27 



treatment for uialnria, as for most other diseases, was bleeding, purging 

 and vomiting, and the use of calomel, whisky and bark, the latter in time 

 displaced by quinine. 



In the course of time the pains and aches 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 restraining 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 expressed his admiration at the skill of the oculist who had 

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

 "But I spoiled haif a bushel of eyes in learning to perform that operation." 



Gradually the "isms" and "pathies" of medicine appeared, most of 

 them a protest against some of the absurdities of the old practitioners. 

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

 rests — anatomy, bacLeriolog.v, chemistry, and so on, ;ire free from them: 

 but when it comes to therapeutics or treatment, one-half of the doctors 

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

 gradually accumulating and in the coiirse of time tliere will be a science 

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

 place, and many of the drugs of today only a minor one. 



With the advance of civilization a number of well defined diseases 

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

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

 dignity of a disease. Prescriliing becomes largely a jirescribing for symp- 

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

 only as a last resort. Many are unwilling to pay the physicfan 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 stud.v or to attend the meetings of their medical society, much 

 less attend and take j»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, ue\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 contributetl to the annual Transactions of the Indiana 

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

 contributions, many make none at all. 



IMedicai. Schools : For a l(,«ng time oiu- State had no school for the 

 education of physicians and the more ambitious students of medicine had 



