Prize essay, Rational therapeutics, or the comparative value of different curative means, and the principles of their application / by Worthington Hooker.

  • Hooker, Worthington, 1806-1867.
Date:
1857
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Prize essay, Rational therapeutics, or the comparative value of different curative means, and the principles of their application / by Worthington Hooker. 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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    render us, to a considerable extent, liable to disease. And yet that disease may be in a great degree diminished by pre- ventive measures, is not for a moment to be questioned : indeed, there is not a doubt that it can be diminished vastly more by these than by curative measures. If it were necessary, statistics might be given bearing upon this point. The opinions also of physicians, whose attention has been particularly drawn to this subject, might be cited. I will content myself with citing but one opinion, as a specimen, — that of the venerable Dr. James Jackson, of Boston, who is always careful and deliberate in his state- ments. The question put to him was this : How great a proportion of disease, of suffering, of diminution of physical capacity, of usefulness, and of abridgment of life, comes from sheer ignorance ; and which, therefore, we might hope to see averted, if the community had that degree of know- ledge which is attainable by all ? His reply was, I feel assured that the answer should be, More than one-half. When it is brought to mind that the ignorance of parents is included in the inquiry, the justice of the answer will probably be admitted by all who are conversant with the subject. What has been said of prevention is especially true of chronic diseases. Phthisis, that most common and most destructive of all the maladies of this class, is a striking example. The causes which predispose to it are such, that they can, to a great extent, be either avoided or neutralized. Even the hereditary influence, which acts so largely in the production of this disease, is far from being inevitable in its results. I will not go into an extended notice of this important point, but will barely mention one of the many facts that demonstrate it. In families that have in succes- sive generations shown a disposition to phthisis, it is common to see the female members succumb to it; while the habits of the male members, tending to make them more robust, enable them to resist it. And the difference in this respect