November 25, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



505 



turbed by the teachings of so-called schools 

 with their different theories of the cause and 

 cure of many diseases. And when they are 

 ill they are puzzled to know where to go for 

 relief. Smith recommends Dr. Jones; Brown 

 advises an osteopath; someone else favors a 

 Chinese herb doctor who is reputed to have 

 made some wonderful cures; another suggests 

 a favorite patent medicine; another urges the 

 employment of an electric healer; still an- 

 other extols the virtues of hydrotherapy; 

 and Mrs. X. would have them go to a Christ- 

 ian Science healer to help overcome the illu- 

 sion that there was anything the matter at all. 

 Out of the thousands of things that have 

 been prescribed and swallowed for various 

 ailments a mere handful have stood the test 

 of time and fuller experience. Almost any 

 liberal-minded modern doctor will tell you 

 this, but a large part of the public fails to 

 appreciate how far the medical profession 

 has advanced and still regards the doctor as 

 chiefly a dispenser of dopes. 



Not only is there much misconception of 

 medical science and practise but there pre- 

 vails a good deal of dissatisfaction and dis- 

 encouragement with medicine that is not 

 devoid of substantial grounds. It can not 

 be denied that our present commercialized 

 medical practise prevents a large part of the 

 public from obtaining the medical attention 

 it needs and which, for the welfare of society 

 in general, it should receive. As Dr. Cabot 

 has remarked, the only persons who can afford 

 adequate medical aid are the very poor (who 

 are often taken care of for nothing) and 

 the very rich. This circumstance doubtless 

 leads many to become dissatisfied with medi- 

 cine in general and renders them prone to be 

 misled by the attacks of the enemies of medi- 

 cal science who seem to be growing in num- 

 bers in proportion as the science has ad- 

 vanced and its real service has become 

 extended. 



Among the large bewildered and dissatis- 

 fied class there are many who have gone from 

 one doctor to another without ever falling 

 into the right hands. There are many un- 

 fortunately for whom there is simply no help 



available in the present condition of medical 

 science. And there is a large class of i)ersons 

 with imaginary ills who continually haunt 

 the offices of doctors in the vain effort to 

 obtain relief. All these classes are apt to 

 furnish recruits to the opponents of medical 

 research and practise who, whether from a 

 semi-religious fanaticism or from motives of 

 financial gain, make themselves a constant 

 menace to the health of the community. 



A large proportion even of educated people 

 have no proper orientation upon the present 

 situation of the science of medicine. What 

 is particularly hard for them properly to 

 realize is the difficulty of the problems which 

 the physician has to solve and the extent to 

 which he is handicapped by the failure of 

 science to afford adequate methods of diagno- 

 sis and cure. The physician is continually 

 confronted with problems the only honest 

 answer to which is " I don't know." But his 

 patients are naturally disappointed with such 

 a verdict, even when assured that the doctor 

 will take the necessary steps to get at the 

 root of the trouble. Frequently patients can 

 not be made to consider the situation in an 

 unbiased manner and have no proper ap- 

 preciation of a truly scientific attitude on the 

 part of the physician. The demand of such 

 patients to be humbugged often leads the 

 physician to adopt an attitude of pretense 

 and assurance in order to cheer up his pa- 

 tients and keep his business. 



The remedy for this situation — and con- 

 ditions in this regard have improved in recent 

 years — is more scientific training on the part 

 of doctors on the one hand and enlightening 

 the public as to what may reasonably be ex- 

 pected of medicine on the other. Well-trained 

 and high-minded physicians who treat their 

 patients with entire candor and frankness 

 even at the risk of alienating many of them 

 do much toward educating the public to take 

 the right attitude in turn toward the medical 

 profession. With improvements in the stand- 

 ards of medical education and the elimina- 

 tion of the poorly equipped practitioner who 

 is, perforce, something of a pretender, the 

 esteem with which the medical profession is 



