insufficient judgment. We propose to obviate that difficulty by
enlightening the people as to the structure and functions of their
bodies, the causes, character, and symptoms of disease, and by
indicating the proper and judicious employment of our medicines,
together with such auxiliary treatment as may be necessary. Such is one
of the designs of this volume.


PROPERTIES OF MEDICINE.


It is generally conceded that the action of a remedy upon the human
system depends upon properties peculiar to it. The effects produced
suggest the naming of these qualities, which have been scientifically
classified. We shall name the diseases from their characteristic
symptoms, and then, without commenting upon all the properties of a
remedy, recommend its employment. Our reference to the qualities of any
remedy, when we do make a particular allusion to them, we shall endeavor
to make as easy and familiar as possible.

DOSE. All persons are not equally susceptible to the influence of
medicines. As a rule, women require smaller doses than men, and children
less than women. Infants are very susceptible to the effects of
anodynes, even out of all relative proportion to other kinds of
medicines. The circumstances and conditions of the system increase or
diminish the effects of medicine, so that an aperient at one time may
act as a cathartic at another, and a dose that will simply prove to be
an anodyne when the patient is suffering great pain will act as a
narcotic when he is not. This explains why the same dose often affects
individuals differently. The following table is given to indicate the