Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1897-04-09
%fashlngton Standard
ROB Gil On THE MEDlCOS.
DO Eminent Practitioners FELL the
truth. or Il II an exhibition of
..RIIc.S..

DO Eminent fT1CtfOnfrS bcll tnt
truth. or Il 1t an exhibition OF
"BiIe..'
y correspondent ri one "f ON Ore
@on exchanges. III abiding to 4 recent
disagreement among physicians rc'
uardiug 4 matter ui professional prac.
ticr. suggests the question. i there
any virtue in the ~1-rall"d science Of
n.,dHrin"? l. not the '>cirncc' practl'
daily matter OF opiniom?' The cor
respondent atlirm~ that only those VIII,
have regulations that are secure can
afford t. tel the truth about then
business. an assertion that is horne
out hv one Of the oldest and most sue
cc-siul practitioners in this city, who
lately asserted that Medical practice
was, after all, matter OF guess-w"rk
and that the true doctor depended
more on the rccupcrative action OF ia.
turc inspired by confidence and care
ful nursing. than III any virtues OF
mdterin medical" And as this is 4
matter of doctors we quote 4 few emil
ncdt men in that profession on points
that it might be presumption for n
laymcn to criticisc.
Hear what James Johnson, NJ. d.,
+. r. S., editor of the Medico- Chirur-
gical RerieW says: Il declare rs my
conscientious conviction, founded on
long experience and reflection, that if
there was not a single physician, sur
geon, man-midwife, chemist, apothe-
cary, druggist, nor drug on the face Of
the earth there would be less sickness
and less mortality than now prevail"
John Mason GoOde, NJ. d., +. II. s.,
author of "Goode's Study of Medi-
cine" says: "The effects o; our med
icines on the human system are in the
highest degree uncertain, except, in
deed, that they have destroyed more
lives than war, pestilence and famine
combined"
The Dublin Medical Journal says ::
ASsuredly the uncertain and most I'M
satisfactory art called medical science
is no science at all, but Il tumble OF in
consistent opinions, of conclusions
hastily and often incorrectly drawn, Of
facts misunderstood, of comparisons
without analogy, of hypothesis with
out reason and of theories not only
useless but dangerous"
DIR. Alonzo Clark, q professor in the
New York College of Physicians and
Surgeons, says: ain their zeal to do
good, physicians have hurried many to
the grave, who would have recovered
if left to nature"
Prof. J. w. Carson of the same col
lege says: ave do not know whether
our patients recover because We give
them medicine or because nature
cures Them"
DIR. Oliver Wendell Holmes says: :
Mankind would be infinitely better
off if all drugs were cast into the sea,
but it would be bad for the fishes"
DIR. Bostwick, author of the His
tory of Medicine" says: Every dose
of medicine given is blind expert
ment on the vitality of the patient"
Is there, then, asks the correspond
ent, any difference between the super
stition of the civilized and the heather
medicine man? OF course the civil
lized doctor has had the advantage Of
schools, and ought thereby to know
much more; but, alas, while he does
not seek to drive out the malignant
demon by drums and lamentations, he
"goes for it" with the deadly mercury
and no less fatal hyperdermic syringe.
The Indian medicine man "holds
down his job" because of his shrewd-
ness and capacity to work upon the
credulity of his fellows. The civilized
medicine man has the same leverage,
and, in addition, he has captured the
strong arm of the law to enable him to
"hold up the community. He has
the power of the State government be.
fore him and behind him, and in many
places he has caused laws to be enact
ed which forbid a man dying unless
by the aid of legally accredited physi-
clans or the hangman.