Specific diagnosis and specific medication :

Front matter

Open Knowledge Commons and Harvard Medical School

AND

BY C-—

Preface

When the writer began to prepare the pages which follow it was his intention to revise and combine in one volume the two works of the late Professor Scudder on Specific Diagnosis and Specific Medication. .The great advancement which has been made during the past* third of a century in the Eclectic methods of practice, however, soon made it apparent that this would be to the writer an impossible task, for it was found that much new matter would have to be added in order to bring the work up to the present needs of the medical profession. This addition could not be made and still preserve Professor Scudder's unique arrangement and forcible diction. It was, therefore, thought the wiser and more satisfactory course to prepare a new work based on the writings of Dr. Scudder and more recent authors, including the personal observations of the writer.

Individual credit has been given for much of the material used, but as it was found impossible to do so in all cases, a general acknowledgment of indebtedness to all modern Eclectic authors is hereby made.

John William Fyfe.

Saugatuck, Conn.

September 1, 1909.

Introduction

In the early part of the nineteenth century a small body of the more advanced thinkers in the medical profession, through the influence and leadership of Dr. Wooster Beach, began to realize the extreme harshness — if not brutality — of the methods then employed in the treatment of the sick. They did not, however, seek to change the doctrine or principles upon which the old practice was based. They did not grasp the fact that the doctrine then universally accepted was wrong, for they themselves were firm believers in phlogosis and antiphlogistics. Blood-letting and large doses of mercury and antimony they denounced — not because of their general depressant influence, but because they were thought to be unmanageable, or that they exerted some special or permanent pernicious influence.

The efforts of these early reformers — the founders of the Eclectic school of medicine — were mainly directed along the lines of substitution, and for many years this doctrine of substitution was prominently brought forward in the lectures and writings of many of the leaders of the Eclectic school. They labored to show that substitutes for the old means were numerous, and that while they were quite as effectual at the time of need, their action was but transient, and, therefore, harmless.

The Eclectics of old had a number of substitutes for blood-letting, and some of the older men spent much time in showing how the antiphlogistic influence of blood-letting could be secured, even to the extent of syncope in active inflammation, by simply cording the limbs. This method was deemed a great improvement in treatment, as the blood could be gradually let back from the corded limbs into the general circulation, and thus the needed influence- of blood-letting could be obtained in the relief of active inflammation without loss of the vital fluid. Others believed that all the good effects of blood-letting could be secured from the use of powerful cathartics ; that in free catharsis the blood-vessels could be depleted almost as quickly and to a greater extent, while the vital portions of the blood were saved, and the

6 Introduction.

serum would be quickly renewed. Still other prominent Eclectics thought that this influence could be obtained by the kidneys as well as the bowels, and that the free action of both kidneys and bowels would prove at least equal to blood-letting, and have the additional merit of promoting the removal of a large quantity of effete material.

In those early days mercury was the all-powerful drug of the physicians who adhered to the doctrine of the dominant school of medicine, as it was believed to remove disease through its action on the liver. The Eclectics — then known as the reformed physicians — did not question the belief that it was absolutely necessary to energetically influence the liver, or doubt that mercury exerted a powerful control over the condition of that organ, but as with them mercury was the synonym for nearly all evil, podophyllin was selected as a substitute for it in cases where a vigorous action on the liver was believed to be demanded. In cases requiring but a mild influence leptandra was thought to be preferable to podophyllin. The necessity for a substitute for mercury, however, was not doubted — the liver had to be "tapped." But these remedies would not "touch the gums" as mercury would, and "touching the gums" was still believed to be essential to the successful treatment of many diseases, so an additional drug had to be combined with the mercury substitutes, and iris was selected to complete the influences needed in order to get all of the therapeutic effects of mercury.

Vigorous counter-irritation was also believed to be a necessity, and many means were employed to obtain it.

The blister was thought to be another necessity, and cantharides being the only certain agent, or, at least, the only one that could be employed with safety, the Eclectics retained it. It would not do, however, to go too far in adopting the methods of the old school, so they substituted for the tartar emetic ointment a vegetable irritating plaster.

"Profound impressions" were still thought to be required in the treatment of many diseases, and as these "impressions" must be made by means of active cathartics, gamboge, scammony, colocynth and other similar drugs were frequently employed.

