THE NEW YORK JOURNAL OF PHARMACY 



above all their morals are extremely ob- 

 lique, as shown by the recent investiga- 

 tions of the Carnegie Foundation for the 

 Advancement of Teaching. 



Likewise do I exclude from the true 

 medical sects a class including hydro- 

 therapists, electro-therapists, physio- 

 therapists and a few others. The inten- 

 tions of these people are in many 

 instances good, though in a fair percen- 

 tage evil also. As a matter of fact they 

 have no general education much less an 

 education in the biological sciences. They 

 know little or nothing of pathology, and 

 all have in common a pet idea. The 

 hydro-therapists treat every ailment to 

 which human flesh is heir, with water the 

 electro-therapists with electricity. Hydro- 

 therapy, likewise electro-therapy are both 

 branches of modern medicine. Taking 

 hydro-therapy for example, I might say 

 that it is a valuable branch of present- 

 day medicine. It has its uses chiefly in 

 the reduction of temperature in the feb- 

 rile diseases and in increasing the elimi- 

 native power of the skin in certain dis- 

 eases, particularly nephritis. It is, how- 

 ever, the greatest folly to treat (as the 

 hydro-therapists do), e. g., a retroverted 

 uterus by altering the temperature of the 

 body or by influencing the activity of 

 the skin, hoping thus to cure a purely 

 mechanical condition. Such methods as 

 these speak for themselves. The same 

 rationale applies to electricity, mechano- 

 therapy, etc., they all have a definite lim- 

 ited place in modern medicine and are 

 used when indicated by the modern 

 therapeutist. 



There still remains another class of 

 healers of which I must dispose before 

 discussing the medical sects proper. I 

 refer to the mental healers — Emmanuel- 



ists, Dowieists, etc. The power of mind 

 over matter is well recognized. Psycho- 

 therapy occupies a definite place in mod- 

 ern medicine. It is a fatal mistake, 

 however, to assume that because a neu- 

 rasthenic or hysteric can in eight cases 

 out of ten be cured by suggestion, hyp- 

 nosis, etc., that diabetes, Bright's disease 

 and cancer of the stomach are to be 

 treated exclusively by such, methods 

 This is clear to everyone, excepting the 

 Christian Scientists and their kind. I 

 have no doubt that the intentions of 

 these people are lofty in the extreme. 

 Their zeal, however, is fatally mis- 

 directed. They are to be pitied rather 

 than scorned, and looked upon as the 

 natural outcome of the great waves of 

 paranoia and hysteria which sweep the 

 country at periodic intervals. 



Having in brief reviewed the varied, 

 irrational modes of treating disease as a 

 whole, I come now to a discussion of the 

 true medical sects. The origin, credulity 

 in and promulgation of the medical sects 

 can be attributed to two prime causes, 

 viz. : 



1. An ignorance of the clinical mani- 

 festations of disease uninfluenced by 

 treatment of any kind, and 



2. An ignorance of the role whicli 

 mental influence plays in seemingly alter- 

 ing the clinical course of pathological 

 processes. 



To these two factors can be attributed 

 all the modes, sects, schools, absurd, semi- 

 absurd and otherwise wdiich have arisen 

 in medicine since its beginning 6,000 

 years ago. Considering the first reason, 

 no intelligent physician doubts its truth. 

 We can easily see why scores of drugs 

 were used in the treatment of pneumonia 

 during the past century. Each had its 



