Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-02-23

able, well may he t~rlumphantly ask in the
language Of another:
HAnd say, Science ! shall thy Iife-blcod freeze
Where huttering folly flaps on walls like these"
Supported by a profound knowledge of
the principles of medical science, and guild
ed by a sincere love of truth, and an indy
ing regard for the welfare of his fellow men,
he moves on to the successful performance
of his work. By the suffering he coon
comes to be recognized as the appropriate
minister of their relief. DiGJh0Sis, has not
only put into his hand, the key, by which
he unlocks the nature and tendency of dis
ease, but it enables him to be what the
quack is MOTTO go where he cannot, and do
what he dare not. In every relation in life,
and by every condition of society, high and
low, rich aud poor, then are not appreciated
for what they pretend to be; it is rather, for
what the can do. Well did the great poet
understand this when he wrote
i'From lowest place, when %virtuOus things pro-
coed,
The place is digrifed by the doer's deed +"
Nowhere in the whole range of the medi-
cal profession does the impotence of cEarla-
tanlsm, manifest itself so Openly, as in the
department of surgery. With all its assump-
tion-with all its claims to superior skill, if
not to supernatural agency in removing dis
ease, it drops its masque here and is We've
in its true light. Here is field wherein
no one but the w~ell-posted anatomist-the
thoroughly informed pathologist, the
man of cultivated tact, in a word,
notician. can enter With safety and
success. 1t will be readily perceived, there
fore, that here is the place above all others,
that eharlatanism takes pains to avoid 1t
would make poor Roadway indeed, in at
tempting to draw those lines of distinction,
that are always observed by the competent
| surgeon, before he resorts TO the knife. Al
though loud in its boastings and clamOrOus
in its pretensions, charlatanism has nothing
to say, when asked Who are your great
anatomists, Psychologists and surgeons
Where shall we look for a list of your con-
| tributions to science How large a pr pOr-
| ton Of this magnificent structure Of medi-
cine do you claim? You may occasionally
steal under the shadow Ct its dime, but you
cannot enter its gates.
THERAPEUTICS A HOUSE. OF REFUGE.
1t is in Therapeutics. rather than in any
other department of medicine, where charl-
atanism in all its forms prefers a shelter
and retreat. Let us examine, by the way
of brief recapitulatiOn, the painful steps the
poorscharlatan would be COMP He'd TO take:
were he to follow the cold regular method"
of reaching the practice of medicine. First
Chemistry would demand of him a thor
ough study of the inorganic substances OF
the body, and their elementary constituents,
their reactions, mode of capitalization, solu-
bility, &c.
Second anatomy would require Of him a
knowledge of the structures OF the body i'll
all their normal relations. He would have
to understand all about the size, form, color,
consistenee, specific gravity, position and
arrangement of each and all the organs of
the body.
Third Physiology would require him to
understand the various offices fulfilled by
all the organs of the body.
Fourth Pathology would demand Of him
a knowledge of all those morbid conditions,
changes or deviations which the various
structures aud functions undergo, especially
as compared with their healthy state.
Fifth Diagnosis is still more exacting
and comprehensive for in addition to all
that is contained in the preceding branches,
it requires him to be an acute observer and
sOod reGsoner. HE must be an anatomist,"
says DeCosta, "to pronounce The scat Of tbs
malady. He must be a Psychologist to APP
probate the alteration OF functions. Above
all, he must be a pathologist in the full
sense of the term"
Sixth. Surgery would march him into the
open field and compel him With an open
hand, to exemplify before the. world, the
strength Of his filth, by a skillful and sue
S6Ssful exhibition of his works. Says the
charlatan, "This is a process l can never
endure. It is too long, p~erplexing and te-
dieps.P
He launches therefore, into the field of
Therapeutics at once, and as his growth is
the result of sudden imitation, instead of a
gradual assimilation ofideas, he sometimes,
by enormous expenditures of wind, and
perhaps money, succeeds in getting up q
breeze. He is Mortified at every thing that
is old. Old day processes of th~ought-old
ideas-old remedies, and above all, the " old
school in medicine" in fact everything that
has had sufficient vitality to endure long, is
condemned and ignored by him. With
him, cold things have passed away and
all thihgs have become new" How sudden
too, if not mysterious, has been his own
metamorphOsis from universal darkness to
universal light, from the low walks Of ig-
noranee to the high plane of universal
cure-all. He claims to his followers, either
10 be the d%iscoverer of one single theory or
principle Of disease, hat explains the mo
dtS OperdHdS of all remedies or of one
remedy, that is adapted to all dis
eases however diverse in their nature.
lie may perhaps, as did some, of
great pretensions in the middle ages, claim
to be the recipient of some wonderful reve-
citation. In cOntradistinction from all
sources Of light below the sun, he may
claim to be a spiritual medium. Although
a s%piritualist by profession, yet, in order to
adapt his practice to the needs of those who
dwell in a sublaunry sphere, he may be dis
posed to provide himself with a "dOll's med
icine chest" and through the subtle agency
OF infinite dilution the ills incident to finite
existence, are charmed away. With the en-
thusiastie poet of Perkinism. who believed
in the universal efficacy of the "MetalIi9
Tractor he exclaimes:
q What though the causes NAV -St be explained,
Since these effects are daily Ieertalned,
Let not snlf-interest r~tf9udlce or pride,
Means VIA, though simple, are by Heaven de-
signed
T alleviate the sunerings of human kind.
DISTINCTIONS TO DE OBSERVED.
In the employment of remedial agents it
is highly important that the young. physi-
elan observe the three following distinctions
First. Disc ses in which nature alone is
competent to cure, embracing a majority of
all that are met with.
Second. Diseases which are amenable to
the science and art of the physician.
Third. Diseases in which neither nature
or art avails to avert death.
The discriminating physician soon learns
in practice to place himself under the gui-
dance of nature in the treatment of a large
class of cases. In those cases where she
alone is competent he extends to her a will
ling hand, and where she leads he follows.
She points to a certain path, and if wise. he
pursues 1t, instead of following one marked
out by himself. II honest, too, he will not
in such cases, fitch from her the credit of
cure to which she is so Justly entitled. It is
a part of the charlatan's vocation to appro-
pirate to himself what belongs to nature.
As he is ignorant of both her language and
ideas, she rejects him of course, as I'M
worthy to accompany her in the great work
of healing the sick. 1t has been truly re-
marked by an eminent author that .1Med- |
iclne Is only the handmade of nature. the |
really active and efficient agent in the res
t0ration Of health; medicine can do no
more than remove the impediments from
natures path, support her when faint, re-
strain her when violent, and guide her
when she is inclined to err"
TIL conservative influence of nature in
diseases the least amenable TO art. as we'll
as those that demand no interference at the
hands of the physician or the surgeon is
frequently illustrated in practice. Tuber-
Gle, for instance, is recognized as a disease
that cannot be arrested in its progress by
any known therapeutical means, and yet,
nature sometimes changes the tubercuious
into a calcareous Tor limy) deposit, thereby
rendering it impotent for further mischief
to the system. Then observe again the