Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1861. Excerpt: ... SCIENCE MUST ULTIMATELY TRIUMPH. 149 CHAPTER XIV. THE SCIENCE OF PRESCRIBING MEDICINE. The really curative medicines are few in number.--Arrangement of drugs into separate divisions: their actions and their combinations.--Presciiptions; their definite uses explained.--Diseases cured by the antagonism of the elements which produce them.--False theories, &c. The direct curative medicines are few in comparison to the number used. The former are pre-eminently simple in all their actions, and when properly given assist Nature; whilst the administration of what may be called the speculative class of remedies, constitute as much a fashion as any other usage of society. Popular remedies, supposed to suit everybody and everything, have their day, and then give place to others. This is the result of all I have been endeavouring to point out, namely, that there is at present nothing fixed or certain in medicine. Whatever antics we may play with the external parts of our bodies, we have no right to do the same to the inner on mere speculation, often to the aggravation of disease or shortening of life. Whatever form disease takes in the human economy, the chemical elements therein must restore it to a healthy condition. Medicine correctly administered assists these natural acts; when otherwise, it fails, because it is presumed to have an independent action, which never can be. I have shown that the elements of the living body are incessantly at work in ten thousand laboratories, constantly producing acid, alkaline, and neutral actions; therefore to administer medicine safely and efficaciously, the general state of the system as regards these more prominent conditions must always be first considered. Whatever form of medicine is given, it must be of an acid, alkaline, ...
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