OTHER BRANCHES OF MEDICINE. 



into the cause of those symptoms, merely on account of its having been suc- 

 cessful in some case that appeared analogous, is a mode of practice completely 

 empirical. Yet such a plan is constantly being pursued. But as soon as we 

 begin to inquire into the cause of the morbid action, and seek to remove or 

 counteract this, by the application of remedial means, which experience has 

 shown to be effectual for such an object, we are really acting, to a certain 

 extent, on scientific principles. The recorded experience of ages, in its con- 

 densed form, must of necessity assume the appearance of general rules of 

 practice ; and it is in the application of these rules to individual cases, and in 

 the distinction of those phenomena whose causes are subservient to them, 

 from those which are beyond their pale and which require a mode of treat- 

 ment altogether different, that the sagacity of the practitioner most displays 

 itself. The rational empiricism which prevails in this country at the present 

 day, is a mode of practice that may be regarded as best combining the advan- 

 tages of scientific knowledge and of recorded experience. The value of facts 

 as the only sure basis of general principles is duly appreciated; and yet 

 there is no indisposition to make trial of such principles when announced, 

 and to abide by them so far as they appear practically available. This is the 

 only method in which the young practitioner can hope to succeed. The 

 increased attention at present paid to diagnosis, will frequently enable him to 

 determine the real nature of the malady with much more precision than a 

 man of age and experience can do, who has not kept pace with the progress 

 of medical science ; whilst the latter will have decidedly the advantage in the 

 application of therapeutic means, especially in those obscure cases that most 

 require that tact which can only be gained by long and attentive observation. 

 12. The numerical method, which is at present much valued by many, as a 

 guide in the Study and Practice of Medicine, is simply a statistical arrange- 

 ment of the phenomena presented by various diseases, with a view of deter- 

 mining the frequency of their occurrence, their connections with each other, 

 and the influence of various modes of treatment upon them. Its advantages 

 in substituting an accurate and definite record of facts, for the vague state- 

 ments which we so frequently meet with, are unquestionable. Yet we must 

 be careful not to attach too much importance to the results afforded by it. They 

 have a tendency to lead to the substitution of empirical rules for scientific 

 principles ; and if too exclusively followed, therefore, will tend to the retardation 

 of Pathology. If the practitioner is led to reason thus on every particular 

 instance, " In nine-tenths of the cases exhibiting these symptoms, such-and- 

 such a treatment is successful; therefore I shall adopt this treatment in the 

 present one," he is acting on a most grossly empirical system. A general 

 law admits of no exceptions ; and if such appear to present themselves, they 

 must be due to some cause interfering with its operation. His object ought to 

 be rather, therefore, to ascertain what plan of treatment is constantly successful 

 in each form of disease; in other words, to determine that invariable sequence 

 of cause and effect, on which alone general principles or laws can be erected ; 

 and in order to do this, he must carefully analyze the unsuccessful cases, and 

 ascertain in what their conditions differed from the rest, so as to be able to 

 determine positively to which head he is to refer the case before him, and to 

 be guided in his treatment accordingly. In this manner he will advance the 

 Science ; whilst in the other he is reducing the Art to its lowest condition.* 



* For a lucid analysis of the value of the numerical method, Dr. Symonds's Retrospec- 

 tive Address (at the Liverpool Meeting of the Provincial Medical Association) may be 

 advantageously consulted. 



