27 



ti-fiitiiu'iit lor niaiiiriii. as tor most otlu'V <liseases. was bloodiii.u;, imrjiiiifi 

 and voiuitiuu. and tlu' use of calomel, whisky ami bark, the latter in time 

 displaced by (ininine. 



In the course of time the pains and aciies of civilization came in. I 

 have heard old settlers speak of them as "new-fangled diseases," and 

 there came also a revulsion against old methods of treatment. In the 

 absence of restraiuinij; medical laws, a host of practitioners soon appeared : 

 some of these became quite skillful, but one is reminded of the story of 

 the man who e-\pressed his admiration at the skill of the oculist who had 

 just operated on him ; the oculist admitted that be was skilled, adding;, 

 "But I spoiled half a bushel of eyes in learnina; to perform that operation." 



Gradually the "isms" arid ••pathies" of medicine appeared, most of 

 them a i)rotesL ajiainst some of the absurdities of the old practitioners. 

 There are no "isms" nor 'pathies" among the sciences on which medicine 

 rests — anatomy, bacteriology, chemistry, and so on, are free from them ; 

 but wlum it comes to therapeutics or treatment, one-half of the doctor? 

 think the other half wrong. However a number of established facts are 

 gradually accumulating and in the course of time there will be a science 

 of therapeutics, in which serum therapy will, no doubt, hold a prominent 

 place, and many of the drugs of today only a nn'nor one. 



With the advance of civilization a nuinl)er of well defined diseases 

 tend to diminish, but with a massing of humanity a host of ills tend to 

 increase. There are any nmnlier of affections that scarcely rise to the 

 dignicy of a disease. I'rescribing becomes largely a ])rescribing for symp- 

 toms, and many of the sick do their own prescril)ing; some go to a physician 

 only as a last resort. INIany are unwilling to pay the physician for the 

 time it takes to investigate, and so the physician himself simply prescribes 

 for the symptoms. Some physicians are so busy doing this that they have 

 no time for study or to attend the meetings of their medical society, much 

 less attend and take ])art in the deliberations of any scientific society. The 

 bane of the scientific physician is the busy practitioner who flits from one 

 patient to another, iie\er studying any case in detail nor taking time for 

 study, or manifesting any interest in the progress of medicine. The number 

 of men who have contributed to the annual Transactions of the Indiana 

 State Medical Society is remarkably small ; where a few make frequent 

 contributions, many malve none at all. 



MedicxVT. Schoot.s : For a long time our State had no school for the 

 education of ' physicians and the more ambitious students of medicine had 



