A practical treatise on materia medica and therapeutics : with especial reference to the clinical application of drugs

Front matter

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Preface To The Second Edition Of Volume I

Tuts volume has been carefully and thoroughly rewritten and remodeled. In preparing a second edition of the work the author has earnestly desired to emphasize his profound conviction of the value of the natural forces and of mechanical and physiological agencies in the treatment of disease. The great aim of practical medicine is the cure or relief of disease. In the effort to accomplish this object the physician should strive to make use of every means by which the system of the patient may be benefited in its struggle with the malady. Enlightened therapeutics must be preceded by a correct diagnosis, and diagnosis, _in its turn, should lead us to a diligent study of etiology. It is only after the nature of an ailment has been recognized and its origin ascertained that we can be in a position to intelligently apply methods of relief. Pathology is but modified physiology, and if we are able, at an early period, to remove or neutralize the action of a malific cause we aid Nature in the re-establishment of normal function. The origin of specific infection comes from without, the genesis of toxic processes is to be sought within, the organism. In each of these two great morbid types the tissues and organs are injuriously affected by the presence of abnormal chemical products. The grand object of modern therapeutics is, therefore, to prevent, as far as possible, the formation of these deleterious substances; or, when this effort has failed, to promote their speedy and thorough elimination. We have learned to appreciate more justly the resistant as well as the reparative power of the economy. The germicidal properties of the blood-serum and the white cells and the increased activity of the eliminating organs protect us from the dangers by which we are every day and every hour surrounded. Exact experimentation has recently shown us the comparative facility vi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION OF VOLUME I.

with which hungering and thirsting animals succumb to infection. In these facts, thus briefly stated, we have the foundation of the rules which should govern the medical profession. Preventive medicine and sanitary science should be the first objects of study. In the emergency of dangerous epidemics the profession has the active assistance of the public. The laity can perceive the advantage of free ventilation and efficient drainage, but the regulation of personal habits, in accordance with the laws of hygiene, is, for most, a task too difficult to accomplish. This fertile cause of disease is always in operation. The practitioner, therefore, is constantly confronted with preventable but firmly-established disease. The correction of unhealthy physical habits must be the first step in the course of successful treatment. The physician should be competent to regulate his patients’ mode of life as regards exercise, work, diet, amusement, and sleep. The.physiology of digestion must be thoroughly studied ; the chemical composition, the nutritive value, and the methods of preparation of foods should be understood. Much good is accomplished simply by the relief of the organs of digestion, assimilation, and excretion. The spirits and tene of mind and the circulation and processes of oxygenation improve in proportion to the benefit to digestion. Sleep becomes more sound and refreshing. Drugs can accomplish but a similar result, and will altogether fail unless their efficiency is promoted by the observance of physiological rules. Exhausted energy is re-established by the proper application of electrical force and the manipulations of massage. External heat compensates, in a measure, for weakness of the heat-forming apparatus, and is of advantage in conditions characterized by debility. It affords relief, also, in certain phases or periods of inflammatory disorders. The influence of cold, light, and music may, with great propriety and benefit, be utilized by the physician.

It is not essential that the physician should be a skilled pharmacist, but he should possess an intelligent conception of the methods of pharmacy and a familiar acquaintance with the

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION OF VOLUME I. vil physical and chemical properties of drugs. These subjects and the art of prescription-writing are, consequently, discussed, in the preliminary section of the book, from the stand-point of the general practitioner. ‘The different modes of application or introduction of remedies, the Latin terms and phrases employed in prescriptions, the metric system, poisons and antidotes are also considered in this section.

In the chapter on ‘ Electro-Therapeutics ” one object has been held steadily in view—lucidity. The physical properties of this force, its modes of generation, the laws which regulate its manifestation and the mechanical means by which it is applied are described as briefly as is consistent with utility. The importance of electricity in the diagnosis of nervous affections and its value and indications in therapeutics are fully discussed. The physiological effects and the therapeutic applications of massage, so often synergistic with electricity, form the subject of a succeeding section. The paragraph upon the method of prescribing massage will, it is believed, be useful in securing the fullest benefit of this valuable procedure. The importance of pneumotherapy is pointed out, and the usefulness and the mode of administration of oxygen is described. The chapters on *¢ Hydrotherapy,” “ Climate,” ‘“ Diet,” ‘“‘ Heat,” ‘ Cold,” and other physiological agencies have all been rewritten.

The author hopes that his care and labor have succeeded in binging within moderate compass information valuable alike to the physician and patient. He trusts, likewise, that this volume may be of service in demonstrating how much can be accomplished in the practice of medicine without the use of drugs, and how much the activity of drugs is enhanced by the judicious combination with physiological remedies.

Table Of Contents

PHARMACEUTICAL REMEDIES OR DRvGs, . : ‘ ; . .

PHARMACOLOGY, PHARMACOGNOSY, AND THE PHARMACOPGIA, . ‘ Materia Mepicoa, . : ‘ : : ; ° . : .

PHARMACY, : : : : , . ° ‘ . ° : PRESCRIPTION-WRITING AND FORMULA, .. j : 1 ; PoIsoNs AND ANTIDOTES, . : : ; . j : : :