644 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



being: to which he should seek to raise hiin. In the address to which 

 reference has already been made, Professor Huxley says : " A scorner 

 of physic once said that Nature and disease may be compared to two 

 men fighting, the doctor to a blind man with a club who strikes into 

 the 7nttie, sometimes hitting the disease and sometimes hitting Nat* 

 ure. The matter is not mended if you suppose the blind man's hear- 

 ing to be so acute that he can register every stage of the struggle, and 

 pretty clearly predict how it will end. He had better not meddle at 

 all till his eyes are opened." This predicament of the blind man is 

 probably not unfamiliar to every doctor, for at best human skill and 

 knowledge often reach their limit before the disease does, but cer- 

 tainly every physician should be ready to exert himself to the full 

 extent of his power to open his eyes as far as possible, to be as little 

 blind and as seldom as may be. And as a blind man may be able to 

 prevent a conflict which, once begun, he can not control, so the doctor 

 may have sufficient knowledge to prevent disease which he can not 

 heal. He may often be more certain of his position as a preventer 

 than as a healer of sickness. 



Although man stands at the head of creation, it does not neces- 

 sarily follow that he has reached his highest possible position. It 

 seems entirely reasonable to believe that a more thorough dissemina- 

 tion of sanitary knowledge and its more complete application in com- 

 mon, every-day life would develop a race of men longer-lived, more 

 vigorous, happier, and better than any yet seen. It may be too late 

 to do very much with this generation, but may there not be hope for 

 the next, and the next after that ? What might not a few, generations 

 of right living, right feeling, right thinking men do for the race ? 

 Here, then, are opportunities within the grasp of the physician of the 

 future such as await no one else opportunities for useful, helpful 

 work such as never before inspired the mind or stirred the heart of 

 the professional student ; such a privilege of effectually aiding in the 

 advancement of the human race, of making it nobler and better. 



Such opportunities well used must bring upon those to whom they 

 are given a glorious benediction. 



It should not escape the notice of the physician that this golden 

 future will not inevitably be his to whom by right it belongs. By 

 right, if he seizes it and holds it ; but, if he does not, it must slip from 

 him, as it should. Already many of the leaders in sanitary movements 

 are not from among medical men. These, many of them, fail to appre- 

 ciate their privilege ; they do not see what is before them, but are so 

 busily engaged in search of some pill or potion which may or which 

 may not cure some disease, that they can not see the treasure which 

 lies just within reach. The whole work of medicine is important, 

 and the search after remedies should not be abandoned as useless, 

 neither should it take the place of greater and more important labors. 

 It is a noble thing to give time and strength to the discovery of means 



