Organopathy, or, Medical progress : an essay / by William Sharp, M.D.

  • Sharp, William, 1805-1896.
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Organopathy, or, Medical progress : an essay / by William Sharp, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    some reason why you think so, and the second reply was, I don't know at all! Among the ancient priests there was but one routine; among the modern medical practitioners there are many; bnt the opposition and contradiction of the teachers has, until lately, remained within the pale of the faculty. And the public in Europe have had very much the same feel- ing, on medical matters, that the public in Chaldea or Egypt had in old time; they have liked what they thought was the regular steady practice according to rule, or they have made up their minds to be content with routine. That I am not mistaken in representing the educated people in England as in the condition of the same classes three or four thousand years ago, will appear from the following letter which I had lately the pleasure to re- ceive :— The art of healing is in reality so complex and varied that a very large part of it appears to me to rest on an unexamined routine. Certain medicines are usually given in certain cases because they have always been given. Even if a medical atten- dant has no reason whatever to give for using them, he con- tinues to use them, because he knows no better. He feels that in the beaten track the responsibility is not his, but the profes- sion's. But if he stir out of the beaten track the whole respon- sibility becomes his. And this he dares not face. All honour is therefore due to those who set themselves to force this routine to give an account of itself. In most cases it can give no account. But even when it can give no account it always dies hard. The ordinary allopathic treatment often reminds me of those savages who, at the time of an eclipse beat kettles to drive away the monster that is devouring the sun. The medical men find that with their treatment the patient often recovers: the savages find that the sun always reappears. The logic of both is often nearly on a par. This view of professional routine, taken by intelligent laymen, is bad, but it is not so bad as the reality. It