Luzenberg, we will proceed to lay a few of them
 before the public.  The first is one which stamps him as an
 unprincipled man, most shamefully abusing his public office
 as a  surgeon in the charity hospital; as a barbarous wretch,
insulting, the living by mutilating and  mangling the dead; as
 a heartless coward, using the bodies  under  his care for the
exclusive purposes of science, as  targets  to accustom  him
to the appearance of an adversary, and to enable him to
acquire skill as a duellist.

                Certificate of John J.  Ker.
  Having been applied to by a committee of the Physico Medical Society
for information in relation to the conduct of A. C. Luzenberg, during the
 existence of a misunderstanding between him and Dr.  J. S. McFarlane, I
 deem it my duty to state that pending the hostile meeting, which afterwards
occurred  between said Luzenberg and  Dr. McFarlane, he, the said Lu-
zenberg, WAS IN THE HABIT OF SUSPENDING THE BODIES OF PERSONS WHO HAD
DIED UNDER HIS CARE WHILST HOUSE SURGEON OF THE CHARITY HOSPITAL, AND
SHOOTING AT.THEM AS MARKS WITH PISTOLS, IN ORDER TO IMPROVE HIS SKILL
as a marksman in his expected contest with Dr. McFarlane; I myself having
witnessed the  fact.
                       (Signed)
                                    JOHN J. KER.

  Comment on such  conduct is scarcely necessary.   The
poor who die in a public hospital, are  to be  as decently dis-
posed of, as the  rich who expire in  the abodes of private 
2G
magnificence.   The  relations of  the former feel  quite as
strongly as those of the latter.  All civilised and all savage
nations  respect the  dead.  It is the  universal feeling of
mankind.   That respect, it is true, has its limits, but those
limits are prescribed only by  philantropy and science.  To
expose the  dead ; to give them up to wild beasts and birds
of prey; such  conduct would shock the  most insensible of
human  beings.   And is it not equally barbarous ;  nay is it
not still more barbarous deliberately to mutilate and mangle
them to give heart to cowardice  and skill to revenge ?
   The  next matter to which  we  invite attention, is one of
the gravest and most general concern.  In 1832, Dr. Luzen-
berg obtained the following passport, and travelled under the
protection thereof through different countries of Europe.

          UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
               No. 2688.
           TO ALL TO WHOM  THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME.
  I, the undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States of America,
hereby request all whom it may concern, to permit safely and freely to pass
Charles A Luzenberg, M. D., accompanied by his family, citizens of the
United States, and in case of need to give them all lawful aid and protection.
     DESCRIPTION.
  Age, 27 years;  stature, 5
feet7 1-4 inches high; fore-
head high, nose small, eyes
grey, mouth ordinary, chin
round, hair light, complex-
ion fair, face round.
    Signature of the bearer.
                           Given under my hand and the impression
                              of the seal of the Department of  State,
                              at the city of Washington, the 13th June,
                              1832, in the 56th year of the Indepen-
                              dence of the United States.
                                    EDWARD LIVINGSTON.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ?
        Department of State.        <,
      TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, GREETING :
                          I certify, that the annexed passport of Charles
                            A. Luzenberg, M. D., is a true copy from
    seal.                    the record, now in this Department.
               In testimony whereof, I, John Forsyth, secretary of state.-
of the United States, have hereunto subscribed my name, and caused the sea]
of the Department of State, to be affixed. 
Ti
            Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-sixth day of
April, A. D., 1837, and of the Independence of the United States of America,
the sixty-first.
                   (Signed)       JOHN FORSYTH.
                            Clerk's Office, United States Circuit Court,
                              9th Circuit, in and for the East. District
                              of Louisiana.
            I hereby certify the foregoing passport and certificate, to be
true copies of the original, on file in this office.
                            New-Orleans, June, 14, 1838.
                   (Signed)       T. W. COLLINS.
                                            Depy. Clerk.

