686 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



amuses us now perhaps more than it surprises us ; and 

 when we recognize it still here and there among those 

 in lowly favored circumstances of life, it usually makes 

 little or no impression upon us; but when we so often 

 see it among the refined and cultured of our time, we 

 are sometimes led to inquire why it is. But this mis- 

 conception is not confined entirely to the laity or to 

 the crude charlatan, but more or less pervades the 

 educated and legitimate fraternity itself; and it is no 

 uncommon thing to see among the younger members 

 of our profession men confidently attributing to medi- 

 cines particular cures that they never produced. And 

 even the older practitioners, with quite an abiding 

 faith, sometimes prescribe remedies that serve little 

 more than to mutually satisfy the mind of the patient 

 and the doctor that the necessary and essential thing 

 has been done in the premises, 



"This undue credit to the effect of the drugs pre- 

 scribed, when it occurs among medical men, probably 

 arises mostly from the habit and routine of always pre- 

 scribing in certain approved manners in certain kinds 

 of cases; and when improvement takes place, forget- 

 ting to allow sufficiently for the healing power of time 

 and nature herself. 



''As nothing but hard-earned experience and fre- 

 quently disappointed hopes in his scientific prescrip- 

 tions will ever thoroughly convince the young practi- 

 tioner of their frequent inutility, so nothing but the 

 proper kind of education on these matters will ever 

 convince the people of their frequent too great con- 

 fidence in the efficacy of drugs alone. 



''To this end the study of anatomy, physiology, 

 hygiene, and particularly the laws of life, with the 

 influence thereon of habits, conditions, and surround- 



