Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-04-27
a question which admits Of discussion
on its merits, regardless of the inability
of the Standard to tackle it.
IS MEDICINE ON TRIAL?

city--first, that 40 per- cent of the cases
of pneumonia are fatal, and, second,
thai the disease is not pneumonia. 1t
will be impossible for the average citizen
to properly appreciate or understand
either proposition. There are a great
many fatalities-that is evident to all,
but the percentage is a matter which can
be estimated in a general way only. 1t
erage laid down by the physicians. Ger
tain it is that when the disorder attacks
a person who is ripe for it's nroads the
distance between the first symptoms and
the graveyard appears to be very short.
Whether thisb be the fault of the disease.
or the inability of the doctors to properly
handle it, is a matter that is open to
debate.
If it be conceded by any number of
reputable physicians that the supposed
pneumonia is in fact something entirely
puzzling to their plans of treatment,
still greater is the reason why the matter
should be i~ntelligently discussed. There
seems to be no doubt as to the practical
inability Of medical science. or the rep
resentatives of that science, to success
fully cope with the trouble in a very
large number of cases. The situation
forces upon the public mind doubts as to
the adequacy of the experimental science
OF medicine. Granting that the disease
is a new one, or, to use a more cOnven-
tional form Of expression. "a complica-
ton of diseases" the symptoms ought to
suggest to a well grounded science The
remedies that should be applied. Inso-
far as it does not do 50. the science Of
medicine fails to justify the faith reposed
in it.
Investigation would doubtless demon
strate that the failure Of the ordinary
remedies is due in large part to the in
ability Of the stomach to carry out it's
functional duties. The letting down of
that organ prevents the system from
uliiIAlIIS lIdl WHICH lIIdy VIC IAlcl IOuS
in medicine on the one hand, or throw
ing off the poisons incorporated on the
other hand. The various organs of the
body cannot be reached through the
stomach, when that important organ
fails to perform the extra duties inn
posed upon it by the taking of copious
%draughts of medicine. Hence, the large
number of fatalities.
Undoubtedly, home remedies in the
shape of outward applications have been
much more effective in the treatment of a
able to cope, than the effort to unloosen
the iron grip Of death from the lungs by
!! pouring drugs into a disordered stomach.
If the disorder is one which the doctors.
do not understand, and the percentage Of
fatalities is SO great i'll proportion to the
number taken sick, experimentation in
one direction is about as valuab!e as in
another, if the net result is to be the
death Of the patient.
One lesson is certainly taught by the
situation, n that is that the medical
profession should c~riticise With becoming
modesty schools of medicine and systems
of treatment that differ from their own.
No truth is greater than that which is
food for one man may be poison to another,
when his system is racked with disease,
and some despised homespun remedy will
frequently rescue a patient who would
speedily surrender unde the scientific
treatment of the day. This is the eX-
perience of the world under ordinary con-
ditions, and situations like the present
merely emphasize the fact.
But mankind is so accustomed to trav-
cling in ruts, and prejudices become SO
fixed, that We're one patient to die under !
the treatment of some so-called fad,
without calling in a regular" physician,
a storm of protests woul be raised, and
his heirs and assigns would find them
selves in court to answer to the law for
their neglect But no question is rails
ed in connection with the dozens who
with their internal viscera drenchel with
drugs.
7HEY CANNOT AGREE.
Indications point to the apparent i'm