It matters little at what point I commence, for the subject of life has no beginning and is equally interesting at all points. The reader is anxious to learn something of this science which bears a new and unfamiliar name. He wishes to know if its discoverer is possessed of intelligence and if the science itself has merit. That is a grave mistake. It is compounded of two words, osteon, meaning bone, pathos, pathine, to suffer.
Greek lexicographers say it is a proper name for a science founded on a knowledge of bones.
The human body is a machine run by the unseen force called life, and that it may be run harmoniously it is necessary that there be liberty of blood, nerves, and arteries from the generating-point to destination. Suppose in far-distant California there is a colony of people depending upon your coming in person with a load of produce to keep them from starving. You load your car with everything necessary to sustain life and start off in the right direction. So if the supply channels of the body be obstructed, and the life-giving currents do not reach their destination full freighted, then disease sets in. As a darkey would force a disabled mule to carry him by applying the whip, so a doctor of medicine attempts to use the whips of quinine and other stimulants to drive the blood through the body.