154 The Evolution of Medical Science. 



that does not exist in that family's sea. The stupid blun- 

 derer thinks he is staying tlie storm of disease a thing no 

 man has yet done, except partially in possibly two diseases 

 only. Avoid him, if you value your own lives and the 

 lives of your sick friends. Avoid, too, the doctor who 

 never inquires into the disease-tendencies of your family, 

 or the past troubles of the patient, and who has therefore 

 few questions to ask. A family-doctor of long standing 

 has mastered all these facts in advance, and no longer, 

 needs to ask ; but a stranger who pretends to know with- 

 out asking is a dangerous pilot. 



The proper practice of the art of medicine depends upon 

 the Science of Medicine. The Science of Medicine is an 

 Inductive science in all its parts. The part known as 

 diagnosis is especially so. The doctor has no magic way 

 of finding out what ails a patient, or what his latent ten- 

 iencies are. He gets at his facts just as a detective does 

 who wishes to run down a criminal. The more facts he 

 gets, the more likely is he to be right in his conclusions ; 

 and the fewer he gets, the more likely is he to err. A 

 stupid physician will make a snap diagnosis on one promi- 

 nent fact, and many of this kind of doctors depend upon the 

 unskilled diagnoses of the patients themselves or of their 

 friends. A single falsehood, or misstated fact believed 

 in, will lead the most skilled physician into error, and 

 condemn the patient to the wrong treatment. That false- 

 hood weakens the whole chain of facts, and everybody 

 knows that the strength of any chain is only the strength 

 of the weakest link. A detective makes numerous guesses 

 as to how a murder or a theft occurred, and finally adlieres 

 to the guess that agrees with all the facts. This guess gen- 

 erally is the right one. Let any person introduce mislead- 

 ing cues, and he will be totally unable to right himself, 

 until he discovers that he is being deceived. It is just 

 so with a doctor. If he is told a falsehood, he cannot 

 possibly discover what ails the patient until he lirst dis- 

 covers that he has been misled. No doubt an occult power 

 of getting at truth would be superior to this method, but 

 we have discovered that the belief in occult processes is 

 an ignorant superstition. During the dark ages, the pre- 

 tense to occultism was greatest, and the eviden(!e of knowl- 

 edge least. Then progress was at a standstill ; now it 

 is rushing with dizzy speed. The masses of men still be- 



