New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-09-13
DIR. Holmes Fighting tl,c Eruaa,zts.
. From ihe New YORK Evening Post.l 3

mery he was noted for hi sareasms an af5a X
me expense of whatsoever bore the aspect Of nov
el.y oE progress N the healing art. The ratiling
aftliiery oi bis faeie verse and the prosae utfof
snees oi the lecture room were alike employed by
nm The Thompsonians were termed 4 The Red
KepI5Iicans Of Medicine, whom, we dare say, he
pathsts were described as adopting /" q theory OF
enversal poisoning nullifed in practice by the IN
llhtesimai contrivance;' and the whole tribe Of
tSFsd ygdgne &c performers & were metaphoricag pic
out against the irrn-set lighthouse Of the regular
practice
Bnt at last, like st. Paul, DIR. Holmes appears to
mage become himself martyr to that spirit of
rad1calism which he once treated with such harsh
ness, ana his own professional standing II almost
imperllied ~ his trenchant criticism on his CON.
sefYatye coadJutors. In his address. delivered al
the last animal meeting of the Massachnsetfs Ned
ical Society (neaty published by Ticknpr Il Fjelds,
he SO wildly announced his heresies that the ems
tomary vote to print. adopted BY the society waa
accompanied by a resolve that the s0ciety adis-
claim al responsibility for the continents cor
tained in IT,
We DO not propose 10 give an analysis Of this
discourse, which bears tine title Of q Currents and
o ~ mat it y an nnsparng onslaught On the sys-
telh oi nedielne as coumuniy practieed, II which
sa gss sacEea traditions and prescriptions Of the
iaculty are specially indicted as irrational and Ffr
dsToo9- throw ont opium, etharization vine
lW4eh ~ q food) and q few specifics which the
medical : art did nat discover, psges the doctor,
s5seted as now nsed, could he sunk to the bottom
Of the sea. it would be all the better for mankind.
and all the worse for the fshes.t
He miantIins that the presumption ii disease j.
always dgdljaa the use Of medicine. 81 A riedi-
cine-that is noxious agent like biister a seton
an emetic or cathaTtic-shoaId always be pre.
suned to be hurtfn It always is directly EuFffal:
i may sometimes be Indirectly benefciaf.u And
larther he adds: $ The presumption Is that every
noxious agent, including medicines proper, which
hurts arts wei man, hurts Q sick ONE
The reasoning and illustrations by which fTa
Doctor sastains his theory are Very ingeniousiy
ana Iofcbly put, as are also his allegations agains
the nsnal practice Of his professional brethren.
He asks whether, even in Massachusetts,, a dose OF
ca!ome Is not sometimes given by physician on
the same principle az that upon which 0 landlord
preseribes bacon and oggs-because he cannot
think OF anything else quite 20 handy.
Ut. Homes, in enumerating the sIuersttfoTs To
which physicians as well as the public sueeunlb
says: " One of the most ancient is that disease Is
malignant agency or entity, to be driven out Of
the body by the most offensive substancaa, aa the
smoke Of the fshis heart and liver drove the deTil
ont OF Tobits bridal chamber, according to The
Apocfyphaa-a doctrine winch lay at the bottons
Of such prescriptions as that recommended by
Robert Boyle as late as 1872 for tile YsentarY Of
powder made from 90 tile sole Of an old shoe
worn by man that walks macii.n This, to be
sure, is exploded: yet the doctor cites the tying Of
stocking, WHICH mad been worn during tie day.
round the neck for sore throat, as O modern
Instance OF !" the same idea of Yigtne in unloVely
secretiobs.''
