登陆注册
15444900000111

第111章 VI(12)

When we look at the literature of mental disease, as seen in hospital reports and special treatises, we can mention the names of Wyman, Woodward, Brigham, Bell, and Ray, all either natives of Massachusetts or placed at the head of her institutions for the treatment of the insane.

We have a right to claim also one who is known all over the civilized world as a philanthropist, to us as a townsman and a graduate of our own Medical School, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, the guide and benefactor of a great multitude who were born to a world of inward or of outward darkness.

I cannot pass over in silence the part taken by our own physicians in those sanitary movements which are assuming every year greater importance. Two diseases especially have attracted attention, above all others, with reference to their causes and prevention; cholera, the "black death" of the nineteenth century, and consumption, the white plague of the North, both of which have been faithfully studied and reported on by physicians of our own State and city. The cultivation of medical and surgical specialties, which is fast becoming prevalent, is beginning to show its effects in the literature of the profession, which is every year growing richer in original observations and investigations.

To these benefactors who have labored for us in their peaceful vocation, we must add the noble army of surgeons, who went with the soldiers who fought the battles of their country, sharing many of their dangers, not rarely falling victims to fatigue, disease, or the deadly volleys to which they often exposed themselves in the discharge of their duties.

The pleasant biographies of the venerable Dr. Thacher, and the worthy and kind-hearted gleaner, Dr. Stephen W. Williams, who came after him, are filled with the names of men who served their generation well, and rest from their labors, followed by the blessing of those for whom they endured the toils and fatigues inseparable from their calling. The hardworking, intelligent country physician more especially deserves the gratitude of his own generation, for he rarely leaves any permanent record in the literature of his profession. Books are hard to obtain; hospitals, which are always centres of intelligence, are remote; thoroughly educated and superior men are separated by wide intervals; and long rides, though favorable to reflection, take up much of the time which might otherwise be given to the labors of the study. So it is that men of ability and vast experience, like the late Dr. Twitchell, for instance, make a great and deserved reputation, become the oracles of large districts, and yet leave nothing, or next to nothing, by which their names shall be preserved from blank oblivion.

One or two other facts deserve mention, as showing the readiness of our medical community to receive and adopt any important idea or discovery. The new science of Histology, as it is now called, was first brought fully before the profession of this country by the translation of Bichat's great work, "Anatomie Generale," by the late Dr. George Hayward.

The first work printed in this country on Auscultation,--that wonderful art of discovering disease, which, as it were, puts a window in the breast, through which the vital organs can be seen, to all intents and purposes, was the manual published anonymously by "A Member of the Massachusetts Medical Society."

We are now in some slight measure prepared to weigh the record of the medical profession in Massachusetts, and pass our judgment upon it.

But in-order to do justice to the first generation of practitioners, we must compare what we know of their treatment of disease with the state of the art in England, and the superstitions which they saw all around them in other departments of knowledge or belief.

English medical literature must have been at a pretty low ebb when Sydenham recommended Don Quixote to Sir Richard Blackmore for professional reading. The College Pharmacopoeia was loaded with the most absurd compound mixtures, one of the most complex of which (the same which the Reverend Mr. Harward, "Lecturer at the Royal Chappel in Boston," tried to simplify, was not dropped until the year 1801.

Sir Kenelm Digby was playing his fantastic tricks with the Sympathetic powder, and teaching Governor Winthrop, the second, how to cure fever and ague, which some may like to know. "Pare the patient's nails; put the parings in a little bag, and hang the bag round the neck of a live eel, and put him in a tub of water. The eel will die, and the patient will recover."

Wiseman, the great surgeon, was discoursing eloquently on the efficacy of the royal touch in scrofula. The founder of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, consorting with alchemists and astrologers, was treasuring the manuscripts of the late pious Dr.

Richard Napier, in which certain letters (Rx Ris) were understood to mean Responsum Raphaelis,--the answer of the angel Raphael to the good man's medical questions. The illustrious Robert Boyle was making his collection of choice and safe remedies, including the sole of an old shoe, the thigh bone of a hanged man, and things far worse than these, as articles of his materia medica. Dr. Stafford, whose paper of directions to his "friend, Mr. Wintrop," I cited, was probably a man of standing in London; yet toad-powder was his sovereign remedy.

See what was the state of belief in other matters among the most intelligent persons of the colonies, magistrates and clergymen.

Jonathan Brewster, son of the church-elder, writes the wildest letters to John Winthrop about alchemy,--mad for making gold as the Lynn rock-borers are for finding it."