Nauseant expectorants were believed to be necessary in diseases of the respiratory organs, and here again the plan "of substitution is apparent, for they substituted for tartar emetic lobelia

Introduction. 7

and sanguinaria. They, however, retained ipecac. Stimulant expectorants must be used, and as they had none better, they kept squills, senega and tolu, and thus the doctrine of substitution ramified in every direction, and in some cases it was so slight that there was no real difference.

These errors of substitution grew out of a want of a well-defined statement of principles, and especially a want of knowledge on the part of some of the leaders of the new school.

There was a profound conviction that the old depressant practice was wholly wrong, and that in its stead treatment should be restorative. So that, in fact, while substitution was thus freely discussed, and in many instances sincerely believed in, entirely different means were employed.

The doctrine of substitution was the bane of the new school, and greatly impeded its growth, but in time the leaders began to reject the antiphlogistic plan, and recognize the influence of Nature in the cure of disease. The effect of this change in doctrine was soon seen in a more rapid growth of the Eclectic movement. But it was not until a little more than a third of a century ago, when the late Prof. John M. Scudder, M.D., brought the doctrine of Specific Diagnosis and Specific Medication prominently before the medical profession, that it became a well-defined school of medicine, with independent and fixed principles of its own.

Ever since that time the Eclectic school has denied that a depressant treatment is needed in any case, and has been governed by principles which favor the conservation of vital power in all cases. They recognize specific medication, as advocated by Professor Scudder, to be the most rational method of prescribing, and it is now the distinguishing characteristic of the school. In other words, specific medication is modern Eclecticism.

Such prejudice against this system of therapeutics as may have existed has been due to the fact that it is often misunderstood. In order that there may be no need of misunderstanding by the reader, it is here stated that the Eclectics do not administer specific medicines for specific diseases as they are classified by the generally accepted nosology. They prescribe specific remedies for specific pathological conditions — that is, they divide diseases into their component parts, and prescribe for them in accordance with the symptoms — disease expressions — presented.

8 Introduction.

The words "Specific Diagnosis" are employed in this work as a means of designating a diagnosis of a specific pathological condition (not disease) which can be removed, or, at least, opposed, by a specific remedy or remedies. This, evidently, is what is needed to give us a rational practice of medicine, and it must, therefore, constitute the foundation of "specific medication."

The physician who practices specific medication should exercise great care in making a diagnosis. When called to a patient he should first carefully and correctly diagnose the case in accordance with the nosology nOw accepted by all scientific physicians. He should do this-. for the benefit of medical science, and also for his own personal 'benefit. A single mistake in this form of diagnosis may prove extremely detrimental to the reputation of the physician making it. Such diagnosis, however, should have but little influence in the treatment of the patient. This should be governed entirely by the symptoms or disease expressions. Before a prescription is made the case should be thoroughly examined as to its component parts. In this latter examination it has been found wise, in diseases liable to affect different parts of the body, to commence the examination by considering the symptoms — disease expressions — manifested in and about the head; then those affecting the throat, the lungs, the pleurae, the heart, the stomach, the liver, the spleen, the intestines, and so on downward to all parts liable to be involved. Physicians who carefully examine their cases in this systematic manner soon acquire a habit of great thoughtfulness and keen observation, and seldom fail to quickly comprehend the true import of every disease expression in any given case coming under their care.

In this study of "Specific Diagnosis and Specific Medication" we wish to make therapeutics occupy the first place, and the diagnosis will mean remedies, whenever this is possible. We do not care so much to affix a name by which the wrong may be known, as to prefix a remedy by the means of which the disease will disappear. In other words, the object of the examination is to determine what will remove the wrong of life and restore the patient to health. We can so study disease that its symptoms or expressions will clearly point to the needed remedial agent, or agents, and as this is the leading object of this work, we shall keep this fact constantly in view while considering the 'various wrongs of life.

SPECIFIC DIAGNOSIS AND SPECIFIC

MEDICATION.

Part I

sPECiraeopi^SNOsis.

A BRIEF CONSmE^WBl^^JS^MAL LIFE.

Life is first manifested in the form of a singe cell, composed of a mass of protoplasm. This mass of protoplasm contains a nucleus, and the simple substance we call a cell possesses a certain power which enables it to take to itself nourishment, and in this way obtain material for its sustenance and growth. It also possesses the power of reproducing its kind, and of exercising all independent action necessary to its elementary form of life, and incidental to its evolution from this elementary life to its position as a part of a higher and a more complex form of life.

