14 PROLEGOMENON. 



ephemeral popularity among the innocent and gullible, the 

 ignorant and frivolous, of some of the fashionable quackeries 

 of the hour, might have warped and even seduced him from 

 the original faith of his culture : hence, from the instinct 

 of self-justification, self-preservation, and explication, a 

 small flourish of trumpets, a recitation of the regular 

 orthodox creed with upturned eyes and devout genu- 

 flexions, in short, an explanation of his position, aims, and 

 objects, was demanded, and lo ! the army of his haters 

 (whose name is legion) have an answer to their prayers, 

 "Oh that our enemy would write a book!" and thus is 

 that same forlorn Medicus pinned to the wall to their 

 hearts' content. The folly of thus exposing his unprotected 

 flank, and even surrendering his pneumogastric and umbili- 

 cus to the fingers of his enemies, can only be accounted for 

 from the fact that there are innocent and devout men, the 

 greater number of whose original snakes, or totally depraved 

 faculties, are still fast asleep, and who, in the thick darkness 

 that surrounds them, are as likely to blunder, and fall into 

 the traps and snares of satanic men, as to stand erect, or 

 walk with precision. Included in the foregoing motives 

 and reflections there is another suggestion, which may 

 have been instrumental in bringing about this blunder of 

 the Mountain. There are erected to Priessnitz, (an igno- 

 rant and unlettered serf,) in the United States, a large 

 number of monuments, that is, establishments for the 

 "water-cure." There are but FEW country sanitaria or 

 health-establishments under the jurisdiction of the regular 

 profession of medicine. What does this mean ? Do the 

 gods nod ? Is Olympus asleep ? Is Apollo dethroned from 

 the guardianship of the world, and has he retired again, in 

 humility and sorrow, to watch the flocks of Admetus on 

 the " flowery plains of Thessaly," or to wander disconsolate 

 through the moonlight glades of Paphos" ? Have Hippo- 

 crates and Galen failed ? Have the spirits who watch over 

 the destiny of the earth become nauseated with the odor 

 of drugs? Has the regular profession become fossilized 



