The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-08-30
DOCTORS AND DOCTORS.

spires respect, admiration, faith. lie bu;
human to look up 10 and 10 revere one
whom We believe knows more than We do;
whom we believe hrs the power to do US
goo], 10 direct us, to beneG! us. Hence it
is thai doctors, in tie common use Of the
word, the gentlemen of the medical profess
sion who prescribe pills and potions for our
ailments, who feel our pulse and look al our
tongues when We are sick, and designate the
medicines for us, stand so high in our esti.
nation, command 30 much of our faith end
are 80 necessary to us, and for whom We ali
think when disease has lis in its clutches,
tina. We can never do enough, for when
We get we'll, yet neglec, in too many in
stances, sadly, when health ia restored. The
presidents condition has excited cOmmon'
and remark not only from one end Of this
union to the other, but even in Europe, Ms
W. learn from the papers, and the phyeioinns
who have charge Of his case have been critis
oisod most hsrshly by al classes of people,
an especially bysphysicisns, 1t would sp-
pear. judging from the remarks heard and
road, that we ere a nation of doctors. Yet il
is a lamentable fact that Of tho science Of
meiicine, If indeed it be a science, .less is
known by the people 1T large than of any
other branch of learnining in the cur-
ricalum of general and special Information,
ii We may DO allowed to SO phrase it. Even
the physicians themselves, rs the most
learned and reliable Of them admit, are in
great measure at sea. They only know that
certain specifics, as experience and observa.
ton has demonstrated, cure certain COM
plants, and further than this all is expert.
ment, eaca case furnishing material for spe.
cial study. The st. Louis Globe. Democrat
n a late Issue says: "There are 1870, 900 med
zeal practitioners in the civilized world, and,
perhaps, not any two of them would pre-
cisely agree in case out of the common
order. 1t is computed that 10000 volumes
and twice that number Of pampble!s-or
npouN Ouo-tuirtietu vi hil iborntuEo-uhFo
been written about medicine and surgery.
and yet the points that may BIO considered
definitely settled do not extend much be-
yo,d the rudimentary and commonplace.
The doctors are continually falling out; the
therapeutic reports are changesblo rs the
decisions of country justice Of the peace
and new diseases and new remedies are de
veloped with the frequency of altered fash,
ions In millinery. We have in the United
States alone $4,000 regular physicians, one
for every no inhabitants, proportion cur
passing that OF any other nation; and yet
In spite of our sunny .kes and abundant
good air, We are not as healthy people az
those of France, where there is but one ply
scian for every &c. 900 inhabitants, or evan ms
those of murky and gluttonous Great Brit
ala, where they &c! along with one physician
for every 1900 persons. With all our array
OF medical learning and experience, there
seems s,ill to be room for conflict of opinion
among the very sblast OF the profession over
the mode of treating an ordinary patol.sbot
wound" There is deal of wisdom, and alas
a deal of truth,in the conclusions Of the CD
You may ask ton year old boy or girl At
tending the private or public schools of tho
land about the planetary system and receive
correct anSwers as 10 the names Of the stars
and tho consultations, and any one of them
can work out abstruse Mathematical pro-
bloms, while the more advanced scholars can
tell you the distance Of star 10 star, can cal,
culate the orbits thereof and foretell by the
sane means the return Of comets, their sza,
o'c, can read ne they DO the pSinest
Erglish, tho delicate trscery of m.
lures wiorA hand in tho geology OF
the esrth-in fact can lay bare the secrets
of rn,uro, as though it was an open book,
bat az TO a knowledge Of the human frame,
the laws of disease and of health the prevent.
i,ea for and cure ofhsman ailments, tho world
at large ia rs ignorant rs a Ho.tentot is OF
the ChSdeo language, asa Sioux Indian il
Of the significance of the hiercgly2hics on
the EGyptian monuments. Not only is thIs
true of the general public, but ss we said
before, even the members Il the medical pro-
fcssion me in great measure, cropping in
darkness. There Is more of mystery sur
rounding the science and tho practice
Of medicine than Of any other of the pursuits
of life, or Of the branches OF learning. THIS
is due In great measure to the doctors them
selves. They write their prescriptions in d
language unfamiliar TO tho general public;
they designate diseases in nomenclature
bart aric in its sounding, puzzling to every
body no, in the profession, and this invests
the practice of medicine with wierdness
that inspires awe in the minds Of the well
aud Of the sick and |. 10 loophole through
which charlatsnlsm and qusckery enter into
the business TO do their pernicous work.
This Ia the fault OF tho faculty
itself, for ii could just as well
use language and deal 10
terms that all the world can understand,
ss 70 cling TO its hieroglypbics, Because
medicine Ia not in truth science, because il
has scarce advanced beyond the crudilios OF
tho days Of Hippocra,es aud of Galen, there