The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1889-05-16
..EDITORs BACK STAlRs.0

..EDITORS BACK STA1RS.N
The Intslrssting Views OF the Late DR.. J. @.
HolIsnd. "
The columns Of the newspapers APP
pear to be flooded with proprietary
medicine advertisements. As we
cast our eye over them, it brings to
mind an article that was published
by the late DR.. Holland in Scribner's
Monthly. Hesays: Nevertheless, it
is a fact that many of the best pro-
p~rietary medicines of the day were
more successful than many physici-
ans, and most Of them, it should he
remembered, we're at first discovered
or used in actual medical practice.
When, however. any shrewd person,
knowing their virtue, and ~toreseeing
their popularity, secures and adver-
tises them, then, in the opinion OF
the bigoted, all virtue went out OF
them"
Is not this absurd?
This great man appreciated the
real merits of popular remedies, and
the absurdity of those that derided
them because public attention was
called to the article and the evidence
of their cures. If the most noted
physician should announce that he
had made q study of any certain or
gan or disease of the body, or make
his sign larger than the code size,
though he may have practiced med
icine and been a leader in all medical
counsels, notwithstanding all this, il
he should presume to advertise and
decline to give his discovery to the
public, he would be pronounced q
quack and a humbug, although he
may have spent his entire life and all
his available funds in perfecting his
INVESTIGATIONS.
Again we say, "absurd."
If an ulcer is found upon ones arm,
and is cured by some dear old grand
mother, outside of the code, it will be
pronounced by the medical profession
an ulcer of little Importance. But il
treated under the code, causing sleep.
less nights for q month, with the
scientific treatment viz, plasters.
washes, dosing with morphine, arsenic
and other vile substances, given to
prevent blood poisoning or deaden
pain, and yet the ulcer becomes ma
lignant, and amputation is made
necessary at last, to save life, yet all
done according to the ''isms'' of the
medical code, this is much more
gratifying to the medical profession,
and adds more dignity to that dis
tinguished order than to be cured by
the dear old grandmother's remedy,
This appears like a severe arraign'
ment, yet we believe that it expresses
the true standing of the medical pro-
fession in regard to remedies dis
covered outside of their special
"isms." One of the most perplex.
ing things of the day is the popular
ity Of certain remedies, especially
Warmers Safe Cure, which we find
for sale everywhere. The physician
of the highest standing is ready to
concede its merits and sustain the
theories the proprietors have made
that is, that it benefits in most O
the ailments of the human system
because it assists in putting the
kidneys in proper condition, thereby
aiding in throwing off the impurities
of the blood, while others with less
honesty and experience deride, and
are willing to see their patient die
scientifically, and according to the
code, rather than have him cured by
this great remedy.
Yetwe notice that the popularity o
the medicine continues to grow veal
by year. The discoverer comes bold
ly before the people with it's merits
and proclaims them from door tt
door in our opinion much more hon
orably than the physician who, per
chance, may secure a patient from
some catastrophe, and is permitted
to set a bone of an arm or a finger
which he does with great dignity, YET
very soon after takes the liberty tc
climb the editors back stairs at {
o'clock in the morning to have it an
nounced in the morning paper that
"Dr, So-and-so was in attendance
thus securing for his benefit beauti
full and free advertisement.
We shall leave it to our readers tc
say which is the wiser and more hon,
orable.