The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-12-09
SCIENCE AND FICTION.
The Manner in Which the Two Are I'm
debted to Each Other.

The Manner in Which the Two Are In
debted to Each Other.
The bonds linking together science
and fiction are already strong. Science
owes to our novelists much of IFS inter-
est. much of its publicity. The scientist
slowly and laboriously hammers out
some new discovery. some recognition
of the individuality of a certain group
of symptoms which had been previously
lost in the crowd; wearied with his
work, he too often launches this discov-
cry, with all the ugliness of technicality
hanging around it like acOnvict's dress.
betoken;ng the hard labor through
which it has passed; and then some
good Samaritan of a novelist turns out
of his way to take pity on it, to lavish
care upon it, to clOthe it anew, to at
tract 10 it the attention of the public.
and thus to save it from death through
neglect. 1t is introduced into good So
ciety, and it thrives, and perhaps be-
comes leading topic OF conversation
for a short time.
But if the scientist has reason to be
grateful, so also has the novelist. New
facts have been given to him, new mar
wells to dilate upon and make his own;
he has been supplied with new modes of
escape from the web of intricacies with
which he has entangled his characters.
and thus the advantage is mutual.
For the continuance of this good fe!-
lOwship there 10 reason to be hopeful.
Medical science has never perhaps been
more active than ut the present time.
The new diseases and the new methods
of treatment which have not been
utilized in novels are already forming a
pOrtentous crowd clamor;ng for recOg-
milton in story. Neurasthenia and its
cure by the Weir Mitchell process of
massage has not, to my knOwl-
edge, yet been drawn in, al
though the marvellous cures of
bed-ridden individuals would seem
to furnish scope for an interesting
worker. The antiseptfc process also
has its picturesque sides; the saving of
life and limb on the battle field, as fur
nished by the medical records of the
last Egyptian campaign, gives ample
opportunity for surprises of the most
telling character.
The recognition of hitherto unre-
allied sease by means of the ophthal-
moscope and the prognost.c value of
the signs might also be described. Loco
motto ataXia has already played a part
in an Agnostic dialogue in contem-
porary, bat there is vet room for it,
further development in the pages of
fiction. Metallo-t herapy is too much
discredited now to find favor, but the
prorhylactic action of copper against
cholera was until recently sufficiently
unprOven to allow of lis being swept
into the vortex of fiction, for the in
structiOn of those who 90 not follow
the medical journals asS:d ously.
1t is impossible to lay down rules or
to point out all the lines which might
be followed. The aim of this article is
to show from the past what has been
worthily accomplished, what has been
recklessly undertaken. rs well as the
mistakes OF those attempting to foretell
the future of medicine. in the hope that.
while atlordng interest to the public. it
may also help nOvelists, who, with the
mate-ialist of Il recent poet:
Would learn with the bOldest to think.
Would graphic with things that perpIex,
Would stand on the verge and the brink
Where the seen and tie unseen are met.
Nineteenth CenturU.