342 THE PRESENT ASPECT OF MEDICINE. 



another, only the action of the internuclear substance ; a 

 third, only that of the nucleus. The knowledge we possess 

 of what may be termed this microscopic action of foreign 

 substances on the healthy and morbid processes is as yet 

 limited ; but it is sufficiently precise to serve as an indica- 

 tion of the path that must be pursued in advancing the 

 subject of therapeutics to its proper position as the ultimate 

 or final department of our art. And we cannot doubt that 

 the same beneficence which has subjected to the power of 

 man those extended resources whence he is commanded to 

 elaborate the means of his sustenance, enjoyments, and social 

 advantages, has also placed within his reach a due propor- 

 tion of means for recovery from disease. When these means 

 are sought for, not by the rude and impulsive efforts which 

 have too often characterised the history of remedy, but by 

 the sure and cumulative, though apparently indirect and 

 tedious method of science, we cannot doubt that a great 

 advance will be made in physic. 



An advance in physic, then, is not a mere advance in 

 pathology that merely involves but does not educe the 

 principles of treatment. It must, therefore, be the eduction 

 of the principles and means of treatment from their present 

 more or less complete state of occultation that will constitute 

 a real advance in physic. 



The question as to advance in physic, again, suggests the 

 natural inquiry — What are the limits and conditions of this 

 advance ? Correct conceptions on this subject are much to 

 be desired, as calculated to produce that legitimate confidence 

 on the part of the public, and that assiduity in the search for 

 and application of the resources of our art, which its import- 

 ance demands. 



In the first place, it cannot be doubted, although generally 

 almost entirely overlooked, that the first, and probably the 

 most important question which the public may put to our 



