The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-01-12
THE NosTRUM FALLACY.

When a child complains of headache,
lassitude, or want of appetite, the nurse
concludes that he must take some
thing" If the complexion OF a young
lady grows every day paler and pastier,
her mother will insist that she must
"get something" to purify her blood. If
the baby squels day and night, a doctor
is sent for, and is expected to prescribe
something" What that something
should be, the parents would be UNABLE
to define, but they have vague idea
that it should come from the drug store,
and that it cannot be good for much un-
less it is bitter and nauseOus. Traced
to their principles their theory would
be about this: sickness and depravity
are the normal condition of our nature;
salvation can come only through alb
normal agencies; and remedy, In or
der to be effective, should be as anti
natural az possible" But Nature still
persists in following her own laws. Her
physiological laws she announces by
means of the instincts which man shares
with the humblest of his fellOw-creat-
ures, and health is her free gift to all
who trust themselves to the guidance OF
| those instincts. Health is not lost by
accident, nor can it be repurchased at
! the drug store. 1t is lost by phyS1OlOgi-
| cal sins, and can be regained only by
/
protest against a gross violation of her
! laws. Suppressing the symptoms OF a
disease with drugs means to silence
| that protest instead of removing the
| cause. We might as well Try TO eXtln-
! euish a fire by sllencing the Gre-bells;
| the alarm will soon be sounded from
another quarter, though the fire bells
may not ring again till the Oeltry breaks
| down in a general cOntagrGJlOn. FOr
the laws OF health, though liberal enough
to be apparently plastic, are i'll reality
as inexOrable. as time and gTavitaClOn.
We can not bully Nature, we can not
defy her resentment by fresh prOvOca-
tiOn. Drugs may change the form OF
| the disease. e., modify the terms of
| the DrOtest-but the law can not be
baffled by cOmplicating the Otfense: be-
fore the drugged patient can recover, he
| has to eXpiate a double sin-the medl-
| cine and the original cause of the dis
| ease. But shall parents look on and let
a sick child ask in vain for helpI BY
no means. Something is certainly
wrong, and has to be Tighted. The dis
ease itself is a cry for help, but not for
drugs. Instead of taking something,
| something ought to be done, and Ottener
| something habitually done ought to be
omitted. If the 5aby's stomach has been
| tOrmcnted with ten musings day,
omit SIX or them; OHllC Ied anu cOll6e
from the young lady's menu; stop the
| dyspeptic's meat ratiOns, and the young
! steT's grammar-lessOns after dinner.
But open the bedroom windows, open
| the door and let your children take a
rOmp in the garden, or on the street,
| even on a snOw-cOvered street. Let
them spend their Sundays with an uncle
who has a good orchard; or, send for a
barrel of apples. Send for the carpenter,
and let him turn the nursery or the
wOOdshed into a gymnasium. In case
you have nothing but your bedroom
and kitchen, there will still be room for
a grapple-swing; the Boston Hygienic
| Institute has patented a kind that can
be fastened without visible damage to
the ceiling. If the baby won't stop cry
ing, something ought to be done about
it. Yes, and as soon as possible: remove
the strait-jacket apparatus, swaddling
clothes, petticOat, and all, spread a
couple of rugs in a comfortable corner,
and give the poor little martyr chance
TO move his cramped limbs; let him roll
tumble, and kick to his hearts content
and complete his happiness by throwing
the pare guric-bOttle ont of the window
DR. Oswald in Popular Science
| Monthly.