102 
N. J. STRINGER. 
Facts teach ns to be careful in estimating the value of inedi- 
cines in the cure of disease. If they are thoroughly appre- 'S 
dated we will cease to attribute life-saving properties to inedi- ^ 
cines and be more ready to study their real uses. J 
We must concede that all agents employed as medicines act ^ 
either upon function or structure, and that this action to be ^ 
curative must be opposed to the process of disease ; if so, then ^ 
their selection will depend, first, upon a correct knowledge of V 
the opposition of remedies to that process. It is the law of the | 
universe “ that like causes always produce like effects,” or ^ 
“ that like effects always flow from like causes ” ; therefore, ^ 
if we can determine the opposition of a remedy to a process 
of disease in any given case we have determined it in all 
like cases ; but it is necessary that we be able to determine the ^ 
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exact condition of the disease when we expect to obtain the v 
same curative action from the remedy. ^ 
Specific medication, then, is the art of curing disease by ^ 
means of applying directly to the expressions or symptoms, 
regardless of the name of the disease, such remedies as are 'A 
O 7 v1 
r 
known to oppose them or remove them. In describing this action ^ 
to another it is necessary that we observe and group the indica- || 
tions and symptoms of disease, that we may know the exact idea 
of the pathological conditions to be opposed. ' A, 
The skill required is in diagnosis and requires a thorough 
study of pathology. Many individuals of the medical fraternity e 
do not have the right conception of our use of the term “specific.” § 
They think of a specific medicine as one that will cure all cases 3 
of a certain disease, according to our present nosology, as pneu- 
nionia, typhoid fever, scarlatina, dysentery, etc., in the human, f 
and influenza, strangles, pneumonia, etc., in animals. Fooking at ^ 
the subject in this light and guided by his experience in the use € 
of remedies, he would claim that there are no specifics. There S 
are no specifics for disease as they are classified, for the reason | 
that all diseases do not present the same pathological conditions { 
in all cases, and consequently cannot be cured by the same J 
remedy. We use the term “ .specific ” with relation to well- J 