Disease, disease, the imperfect or abnormal re-
action OF the living SYSTEM NAV sometimes nor.
haps, be remediaily acted upef by small doses Of
caloinel and Fanbarb in prudent hands, but how
insignificant are they compared with the great by
gienic conditions Of pure air, cleanliness good
| nursing, proper food, etc. The DOCTOR anti
! homeopathist as he is coafeases that he should
think his chance of recovery from illness less with
| Hippocrates than with Hanemann himself, with
good nurse like Florence Nightingale to care for
him. Causes, causes. and again causss-Taofe
and more must we fall back on these as the chief
objects Of our attention. The one prevailing
falling Of the medical art is to neglect the causes
and quarrel with the effect"
Disease, the effect of certain violations Of Ma
lures laws by ourselves or our ancestors, cannet
| in many cases be materially remeded by medica-
ton 1T seems, in the present order of thinea like
death, necessity, and its dIninution to consid-
erable extent, can only be obtained by return to
| the observance of the laws of the physical and
moral universe, Again says the Doctor, "in-
validism is the normal state o many organizations
1t can be changed TO disease, but never to abaoute
health, by medicinal appliances. There are many
ladies, ancient and recent, who are psrpetnally
taking remedies for rremediabe pains and aches.
They oNIR to have headaches and baekaehes
they are not well if they do not have tflam. 10
expect them to live without frequent twinges is
like expecting doctors old chaise to 60 gYithout
oreaking; il i did, We might be sure tle springs
were broken
4 The expectation entertained By some that there
may yet be discovered specific for every diaease,
the doctor dispatches follows when an oil is
| discovered that will make d bad watch keep good
time; when a recipe is aYen which will fnrn an
acephalous lastus into promising child; when
man can enter second time into his mothers
| womb, aud @ive her back tie infirTnties which
| twenty generations have stirred into her blood VIC
| may De prepared 70 enlarge the National Pharma.
eeFGsia with list of specifics for everything but
1 cid age-.and possibly for that aIs8.H
The best proof that the community is oTe,edosei
is declared 70 be that no families tne so little
/ medicine as those oi doctors except those Of
/ apothecaries aud that old practitioners are more
SDaFllg OF lCtiyI medicines fitan
a letter from SIR James Clark, physician To Queen
Victoria dated May 26th. 1885, to DIR. James Jack
/ sou, OF Boston, who eateTtaias very much the
| same opinion, says: .!As Il physician advances in
/ age he generally, think, places less confidence
/ in the ordinary medical treatment than he did, not
onH during his early, but even ia his middle period
/ This exposure of professional mistakes ID eer.
tainly startling, considering the source whence it
/ proceeds. One would think the doctor had lifted
the curtain little too far and that, If his stric-
| tures are well founded, no physician could meet
another without laughing like Gieeros soothsay-
ers at such areminder their fraternity in humbng
Yet, without denying that there is a large amount
OF painful truth in these charges we believe they
are too comprehensive. Certainly, in New York
city, the leaders in the medical profession arc dis
tinguished by their avoidance OF the quackery of
over medication, and the heroic style of prae-
tice has, ever since tile introduction Of Homeopathy
been abandoned by them.
But some may say that with the dsiise of uncef-
tam or dangerous remedies, the Doctors oecupa.
tlon Wouiu DC gone. mol so, IS the Fepiy, Tor II
every drug and specific were to be lost forever
: body of enlightened men, organized as q dis
tnct profession, would be required just as much as
now, and respected and trusted as now, whose
province should bo to guard agansttlie causes of
disease, to eliminate them, if possible, when still
present, to order all the conditions Of tie patient
so as to favor the efforts of Che system to right It.
self, and give those predictions of the course Of
disease which only experience can Hafrant, and
which in so many cases relieve the exaggerated
fears of sufferers and their friends, on warn them
in season of impending danger.
Great as the loss would be if certain active
remedies could no longer be obtained, it would
leave the medical profession the most essential
part Of its duties, and all and more than ALL its
present share OF honors for it would be the death
| blow TO clarlatanism, which depends for its suc-
cess almost entirely on drugs, or, at least, on a
nomenclature which suggests them.
This sensible explanation ought TO pacifg the
wrath of the profession against ther fconoiastie
brother, whose cannon after all, is aimed less at
them than at the shops of the apothecaries.
CENSUS Fus.-The Reporter of the Cineinnati
Gazette gets off the following:
"Do you live here, ~ said Marshal with
a book and pencil in laad, suddenly aecosting a
son OF the Green Isle in one of The country dis
f-in