«44 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 544. 



Empiricism is one of the legitimate aids 

 to science. A great inventor like Edison 

 who wishes to find a certain property tries 

 in logical sequence everything that is prac- 

 ticable, and often it is only after thousands 

 of trials that the substance having the 

 requisite quality is found. So empiricism 

 in medicine is legitimately applicable when 

 guided by scientific reasoning and sound 

 principles. 



The age of empiricism, however, was fol- 

 lowed by the age of rationalism in medicine 

 And it is on this basis that the science of 

 medicine stands to-day. Perhaps I should 

 not say science of medicine, but the art of 

 medicine, because the art of medicine itself 

 is based upon certain sciences, for instance, 

 the science of anatomy, of physiology, of 

 materia medica, of surgery. In fact there 

 is not a science known to man which may 

 not have some connection with the art of 

 medicine. 



If we look at the physicians of the pres- 

 ent we find three classes have been founded 

 as a result of rationalism in medicine: 

 First, the general practitioner who of neces- 

 sity must be brought in contact with all 

 forms of human ills; second, the specialist 

 who happily lives in a community where 

 the physician who devotes his whole time 

 to one particular study can be supported ; 

 third, the health officer who is the fore- 

 runner of the physician of the future. 



The foes of rational medicine at the 

 present time are, first, the quack, a man 

 possessing, possibly, high medical training 

 and skill, but unfortunately devoid of those 

 principles of ethics without which the hon- 

 orable practise of a profession is impos- 

 sible; second, the charlatan, a man neces- 

 sarily devoid of any medical training or 

 ability, who plays upon the feelings of his 

 patients and administers nostrums of no 

 value and applied with no science. The 

 third foe of rational medicine is the imper- 



sonal physician, namely, the nostrum, the 

 patent medicine and the proprietary rem- 

 edy. It is appalling to think of the thou- 

 sands and thousands of our fellow citizens 

 who pin their faith to these alleged reme- 

 dies. Some of them have value ; they are 

 in fact often the very remedies which are 

 described in the materia medica and the 

 pharmacopoeia and administered by physi- 

 cians, but distributed as they are, with 

 absurd claims of efficiency, taken as they 

 are, without the advice or consent of a 

 physician, they become not only one of the 

 greatest foes of rational medicine, but one 

 of the greatest dangers to the public at 

 large. 



I do not deny to the inventor who dis- 

 covers a new remedy or a new combination 

 of remedies the same right to profit there- 

 from which is accorded to the inventor of 

 a new machine or a new process. The law 

 protects the inventor of such a remedy and 

 he can protect it by patent or by trade- 

 mark, but it seems to me there is no excuse 

 for the secret nostrums and no justification 

 for the methods of advertising them. I 

 know how difficult this problem is; I know 

 what vast returns are received by the pub- 

 lic press for advertising these bodies; I 

 know how valuable the press is and I ap- 

 preciate the great and good work which it 

 does, but there is no justification for using 

 the columns of the public press to deceive 

 the public, to excite fears of dangers that 

 do not exist and create hopes that can never 

 be realized. 



The physician of the future will see a 

 growing preponderance of preventive medi- 

 cine and the character of the profession in 

 future years will be largely molded by the 

 influence which this growth exerts. 



The activity of preventive medicine will 

 be shown first in the case of public and 

 domestic hygiene. The laws of good living 

 are fairly well known to but few people. 