   By reference to  the  records of the District Court of the
United States for the Eastern  District of Louisiana, it will be
seen that Dr. Luzenberg, did not take the oath of allegiance
to these  United States, and was not admitted as a citizen of
the same, until the 8th March, 1838; and  by further refer-
ence to the Records of the said court, it will be also seen that
Dr.  Luzenberg, instituted a  suit in that court "as a subject
of the Emperor of Austria, and accordingly an alien  to the
government of the  United States of America," as late as the
26th January, 1838.  Thus it  appears that  Dr. C. A.  Lu-
zenberg  "an alien  and a subject of the Emperor of Austria,"
obtained and used an  American passport.   Now the right
of citizenship is the most  sacred and  important of all  our
rights.   It identifies a man with his country : it  binds him to
his fellow citizens, and his fellow citizens to him:  it makes
him a part and parcel of  the nation.   It guarantees to him
the secure enjoyment of  all  those rights,  for  the  mainte-
nance  of which societies exist.  It exacts of him obedience to
the laws  and constitution of his country, and it entitles him in
turn to the  protection of  the  government  of that country.
That protection accompanies him every wjiere; into  the
dominions of tyrants as well as into the territories of milder
governments.  An unprovoked injury to the person of a citi-
zen when in a foreign state, sanctioned or unredressed by the
government of that state, would be an affront to the  honor
of his nation, and a cause of war.  An indignity offered  by
the most powerful  monarch in the world, to an American
citizen, under circumstances similar  to those we have jusv 
28
spoken of, would cause the swords of the chivalric sons of the
Republic to leap from their scabbards for revenge.  Such
and of so great consequence, is the protection due by every
government to its citizen  or subject: and being such any
attempt fraudulently to claim it, or any dishonest abuse of it,
must excite the just indignation of every citizen who appre-
ciates his rights, and  feels  a proper concern for the honor
and character of his country.  These remarks are suggested
by, and have a perfect application to the conduct of Dr. Lu-
zenberg.   A  foreigner, but one who has lived in this coun-
try at  least twenty years, and  who, as appears from a late
publication has taken an active part  in elections, and who
could not have been ignorant of our naturalization laws; he
imposed on  our  Secretary of State,  or which  is the same
thing,  knowingly suffered  him to remain in error in regard
to his  (Dr. Luzenberg's) national character, and  obtained
and used an American passport.
   Dr. Luzenberg attempts, through his Counsel G. B. Dun-
can, Esq., to vindicate himself from the fraud and dishonor
of having  used an  American  Passport, by saying that Mr.
Livingston, the Secretary  of State, on learning  from Dr.
Luzenberg that he  was about to visit Europe, "himself sent
to the proper office for his  passports, without any further
inquiries."  Now it is to be borne in  mind, that this is  the
evidence of the accused in his own favor ; and that it refers
to a person who is dead and cannot testify.  But let us sup-
pose it true :  is it any justification of Dr. Luzenberg's con-
duct?  Mr. Livingston, who had known Dr. Luzenberg as
a resident for a great many years, and as a Surgeon in the
Charity Hospital, may have presumed Dr. Luzenberg to have
been a Citizen, and may have therefore signed a passport in
error.   But Dr. Luzenberg could not  but  have known from
his parents, relations and  friends, that he was a native of
Austria;  and allowing  him a more than ordinary  share of
ignorance, could  not but have been aware that an alien, the
subject of the Emperor1,  was not an American  Citizen.
He then  took advantage of Mr.  Livingston's erroneous im-
pressions, and by concealing the  fact of his  being an  alien,
obtained  a false certificate.   In subsequently using that 
29
certificate, he  has  been guilty of a fraud  upon the Nation,
and has  insulted every American  Citizen.  Had he  been
involved  in any difficulty abroad, and had he in consequence
availed himself of the aid of any of our Consuls or Ministers,
he would have subjected our Government to the humiliation
of retracing its  step?, and  making  atonement for having
suffered itself to  be the dupe of an unprincipled foreigner.
In the whole of this matter, we can  see nothing to excuse
Dr. Luzenberg ; nothing to  soften the sentence of infamy
which will be pronounced against him by an indignant and
outraged nation.
  We have now sufficiently exposed the  character of Dr.
Luzenberg, and  demonstrated the justice of the sentence
pronounced against him.  The task we undertook has been
fully and faithfully performed.
  That Dr. Luzenberg's conduct has been immoral, no man
can doubt, who understands his duty to his fellow man.
  With a view to  increase his fame and business, he has
sanctioned and circulated false reports of surgical operations
performed by him.
  Detected in that infamous practice,he has endeavoured to
screen himself from  public  indignation  by promulgating
mistatements,  and  by suppressing and omitting to  bring  to
the view of the public, important and undeniable facts.
  He has trampled under foot his duty as a  sworn Public
Officer.   He  has  insulted and injured  the feelings of the
living, by barbarously mangling the bodies of the dead.
  He has slandered the Members of  the Medical Profession
in this City, and he has been guilty of a fraud upon the rights
of every Citizen of this Country.
  That Dr. Luzenberg's  conduct has been unprofessional
is a coroliory from the proofs of immorality, set forth in the
last paragraph.
  He has sanctioned  the writing and circulation of false re-
ports of  surgical cases.  He has  empirically used the News-
papers as the medium of his unscientific vulgar publications .
  He has for years past had  himself  puffed for surgical skill,
by an Editor who acknowledges having, all the time, received
pecuniary obligations from him. 
30
   He has been habitually discourteous towards the Members
 of the Medical Professkm.
   He has been contumacious and insolent towards the Phy-
 sico Medical Society; and has attempted to bully some  of
 its Members for the conscientious discharge of their duties
 towards him.
   Convicted of IMMORAL and  UNPROFESSIONAL
 conduct, we, the Members of the  Physico Medical Society,
 have felt it due to ourselves to expel him from our body, and
 in so doing,  to put a stigma upon him, which will serve  as a
 warning to  all who, like  him, disregard the obligations  of
 morality, and labor to bring Science into contempt.
   The right of expulsion thus exercised, is contemplated by
 the  11th Article of the By-Laws,  which provides the mode
 in which a member shall be brought to trial, and is inherent
 in the Society from its very nature.   Every association  is
 bound to preserve its character in purity and honor, and of
 course is required to do  whatever is necessary for the  dis-
 charge of that duty.    The  Lawyer who  is convicted of
 immoral and unprofessional conduct, is stricken from the roll
 of Attorneys, and is no longer permitted to be the associate
 of his former confreres ; and it is  equally just that the Phy-
 sician who, by immoral and unprofessional conduct, has  for-
feited all title to the respect of his brethren, should be driven
 from their society with the brand of infamy upon him.  May
the example  made in the present instance, advance the cause
of morals and  of science, and tend to  the  suppression of
 empiricism  and fraud! 
APPENDIX.
                                A.

