RATIONAL MEDICINE.




CHAPTER I.

THE PROGRESS OF MEDICINE.


During the last half century a great change has taken place in the
treatment of disease. Medicine has advanced with rapid strides, from the
narrow limits of mere empiricism, to the broader realm of rationalism,
until to day it comprehends all the elements of an art and a science.
Scientific researches and investigations have added many valuable truths
to the general fund of medical learning, but much more has been effected
by observation and empirical discovery. It is of little or no interest
to the invalid to know whether the prescribed remedy is organic or
inorganic, simple, compound, or complex. In his anxiety and distress of
body, he seeks solely for relief, without regard to the character of the
remedial agents employed. But this indifference on the part of the
patient does not obviate the necessity for a thorough, scientific
education on the part of the practitioner. Notwithstanding all the laws
enacted to raise the standard of medicine, and thus protect the public
from quackery, there yet exists a disposition among many to cling to all
that savors of the miraculous, or supernatural. To insure the future
advancement of the healing art, physicians must instruct mankind in
Physiology, Hygiene, and Medicine. When the people understand the nature
of diseases, their causes, methods of prevention and cure, they will not