WANTED UP-TO-DATE PHYSICIAN 281 



and doctor were one. Like the medicine man, the 

 priest assumed supernatural powers; but in the 

 place of bad drinks and hum-drum noises he used 

 the fiat of his own will. By his command evil 

 spirits were cast out. 



As in the first era, so now, patients destined to 

 pull through got well. The priest had the credit. 



At a still later period came the Drug Cure. This 

 cure prevails to-day. The spirit cause has given 

 way to a material cause. The cure is also mate- 

 rial. The material machinery of the material 

 body gets out of order, and needs a material drug 

 to repair, oil up, and put it in smoothly running 

 order again. As the disorders are found to be 

 many, drugs have multiplied to endless extent. To 

 compound new medicines, chemistry has been taxed 

 to its utmost. Patent medicines and soothing 

 syrups flood the world. For these alone, it is esti- 

 mated, the people of the United States pay at least 

 $100,000,000 every year. One needs a Noah's Ark 

 to float above the ocean of poison! 



In this era the doctor is differentiated from the 

 priest. His numbers vie with the quantity of 

 drugs. Medical colleges have been established and 

 multiplied over the earth. 



These mills grind out every year, all over the 

 world, each a grist of doctors. In every village of 

 2,000 people you shall find five or more; of 5,000, 

 twelve or more; of 10,000, thirty or more; in the 

 United States, 125,000 doctors, besides a host of 

 fakirs, pretenders, charlatans. 



