Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-12-04
Thc Art OF tho Physician.

The art Of the physician can do
much to elnove its subjects from dead
" and dangerous influences, andsome-
thing to control or arrest the effects of
these influences. But look at the rec
ords OF the life insurance offices, and
see how uniform is the action of ma
lures destroying agencies. Look at the
annual reports OF the deaths in any of
II great cities, and see how their reg
uIari1y approaches the uniformity OF
the tides, and their variations keep
pace with those of the seasons. The
inundations of the Nile are rot more
certainly to- be predicted than the vast
wave OF infantilc disease which flows
IN upon our great cities With the grow
ing heats of July-tllan the feYers and
dysenteries which visit our rural dis
tricts in the months of the falling leaf.
The physician watches these changes
as the astronomer watches the rise OF
a great river. He lougs to rescue indi-
viduals, TO protect communities from
the inroads OF these destroying agen-
cles. He uses all the means which eX-
perience has approved, tries every IA
tional method which ingenuity can sug-
gest. Some fortunate ecovery leads
him to believe he has hit upon q pre-
ventive OF a cure for Il malady which
had resisted all known remedies. His
rescued patient sounds his praises, and
Il wide circle of his patients friends
join in a chorus of eulogies. Self-love
applauds him for his sagacity. Self
interest congratulates him on his hav-
ing found the road to fortune, the sense
OF having proved a henefactor Of his
race smooths the pillow on which he
lays his head to dream of the brilliant
future Opening betore&him. If a single
coincidence may lead q person of san
I guine disposition to believe that he has
mastered y disease which had baflleG
all who We're before his time, and on
which his contemporaries look in hope
less impotence, what must be the effect
of a series of such condolences ever on
a mind Of calmer temperp Such series
of condolences will happen, and they
may well deceive the very elect. Think
of DR.. Rush-you know what a famous
man he was, the very head and front of
American medical science in his day
and remember how he spoke about vel
low fever, which he thought he had
mastered.
Thus the physician is entangled in
the meshes OF a wide conspiration, in
which he and his patients and their
friends and nature herself, are involved.
What wonder that the history of medi-
cine should be to so great an extent a
record of self delusiong
If this seems a dangerous concession
to the enemies Of the true science and
art of healing, | will remind You that it
is all implied in the first aphorism 4ut
Hippocrutes. the father OF medicine.
DO not draw Il wrong Inference from
the frank statement Of the difficulties
which best the medical practitioner.
Think, rather, if truth is so hard OF at
tainment, how precious are the results
which the consent OF the wisest and
most experienced among the healers OF
man agree III accepting. Think what
folly il is TO cast them aside III favor OF
palpuble impositions stolen from the
records OF forgotten charlatanism, or
OF fantastic speculations spun from the
squirting brains OF theorists as wild rs
the Egyptian astronomer.
Begin your medical studies, then, by
reading the fortieth and the following
four chapters of ''Rasselas.n Your
first lesson Will teach you modesty and
caution in the pursuit OF the most de-
ceptive OF all practical branches OF
knowledge. Fallh will come later,
when YOU learn how much medical
science and art has actually achieved
for the relief Of mankind, and how
great are the promises it holds out Of
still larger triunphs over the enemies
of human health and happiness
O!Irer II. HoLn1cs, tn Atlantic Nonlh!y.