MEDICINE AND MORALS 



as regards their work in the treatment of 

 disease."* 



Numerous and vast as are these contribu- 

 tions to human weal, which ^Esculapius has 

 made already, society fixes demands upon 

 him which he has thus far only imperfectly 

 met. Not only must the crusaders on behalf 

 of therapeutics continue the onward march 

 as long as pain and disease keep up their 

 ravages; not only must ^Esculapius be a 

 torch-bearer for future generations as he is 

 a toiler for contemporaries; but even for 

 contemporaries he must do more and better 

 work. 



The scientific spirit still needs cultivation. 

 So recently as 1895, a scientist was describ- 

 ing to an eminent London physician the al- 

 leged effects of the Roentgen rays, which the 

 medical journals had not yet noticed. The 

 physician's answer was: "The thing is 

 scientifically impossible and the story is, 

 in fact, a damned lie." It is alleged on good 

 authority that the pharmacopoeia still "con- 

 tains a vast list of drugs of which doctors 



* H. D. Traill, Editor Social England, vol. v. 

 359 



