72 BORDER LINES OF KNOWLEDGE 



this present day. You will see at once that medical 

 doctrine and practice have undergone a long series of 

 changes. You will see that the doctrine and practice 

 of our own time must probably change in their turn, 

 and that, if we can trust at all to the indications of 

 their course, it will be in the direction of an improved 

 hygiene and a simplified treatment. Especially will the 

 old habit of violating the instincts of the sick give place 

 to a judicious study of these same instincts. It will be 

 found that bodily, like mental insanity^ is best man- 

 aged, for the most part, by natural soothing agencies. 

 Two centuries ago there was a prescription for scurvy 

 containing " stercoris taurini et anserini par quantitas 

 trium magnarum nucum,^^ of the hell-broth containing 

 which ''•quoties-cumque sitit ceger^ large hibit^ * When 

 I have recalled the humane common-sense of Captain 

 Cook in the matter of preventing this disease ; when 

 I have heard my friend, Mr. Dana, describing the 

 avidity with which the scurvy-stricken sailors snuffed 

 up the earthy fragrance of fresh raw potatoes, the food 

 which was to supply the elements wanting to their 

 spongy tissues, — I have recognized that the perfection 

 of art is often a return to nature, and seen in this 

 single instance the germ of innumerable beneficent 

 future medical reforms. 



I cannot help believing that medical curative treat- 

 ment will by and by resolve itself in great measure 

 into modifications of the food, swallowed and breathed, 



» Schenck, Observ. Med. Rev., (Lugduni,1643,) p. 800. 



