The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1885-06-11
6oo1oRs AND DocToRmo.

6o010RS AID DocToRmo.
1 rev words 81 kdyios 10 1sdptS Wha
FIRE Inoli1sd 70 Medication;
From the London Truth.
Do We believe IN doctors? whether
We do or not, we generally send for
them when We are ill: Still, if 1 were
asked my opinion, I should say the pro.
fession is largely over crowded. Ply
sic is hugely overdone. Half the; com
plants people especially idle people,
suffer from are imaginary. 1 do not
deny that, men and women get i'll, and
occasionally die, but I hold that, in 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-
cerned, aud have pretty good author
ity for what say.
Sir William Jenner has the courage
to declare that "the science of medicine
is barbarous jargon-every dose Of
medicine is blind experiment." When
the great Majendie assumed the Profess
sor's Chair of Medicine at the College
of France, he thus addressed thu aston
ished students: "Gentlemen, medicine
is q h,lmbug. Who knows anything
about medicine II tell you frankly / don't,
Nature does good deal; doctors do
very little when they don't do harm. "
Majendie went On t6 tell the following
pungent little professional tale ont OF
school:
when I was head physician at the
Hotel Dieu I divided the patients into
three sections. To one gave the regu-
lation dispensary medicine in the regu-
lation way; to another I gave bread,
milk and colored water and to the third
section I gave nothing at all. Well,
gentlemen, every one in the third sec.
ton got we'll. Nature invariably came
to the rescue"
Now, of course, we must allow some
thing for the obstrusive candor of pro-
fessional confession-which is always
apt to overleap the mark and give the
oppon eht few more points than he
asks for; really for the sake of placing
him at; d disadvantage. Still there is
truth in the candid jest, if Jest it be;
and the truth is this: 1.-The doctor is
often superfuous, sometimes ,mischiev-
Gus and occasionally fatal. Physickine
as Sir VIM. Jenner QUOTED by Dr.:
Ridge) admits, is largely a speculative
operation. The ingenious "doseist,"
as Artemus Ward would say, has theo-
ries 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 the new diet.
Wrong again! Patient gets worse.
Perhaps it is change of air, not change
of food he wauts-br1ght idea! SeDd
him out of town. OFF he goes into the
country; forgets to take his physic,
feels better; gets we'll; 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 good many; and that
is probably what Majendie and Jenne1
and all the wise doctors think. They
aim ut 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 an other dubious side of the
question. Doctors often say to you,
"Be sure you come to me at once.
can arrest disease at an early stage
but delay-hesitate hesitate and
you are lost!" This is just one of those
dangerous half-truths whereout doctors
do suck no small advantage. If yot,
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 q law true in sociology and physics
alike that dependence grows by what it
feeds on. There are doctors who al
ways send people to bed directly they
have little cold-and those people are
forever catching cold-they have no re-
sistance left. You are somewhat out 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 refnes his
prescriptions until it's gradations of eff
cacv 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.
Of course, 1 admit that there are many
cases to which these remarks are wholly
inapplicable. Bronchitis, incipient can
Ger and others, both functional and or
ganlc-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 DR..
Livingstone's gloomy death warrant
when he determined to 60 forward after
losing his medicine-chest of quinine in
the dismal river?
Canadian Mirage.