The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1885-05-19
DOCTORS AND DocToRING.
A Few Words Of Advice to People Who Are
Inclined TO Medication.


Inclined TO Medication.
Do we believe in doctors? Whether,
we do or not, we generally send for
them when we are i'll. Still, if / were
asked my opinion, L should say the
profession 10 largely overcrowded.
Physic IS hugely overdone. Hslf the
complaints PROFESSIONALLY idle
people-suffer from are imaginary. /
do not deny that men and women get
ill, and occasionally die, but L hold
that, in a vast number of cases, doc
tor is unnecessary at hrst, and quite
helpless 1T laSt-that is, as far as his
physic is concerned, and have pretty
good authority for what | say.
S.r William Jenner has the courage
to declare that ''the science of medicine
is barbarous jargon-every dose of
medicine is a blind experiment" When
the great Majendie assumed the Pro-
feSsor'S Chair of Medicine at the Col
lege of France. he thus addressed the
aStoniShed students: Gentlemen,
medicine is a humbug. Who knows
anything about medicinef l tell you
frankly. don't. Nature does good
deal; doctors do very little-when they
don't do HARM" Majendie went on
to tell the following pungent little pro-
tessional tale out of school:
when 1 was head physician at the
Hotel Dieu divided the patients into
three sections. To one | gave the reg
ulation dispensary medicine in the reg
u!ation way; to another L gave bread,
milk and cOlored water and to the third
section L gave nothing at all. Well,
gentlemen, every one in the third Sec
ton got well. Nature invariably came
to the rescue"
Now, of course, we must allow some
thing for the obtrusive candor of pro-
fessional confession-which is always
apt 10 overleap the mark and give the
opponent few more points than he
asks for, really for the sake of placing
him at disadvantage. Still there is
truth in the candid jest, if jest it be;
and the truth is this: The doctor is
often superfiuous, sometimes mischiey-
Gus AMI occasionally fatal. Physick-
ing, as Sir William Jenner Quoted by
DIR. Rrdge) admits, is largely specu-
latiye operation. The ingenious
.'doseist," as Artemus Ward would
say, has theories about what is the
matter with you; he physics according
to his theory, and then physics to cor
rect his theory. This he calls "chang-
ing the treatment" Wrong again.
Patient gets worse. Perhaps it is
change of air, not change of food. he
-,orht 81
town. on he goes into the country;
forgcts TO take his physic; feels better;
gets well; doctor looks bland, mods his
head and says: Told you so; change
of air-that's what you wanted"
What he really wanted was to be let
alone. Leave of worrying Nature
that is what is required; not in all
cases, out in good many; and that is
probably what Majendie and Jenner
and I'll the wisest doctors think. They
aim ~ diet and discipline-they assist,
they do not try to force, Natures hand
and they every now and then admit
this in burst of confidence.
There is another dubious side of the
question. Doctors often say to you,
BE sure you come to me at once. 1
can arrest disease at an early stage;
but delay-hesitatei hesitate!-and you
are lost!' This is just one of those
dangerous half-truths whereout doc
tors do suck no small advantage. IL
you call the doctor in for every little
ailment. you will get into an artificial
state. Nature will strike work, and you
VIII never be well without the doctor
nor with him either. If you always
take opiates, you will never sleep with
out them; or tonics, you will never eat
without them; or stimulants; you will
never work without them.
1t is law true in sociology and
physics alike, that dependence grows
by what il feeds on. There are doc
tors who always send people to bed d.
rectly if they have little cold-and
those people are forever catching cold
they have no resistance left. You
are somewhat out of order; instead of
exercise and moderation, in comes the
doctor with his dose and, next time,
Nature will refuse to have anything to
do with you. Il am not going to
trouble myself about YOU" she virtu-
ally says. ''Send for the doctor; you
plOiCi oiC w clOW Jul
more sure and more healthy recupera-
tive power. Take physic-I strike
work"
Not only do we often begin too soon.
bat we go on too long with the doctor.
He calls and calls again; he refines his
prescription until its gradations of eff
ficacy are quite imperceptible, but they
are just enough to keep nature in lead
ing-strings and to make each step de-
pendent vpon the therapeutic art.
Of course, / admit that there are
many cases to which these remarks are
wholly inapplicable. Bronchitis. in
cipient cancer. and others. both func-
tional and organic-to take these in
time may be everything. There are
cases where the diagnosis of good
physician is simply invaluable; his