Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-06-26
Is Medicine q Progressive Science:


There is still, no doubt, a vast amount of suf.
fering and disease among US, but 1t would be
folly to deny that the difference between the
past and the present is immense. The stetho-
scope has made ii as easy to detect a damaged
heart or an inefficient lung as a broken leg,
The opthalmoscope enables to explore the
inuermost recesses of the eve, while with the
laryngOscope We can have ocular proof of the
condition u the windpipe. The microscope en-.
lightens US TO the true nature OF growths, and
BILE 10 check their development. Anast hetics
have robbed surgery OF ali its cruelty and halt
its danger, they have moreover extended LIS
frequently performed which formerly could
not have been attempted. The introduc-
ton of the antiseptc method has largely
increased the proportion of recoveries
alter severe wounds and mutiIations.
ana has also done much to insure the
OF cutting for stone Is now obviated by meas
ures which involve neither pain nor serious
risk, and there can be little doubt that the
operation will In the course OF the next fifty
years become obsolete in civilized cOuntries
Smallpox Is no longer the standing menace TO
beauty that IL once was, while IL Is scarcely
by ordinary people. Typhoid fever still claims
many victims, though IT, is being gradually
driven OFF the field by an enlightened hygiene;
typhus 10 almost unknown except in the 10 W.
est and most squalid haunts OF poverty. Mad
ness Is now treated as a bodily disease, not as
q curse Of God or spite OF the devil, the result
being large proportion of recoveries and In
nniteiy less suffering among the incurable. A
like Improvement Is seen in other branches OF
the medical art. The loathsome compounds
invented, one might suppose, by a council OF
ghOuls and sclveDgers-which used to be or.
dered, no longer vex the pdlates or upheaye
the stomachs OF unfortunate patients; the
active principle OF the most important REM
edies has been separated, SO that the agent
can be administered in purer and more eff
hcient form, while the physiological action O,
the drug Is determined by experiment uni Is
taken as the index OF its therapeutic value.
Less physic Is given, but IL is prescribed with a
clearer purpose. Better still, more attention "a
paid to diet and the hygienic surroundings OF
the patient, and above all, nature Is less incum.
bered with the officious help OF a blind ally who
insists on aiding her with "A zeal that Is not &C.
cording TO knowledge. The truth has AT last
been borne in on the medical mind that many
diseases run a certain definite course on which
no medicine has any effect for good. though n
may h.,ve for evil, and that accordingly a policy
OF mastery inactivity is the wisest in such
cases. The physical changes wrought by dis
ease and the morbid processes which give rise
TO them are now 10 a certain extent accurately
Known, and this field OF inquiry promises
10 be increasingly fruitful OF solid result
ginning to pierce the shrOud of dark ness
which formerly made the origin of disease u
more impenetrabe mystery than the source OF
the Nile This marks one OF the greatest adj
vances In the history Of medicine, aud its prac
tcai Importance IL obviously incaiculable. The
Cause clearly known, the effect can often be
removed, or. better still, prevented. Specific
levers may possibly be Danished from amOup
aud cancer, MAY in course o. time be stain LED
out. One disease after another Is traced 10 the
action OF organisms infinitesmal In size, bu
having an aimo-t iucOuceivable power OF SELF
multiplication. From IeprUsy 70 u cold in tire
head the "eonqueror worm" Is credited with
tne generation of almost every form o. disorder
w here II has not Jet been found IL Is Suspecie ed
IN word, the sign Bacillus is In the ascen an
IN The medical ARMAMENT.