v HIS METHODS OF TREATMENT 47 



As a young man Fothergill followed carefully the rules 

 of his art, made use of the methods which he had been 

 taught and prescribed the reputed specifics for various 

 disorders. But as he went on he watched Nature's ways, 

 learned the working of the human body, and came to 

 think less of the maxims of authority and more of the 

 results of observation that which he could see with his 

 own eyes, and infer from the facts before him. The 

 general trend of his treatment was towards the support 

 and stimulation of the vital processes ; and he gave a 

 lesser place to the depressant methods in common use, 

 such as bleeding, purging and blistering. These, indeed, 

 he often used, but in selected cases and with some restraint. 

 He placed blisters remote from the seat of pain. 



All doctors probably tend to adopt a favourite line of 

 diagnosis and treatment, and to find it appropriate to 

 very many of their cases, especially those of chronic 

 ill-health. Fothergill's inclination seems to have been 

 to suspect the presence of acrimony, or as we should say 

 acidity, as the cause of many disordered states. He 

 treated it by a carefully ordered diet, in which limitation 

 of the quantity of food, the use of asses' milk and the 

 restriction of animal nutriment, of bread and of tea, 

 generally found place. He prescribed at the same time 

 gentle cathartics, perhaps also calomel, or mineral waters, 

 following these with mild tonics, such as bark and iron. 

 Perseverance in the course chosen was a cardinal point : 

 gutta cavat lapidem. He remarks pertinently that remedies 

 given by the mouth are liable to be altered in the stomach 

 in their transit to the organs where they are to act. 

 Hence the effects of chemical preparations depend greatly 

 on the condition of the digestive passages at the time 

 when they are swallowed. Therefore, he says, in the 

 cure of chronic diseases consider the state of the stomach, 

 and remove every obstruction in its office, enabling nature 

 to do her own business. If digestion languish the best 

 specifics may be of little use. Diet and regimen, including 

 the use of air and exercise, were leading features in his 

 treatment of most cases, and his care in regulating them 



