ON SPECIFIC THERAPEUTICS. 3 



About the middle of the last century the 

 influence of these inquiries made itself especi- 

 ally felt, and this influence is chiefly evident in 

 the mass of drugs with which the united efforts 

 of synthetic chemistry and pharmacology have 

 enriched us. But observers were content with 

 an advance in this direction, based on rational 

 grounds. They recognised a limited number of 

 atom-groupings, which were of importance either 

 for their therapeutic or their toxic action ; but 

 the drugs used were directed not against the 

 causes of disease but against the symptoms to 

 which these gave rise ; it was not the causes but 

 their effects which were combatted. Thera- 

 peutics were chiefly symptomatic, and so it is in 

 many cases to-day. Since the search after the 

 seat and cause of disease has, from the time of 

 Morgagni, and especially under the leadership 

 of Virchow's genius, influenced our entire field 

 of thought, the effect of these considerations has 

 become more evident in our treatment. The 

 features of an aetiological treatment, directed 

 against the causes and the seat of disease, were 

 not satisfactorily brought out by merely insisting 

 on the relationship which existed between the 

 constitution of drugs and their action ; the fact 

 was overlooked that between chemical constiU 



B 2 



