The San Francisco call., 1903-12-12
Curious CnreS.


BY W. r. c. LATSON NJ y.
editor Health Culture Magazine New York;
copyright, 1908, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
The history of medicine is the his
tory at once of human error and hu-
man progress. In no other field have
prejudice and superstituticn held more
powerful and more deadly sway. In
none have there been more arduous re-
search and unfiagging effort to achieve
the object aimed at. the cure of human
weakness ard disease
AS Bacon said, "The complexity of
the universe exceeds the subtlety of
man." and in no respect is this more
strikingly true than in regard to the
human body. In spite of laboricus and
painstaking study by thousands of de-
voted students, we know but little of
the human body. If it be true to-day
as all students of physiology must ad-
mit-that, compared with astronomy,
physics or mathematics, the science of
physiology is merely in its infancy, how
much more must it have been true in
those days when men had to depend for
their information upon practitioners
unaided by the light Of modern science.
In addition to entire ignorance of the
organism he was supposed to repair.
the physician all through the ages has
been at another great disadvantage.
His very anxiety to heal the patient
has been a stumbling block, and has
led him to seek always the strange and
curious through his own superstitious
hope that in some mystical manner
r.-1,a
commonplace measures would not
Another cause of error has arisen in
consequence OF the fact that every dis
order is in reality a duality-a condi
tion presenting two distinct although
interdepende-t phases. First of all, we
have the actual physical arrangement,
the disease; secondly, we have the pa
tents mental state, his own concep-
ton of his condition. Any remedy
which affects the patients mind has
an immediate influence upon the bodily
condition. II he be encouraged and
made more sanguine there is an i'm
mediate invigoration of all vital activi-
ties, and recovery is facilitated. If by
any means the patient be disheartened
or depressed, there is immediate and
marked increase of all unfavorable
symptoms, and the chances of recov-
cry are lessened by just so much A
remedy, then, which is in itself quite
useless. or even harmful, may by ap-
pealing to the patients agination, so
as tc arouse anticipation of relief, con-
duce TO his recovery. The same drug
given TO a patient who lacked faith in
it and in the doctor who prescribed it
would be quite unavailing or harmful.
We can readily understand how the
doctor of the olden times, finding that
strange and weird prescriptions pro-
duced good effects and quite ignorant
Of the physical principle involved
should have been led to believe that
the curative power lay in the strange
ness Of his compound and should have
striven to make his prescription even
more and more strange and impressive
DR.. Ambrose Parey, a famous Eng
nsh doctor, published in 1879 book on
medical practice which was for many
years an accepted authority on medi-
cine and surgery. One of the remedies
on which he places greatest confidence
as a medicament Of general application
Is ..mummie." "Afummie'' he describes
as "a liquor flowing from the aromatic
emDalmmenlS OF uedu DouleS, winch
become dry and hard"
Parey was evidently believer in
water cure, and had some dim idea of
the beneficial results sometimes follow
ing physiologic shock His methods,
however. were rather drastic. After
deecanting on the value Of certain
measures he goes on to say: Il would
not cast the patients out Of the window
but would rather cast them suddenly
and thinking Of no such thing, into a
great cistern filed with cold water,
with their heads foremost. Neither
wou1d take them. out until they had
drunk a great quantity Of water. so
that by sudden fail and strong fear
the frenzy might be carried from above
downward. from the noble parts TO the
| ignob1e parts.