CHAPTER VII. 



FAILURE OF MEDICAL SCIENCE. 



Why medicine fails to cure disease is a proposition 

 that we have all, at some time or other, probably asked 

 ourselves. It is an important problem, and one that 

 should be solved. But, at the outset, I am reminded of 

 a question which, it is said, was once proposed to the 

 Roman senators: ''Why does a pail of water with a 

 fish swimming in it weigh no more than the same pail 

 of water without the fish ? " It is said that a long dis- 

 cussion took place over this, and that various explana- 

 tions were suggested, until some one fell back on experi- 

 ment, and then it was discovered that the water with 

 the fish in it did weigh more. 



So, in the question, why does medicine fail to cure 

 disease ? I may be required to show first that it does 

 fail. I have no objection to this ; on the contrary, it is 

 a logical and a proper way to proceed, clearing as we 

 go. At the same time the too frequent failure of medi- 

 cine as a science must be evident to every observer. We 

 have no right to ask that the doctors shall cure under 

 aU circumstances and all conditions. But we all know 

 quite well that medicine fails when we are justified in 

 looking for success. Physicians themselves are aware 

 that, while their best talent and abilities may be given 

 to a patient, he nevertheless dies, and often they live to 

 look back upon the case with regrets that, with in- 

 creased knowledge of Nature, a different result might 

 have been attained. 



All medicines that are employed to-day, whether inor- 

 ganic or organic, should be antiseptics — that is, agents 

 capable of preventing fermentation. Now, there are 

 many such in use by the medical profession, and in 



