Show self education through the medium cf specially j i prepared articles by prominent instructors i i f vy arfi ir fi 1 i M i interesting features of medicine Q by george thomas M D n IX some peculiar iams isms and a vocation BO rife with buaer IN notions as medicine it Is not strange that various illogical and absurd cults bavo arisen inasmuch as tho art of healing baa always had in it a great deal which f la incapable 0 explanation it is not to be wondered at that thousands of people have been ready to follow every new ism without troubling themselves about ghys whys and wherefores the admixture of religion with tho healing of disease bom of ibo miraculous cures by christ and the of old has been productive of dr L pasteur discoverer of the antl berum arto faith cures which have from time to time appeared in various forms so much of mythology banga over homeric and post nip medical history that it Is dlf to differentiate quackery from artho natural beliefs pt the day in roman times we como upon i a quack so arrant and bigoted that he Is placed beyond question aln a par with quacks of our own day however absurd may bavo been tha teachings of tho older masters there was earnestness in their research and modesty in their demeanor but thes j palus of trallis was too pronounced a charlatan and bis teachings were t too grandiose to credit him with a shadow of sincerity how unchanging are th e methods 0 the quack came to homo an ignorant adventurer and began the practice of tho art of healing he studied the tastes 0 his clientele and advised liberal use 0 wines choice islands and all forms of celt indulgence thereby making himself exceedingly agreeable to bla patients no opened a school of medicine guaran teeing to teach the entire art in bis iwerks a veritable twentieth century diploma mill of students he had hundreds of patients thousands and rode upon the very crest of popular tai tor before his death ho superintend ed the carving ot his own tombstone ton which ho had inscribed greater 1 ithan all physicians living or deada aitho of was the first oo 00 record of many of choso by the world has been willingly hood but even befaro his day had in all sincerity established a school of healing tha theories ot ivick h to entitle them to here he taught that man is best understood by abo eludy 0 nature and that each dig casa hag its curd in some special of nature ills waa also a popular school and for a imo over abrew jhc thc teachings ot end absurd as his ideas to ii us we must admit that they contributed materially to tho knowledge of medication there was a gram ot truth in hla bome diseases dise aBes have certain cura in nature but not many ilia acio aa truo aa the doctrines ea of who taught that like curea ulie that causo a condition aul wul also cure it but ot the and ot we eull bavo traces tha school i lot II ahnemann is the greatest wo can 7 speak ricly ot this school today tor it la practically out of existence the narrow teachings ot II ahnemann ao more resemble the great homeopathic ja school of today than do abo theories bt hippocrates resemble the allopathic ideas of the present tho father of homeopathy taught f tho doctrine 0 lilge potency that a drus diluted with ten almea ats bulli 1 ot water was than the drug and that the greater the dilution the greater abo potency or furthermore that a greatly e diluted drug shaken by a aria would oate a higher degree of potency than U shaken by an arm not so 4 strong lie also believed na I 1 have that a drug which will j caas a condition will cure the cacno curan in tho teachings 0 there was more than a grain of truth ano theory la by the act s ate i fe ait r yi that ipecac which will cause nausea and vomiting when given in small disca will allay nausea but who can believe that whisky in minute doses will overcome alcoholic intoxication thai salt which causes thirst will also allay thirst As I 1 eay tho homeopathy of gabne mann is no more the great school which bears that name each year approaches pro aches more and more tho allopathic school and it has had the effect upon the old school of modifying its treatment 0 reducing its dosage and of making medicinal treatment fat more tolerable to suffering humanity and now comes thy cult of mrs eddy christian science it is one which is following tho course of dozens which have gone before it is now in the era of prosperity which each ism lias in its day and eoon shall be forgotten with the others it s the natural association of religion with healing which has existed since the earliest days of history there is little that is new in it saye that it Is the refined and cultured faith of the well to do instead of the blind faith of the ignorant it denies the existence of matter holds disease to bo mere error and insists that when faith has BO far developed as to overcome our present fallacious beliefs in the existence of things and balsa falsa feelings and emotions bin and disease and even death will pass away it is called a science because its followers believe that they have arrived at their conclusions logically and by a regular sequence of facts it has in it the grain of truth that to a certain extent mind can overcome matter and that functional disease can be cured by faith it is the therapeutic measure of mental suggestion which la used and haa been used by the regular medical profession for many years the christian scientists call in surgeons to set bones because the faith is not yet sufficiently developed to overcome such conditions without mechanical aid it will reach that state of perfection some day some day the same clement of religions faith is evidenced in a crude way in tho of dollo 0 chicago like mrs addy but in a cruder way suited to the clientele to which ho caters he asa thrown a cloak of divine power about his person claiming with convincing earnestness that bels the reincarnated incarnated ed elijah and john tho baptist merged in one this assumption 0 holy place or divine inspiration la essential to working upon the minds of people who have been taught tor centuries of the disease curing process of religion and to account tor the powers lot the alleged healer mana confidence in man is not sufficient to permit the healer to claim the power as lying within himself many of my readers will remember the wonderful popularity of ism in its day of tha cures accomplished by the adylee of thosa who bad gone generously volunteered in the of skillful mediums while not eo directly medical aa others the cult of spiritualism was one which waa felt in he medical world others may recall that peculiar condition of kings evil now known aa scrofula or tubercular glands of tho neck peculiar because it could only be cured by the laying on of royal hands many were the pilgrimages to european courts by sufferers and many were the cures reported the spontaneous recoveries which are common to the disease were naturally attributed to the monarchal mon archa who set aside daya on which to bring relief to their suffering subjects some years ago a certain layman discovered that rays of sunlight coming through panes of blue glass would cure almost any ill to which roan Is heir physicians took lt up and hundreds and thousands were cured ot every variety of ills after reporting these recoveries with all sincerity abo physicians realized their extreme folly and hastened to forget the blue glass cure and now from the state of missouri comes another ism athla 13 oste dr virchow noted austrian burgeon contrary to onea elisions elusions elu this as it la practiced ha virtually nothing to do with bonea it Is merely dove lopel into a gigantic cure all just massage which your family doctor baa used as far back ae you can remember but maa bago decorated with a number of aitla tic theories which every cult must have there are also therapy olec tro paylo and on and on a lone list each rith ltv foundation of a bralo ot truth and an immense of theory pach year a nw cult la born each year an old on dies and t h old school coca on accepting and geln new and casang out fulse doctrines it has its yae arlea and ita false prophets but the secret of its continued growth la merely that it baa no bet principles or theories there Is no belief 90 strong as to be an absolute c if gathers acta arora each cult ast aad dies and profits by tho teaching of every lam 1 by lewis D Bar |