The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-09-23
Old Time Medicine.
Old timers Consider Quackery of the Past.

Grafton of Old methods OF all kinds, tor,
as a matter of fact, we build upon the
foundations OF past Xperience-mistakes,
perhaps, | should say; for mankind are
set of blunderers, who rarely know
enough to profit by their experiences,
though in rare instances they do, and this
leads to reform and progress. Why, even
to-day, there are good people who, | am
convinced, would refuse to be saved (as
the conventional religious term s), unless
it were by the orthodox methods which
they had been taught We're the only true
ones. Orthodoxy, in such cases, means
simply an adherence to old customs and
methods of belief. Man is a strange ami
NAL, and what may seem strangest of all
in our consideration of him is that he is
not simply, but complexly-an animal,
subject to many, if not most, of the i'd
osyncrasies pertaining to a complex sys-
TEN Of inherited intelligence and Inherit
ed tendencies, modified, of course, by en-
vironment, and what may be called adap-
liability TO the conditions which dominate
his life.
among the more remarkable of the
old time medical decisions were, the cure
by sympathy, royal touch, and animal
magnetism. Sounder views of medical
practice we've entertained by degrees; but
enough of the old leaven of folly and SUI
perStitiOn has, at different times. shown it.
self, to prove that human nature will
never be free from the imputation of lend
ing itself, either from vanity, incidence, OF
ignorance, to forward the views of ridicu-
ious OF unpnnclpled. empiricism, the dis
cIpleS of which would, nevertheless, be
the tlrSt to disbelieve OF dispute similar
assertions or arguments, when applied to
the exercise of other professions or
trades.
The first medical delusion to be noted
is The cure by sympathy. What is now
the common method of healing wounds,
appeared most unnatural to the surgeons
at the end of the 18th century; and their
legitimate and only cure proved such tor
ture 10 the unhappy patients, that, in
those days, nothing was to be heard in
the hospitals, at the time of dressing
wounds, but bowling and cries. A man
proposing the doctrine of adhesion of
wounds by union of their edges. would
have been despised; but if he were bold
and cunning enough to give an air of in
cantatioR to his cures, or declared that
they We're performed by secret philoso-
phical sympathy, he was sure of success.
No surgeon in Europe ventured to unite
wounds directly, without pretending to
have learned from some eastern sage, or to
have discovered by abstruse studies in
philosophy and alchemy, a sympathetic
OF philosophical mode of cure. The first
inventor of the sympathetic powder was
the celebrated Paracelsus, al d the Paracel-
sian doctors iiourished in England when
Dr.. Charleton wrote his ternary of para
doxes, chiefly on the magnetic or attrac-
tive power OF wounds.
Sir kenelm Digby, secretary of Charles
l.. was driven into exile during the civil
wars. In discourse upon the cure by
sympathy, pronounced at Montpelier be
lore an assembly OF mobiles and learned
men, he gave the curious case of Mr.
Howell, who, while endeavoling to part
two OF his friends who We're fighting, had
his hand cut to the bone. Sir kenelm was
applied to for assistance 4 told him.
says he, i would willingly serve him: but
il. baply, he knew the manner how |
would cure him, without touching or see
ing him, it may be he would not expose
himself to my manner OF curing because
he would think it, peradventu1e. either
'A'fA .
The wonderful things which many have
related unto me of your way of medicine
lnent makes me nothing doubt at all OF its
efficacy, and all l have to say to you is
cohprehended in the Spanish proverb:
Let the miracle be done though Ma
homet do it, | asked him then for
anything that had the blood upon it; so
he presently sent for his garter, where
WITH his hand was first bound, and dis
solving some vitriol in basin of water.
put IN the garter observing i'll the interim
what MI. Howell did. He suddenly start
ed, as II he had found some strange alter
aIlOn IN himself. | asked him what he
alled? L know not what ails me, but |
ma that feel no more pain; methinks
that a pleasing kind of freshness, as it
We're a wet cold napkin, did spread over
my band, Which hath taken away the in
1ammatlOn that tormented me before
lepIeo, Since then that you feel already
SO good effect of my medicament, | advise
you to cast away all your plaisters, only
Keep the wound clean, and in a moderate
temper betwixt heat and cold To be
brlef, there was no sense of pain after
ward; but within five OF six days the
wounds We're cicatrized and entirely heal.
ed. -"
The King obtained from Sir kenelm
this discovery of his secret, which he pre-
tended had been taught him by Carme-
lite friar, who had learned it in Armenia
OF Persia. The fact was, the sympathet-
ical physicians understood the cure of
wounds by adhesion more perfectly than
others; but it was necessary to cheat the
world into this safe method of cure, and
they declined TO use it altogether where
they foresaw, from the nature of the
wound, ii could not succeed. The public
opinion would have been SO strong against
any open innovation, that the sympathetic
doctors got credit fer something like
witchcraft, and condescended to dress
axes and swords that the wounds might
have leave to lie at rest till they healed.
All cures by adhesion were mysteriously
performed, and one in particular, called
the secret of dressing, in which great
pains were taken before laying the lips of
the wound together to suck out all the
blood. This was chiefly used by drum
mers in regiments Co conceal the quarrels
of the soldiers. The trick of this method
of cure consisted in making grimaces and
contortions, signing their patients with
the cross, and muttering between their
teeth some unintelligible jargon. Their
care was to keep this secret of treatment
among themselves, and it was from the
DrOfanatiOn of the sion of the cross that