The theocrat. [volume] (Zion City [i.e. Zion], Ill.) 1914-1949, 1919-10-04

a great deal; doctors-devilish little. when
they don't do any harm. Let me tell you,
gentlemen, what I did when [ was phy-
sician at the Hotel Dieu: Some three or
tour thousand patients passed through my
hands every year. [ divided the patients
INTO two classes; with one [ followed the
dispensary and gave the usual medicine,
without having the least idea why or where
tore; to the others gave bread pills and
| colored water, without, of course, letting
them know anything about it and OCCASION
ally, gentlemen, [ would create a third
division, to whom [ would give nothing
whatever. These last would feel that they
were neglected, but nature invariably came
to the rescue, and all of the third class got
we'll There was but little mortality among
those who received the bread pills and
colored water, but the mortality was great
est among those who were carefully drugged
according to the dispensary"
Prof. William Cullen, M. D., famous
teacher, lecturer, and author of the world
renowned Treatise on Materia Medica, pub
llshed the following "Our Materia Medicas
are filled with innumerable false deductions,
which are nevertheless said to be derived
from experience
Prof Martin Payne, M D. said: drugs
do but cure one disease by producing an
other"
In the Philadelphia Record April 9, 1905,
Or. 5. Soils Cohen said: "Unti1 quite re-
Gently one of the most eficacious remedies
for tuberculosis in it's mider forms was
raw meat, which was given the patient at
least once a day, but after a time we dis
covered that this had tendency to gen
crate tapeworms, and as a result the treat
ment is now practically obsolete"
John Mason Good, NJ D., F. R. S., author
Of the Study of Medicine, in that work says: /:
! "The science of medicine is a barbarous
Jargon, and the effects of our medicines on
the human system are in the highest degree
uncertain, except, indeed, that they have
destroyed more lives than war; pestilence,
and famine combined.'
DR.. Reid said: "More infanti1e subjects
are perhaps destroyed by the mortar and
pestle than in the ancient Bethlehem fell
victims in one day to the Herodian mas
sacre"
The celebrated Dr. Ramage said: "It
cannot be denied that the present system
of medicine is a burning shame to its pro-
tessors, if, indeed, series Of vague and
uncertain incongruities deserves to be called
by that name How rarely do our medi-
clnes do good! How often do they make
our patients really worse! I fear1essly as
sert that in most cases the sufferer would
be safer without physician than with one
have seen enough of the malpractice of
my own professional brethren to warrant
the strong language employ"
The venerable Prof Alex H. Stephens,
M. D., of the New York College of Ply
sicians and Surgeons, said: "The older
physicians grow the more skeptica1 they
become of the virtues of medicine, and the
more they are disposed to trust to the
powers of nature
Francis Adams, A. NJ, M. D., IL. D.,
M. R. c. S., said: "We cannot think of the
changes in professional opinions since the
days Of John Hunter without the most
painful feelings of distrust in all modes of
treatment"
John Sti1eman Bostock, M. R. C. S.,
L. S. A., in his history Of medicine, says
"And in the space of less than forty years
we have gone through three revolutions of
opinion with respect to our treatment Of
typhoid, disease of very frequnt occur
renee and Of the most decisive and urgent
symptoms"
DR.. Adam Smith said: "The chief cause
of quackery outside the profession is the
real quackery in the profession"
Prof. Rei1 said: "Our knowledge of the
effects of medicine is empirical"
Thomas Smith, F. R. c. S., the great sur
geon wrote: medicine as a whole, as it
comes to us, has none of the exact laws of
science, nor are its doctrines capable of de-
monstration."
, Deitrfck George Kiesser, a great physi-
clan and highly esteemed authority in
medicine said: "In many cases the old say
ing holds good, that the remedy is worse
than the disease, and the doctor does more
mischief than the malady."
| From medical journal of April, 1904,
we clip the following: Drug treatment is
; useless in cases of pneumonia. The medi-
cal profession, SO far as medicines are con-
cerned, can be of no assistance in the fight
against this disease. The sooner the pro-
fession will acknowledge this to the public
and set to work to discover some specific
to save pneumonia patients, the better for
all concerned"
This startling statement by DR.. Arthur
| d. Bevan, who stands high in the profes-
| sion, has stirred up the members of the Chi
cago Medical Society at their meeting. Sew
eral physicians sprang to their feet to pro-
test against this arraignment. All had to
admit however, that there is no definite
remedy known, and they based their pro-
tests solely on the fact that they might in
fluence the patient favoraby and cure him