The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-04-13
THE FAMILY DOCTOR.
He is in Everything That Stirs the Domes
tic Life.
From the Nc,v York Eucni,g Post.
tic Life.

wife may plead with an obstinate nus
band, mother may argue with an I'M
prudent daughter or a reckless son.
and find that her efforts have no more
result than that which spray may
have upon New England rock; but
let medical man get his hand upon
the pulse or his trained ear over the
lungs. and the whole face Of things is
changed. No more late hours, nc
more dancing in thin. gowns, no more
nightly revelling. It is study worth
pursuing, this yielding Of the strong,
this SOLDERING Of the frivolous, this
checking Of life's waste, at the bid
ding Of a man whose only authority
lies in respect for his profound knowl-
edge and confidence in his truthful
speech. H.ever one needed demon
stration that knowledge was power,
here it is. "The Son of Sirach'
seems to have had many thonghts up
on the subject Of physicians, as he
put his shrewd Hebraic lessons into
shape. sHonor the physician with
the honor due unto him. he says en-
phatically, but he adds with grim sug-
gestion that he had at times suffered
10
many things at the hands Of the medi-
cal men Of his time: He that sinneth
against his Maker, let him fall into
the hands of the physicians. . There
is an inexpressible force in these last
words which leave many possibilities
samusingly open to imagination, and |
fear me that there are American, 18th
century, atirmations Of the preachers $
idea Of condign punishment easily OBJ
tained.
Eagerness of research and thirst for
provings have altered somewhat the
course Of medical thought. It has be-
come possible for the man best fur
nished to be least able to take the du-
ties Of 'sfamily physician. How
and why rule too rigidly his contact
with disease; Investigation. becomes
the almost absorbing influence of his
life. Men become specimens i'm his
y
eyes. and he is less eager to prolong
the beatings Of q laboring. heart than
to know why it threatens to stop its
work. Experiment, which teaches, is
too dear to the discoverer, the oppor-
tunity Of research too precious in his
eyes, to leave room for ministry to the
agony of hearts whose only disease is
grief, while they await his decision.
Unless rumor is false to the core.
much hospital practice is touched with
danger through the boldness of pro-
gressiye scientists, who dare too much
rather than forfeit the proving Of a
theory.
But my bent to-day is far from
critical; my mind turns with delight
rather to the expression Of gratitude
ne owe to the men whose coming is
the harbinger Of comfort if it cannot
be Of cure, and Of whom we can say
without irreverence that "their com
passions fail not
The .Hippocratic oath covers as
with shield the laying bare of the
secret family histories which the fami-
ely physician knows as no one else but
God can know. This solemn promise
of secrecy is unnecessary to the man
most fitted for the confidence reposed
in him, but it binds those of lower
character by stern repression. Not
infrequently the doctor knows what
the husbands love is guarding from
his wife anxious eyes, sparing her
while he may; and, perhaps, at the
same time holds her secret, too. No
skeleton can be closed in locked
closet from his eyes. IF the mothers
strength fails and her cheek grows
pale without any token of disease, he
has to know that wakeful, fearful
nights over child's misdoings are
sapping her vitality. If business
mans strength fails and his hand
trembles, he has to find out that it is
closed mill or false debtor that is
shaking his nerve power. If a youth
is brought to him for cure, he must
learn whether he is poisoning himself
with alcohol, or draining his strength
by dissipation. Nothing can be hid
den. Men and women come and go
and the fair surface of exterior life is
as beautiful and sparkling in the
worlds eyes as if nothing was wrong
beneath; but if the doctor should
chance to have time to mingle with
the other guests, he wonders at the
Spartan courage which upholds the
harrassed man and half-despairing
woman on whose shoulders the order