SOME OF THE LIMITATIONS OF MEDICINE. 399 



are being overcome by intelligence and a more general recognition 

 of the sequence of cause and effect. 



We have many useful drugs, some that are indispensable, but 

 they are mostly double-edged tools to be handled only by trained 

 hands. The man unfamiliar with disease who ventures to admin- 

 ister these drugs because he happens to be acquainted with their 

 names, is very much like the literary aspirant who resorted to 

 opium in the vain hope of becoming a De Quincey. 



Whenever the germs of disease gain admission to the body, 

 Nature makes strenuous efforts to throw them off, and, although 

 it takes its own time, it is often successful. For example, fever, 

 by destroying the morbid products that produce it, serves a most 

 useful role in the restoration of the patient to health. And, as 

 part of nature, the skillful physician stands by in readiness to 

 do his share in furthering the process already initiated. By an 

 intimate acquaintance with the phenomena of disease and the 

 means by which they are manifested, he is enabled to do the 

 right thing at the proper moment, and thus frequently turn the 

 scale toward recovery, when without his intelligent interference 

 the balance might fall in the wrong direction. But the meddle- 

 some interposition of the ill-informed is often productive of great 

 harm. A burning desire to do some impossible thing leads the 

 unwary practitioner into many fatal extravagances. To have the 

 knowledge when not to act, and the moral courage to forbear and 

 give Nature a reasonable chance, are indeed combinations of gifts 

 as desirable as they are rare. From this it follows that the man 

 who recognizes the limitations of medicine is by far the safest 

 adviser. There are no real specifics for disease ; and to believe 

 that somewhere in the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdoms, 

 hidden from the eye of man, there are to be found by diligent 

 search a cure, at least, for each of the many ills that flesh brings 

 upon itself, seems much less rational than to consider all these 

 troubles as induced by violations of laws, known or discoverable, 

 which must be obeyed and can not be evaded. In the scheme of 

 Nature it would have been much simpler to eliminate all pain and 

 disease than to provide occult remedial agents for each, were either 

 alternative within the scope of creation. 



No ; disease is avoidable to a very considerable extent, if not 

 entirely. And this is possible just in proportion to our knowledge 

 and our will to act thereon. But, because of our ignorance and of 

 our failure to live up to what is known, we are yet far removed 

 from perfect health. 



Let us now glance at what we can do. To begin with, we are 

 able to give much instruction regarding the avoidance of dis- 

 ease. We can relieve functional troubles first by the simpler 

 means of rest, food, or exercise, as the conditions demand. We 



