The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-07-13

| that afternoon. II was commonly said
that the calling of medical man was ex-
ceedinsly dull. He thought, perhaps, ne
would be able TO show them that the pro-
| fession of medicine was, from any stand
point they liked TO view it from, q pro-
fession OF romance. He supposed the ex-
ploits Of a discoverer belonged certainly
10 the province OF romance. a man who
sailed into unknown seas, who weathered
mysterious capes, and crept into silent
bays-such man had always been sur
rounded with bright halo of romance.
but the discoveries IN medicine had been
not in a single degree less romantic II
they thought of the curious worlds that
! had been discovered by men like Pasteur,
Lister, Koch. and many others, they
would imagine that TO sort Of fantastic
story that had been pinned on 10 the
travels Of the past could exceed such dis
coveries in the quality Of romance.
medical men had discovered no new
Hesperides. they had certainly travelled
very far into that mysterious valley. the
valley of the shadow OF death; and
although there might be no man there
present like a new Columbus to discover
a new continent OF America, there might
be in that theater one who would discov-
er-for there must be such man soon
fcrthcoming-a cure for the disease
known as cancer If they thought of it,
the parallel was very close between the
destruction of the dragon by St. George
and the discoveries in connection with
tuberculosis. There was disease devas-
tating this country. and others. too, and
laying low the very primest lives within
it. And then came the determined de-
struction of that disease, and the manner
IN which it had been followed out was ro-
mantle to a degree He did not think
there was anything in all their profession
more solemnly tragic than the picture of
Laennec, who, after years of study. held
on a point Of a needle a little minute
speck Of tissue and said: 4 have found
the seed Of tuberculosis. it is here on the
point of needle" That poor, pale. hard
working man. after years of patient
search, could isolate on one little point
what he considered then TO be the seed
of this dire complaint And if they went
a step further and tried 20 picture what
really was meant when Koch could iso-
late and demonstrate the bacillus Of tn
bercolosis, they would realize that that
man had practically reached the very
pinnacle of philosophical inquiry. Beyond
that little speck there was a complete
mystery Of life, there was the absolute
shadow on the one side. there was the
light Of this world as we knew it on the
other.
There was no sort of detective story
that had ever been written that could in
any way surpass the story of the mys-
teries of malaria and the manner in
which it was tracked down and finally re-
vealed. Of all sorry figures a surgeon in
an apron that did not fit him. and did not
seem to be a suitable garment, standing
alone in silent operating theatre, was, /
he supposed, as little romantic as a girder |
ir a modern railway station; but there /
might be times when that man was as
much a matter of interest as the old hero
of romance who stod with his back to a /
wall with rapier in his hand facing 4
great odds There was a depth Of r0- I
nance in some applications of that /
branch of the profession which could /
hardly be exceeded by what were called /
the romantic stories OF the present time. /
1t was a romantic profession throughout /
its two extremes with little village doc |
tor at one end of the scale and the army |
surgeon who earned the Victoria cross on
the battle field at the other. In war it
was difficult TO say where the romance
was to be found. 1t might be in the
trenches. but he fancied a great deal Of
It lay behind the trenches. In watching
the advance Of the army to what was af-
forwards the field of the battle of Colen-
so. he thought the greatest interest at
tached to the four wagons of the bearer
companies with e red cross huttering
above them that were to go onto the fed
the next day to remove the wounded. OF
all circumstances connected with the bat
tie field such as that of Colenso, he
thought when the story was told, the
most romantic would be found in the hos
oital in which all the wounded of that
oattle field were collected. In conclusion
Sir Frederick Treves made a protest
against the tendency which was creeping
nto the profession to use anything but
me hands in medical practice. lie said
{ was too much the practice TO trust TO
he results of analysis in the laboratory,
% the use of X-rays, and TO other similar
lids to medicine and surgery rather than
o use of the hands.-London Times.