The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-03-25

| PASRSA W. - wv = tN<6 L
at which the 1irst departure from
health commences, shall we be able to
prevent unnatural action, and thus
oftentimes succeed i'm restoring health
before any great disturbance of func-
ition or deterioration of tissue has oc-
Cured. $50 ~ st@ ~
ri The first step, then, is TO determine,
as far as possible, the precise deyia-
ton from health which exists, and
the steps by which recovery should
be looked for; then only should We
think of treatment: the latter without
| the former can be but empirical and
unsatisfactory. Thus, laying aside all
routine prescribing for the name OF
disease, and considering each case
"on its merits" as the lawyers have
| I'D according to the indications which
il presents. success may be confident
ly looked for. Nowadays the "natu-
raj history of disease" or the course
maladies take when left TO nature, is
more studied than formerly. 10 al
low people to recover is one of the
conouests Of contemporaneous medi-
cine. In acute diseases, which as
rule, advance naturally towards re-
covery, and in cases of proved incura-
bility, abstinence from drugs and re-
lance on hygiene have come into ia
yor. Yet modern doctors cannot be
accused of timidity, for they employ
substances which their predecessors
feared to touch, and apply medical
ments to parts formerly considered
inaccessible. Doctors may appear
less active because they act only upon
clear perceptions, and know the re-
suit beforehand, and wien they can
not decide what to do, they do moth
ing. .J
We lately heard it remarked, MY
new doctor never orders medicine
unless he knows it will do good; the
old one always gaveme physic wheth-
er he knew what was the matter or
not. t
Ascerlaincd facts OF science are now
substituted for tradition, experiment
| for enIpiricism. There is less desire
to discover new agents than to utilize
more completely those Tat are
known. The influences of climate,
Authorization, gymnastics, and water
treatment, are now, for the first time,
fully esteemed.
To maintain high standard of
health is an aim well worthy of our
care. We often meet with those
whose health is not equal to the po-
sition for which their mental attain
ments qualify them. Some men, if
they had but good physique, would
rise to the highest positions others,
who have the physique,-she bodily
health,-rise to the highest places,
although theii powers of mind are
very inferior. 1t is not Utopian to
say that every one might preserve his
healthfulness aid youthfulness of
mind and body through life,-if he
realized how he ought to live, what
to eat, drinks and avoid. Men (and
women too) might remain vigorous
and vivacious, equal to the emergcn-
cies of life, and ready to face its trials
with the "child heart" not withered,
but grown into the MANS
1t must be acknowledged that the
great mass of the people of large cities
have fallen into feeble condition
which, though perhaps it is not dis
case, is not health. 1t is low state
of vitality, of physical power, OF
::lehtal energy, and even of moral
strength. Ability TO cope with and
surmount obstacles, the characteristic
of the Anglo-Saxon, cannot exist
without q firmcr and more sturdy
: and stalwart development that can be
acquired in damp cellar on diet of
bread and tea.
: What we desire and more earnest
ly strive 10 attain, is a race of men,
not poor, puny, wizened creatures
dragging on miserable half exis-
tence, but men and women with vi
tally, with energy, and "pluck.'
The influence of national diet on
national character has not been inves-
tigated scientifically, but some things
lie on the surface.
Ridicule has been thrown on infini-
tcsimal doses of medicine, but there
is an opposite fallacy of more general
acceptance which has much delayed
the progress of therapeutics viz, the
superstition that drugs produce the
same effect, differing only in degree,
when given in large OF small quanti-
ties. Remedies useful i'm small doses
have been given upon this assumption
in large quantities, in the hope of IA
pidly cutting short the malady: and
hence, too, has arisen the yet more
stupid notion that because a drug
may be given i'm hurtful doses, it is
therefore always injurious. The alb
surd TRADE made against the use of
all drugs, could never have arisen I'M
less theories about food and about
physic had been divorced from one
another; and this although we cannot
in practice separate them. Water
and salt may be gwen incidentally /;
iron and cod-.iver oil must be classcd
with foods; tea and brandy with
drugs; mercury and mountain air are
equally "alterative" remedies. Qui-
nine and cold baths are both ''tonics. >
1t is, he viewer. especially in questions
relating to the dose tlet the sister sci
cnces of dietetics and therapeutics
throw light OH each other.
Half a pound of mustard with three
grains Object is not better fitted to
relieve hunger than a tablespoonful
of prussic acid and two drops Of cod
liver oil to remove disease. Common
salt and mustard are either useful
condiments or active emetics. Tea
and brandy arc valuable or hurtful
according TO the dose. Lives have
been sacrificed to the abuse of all.
We have nret with an instance i'm
which death resulted from eating
roast beef, and with another from
plum pudding; but that these good
things should be forever banished be-
cause they have been known to act as
poisons, is a conclusion which COM
mon sense will not readily admit.
The same substance, brandy, may,
according 10 the mode Of administra-
ton, act as simple food, a true slim
ulant, narcotic, or poison. A
drug Or beverage, useless or injurious
in health, may prove Invaluable in a
state of disease. Not only is it nee
essary that food and physic should be
taken in quantities proportionate to
their effects, but the frequency of re-
petition n ust be determined in the
same way. The appetite often sup
plies the needful Information i'm the
former case, but it is rare for a pa
tient. even if himself a doctor, to be
able to decide as to the time of re-
peating the dose of physic; this must
be determined by the attendant, and
precise directions must be laid down