AESCULAPIUS. 533 



been onward by slow but sure advances. Essentially eclec- 

 tic, although respecting and holding to the conservatism of 

 the past with wisdom and sobriety, unseduced by the flashy 

 radicalisms of the moment it has maturely estimated each 

 suggestion of the new, and read with reflection and respect 

 each critique of the present, at all its stages of growth, and 

 adopted whatever of truth or fresh revelation each original 

 phasis of the advancing waves of light brought to the intellect 

 of man. Ceaselessly experimenting, dissecting bodies of ani- 

 mals, bodies of men, reading, interpreting the language of 

 the organism in health and disease, ransacking nature's 

 warehouse, and torturing all the elements, every created 

 form of matter, for its secret power over the body, to save 

 from suffering, to save from death, the genius of the art has 

 always been characterized as one of endless seeking and 

 endeavor after the absolute of truth. 



What is the body of man, and what are its laws in health 

 and disease, and what agents and powers control these con- 

 ditions of the same, has the spirit of man demanded from 

 immemorial time, with a zeal kindled upon the altar of sci- 

 ence to burn with freshly-renewed splendor until the divine 

 end shall be achieved and disease appear on earth no more. 



Where, then, shall suffering humanity turn for hope in this 

 gloomy world of disease ? Where shall the tortured body, 

 held in the fatal folds and dark environment of the destroy- 

 ing powers, look for relief from agony and despair, and the 

 wretched instincts, startled at the appearance of destruction, 

 seek the soothing of promised safety ? where, but to the 

 brotherhood who have struggled for thousands of years in 

 ceaseless efforts to save? Earth has no stone, plant, or 

 animal, the air no saving qualities, the waters of the earth 

 no healing virtues, chemistry has no combination of ele- 

 ments, and the mechanical forces of the world no powers 

 which have not been exhausted by the profession in her 

 vigilant search to alleviate the condition of humanity, 

 and save the suffering from pain and dissolution. "Un- 

 der all these means, coworking for good, shall not the body 



45* 



