Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-05-22
DOCTORS AND
Anew Words of Advice to People Who Ar
Inclined to Medication,

AHe" words of Advice to People Who Arc
Inclined to Medication.
10 we believe in doctor9 Whether
we DO or not, we generally send for
them when we are i'll. Still, if 1 were
asked my opinion, 1 should say tho
profession is largely o~vercrowded.
fhyslc is hugely overdone. Half the
complaints people-especially idle
people-suffer from are imaginary. l
40 not deny that men and women get
ILL., and occasionally die, but 1 hold
; that, in a vast number of cases, a doc
tor is unnecessary at first, and quite
helpless at last-that is, as far as his
physic is concerned, and 1 have pretty
ood authority for what l say.
SIR William Jenner has the courage
to declare that .'the science of medicin
is a barbarous jargon-every dose OF
medicine is a blind experimental When
the great Majendie assumed the Pro-
lessons Chair of Medicine at the Col
lege OF France, he thus addressed the
astonished students: "Gentlemen,
medicine is a humbug. Who knows
anything about medicine? 1 tell you
frankly, l don't. Nature does a good
deal; doctors do very little-when they
don't do HARM" Majendie went on
to tell the following pungent little pro-
fessional tale out Of school:
"Whcn l was head physician at the
Hotel Dieu l divided the patients into
three sections. To one 1 gave the reg
kulation %dispensary medicine in the reg
ulation way; to another l gave bread,
milk and colored water and to the third
section [ 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 to overlap the mark and give the
opponent a few o points than he
asks for, really for the sake of placing
him at a disadvantage. Still there is
truth in the candid jest, if jest it be;
and the truth is this: The doctor is
often superliuous, sometimes mischiev-
GUS and occasionally fatal. Physick-
ing, as Sir William Jenner Quoted by
DR.. Ridge admits, is largely a specu-
lative 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
wants-bright idea! send him ont OF
town. OF he goes into the country:
forgets to take his physic; feels better;
gets we'll; doctor looks bland, mods his
head and says: ''Told you so; change
of air-that's what you wanted.'
What lie really wanted was to be lei
alone. Leave off worrying Nature
that is what is required; not in al
cases, but in a good many; and that i:
probably what Majendie and Jennel
and all the wisest doctors think. The,
aim at diet and discipline-they assist
they do not try to force, Natures hant
and they every now and then admi
this in a burst of confidence.
There is another dubious side of tn
question. Doctors often say to you
"Be sure you come to me at once.
can arrest disease at an early stage
lbut delay-hesitate! hesitate!-and 20,
are lost!" This is just one of hos
!, dangerous half-truths whereout doc
| tors do suck no small advantage. I
you call the doctor in for every littl
ailment, you will get into an artificial
state. Nature will strike work, and yo,
will never be well without the docto
nor with him either. If you Away
take opiates, you will never sleep with
out them; OF %tonics, you will never ca
without them; or stimulants; you will
never work without them.
1t is a law true in sociology an,
physics alike, that dependence grow
by what it feeds on. There are doc
tors who always send people to bed di
rectly if they have a little cold-an,
those people are forever catching coli
they have no resistance left. Yo1
are somewhat out of order; instead o
exercise and moderation, in comes tn
doctor with his dose and, next time
Nature will refuse to have anything t.
DO with you. 81 am not going t.
trouble myself about you," she virtu
ally says. ''Send for the doctor; yo1
prefer his physic to my more slow bu
more sure and more healthy recupera
tive power. Take physic-I strik
work"
Not only do we often begin too soon
but we go on too long with the doctor
He calls and calls again; he retines hi
prescription until its %gradations of EFF
1icacy are quite imperceptible, but the.
are just enough to keep nature in lead
ing-strings and to make each step de
pendent upon the therapeutic art.
Of course, I admit that there ar
many cases to which these remarks ar
wholly inapplicable. Bronchitis, in
cipient cancer, and others, both func
tional and organic-to take these il
time may be everything. There ar,
cases where the diagnosis of a goot
physician is simply invaluable; hi
hints about food are not to be neg
lected, yet they should be taken, per
haps. cum grano, and checked by per
sonal experience. There are othe
cases, too, where cod-liver oil, quinin'
and one or two other drugs are abso