New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-05-29
NEW PUBLICATIONS..
ND uo1 NESS MEDICAL ESSAYS


Mif1in Co. ,;.h : am,
rh. charm of DIR. Holiness manner, when is NOT
erelv an affair of literary style but the expression
AZ a oenal temperament. is hardly less conspicuous
a., M. serious professional essays than IN the ehter
IL t,.er nauers by which he has 50 often capt-
x.ted the general reader" This pervahng person
.eems indeed to be pretty often III the doctor
tbouohts. Grave professional opinions are adroitly
accommodated to his tastes and capacity Dr.
Uolnes detests pcdautry; and when lie can express
his meaning in PLAIN English he is sure not to fall
into scientific alterations Il hope We snail make
everything as plain aud simple to you as we can
he SAYS in one of his lectures. " know there are
professors in this country who 'heate arteries
Other surgeons only tie them aud stops the Diced
ing lust as we'll" Often he makes quasi humorous
metaphor do duty for technical explanation. He
Il speaking for instance Of cataytc action, OF thaV
mysterious chemical phenomenon in which an inert
substance by its presence causes union to
take place between TWO other substances; IL pas
play,d the part of the unwedded priest" ne re-
marks who marres pair without taking Zee or
having any further relation with the parties "; ana
later he refers to the action of catayss IN Inc pro-
cess of digestion :" as being one Of those peculiar
reactions prov oked by element which STANDS OUT
side and looks on without compromising lseli'
The effect of this method is TO make the addresses
and ESSAYS interesting. intelligibe and easily To-
membeIed.
OF the nine papers included in the present volume
four haze already appeared in book form. HON.
tnopathv and its Kindred Decisions" compounded
NJ Two lectures delivered forty years ago. is
an exceedingly animated assault upon school OF
medicine toward which DR.. Holmes has always
CHERISHED very strong fee.ings--far too strong to
allow much play of the pungent wit which such
theme might have besn expected to provoke. Still
more serious is the tone of the paper on The Con
tagiousnoss OF Puerperal Fever" in which the most
alarming conclusions stated With an impressive
ness sometimes rising to eloquence The position
of Dr. Holmes that prcrperal fever IS sometimes
carried from patient to patient by medical assist
ants in ether words. that the physician some
times. through inexcusabe carelessness. becomes
walking pestilence carrying death under the most
distressing conditions into the chamber to which ne
is summoned.-has been notify controverted, but
since he first presented this array or testimony and
argument in 1913 be has abundant evidence THAI
il has made many practitioners more cautious IN
their relations with puerpera females In reprint
ing il he replies effectively and with some proper
sharpness to certain publications on the other SIDE.
The address on Currents and Counter-Curreuts in
Medical Science" $3.50 was also the occasion OF
GOOD deal of criticism when it fresh; but DR..
Holiness vigorous attack upon the abuses of over
medication and his general rule that " the pre-
sumptlon is always against the OF nOxOus agents
in disease seem far less revolutionary to-day than
they did twenty years ago. Perhaps the chief
cause of offence IN the essay was not the cenSure OF
an oosolesccnt school of practice but the indirect
demonstration afforded by its survey of old and
recent methods how very far medicne-that 49, the
administration of remedies-still is from an exact
science In the lecture on Border Lines of Knowl-
edge in some Provinces OF Medical Science, he re-
turned the next year to the same subject. Those
articles of the Materia Medica which had nothing
but loathsoaeness to recommend them have been
gradually dropped, and are not like to obtain any
general favor again with civilized communities.
The next culprits to be tried are the poisons.
have never been in the least sceptca as to the utl
ity of some of them, when properly employed.
Though believe that at present, taking tue world
at large and leaving out few powerful agents of
such immense value that they rank next 60 food in
importance. the poisons prescribed for disease 90
more hurt than good. nave no doubt, and never
protested TO have any, that they do much good in
prudent and instructed hands but am very will
ing to confess great jealousy OF many agents and
] could almost wish to sec the Matcria Medica 50
classed 20 call suspicion upon certain ones among
them" Mercury, lead, silver, antImony iodine. are
among the " alien elements" which he particularly
mentions in connection with the principle that the
"pTesumption is always against unwholesOme
food Much as we have gained, we have not yet
of disease. The disgrace of medicine has been
thar colossal system of selfdeceptlon in obedience
to which mines have been ompued of their canker-
ing minerals. he getable Kingdom robbed of all
Ts nOxious growths, the eutrails of animals taxed
for their impurities, the pOison-bags of reptiles
drained of their venom, and all the nconce vabie
denominations thus obtained thrust down inc
threats of human beings suffering from fault
of organization nOurishment or vital stimulation
And the doctor cannot help believing that medical
oaradce treatment will by and by resolve itself 10
great measure into diications OF the good swal-
lowed and breathed, and of the natural stimuli and
that less will be expected from specifics and nOx-
ious disturbing agents either alien or aSSmilabe."
This however, is only one OF the less prominent
topics of tue essay. It's nam subject is survey of
some of the most striking instances which the
progress Of science has brought us to great diScOv
cries and yet has left secret beyond which battles
all our persistence ard ingenuity. In connection
with this topic Dr. Holmes makes his admirable pro-
fession OF faith in an omnipoteGt Creator These
logical analyses by which fence cut the igno-
rance we cannot reclaim and fix the limits Of our
knowledge all lead us up to the inspiration Of the
Almighty. which gives understanding to the
worlds great teachers To fear science or knUwl-
edge lest it disturb our old beliefs, is to fear the
influx of the Divine wisdom into the souls Of our
fellow-men; for what is science but the pecemeal
yereatOa.-uucoverng,- the plan of creation by
the agencg of those chosen prophets OF nature whom
God has illuminated from the central light OF truth
for that single purpose r
The Eve essays which now make their first APP
pearance in a collected volume of less perma-
nent Importance than the preceding four, but we
nee. hardly say that they richly worthy of pre-
servatlon. scholastic and Bedside Teaching
and The Young Practitioner" are addresses of adj
vice TO students Astounding in sensible connsels
and sprightly Illustrations, and appealing perhaps
almost strongly to the lay reader as TO those for
whom they were specially written. 1" The Medical