同类推荐
  • 虚舟省禅师语录

    虚舟省禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 乙卯入国奏请

    乙卯入国奏请

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 伤寒直格

    伤寒直格

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 童学书程

    童学书程

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 鹅湖集

    鹅湖集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 绝情殿下的极品皇妃

    绝情殿下的极品皇妃

    她是姜国人人唾弃的残暴公主,嗜血成性,杀人成狂。一次大病,险些将她的命夺去,病愈之后,她记忆全无,性情大变她总觉得老天对她太过怜爱,即使她残暴不仁,却还是拥有显赫的身世,绝美的容颜。可是遇见他以后,老天似乎再也不肯怜爱于她,一旦深陷情网,便在也无法自拔。他是青霄国的晋王爷,长相俊美,见过他的女子没有一个不为他而心动。他爱她,她知道,她爱他,他也知道,她费心尽力,终于替他夺下大好江山,君临天下。可是他却变了,他的身边有了另一个女子。他步步为营,处心积虑不过是为这大好江山,为了他心爱的女子,而她终究不过是一颗棋子。
  • 网游之终极盾皇

    网游之终极盾皇

    穷小子兼倒霉蛋进入游戏,竟然幸运的被神秘智能模块附身,从此拥有了神奇的各种能力。依靠超高的亲和力,他在游戏中能和美女NPC随意搭讪,不论是高贵公主、冰山女神,还是妖女BOSS,美女们全部为他疯狂。能与BOSS谈理想,能和小怪聊未来,在这魔幻般的乱世里,李旭上演了一场激情四射的彪悍人生。手持巨盾,不动如山,扫平全球各战场。君临天下,乱世盾皇,开创网游新世纪。
  • 末世生存进行曲

    末世生存进行曲

    灾难开始第三天,整个Q市都已然沦陷。原本在第一天的夜里,军队就已开始进驻市区,进行保卫。然后它们的进攻来得太快,仅仅只支撑到第二天深夜,如同潮水般的尸海,便闪电般的冲刷进了市中心,近一万的部队,逃出来的,恐怕只有极少数。
  • TFBOYS之我心永恒

    TFBOYS之我心永恒

    六大集团的公主王子,在不知道彼此身份的情况下相爱了,他们六人以明星的身份,彼此相识,之后展开了一场轰轰烈烈的恋爱~
  • 万武生

    万武生

    万古苍穹,谁去谁留?无休的仙乱,究竟因谁而起?诸天万界谁主沉浮?一个被封印的世界,一个被诅咒的天地......一个神秘的少年,即将开启这惊世之谜!且看他如何破天地,夺造化,掌轮回,踏上万武之祖!
  • 平行穿越之镜花水月

    平行穿越之镜花水月

    不知道你相不相信,平行空间里多位面的我们,同样的人正在经历着不同的生活。会有谁打破相隔的位面壁垒呢?会出现怎么的结果呢?
  • 娱乐全球

    娱乐全球

    这是一个重生者混迹娱乐圈的YY故事,在这里,你可以看到华语娱乐,你也可以看到亚洲娱乐,你同样可以看到欧美娱乐,重生了,我们的口号是:YY无极限,节操无下限!于是林明重生了,然后……(重回都市题材,幼苗期,各位多多支持,有兴趣也可以看拙作《重生香港做大亨》,百万字完本,都市题材人品保证!)
  • 狠辣狂妃:温润王爷拐回家

    狠辣狂妃:温润王爷拐回家

    一部能逆天改命的奇书;一次被人预谋好的穿越。秦苏苏疑惑自己在哪儿?是古代?还是去向未来?又或者说这是平行时空?
  • 白话古文观止

    白话古文观止

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 天才宝贝呆萌妈咪

    天才宝贝呆萌妈咪

    兰岚是一名千金大小姐,却被卖入特工组织。一次任务失误,她重伤昏迷。一朝醒来,发现自己生下了一对天才龙凤胎,小正太腹黑、聪明,非常有商业头脑,小萝莉具有非常好的身手。人生直接跳过了生儿育女这一段,真是太省事了!至于孩子他爸是谁,兰岚眼眸流转,对着手指,想不出便不再想了!管他是谁呢!她要带着一对天才儿女,混吃混喝,逍遥快活一辈子。路宇腾顺手拿起桌上的文件,薄唇一勾:“你的工作,就从贴身秘书开始吧!”兰岚眨巴眨巴眸子,什么?贴身秘书,要有多贴身?兰睿宝宝缓缓地抬起头,冲着新任“爹地”努努嘴,一本正经道:“爹地,我妈咪卖艺不卖身!”