230 MEDICINE 



merit, but they would have been of small account 

 without the knowledge and direction supplied by 

 the labour of scientific research. 



If this be true of wound sepsis it is equally 

 true respecting the absence of typhoid fever from 

 the sodden trenches of the western front. Prophy- 

 laxis and organisation have kept this scourge at 

 bay, but scientific knowledge alone has supplied 

 the methods of prophylaxis and directed the 

 organisation. Now, the British nation is quick 

 to appreciate and applaud a practical outcome 

 such as this ; but it has less appreciation for, and 

 unfortunately little knowledge of, the labours 

 which have made the outcome possible. Our 

 people as a whole respect the practical physician 

 and are grateful for his ministrations, but they 

 are vague as to the source of his knowledge. 



The practice of Medicine is, in its essence, an 

 Art. It is an art which calls for high personal 

 qualifications, because it has to be applied amid the 

 intricacies of human nature, and must ever take 

 account of the prejudices, the sensibilities, the 

 hopes, fears and reserves of complex human beings. 

 More than any other art, however, does it call 

 for abundant scientific knowledge. For centuries 

 Medicine was based wholly upon tradition. It 

 was then unprogressive. For a few generations, 

 having shaken off the trammels of tradition and 

 authority, it was an art based upon the results of 

 observation. It then progressed; but slowly. 



