CURING BY COMBATING THE CAUSE. 287 



under consideration has, however, up to the 

 present not been proved ; on the other hand 

 an antidotal action, exerted within certain 

 limits is known to occur, as when, for ex- 

 ample, we counteract the effect of a poison 

 that excites the nervous system by one of 

 those poisons which depress nervous activity 

 and in larger quantities paralyze it. The 

 counteraction, like the poisonous action itself, 

 is effected through the intervention of the 

 body-cells. It does not, however, appear al- 

 together impossible to combat even the toxins 

 of infectious disease with chemical antidotes 

 or indifferent chemical substances, if we only 

 free ourselves from unchemical notions about 

 " specificuy." 



The scientific physician is plainly bound to 

 take into consideration everything pertinent 

 to the subject, and must not allow himself 

 to be misled by forms of expression. If on one 

 day there is general agreement among physi- 

 cians to prescribe no medicine, on the next 

 the disciples of the same school are sure to 

 assail the orthodox physician with the re- 

 proach that there was a time when he did not 

 know that healing substances occur in the 

 juice of many plants. Chemistry is now able 

 to separate the important principles of these 

 juices from the unimportant, those with heal- 



