Without however an assiduous study of the Materia Medica and the thorough analysis of every case coming before him for treatment he must fail as signally as his opponents of the other school. It may be that the practice of medicine is, as Dr. Johnson remarks, “a melancholy attendance upon misery, a mean submission to peevishness, and a continued interruption to rest and pleasure.” But the study of life and death, of health and disease as well, appeals to be better part of man’s nature, elevating his aims while extending and deepening his sympathies.
How gratifying, is it not, to be able with a word or look to overcome, at times, all the sufferer’s anxieties, and dispel all his doubts and fears, or at any rate, smooth the poor patients path to the grave! There is indeed no nobler, no more philanthropic mission appealing to the sympathies of mankind than that of resisting and overcoming the many treacherous influences and agencies arranged against health, from the first throb of the heart to the last beat of the pulse.
