Demoine courier., 1854-09-28
For the Demoine Courier
THE SCIENCE OF MEDICINE.


icle, like an impregnable phalanx of Don
Qaixotc sanguinity, bid defiance TO assault as
well as 10 meaning. Now If practitioner has
no definite knowledge of the remedial virtue of
the drug he employs, or its power ''in restrain
ing or altering diseased acton,o what cheering
words Of consolation or hope Of successful re-
coyery can he whisper in the apprehensive ear
OF his trembling patient. q. IL he recol!ects that
the system is ''Eot built upon a well determined
data" and that he has 10 experiment" upon
the carcass before he can predicate the result.
Should he be good pathologist, sound phys
iologist, quick, penetrating and sagacious, de-
termining TO mathematical precision so far as
can be ascertained by minute examination, a
correct diagnosis of the existing disease, and
its specific nature, yet there is no certainty, be-
cause the peculiarities Of constitution changes
the variety of the same specific disease, and
hence specific remedy for a simple disease, if
ever such thing existed, may be entirely coun-
teracted by its peculiarities. In such untoward
assertions we observe a strong and fascinating
disposition to conceal, under the veil Of ped
antry and rhetorical hourishes, bubbles of air,
and aberrances Of no small magnitude, and form
gissis Of subtle intrcacies around nonenities,
so that they may appear TO have some affinity
10 truthful illustration Of what should be a
scientifcal knowledge of facts.
When explorers Of nature enter the may
labyrinth Of investigation, and lose the silkea
clue by which they expected 70 be conducted
TO the goal of their most ardent desires, ought
they not either abandon the chase or retracc
their steps? ''To err is human" and to persist
in error is one deplorablc mark Of our fallen
condition. not that all men willingly persist in a
pernicious and untcnable course; though there
are some whose selfshness and pride render
them both obstinate and indocile.
The constitution Of the human mind is such
that if il once admits an error, il will confirm
itself therein, and il is no matter how deep, dark
and ruinous il may be--.o the errofist it appears
as the only Illuminated and safe path to travel.
But those who undertake 10 cleanse the Escu-
lap;an stables of their medical impurities and
burning reproachcs, and restore 70 man the pri-
mcval science of hygiene and perfect law of
cure, ought first unrobe themselves of the nee
romantic mantle of their predecessors, whose
dark and impenetrable texture cast gloomy
shadow.ng over their thorapeutical specula-
tons. Why should the enchanting wand OF
blind antiquity, which was fostered where 1t
| terminated, in the rubbish Of acknowledged
! darkness and ignorance, dazzle the eyes and ex-
ercise such powerful influence over the learn
ed of this generation, who, in defiance OF the
outbursting refulgence and dazzling light OF
| the glorious sun of the nineteenth century, are
still held within the grasp of gross supersti-
ton, and bound, not only hands and feet, but
head and heart, with the servile chains Of an
Giant forging.
| The eye of the intellectual mind can adapt
itself 20 any position, can make its own mag
inings far exceed in soldity, grandeur and mag
nifcence, the works OF Jehovah himself, and by
strange faulty, confirm itself in the actual
existence Of this hallucinaton. There is moth
| ing more intractable than learned Ignorance
Numerous instances might be quoted Of the
| obduracy Of the learned of every generation
| We need not refer TO religionists, who adhere
with rigid pertinacity TO wild fantasies and alb
surd supersttgons. When Calico, the Floren-
tine, undertook to demonstrate the Coperncan
system, "That the sun is mmoyably fixed in the
centre of The universe, and that the earth re-
volved around it, he was imprisoned and con-
demned to death by the Pope of Rome, and the
tribunal of the Supreme Roman Inquisition, and
The proposition was pronounced by this learned
body absurd IN itself and false in philosophy.
The introduction of vaccination into England
by the Lady Huntingdon was SO repugnant TO
the pathological views of the medical profess
sion of that kingdom, that they rested neither
day nor night, until they procured an act of
Parliament, not only TO prevent the adoption of
| the then frightful monster, which is now ac-
knowledged by all TO be one of heavens best
Blooms, but they also had il made criminal Of
fence 10 yaccinate. Very important lessons
might be learned from these recorded facts
First they teach us never to adhere with unbe-
, coming obstinacy 10 any system or science,
either in religion, politics or medicine, unless
they are built upon a comprehensive and we'll
determined data, and the science is, that blind
prejudice should not 1car against the progress Of
science. That blindness, darkness and uncer-
tainty go hand in hand with those who desig-
nate themselves regular medical faculty, is too
well attestcd by their most learned and ablest
writers in every country and nation, and to this
purpose DIR. Ralnage, of The Royal College of
Physicians of London, writes sit cannot be
denied that the present system of medicine is
burning reproach TO its professors, if indeed
series of vague and uncertain incongruties de-
serve to be called by that name. How rarely do
| our medicines do good. How often do they
make our patients really worse? ! fearlessly
assert that in most cases the sufferer would be
safer without physician than with oneP'-
And professor Gregory says, ''Nnety-nine out
Of every hundred medical facts ave medical lies,
and medical doctrines are for the most part stark
staring nonsense"
| A writer in the Dublin Medical Journal of
/ 1912 says: "Assuredly the uncertain and most
unsatisfactory art that we call medical scienc e
is no science at all, but tumble of inconsistent
opinions; of conclusions hastily drawn; of facts
misunderstood or perverted; of comparisons
without analogy; of hypothesis without reason;
and of theories not only useless but dangerous"
/ c. w. BENSON.
I FRO BE CONTINUED.