The Red Cloud chief., 1881-10-20
Deetsn and Their Lssis.

ODCb0IY 000 A0$uI A0A10s
There are those who think that the
long illness Of the President, whether IL
result iatally-which God forbid. - or
In his complete recovery. will probably
effect one highly desirable innovation
the doctors will learn la write English.
The public dem md for frrquen, tidings
from the bedside OF the iilustrions
paticn, has already developed at least
a desire for this reform. Hitherto tho
doctors seem to have regarded IL rs
tolerahiy certain that all men are
bound Ia sickcn and die. and that. since
their fate il irrcvocable. they might as
well die u prescriptions written m n
Latin ne Of orders for medicine written
in fair English, the former having the
decided advantage OF being only intelli-
rible Ia the physician and to his coad-
tutor, the drug clerk; and thus the pa
,ient doesn't know what he dies of. and
HIS surviving relatives also remain IN
blissful ignorance in that regard. Ii 10
convenient for n doctor whose dag
noses may be hurried or incorrect. 10
take refuge in words Of learned length
and terrible sound. and the same style
oi language is useful in describing dis
ease 10 the ordinary layman.
In other cases IL NAV be still more
useful 10 conceal the simple nature OF
the remedies prescribed. Plain soap
and sugar may be Latinized n some
thing terrible to the patient, who con-
suits old Bolus about getting rid OF n
boil. And the man with n cold how
much more respect he will have for
his ailment il cured with syr. simpler
from the drug store at n dime q
spoonful, than if his wife gave him q
tablespoonful of the plain sirup that
came in a jug from the grocery store
How much grander sounds sur. Thet
aroma than spiced rhubarb. Goose
grease even may be Latinized until
worth q dollar or more rs an Onguent or
ointment AQ. rose sounds better tina
rose water, and az. is a more learned
expression than hvdrant water. The
man who gets a prescription containing
chiefly spir. trnmenti and takes it. Is on
better terms with himself and his all
ment. fancied or real, than il he had
been told to go to a saloon and get a
..pony of whisky" And the child with
a cold-what intense respect has its
mother for the physician who writes a
learned prescription in a language I'M
known to her. instead of plainly re-
marking, "sirup of squills, ~bloodroot
and paregoric in equal parts; a tea
spoonful three times a day; shake thu
bottle" Such is the reverence for pre-
scriptions written in Latin that a Hiber-
Man patient once affirmed he ''felt bet
ter alter rubbing his rheumatism with
that paper" The only part OF the or
der he was able to read vas the direc-
ton, i'm English. 'rub well;" so he
wore the paper out rubbing the affected
part. There is still another advantage
in the use of Latin; its pronunciation
affords a subject of debate-when they
have no subject to hack with knives
among the medical students, and some
range themselves on the side of Prof.
Draper in wing duodcnum, while 9TH
ers agree with Webster in the Law and
popularity accepted pronunciation.
But, seriously, this Latinizing OF pre-
scriptions-in very bad Latin. a a rue
is n traditional custom that must soon
give way before the onward march OF
popular intelligence and common
sense. President Gariield's ply sicians
undertook at first to follow this old
custom, and to entertain the public
with bulletins ineligible only 10 pro-
fessional men; but they SOC found that
such language would not do in this
case. So deep was the popular interest
i'm the welfare of the President that
the fullest information, conveyed in
the simplest language, was insisted
upon. Ii is creditable to the distin-
guished surgeons in charge of the pa
tent that they Welded, and the official
publications that come from the White
House are now written in English such
as ordinary readers can fully compre-
Probably the prescriptions are still writ
ten i'm Latin, but it is one step in the
direction of reform hat the descriptions
of the patients symptoms and cOndi-
tons are Ineligible.
The reform will extend until we shall
have diagnoses in English, and medical
works will be written wholly in the
same tongue. Then people will be less
mystitied about the ills the flesh is heir
to, and having ascertained what ais
them, may. in illness Of not a serious
character, venture to prescribe their
own remedies. The gentlemen whose
life-work is one of beneficence to the
race will not long stand in the way of
these reforms. They cannot afford to.
ST. Louis GLOBE Democrat.