1858. 



KEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



47 



F(jr the Netr Em^land Farmer. 

 ON TKEi EEALITY OP THE SCIENCE OP 

 MEDICINE. 

 BY WILSON FLAGG. 



Moliere wrote a comedy for the purpose of ex- 

 posing the blunders of physicians, and the ab- 

 surdity of some of their pretensions \ but his 

 comedy is no less severe upon the follies of pa- 

 tients than upon pedantry of practitioners. Some 

 of his pleasantries are extremely amusing. "What 

 do you intend, (says a female neighbor to a fath- 

 er,) sir, by having four doctors to your daughter ? 

 Is not one manslayer enough for one person ?" 

 Dr. Sanarelle answers, "Be silent, miss, four 

 opinions are better than one, any day." 



Lisette — Then you will not let the poor child 

 die in peace, but must needs let the doctors 

 worry her to death ? 



Doctor — Do you think these gentlemen will 

 really put her to death ? 



Liaette—l^o doubt at all of that. The other 

 day a friend of mine, by the best reasoning in 

 the world, proved to me how a person of her ac- 

 quaintance, Avho was thought to have died of a 

 fever, died, on the contrary, of four doctors and 

 two apothecaries. 



Dr. Sanarelle — Hush ! you will oflFend the gen- 

 tiLemen in attendance. 



Lisette — Well, listen to me, sir. Our cat has 

 just recovered from a fall she had from the top 

 of the house into the street below. For three 

 days she ate nothing, and all that time she could 

 not stir a paw ; but luckily for her, there are no 

 cat-doctors here. If there had been, they would 

 have Ijled and medicined her life out to a cer- 

 tainty." 



The tables seemed to have been turned, since 

 the time of Moliere ; for at the present day those 

 persons swallow the most medicine who doctor 

 themselves without consulting a physician. This 

 is proved by the well known fact that the quan- 

 tity of medicine which is sold from the apotheca- 

 ries' shops to supply the demands occgisioned by 

 the recipes of physicians, is not one-tenth part so 

 great as that which is sold in the form of patent 

 nostrums. A careful study of the history of 

 medicine, notwithstanding all the pleasantries 

 which have been uttered at its expense, would 

 convince any intelligent person that the theory 

 and practice of medicine is a true science, having 

 its foundation in nature. It would likewise con- 

 vince them that there is no more uncertainty in 

 its results, than in the results of any other 

 branch of human knowledge, if we except the 

 mathematics and what are called the exact 

 sciences. 



The theory and practice of medicine very close- 

 ly resembles the science of agriculture, in the 

 practice of which, an experiment that has suc- 

 ceeded nineteen times consecutively, will perhaps 

 fail on the twentieth trial. We may apply lime or 

 any other specifxcd material, successfully to nine- 

 teen different soils, with manifest advantage. 

 When applied in the twentieth case, the soil is 

 injured by it, and rendered unproductive, because 

 its hidden ingredients were such as to require a 

 fertilizer of a different character. The science 

 of chemistry enables us to analyze a soil, and to 

 determine by this analysis what kind of substan- 

 ces it requires to render it productive. Still, 



with all the light afforded us by chemistry, there 

 is always some degree of uncertainty in the re- 

 sults of chemical applications to the soil. In the 

 application of guano to the soil there is some 

 danger of injuring the crop, because a great deal 

 of experience and judgment is necessary to de- 

 termine the precise quantity and the precise man- 

 ner in which it should be applied. 



A still greater amount of judgment, learning 

 and experience is required for prescribing med- 

 icines successfully for different constitutions. 

 Everything that is necessary to be done cannot 

 be laid down in books, but must be left to the 

 judgment of the physician. Consider then the 

 importance of selecting one who has had the ad- 

 vantages of a complete education, to make amends 

 for any natural deficiency of judgment which 

 every man is ' liable to possess. It is evident 

 from these circumstances, that a more compre- 

 hensive intellect is required for the successful 

 practice of medicine, than for the attainment of 

 distinction in the exact sciences. In chemistry 

 it has been ascertained v.ith perfect precision, 

 how much of a certain kind of acid v/ould be re- 

 quired to neutralize a given quantity of a certain 

 alkali ; but no rule of medicine could decide^ 

 how much opium would be required to alleviate 

 a spasm. This must in all cases be determin- 

 ed by the judgment of the physician. The 

 chemist can proceed in all his operations by 

 rule ; the physician, though guided by certain 

 laws, must prescribe, not by rule, but by 

 judgment. It is this circumstance that caus- 

 es so many people to doubt the reality of the 

 whole medical science. We might for the same 

 reasons deny the reality of the science of navi- 

 gation. The best navigator in the Morkl might 

 by some accident, or by some error of calculation, 

 run his vessel ashore and dash her to pieces upon 

 the rocks, while at the same time and place an 

 inferior navigator had carried his vessel into har- 

 bor. Should we on this account ever afterwards 

 employ ignorant navigators to pilot our vessels ? 

 If we did so, we should follow the example of 

 those who, having witnessed certain mistakes in 

 the practice of educated physicians, resolve ever 

 afterwards when thej' are sick, to place themselves 

 in the hands of a quack. 



Chemistry, to return to our parallel, can meas- 

 ure the exact amount of oxygen that must com- 

 bine with a certain amount of hydrogen, to pro- 

 duce water. Indeed, nearly all its operations are 

 certain and exact. A person, therefore, with a 

 good memory, though possessed of an inferior 

 share of judgment and comparison, might be a 

 good chemist. If fever was the effect of an acid, 

 and this acid could be measured, the physician 

 might cure his patient, on chemical principles, by 

 prescribing a definite portion of alkali. 13 ut the 

 diseases of the human system cannot be managed 

 by a simple rule ; and on account of the different 

 aspects they assume, under different circum- 

 stances, every remedy is uncertain. The phy- 

 sician must watch its effects, and modify his 

 prescriptions according to certain changes in the 

 aspect of the disease. 



Hence we may account for the remark of Dr. 

 Gregory, a celebrated English physician, that 

 "nine-tenths of the practice of medicine consists 

 of guess-work." Another celebrated man left 

 the practice of physic, giving as a reason for his 



