Medical Care 



The Use and Abuse of Medicines 



Medicines are of untold value in the treatment 

 of disease, but they have their limitations like every- 

 thing else. The knowledge of the properties and 

 actions of drugs and their correct application in the 

 treatment of disease involves a very extensive study 

 which can only be mastered by those who devote 

 themselves wholly to that work. The idea that 

 certain drugs cure certain diseases is false, for only 

 in a few exceptional cases is there any drug specific 

 for a certain condition, nor is there any group of 

 drugs which is applicable to all cases of the same 

 disease. Nevertheless, the sale of proprietary cures 

 is a very flourishing business. The correct treat- 

 ment of a disease consists of eliminating the cause, 

 lightening the work of the defective organ, and 

 facilitating the work of nature in perfecting the 

 repair, in conjunction with such remedies as will 

 best aid the process. The irrational use of medicines 

 without a knowledge of why they are given tends 

 to defeat the purpose for which they are intended. 

 The design of the ttiodern practitioner is to pre- 

 vent disease rather than merely to cure sickness. 

 The Health Department and the Bureau of Animal 

 Industry consider their work to be the prevention 

 of disease rather than the cure. Those who are en- 

 trusted with the care of animals are in closer con- 

 tact with them and are in a better position to carry 

 out these plans. To accomplish this successfully, 



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