LINKAGE WITH THE MODERN TIME 



What man who desires to account for things 

 as obscure as disease, or to accomplish so diffi- 

 cult a task as its cure, can avoid framing a 

 working hypothesis in his mind? He may come 

 to admire and rely on his hypothesis till it 

 grows into a comprehensive explanation, a 

 compelling theory, of life and disease. Any 

 rational means of cure, transcending the 

 groping of haphazard empiricism, must conform 

 to this theory. His working hypothesis was, 

 to be sure, suggested by some facts of obser- 

 vation. But from their child it may become 

 their master. In that case it will be apt to 

 deflect observation, and may cause the ob- 

 server to see only facts that accord with it. 



In pure or abstract science a good hypothesis 

 or theory should account for the facts ob- 

 served; and new facts may undo it. Till those 

 new facts appear, there may be no call to re- 

 consider the theory, or use it practically. 

 But medicine, on the other hand, is essentially 

 a practice, a healing art. Its function is to 

 cure the sick. 



The general appearance and conduct of 

 living beings suggests some conception of life 

 and some idea of the disturbance called dis- 

 ease. This idea may carry a notion of the 

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