Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1885-06-11
DOCTORS AND DocroRrNG.
Few words Of Advice to People Who
Are Inclined TO Medication,

Few words Of Advice to People who
are Inclined TO Medication,
From the London Truth
DO we believe in doctors? Whether
We do or not, we generally send for
them when we are i'll Still. II were
asked my opinion, should say the pro
fession is largely oyer crowded. Ply
sio is hugely overdone. Half the com
plants people-espeeially idle people.
suffer from are imaginary. / do not
deny that men and women get i'll, and
occasionally die, but I hold thai, n q
vast number of cases doctor is unnec.
essary at first, and quite helpless al
last--that is, SO far as his physic is con,
eerued, aad I have pretty good author
ity for what / say.
Sir William Jenuer has the courage
to declare that "the science of medicine
is a barbarous jargon-egery dose Of
medicines blind experiment." When
the great Maiendie assumed the Profes.
sor's Chair III Medicine at fhe College
of France, he thus addressed the aston
shed students: Gentlemen, medicine
is a humbug. Who knows anything
about medicine Fl tell you frankly i don't,
Nature does good deal; doctors do
very little-wheu they don't do harm. "
Maiendie went ON % tell ths following
pungent little professional tale out Of
school: o.
when / was head physician at the
Hotel Dieu ! divided the patients into
three sections. To one / gave the regu-
lation dispensary medicine in the regu-
lation way; to another | gave bread,
mtik and colored water and to the third
section ] gave nothing at all. Well,
gentlemen, every one in the third sec.
tion got we'll. Nature invariably came
10 the rescue"
Now, OF course, we must allow some
thing for the ObstruSive camdor of pro
tessional confession -.which Is always
apt to overleap the mark and give the
oppon ent a few more points than he
asks for, really for the sake of placing
him at disadvantage. Still there is
truth in Che candid Jest, if Jest it be /;
and the truth is this: The doctor Is
often superiluous, sometimes mischiev-
Gus and occasionally fatal. Physicking
as Sir VIM, Jenner quoted by DIR.
Ridge admits, is largely a speculative
operation. The ingenious "doseist, "
as Artcmus Ward would say, las theo-
rics about what is the matter with you
he physics according TO his theory, and
then physics to correct his theory.
This he calls changing the treatment
Wrong again! Try back; alter diet;
then physic away at tho new diet.
Wrong again! Patient gets worse.
Perhaps it is change of air, not change
of food he wauts-brght idea! Sepd
him ont of town. OF he goes into the
country; forgets to take his physic
feels better; gets well; doctor looks
bland, mods his head and says: II told
You so; change of air-that's what you
wanted" What he really wanted was
to be let alone. Leave off worrying
nature-that is what is required not in
all cases, but in a good many; and that
is probably what Majendie and Jenner
and all the wise doctors think. They
aim at diet and disCipline-th assist
they do not try TO force, natures hand
and they every now and then admit
this in burst of confidence.
There is mother dubious side of the
question. Doctors often say to you,
" Be sure Won come to me at once. !
can arrest disease at an early stage
but delay-hesitate hesitate = and
You are l0st!" This is Just one of those
dangerous half-truths whereout doctors
do suck no small advantage If you
call the doctor in for every little all.
ment you will get into an artificial
state. Nature will strike work, and
you will never be we'll without the doc
tor-nor with him either. If you al
ways take opiates, you will never sleep
without them; or tonics, yOu will never
eat without them; or stimulants, you
will never work without them.
1t is a law true in sociology and physics
alike that dependence grows by what il
feeds on There are doctors who al
ways send people tu bed directly they
have a little cold-and those people are
forever catching cold-they have no re-
sistance left You are somewhat ont Of
order, instead of exercise and mOdera-
ton, in comes the doctor with his dose
and, next time, nature will refuse to
have anything TO do with you. II am
not going to trouble myself about you"
she virtually says Send for the doctor
you prefer his physics TO my more slow,
but more sure and more healthy, recu-
perative power. Take physic-I strike
work"
Not only do we often begin too soon,
but we go on too long with the doctor.
He calls and calls again, he rehnes his
prescriptions until its gradations of eff
cacy are quite Imperceptible, but they
are just enough to keep nature in lead
ing-strings and to make each step de-
pendent upon the therapeutic art.
OfcUurse, ! admit that there are many
cases 10 which these remarks are wholly
inapplicable. Bronchitis, incipient can.
Ger and others, both functional and or
ganIc-to take these in time may be
everything. There are cases where the
diagnosis of good physician Is simply
invaluable; his hints about food are not
to be neglected, yet they should be
taken, perhaps, cum grano, and checked
by personal experience. There are
cases, too, where cod-liver oil, quinine
and one or two other drugs are absolute
specifics. Who can not realize DIR.
Livingstone's gloomy death warrant
when he determined to go forward after
losing his medicine-chest of quipine in
the dismal rlver?