The analytical system of medicine, or, The treatment of disease according to the principles and requirements of nature / by J. Clawson Kelley.

  • Kelley, John Clawson, 1793-1863.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The analytical system of medicine, or, The treatment of disease according to the principles and requirements of nature / by J. Clawson Kelley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    ther, and become familiar with all the changes the body is con- stantly undergoing ? Placed in this condition, upon so high an elevation, how easy is it to determine with unerring certainty the diseased condition of any one organ, or the nature of any morbid constituent with which the blood might be charged? Then should we understand, when prescribing a medicine, upon what fluid or solid of the human body it would act, why it would act, and how it would act! The invisible action, which produced the visible effect, would no longer be involved in uncertainty. We should then be enabled to select on every occasion that me- dicine which would produce a beneficial effect. We should then no longer grope like the mole in the dark, guessing at this, and hoping for that, but should practice wisely, scientifically, cor- rectly and beneficially, upon our suffering fellow man. People generally think that medical men do know how and why their medicines act as they do. They suppose that as col- leges have professors of chemistry, they must as a matter of course possess all the chemical knowledge respecting the action of animal, vegetable, earthy and mineral substances, when taken into the system in the form of medicine. Doctors will tell you so, but when they do be assured they do not tell you that which is correct. Reader, suppose you try your doctor at his next visit; ask him why it is that mercury produces salivation ? He may answer, By its stimulating effects. But follow him up by another question— Doctor, why does mercury stimulate— by what laws of nature does it produce the effects upon the sys- tem it is known to do r In this way you will quickly drive him to the wall. He may say, No one can tell why me- dicines act as they do. Here is another mistake ; but it cer- tainly is the most ingenious way he could devise to excuse his own ignorance, maintain his high pretensions, and sustain his reputation as a man of science in public estimation. Some persons have quite a fancy for complicated and prolix Btudies. The plain, unconfused and unsophisticated laws of