  To Dr. J. Q. Osborn
                                       New-Orleans, June 9th, 1838.
        My Dear Sir,
                            I hand you herewith two letters from Messrs
Gibson and Fisher, which I beg you will read to the Society.  Permit again
to reiterate, that I do not acknowledge any right on the part of the Society,
to call for explanations or vindications on  my part.  I am not, nor never was
a Member of the  Physico  Medical Society as it has been recognized.   In
courtesy, I first answered their invitation to be present at their deliberations.
The regard which I feel for some of the members, induced me to present to
them the testimonials necessary to refute  the charges brought  ngainst  my
professional  character,  since that  time;  and I now demand the letter of
resignation addressed to the Society by me, as in justice  it cannot be con-
sidered their property.
                    Your friend and servant,
                                           LUZENBERG.


                                 B.

                           ARTICLE XI.
                             Of  Penalties.
  Section 1. Any member charged with moral or professional misconduct,
shall be liable to expulsion, after having had a fair trial before the Society.
  Section 2. A majority of three-fourths of the  members present, shall be
necessary to expel a member.
  Section 3. All accusations  shall be put in writing, and directed to  the
President of the Society, who shall direct the Recording Secretary to advise
the accused by letter, that at the second meeting following, he may be ready
to exculpate the charges alleged against him. 
II
                                 C.

                    Statement  made by Mary.
  Who says "that she has ever been able to  see full well to make  her own
clothing and observe small objects such as Birds, &c, passing before her.
  "That she has lived in Tallahassee and Augustine with and in the  employ-
ment of the white people, and has spoken their language mostly ever since
three years of age.
  "That previous to the operation, she could see  with both eyes, but since,
the left eye is totally blind, and the right is no better than before.
  "That Cloud was  present at the time of the operation, but  nothing was
said of the Medicine of the 'Pale-face,' and when the white people are
mentioned by them, the term—pale-face—is never used.  (That she received
five dollars  from the operator, to allow him to operate.")
  I hereby certify, that the above is the statement which Dr, Simmons (one
of the Physicians to the Indians at the United States Barracks,) made of the
case of Mary the  Indian  woman, operated upon for cataract by Dr. Luzen-
berg.
                                          W. STONE, M. D.