The Evolution of Medical Science. 163 



be any one of a dozen troubles that happen to have at- 

 tacked the special organ or part that gives the name. Every 

 physician has seen pneumonia that was what we call an 

 extremely bad cold ; he has likewise seen cases that were 

 la grippe, others that were scarlet-fever, still others that 

 were measles, etc. The lungs were simply the weak organs 

 which, in that particular patient, broke under the strain ; 

 and, because it was the lungs, we called it pneumonia. 

 Scarlet-fever, with one patient, will give rheumatism ; with 

 another, pneumonia ; with another, Bright's disease ; with 

 another, diphtheria ; with another, heart-disease ; with an- 

 other, pleurisy ; with another, inflamed glands. As no two 

 wagons, under very heavy loads, will break down in just 

 the same place, so no two persons with the same disease 

 will develop the same symptoms. Expose fifty men to a 

 ducking, on a cold day, and let them go home with wet 

 clothes, and you will soon see how diverse the effects of 

 the exposure will be. 



The wise physician is aware of the complex problems 

 every pathological condition presents, and governs his 

 treatment accordingly. His patient may be likened to a 

 ship in a storm, and surrounded by reefs and shoals. He 

 is the pilot whose duty it is to carry that boat safely past 

 rocks and sand-bars whereon it might be wrecked or 

 stranded. Every rock and bar must be known to him, and 

 the helm must be kept under his steady grasp. He cannot 

 stay the storm ; but by his skill and courage he can save 

 the ship until it is past. The foolish old woman, or meddle- 

 some neighbor, or the foolhardy parents, friends or guard- 

 ians of a patient, who give medical advice, are ignoramuses 

 that do not know a single danger, bvit believe they have a 

 remedy, or method of holding the helm, that will stop the 

 storm itself. The physician's remedies are to protect the 

 life at danger-points. If the family is heir to heart-disease 

 or rheumatism, his medicine to cure scarlet-fever is an 

 anti-rheumatic remedy. If the danger is kidney-disease, 

 he eases in advance the strain on the kidneys. If weak 

 lungs or scrofulous glands " run in the blood," his " cure " 

 for scarlet-fever is a protection to these. See that insane 

 idiot who says, " Oh, your trouble is the same as mine, and 

 my doctor gave me so and so ; do try it ! " He is asking 

 the patient to leave himself to the tender mercies of the 

 storm, while he holds the helm in a way to avoid a rock 



