The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1870-11-30
Treatment Of Disease.
VIEWS OF A SENSIBLE PHYSICIAN,

VIEWS OF A SENSIBLE PHYSICIAN
at the recent annual meeting of the
British Medical Association, held nj
Newcastle-upon-Tyhe, DIR. Francis
Sibson. of London, delivered an ad.
dress which is worthy of remark. The
strictly professional parts in relation
to medicine aud pharmacy belong to
the doctors; the best points o. the add
dress are those which claim everybo
dys attention. Patients, nurses and
friends are alike interested. After al
luding to the remedies of the pharma-
copaia, the doctor went on to say
"Side by side with the use of medicine.
and not second to it, was the so-called
hygienIc treatment of disease, the
study and regulation of the vital for
ces. The influence that every physi-
clan exercised npon the mind, and
through the mind upon the body the
soothing or stimulating of their ner-
yous power; the calming of exaltation,
or the stirring up of apathy /; the quiet
ing of the over-busy brain or the spur
ring of the placid will +; the repose OF
oEer-used powers or the awakening OF
suspended vital functions; the subdn-
| ing of the over-sensitive skin or slim
nlating of it when wan, muddy, and
liteless; the limiting Of supplies to an
Over-fed frame, or the repair of the
body, wasting by disease, by the no
per kind of food and STIMULATES: the
bringing into play, and 60 again into
existence, muscle that had become
wasted and paralyzed by disease
these were all among the aims that the
physician sought to accomplish.
And i'll accomplishing these aims,
the influence Of nurses and of all friends
who frequent the room of the invalid
is as useful rs the influence Of the ply
stefan. "Rest and ease" DR.. SibsOn
says, are the features of the treatment
he had applied to acute diseases for
many years, especially to rheumatism
and govt. He submits his patients to
"rigard system of absolute rest, pro-
lection from internal injury, gentle
pressure, equal warmth, and the re-
moval of pain, chiefly by treatment
from without" 1t was formerly a ia
vorite notion with physicians that the
nature of the remedy should be con-
cealed from the patient DR.. S. favors
the reverse of this. He "gives his pa
tients no colored or favored liquid to
make them think they were taking
medicine when they were not doing so,
because they did not think it quite
right, and did not find it needful to
employ such planned system of fic-
ton. If physicians did so they COM
plicated their observations aud de-
privcd themselves of the help that the
patient could give them, when lie un-
derstood the aim of the method of
treatment. Whatever might be the
line of treatment adopted for disease
the influence of treatment on disease
itself was less than the physician was
apt to think. The great majority of
diseases tended to get we'll. They
had, so to speak, lifetime of their
own, with its periods of growth, matu-
rity and decline they were the pass
Ing tenants of the body which they oc-
cupied, often with great injury, for a
limited time. Treatment could not
change their nature, could not expel
them ut once, could not quench them,
could not materially shorten or pro-
iohG ticIi cAisteuCcs DuU Tue tretG-
ment could lessen the sufferings of the
body occupied by the disease, shield it
from other injury, repair its waste and
support and reinforce it's powers; while
it could ward eff those causes which
tended to increase or re-awaken the
disease, and lessen the intensity of its
action, infiammatOry or otherwise, es-
pecially upon the local structures. To
watch, not, so to speak, the remedy
and its immediate effects, but the dis
ease itself, and its behavior during
certain method of treatment"
The remarks of this London physi-
elan are not here quoted as indicating
a system of practice new or unknown
i'll this country. American physicians
of eminence gave long proceedings up
on the same enlightened principles.
But our chief object is to remind 9TH
ers than physicians how much they
may do in promoting recovery, or
warding off dangerous disease, by
cheerful and rational conduct in a sick
room; and by close attention to the
personal comfort and the quiet of the
patient. Pussy impatience, because
no magical results seem to follow
doctors prescription, often defeats the
end which would he quietly accom-
plished if the patient We're encouraged
to hope, or were at least left alone
The nursing and the general demeanor
of friends and attendants are of as
much consequence to the patient as the
skill of the physician Philadelphia
Ledger.