Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-06-11


and more unreserved manner than they
are in the journals. Valuable eXper-
fences and hints and ideas are csten OBJ
tanned from members, who, through dill
idence or a want of time ard oppcr-
tunity for an elsborately prepared ar
ticle. would withhold these. were the
journals the only means OF impartng
them. Ii should be one of our greatest
purposes to reach after the difident
brethren. who lack faith in themselves,
to take them by the hand, and leading
them from the byvays OF hesitancy,
help them enter, with unreserved free
dom and untrammeled energy, upon the
professional highway pursued by their
more confident brethren.
Il hope that every paper will be dis
cussed by every member who can add
anything. however tr.fiing, to the eluci-
dation Of the subject matter. l hope
that this meeting will be marked by
greater freedom of discussion than any
of its predecessors. l hope there will
be many
REPORTS OF CASES.
I trust that there will be much ns% ex-
perience. and therefore, much new
Knowledge. hope. in word, that the
attainment of each in any particular
line. or in any particular case, may be
made the attainment CT all. 1t is duty
we owe. not only to ourselves, but TO
the public, our patients
THE quarter of a century now clos
ing is an. era of medical advance very
easily defined. It is the era Of new
methods of diagnosis. Physical dag
nosis has been brought TO a degree of
gertrude that would have seemed i'm
possible to our forefathers. The Steehe-
scoDe. the haemocytometer The haemo-
globinameter, the laryngiscope, the
opthalmascope, the urethroscope, the
microscope, are commonplace imp:e-
ments in the armamentariums OF every
physician. The Horoscope is almost IN
our hands. and no man dare say how
many other scopes are lying beyond
the
THRESHOLD OF THE FUTURE.
1T would tire you and me, and it
would be unnecessary, TO go over the list
Of all the new methods which are the
fruit of the present era. Chemical eX-
aminations of the secretions and excre-
lions Of the body, catherteriza-
ton of the ureter, palpation
OF the appendix, trans-illumina-
ton as means of diagnosis OF High
more's antrum-the recalling of z few
suggests a host. Il might be said, al
H., 70
il the investigators Of the new catnode
rays should bring their discoveries 10
a point where the human body shall be
an open book to them, their sole achiey-
ments will be a simplifying OF methods;
they will show Us nothing new, except
q new way of doing what we have long
dore. They will expose the whole at
glance to those who have already ac-
ouired the power Of seeing aD-part at
a time. The era OF diagnosis is a great
era: it is to humanity a precious era,
not so much for its own sake as for the
promise OF the era of advanced sclen-
tifc treatment which IS its logical Sc
quel. Eras overlap each other.
THE ERA OF DIAGNOSIS
is not vet completed, and behold the
era O. treatment is already upon US.
But YOU may say every era has ceen
an, era Of treatment. Do not mistake
my meaning. l mean specific treat
ment.
In all the long centuries Of past
medical history there have been very
few specifics for disease. Quinine for
malaria. mercury for syphilis, almost
complete the list. BY straining point
we might add iron for anemia, arsenic
for chOrea. salicylic acid for rheuma-
tism-but it could only be by much
straining Of point.
4 venture to prophesy, and | am no
prophet nor the son of prophet, that
fifty years from this day will see many
specifcs. Already we have thyroid
extracts in myxoedema, possibly bone
marrow in progressive anaema, and
there seems to be no limit that human
ewes can foresee TO the possibilities of
serum theraphy or of prophylatic treat
ment. What part shall we OF the
Mountain State have in the history OF
medicines great future?
ITO revert again TO the sentiment
OF our motto, we are freemsn by virtue
of being m0untaineers. What is the
price of freedom? The truth Seek
the truth. and the truth shall make
YOU free-free to be useful; free to be
great. We must first. in honest truth
with ourselves, appreciate the helpless
ness Of our treatment in so many di-
rections. ard there is hope for us to
rise to the plane OF
THE GREAT FUTURE
of perfecter therapy. There is not
a single man Of us here who has not
sat in therapeutic impotence at the
bedside of a patient OF whose disease
he had made an absolutely certain
diagnosis, of whose cure he had made
an absolutely hopeless prognosis. feel
ing in his heart at the same time that
the Good God of all has put somewhere
among the human possibilities the
means OF ameliorating, and perhaps
even curing. But the curse o. Adam is
still upon us-'by the sweat OF thy
brOw'-there is a price. We must
solve the riddle by earnest and con-
tinued endeavor. Are we doing our
part? Let each one ask himself.
Doubtless your President will not be
the only one who is obliged to hang
his head at the thought of the answer
TO that question.
we are apt to assuage our con-
science by the thought that we are so
far removed from the advantages for
investigation possessed by the great
| centres OF the world, that much can
not be expected of us. We are special
| pleaders too often in thinking so.
There is no place that will not serve for
keen observation and for