The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-27

| clan shall know how to apply the few
! great medicines which all have to use.
| such as qufnine. iron. mercury iodide of
potassium, opium and digitalis, rather than
a multiplicity of remedies the action of
| which is extremely doubtful.
! The growth of scientific pharrnacology.
| by which we now have many active prin.
| ciples instead of crude drugs. and the
discovery of the art of making medicines
| palatable. have been of enormous aid In
rational practice. There is no limit to the
possibility of help from the scientific in
vestiRation of the properties and action of
i drugs. At any day the new chemistry
+, may give to us remedies of extraordinary
potency and of as much usefulness as CO.
| caine. There is no reason why we should
/ not even in the vegetable world find for
certain diseases specifics of virtue fully
| equal to that of quinine in the malarial
| feyers
One of the most striking characteristics
of the modern treatment of disease is the
return to what used to be called the ma
| tural methods-diet. exercise. bathing. and
! massage. There probably never has been
a period in the history of the profession
when the value of diet in the prevention
and the cure of disease was more fully
recognized. Dyspepsia. the besetting NAL
ady Of this country, is largely due to i'm
proper diet. imperfectly prepared and too
hastily eaten. One of the great lessons
to be learned is that the preservation of
health depends In great part upon food
well cooked and carefully eaten. a com
mon cause of ruined digestion. particu-
larry in young girls. is the eating of
sweets between meals and the drinking
of the denominations dispensed in the
chemists shops in the form of ice cream
sodas etc. Another frequent cause of
ruined digestion in business men is the
hurried meal at the lunch counter. And
third factor. most important of all. illus
trates the old maxim, that more people
are killed by overeating and drinking than
by the sword. Sensible people have be-
gun to realize that alcoholic excuses lead
inevitably to impaired health. A man may
take four or five drinks of whisky day,
or even more, and think perhaps that
he transacts his business better with that
amount of stimulant; but IT only too fire.
quently happens that early in the fifth
decade just as business or political suc-
}
bills for payment in the form OF serious
disease of the arteries or of the liver; or
there is general breakdown. With the
introduction of light beer there has been
not only less intemperance. but a reduc-
ton in the number of the cases of or
ganic disease of the heart, liver, and
stomach, caused by alcohol. While tenn
perance in the matter of alcoholic drinks
is becoming a characteristic feature of
Americans. intemperance in the quantity
of food taken is almost the rule. Adults
eat far too much. and physicians are be-
ginning to recognize that the early de-
generations, particularly of the arteries
and of the kidneys. leading to Brights
disease. which were formerly attributed
to alcohol. are due in large part to too
much food.
NURSING.-Perhaps in no particular
does nineteenth century practice differ
from that of the preceding centuries more
than in the greater attention which Is
given to the personal comfort of the pa
tent and to all the accessories comprised
In the art OF nursing. The physician has
in the trained nurse assistant who ear
ries out his directions with watchful
care, and who is on the lookout for danger
signals. and with accurate notes enables
him to estimate the progress of critical
case from hour to hour. The intelligent
devoted women who have adopted the
profession of nursing are not only in their
minstrations public benefaction. but
they have Eightened the anxieties which
form so large "a part Of the load of the
Il