The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1855-09-06
From the Medical Ref6rmer.
THEORIES IN MEDICINE,
BY MARSHALL cALKINs, NJ. D.


vestigation always shows lis injurious re-
suits. The Ancienls, reasoning from pri-
ori hypo,heses, sought by one powerful eff
fort of genius, to discover The essence of life
and of matter; and the primordial law by
which to explain all the phenomena of the
universe. The result was not salutary. 1t
tended to prevent the ingress of actual sci
ence into medicine in the Interpretation of
those physical phenomena which are the
indices of morbid changes. The proper
function of science is TO study phenomena
and their relations, TO deal only with mate
tials furnished by the senses and conscious
ness. Medicine, not having 10 great ex-
tent used science in proper manner, has
not madethat progress which it otherwise
would have made, had induction in reason
ing been its directing agent in the path of
improvement
But inductive science may be misused
and its utility to great extent lost to medi-
cal progress. Induction, though ascending
from effect to cause, and looking TO facts as
its starting point, may nevertheless, too has
tily draw general conclusions. And one
great error which the novice in medical sci
ence is prone to imbibe is that of drawing o
general conclusion from very few and i'll
selected facts. One phenomenon is not suf-
ficient Their number must be maryland
the evidence should be unmistakable. To
prevent the ill effects of this error, especial
ly among the enthusiastic lovers and devo-
tees ofmedical innovation, would suggest
the propriety of using full share of caution
in the pursuit of any new idea, or new plan
of medical practice. Why is it that depletion
has held, for so long time, dominion over
the opinions of medical mena Induction in
reasoning has pretended to be its supporter,
and yet after all modern physiological sci
cnce condemns depletion as unscientifc
and worse than useless When we take two
gases say oxygen and hydrogen and
cause them 10 unite, the result is water.
This is always the result when these gases
unite in their usual manner, and there is no
room for conjecture or ground for dispute
concerning it. But suppose man is sick
with an acute disease Here we have more
than two or three or even four modifying
conditions. How then can we, without
knowing these conditions, predict the result
of medication tits impossible to do this
with mathematical certainty All that can
be done, with any hope of success, is 10
make all the conditions, so far as possible
in different cases, Identical, except the con-
dition caused by the medicine. Thus, let
fifty patients under the the same circum-
stances, with similar constitutions, the same
good care, the same pure atmosphere, and
the same habits, take one kind of treatment
! and then watch the result. Let another fif-
ty take another kind of medicine, and SO
on.-By experimenting in this manner, on
large scale,--and by watching to see how
much the disease is changed from its un-
biased course by the medicine prescribed,
something definite may be obtained, and
science may receive valuable accessions.-
But the loose way in which many physi-
clans reason from experience, is of no avail.
In natural science similar difficulties to those
in medicine arise, and yet these are, to a
considerable extent, overcome. The same
plan of investigation should be adopted in
medicine, in order that this profession may
become not the "science of guessing but
a science in reality.
1t is not little amusing to observe how
different are the results of the observations
ofdifferent men. A disciple of Hahnemann
in the use of one drug sometimes perceives,
as one would think, all the twiggles and
twinges, all the burning headaches, and
epigastrc pains, that have existed since the
days of Hippocrates; and all those are put
down as symptoms produced by the medi-
! cine prescribed. Teste recommends Lobe
liza as particularly adapted to the removal
of about sixty symptoms. He also found it
good for the itch. The Botanic Physician
would hardly find so many symptoms in the
pathogenesis of Lobella, because his at
tention has not become so sensitive to the
impression of infnitesimal symptoms upon
his perception. We must, therefore, in
reading the observations of others make
great deductions from the things stated for
natural and acquired bias of mind The
human eye, when trained, to see little and
near objects all the time, becomes less able
to view the large and distant,-- the hui
man mind, accustomed TO notice for long
time the minutest sensations, will create in
the fanciful chamber of the cerebrum fan
tasiic shapes and forms that are indigenous
to that locality and found there alone.
How then can we select the truth? Where
is it? Who tells it? Whom can we trust
and in them not be disappointed? These
are questions which it will puzzle philoso-
pher 10 answer. In regard TO the second
question, will say that truth exists in ma
ture, and that science is but the revelation
of natures truth. Science, then, is col
lection of facts relative to matter and mind,
systemised or having certain relation to
each other, as the limb TO the body. Do
we not know beyond doubt that the blood
moves through the hearta How do we know
this? Because the observations Of all who