The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1874-08-20

be then thought be observed good effects
from their administration, IL is not ina
probable that the Jewish King, having
retired for the nighl on some sultry sum
mer evening, with every window Of the
royal palace widely opVu 20 catch the
ialnt Il zephyr, had been aroused iu the
small hours to dud that the chilly north
crn blasts from the hills about Jerusalem
were driving ia at the open easement
and that the infant Rehoboam, from his
trundle.bcd, long before the matutinal
hour was vigorously Growing with spas
modic Group. No doub, then, as would
be the case at the present day, the door
bell Of the family physician was euerget-
icaiy ruug, aud the future hope Of Israel
was duly piled with those time.honored
remedies, ipecac, hive syrup, mustard,
and blisters The boy, surviving the
treatment, the father then, as parents do
now, would forever aiterward trium.
phantly point to the white headed urchin
as a living monument to prove both the
skin OF the family physician and the
value Of bis remedies. Doubtless under
some inspiration Of this kind, Solomon
assumed that there could be no question
that the old-fashioned medicine did good.
But, progressive physicians of the pres
ent day, and mothers and nurses also, are
wiser than Solomon. They know that
he was mistaken. They are satisfied
that the constitution Of the infant Reho-
boam, was seriously impaired on that
| fatal night; that, with the nauseatlng
DOSE was implanted in his system the
seeds of a subtle poison which slowly
| but surely led him, fifty or sixty years
afterward, to sleep with his fathers. Sol
omon, however, must have believed,
through ignorance perhaps, that the med
ienes prescribed by his physician were
orthodox, aud that all others were heath
enish, aud abominable. How would ii
have puzzled the wise man TO have found
as VIC do at the present day, that not only
She regular syst9m of practice Is success
! ful, but that many other systems entirely
at variance with it, appear to be equally
so! How would il have astonished
the king, to learn that his wisest and
wealthiest senators aud prophets, were
using with immense satisfaction, and ap-
parent success, Indian vegetable pills,
and the movement cure, and the water
cure, and the extract OF buchu, in all
ments Of every character and varietY!-
How his temper would have been ruflled
If the queen of Sheba on her visit, had
pronounced his faYorite physician hum
bug, and urged his dismissal, while she
offered as present, which could do no
harm even if they did no good, various
minute bottles Of Infinitesimal pilules,
with glowing accounts of their charming
effect upon herself and ladies and chill
dren Of her court
1t is not proper at present to offer to
decide when medical schools disagree,
but to notice the fact and draw the in
ference therefrom. The remarkable fact
In the history Of medicine, for the last
few years, has the co-existence Of two or
more systems of practice, professedly
antagonistic, each denouncing the others
as absolutely ineffective, OF positively
harmful, yet all apparently nourishing,
all having enthusiastic and intelligent
advocates. At time when human blood
the sword, but the lancet; when men
believed that their temporal safety de-
pended upon being scarifed, cupped,
leeched, and venesected. An impudent
German, Hannemann by name, broached
the insane idea that patients could re-
cover with less bloodshed, or even with
none at all, and strange to relate, they
did recover, with unmutilated integu-
ments, as well unscariiied as the reverse.
At a time when no fact was better cstab-
lished in medicine, than that in certain
cases, blisters must be applied TO the
shaven scalp, or to the spine Of the back,
This same German advised his tender
skinned patients not TO blister, aud un-
der his direction they recovered, but IN
direct violation OF the orthodox rules OF
practice, Moreover. when hundreds
were standing spoon in hand, contem-
plating with rueful cOuntenances the
nauscuus contents, aud hesitating TO
make the dreaded gulp which should de-
post the dose Ia lis uncertain resting
place. This immortal Hanuemann was
tickling the palates OF his patients with
sugar pellets, aud iacctiously insisting
that they were taking medicine. Some
Of them believed him, and from some
} inexplicablc cause would recover from
their ailments as they did under the old
} regime. This wonderful burlesque on
the older practice, whether II has added
} anything useful to the phafmaeopaia or
} not, has at least added horn to a diem.
, ma. Either the ridiculously small doses,
aud mild measures, were useful and
I effective, which il is hard to believe, OF
the enormously large and filthy doses,
aud severe treatment, which had been
I 10 vogue, were useless, which il highly
: probable The inference to be drawn,
the lesson to be learned from the medical
experience Of the Iast thirty years may
be THE; that the virtue of drugs alone,
. aud their efficiency ia healing disease,
d have been over estimated, and that r..
coverics have beeu Inscribed to the in.
fuence Of medicine, which were du
, only To the restorative powers Of uai0re
: The truth has been made evident thar
! i the duty Of the physician rather 10