Man's body is composed of cells and cell derivatives, arranged in such a manner as to act in harmony — the one cell aiding the other in its specific labor incidental to its position as a part of the organism we call man. These cells work in harmony by each taking from the surrounding medium that which is adapted to its individual development and functional activity, and rejecting or carrying tothe neighboring cell that for which it has no need, and which is needed for the development, repair or functional activity of another of the community of cells contained in the part or parts of the human body.

In man cell function is largely controlled by tbe influence of the nervous systems. Still, the power of individual action by independent cells prevails, and each cell possesses the faculty of selecting that which is adapted to its individual use, without regard to the action of the other cells. Upon this selective faculty of individual cells must we ever largely depend for the beneficial results of drugs, as it is owing to this selective power that we are enabled to medicate certain portions of the body.

The life of health should be thoroughly studied, in order that we may be able to recognize every manifestation of this life by our senses.

We must bring our own senses to bear upon the living human being, and know how he feels, smells, looks and what sounds he makes. In other words, we must know him as a living human being. This study of the living man is the most important study in medicine.

There is but one way of making a good surgeon. He must exercise his senses on the human body. He must study the cadaver and learn the relation of the parts of the human body; and he must also study the living man and learn to recognize these relations by the sense of touch. The accomplished surgeon recognizes a displacement or fracture as soon as his eyes rest on the part. Let him pass his fingers over a limb in the dark, and he knows at once if anything is wrong, and just what the wrong is. He is a good surgeon just exactly as he is an expert in the knowledge which enables him to do this.

The medical student should supplement his study of anatomy and physiology from books by a study of anatomy and physiology on the living man. He should observe him closely until he learns his varied expressions. He should carefully watch him walk, sit, lie, work, eat, breathe and talk. He should feel of him, see how he is made, and what he feels like in different parts. He should learn every prominence of bone in the body and its relation to articulations, blood-vessels, nerves and organs. He should hear every sound he makes, and learn to recognize its character. In fact, he should learn everything concerning the living man, from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, and learn to analyze him with his own senses. When he has accomplished this he will have laid the foundation for a good physician.

Our senses should be so trained that we may be able to observe well. These faculties are like many others ; they may be so trained under the influence of the will that after a time they work automatically, and with a rapidity that is astounding. All that one need do, to have good, active senses, is to use what he has rightly. Man's conscious life is in and through his senses,

A Brief Consideration of Normal Life. 11

and as these are educated and enlarged, his life becomes larger and his pleasures increased.

The study of anatomy is the basis of a sound medical education. One should not only be able to name the bones, processes, muscles and organs of the body, but he should also know them thoroughly. In order to become a skilled diagnostician a physician must be able to recognize at once the normal from the abnormal in size, shape and position of any part of the human body. This can be accomplished by a study of anatomy from the skeleton and by dissections, assisted by reading and lectures, but such study should be regarded as preliminary to a more important study. We must also study anatomy from the living man, and this latter study'should be thoroughly made. We want to knozv the situation and the relation of the various parts, so that we may be able to detect the slightest variation at once. We want the impress of the living man upon our senses, so that they may know him intimately. We want to know his every expression, standing, sitting, lying on his back, sides, etc. His expression in activity and at rest. We study his muscles in life, their arrangement on the bones, and their influence in giving the body motion. We study the situation of blood-vessels in the same manner, and learn to trace their course by the prominences of bone, relation to muscles, etc., and, going deeper, we study osteology again, as the bones are clothed in tissue.

There are two objects in studying anatomy in this manner, both important. The one is to knozv the mechanism of life, and the other is to educate the senses.

A thorough knowledge of physiology is also of the utmost importance, and that which can be learned from books must be acquired before one can become a good physician, but it is not sufficient for the purposes of the specific diagnostician. We not only wish to learn all that can be told by authors of works on physiology about certain phenomena which they have witnessed and learned to know as constant expressions of life, but we wish to knozv them ourselves, and through our own senses.

"The body of a living man performs a great diversity of actions, some of which are quite obvious ; others require more or less careful observation ; and yet others can be detected only by the employment of the most delicate appliances of science.

"Thus, some part of the body of a living man is plainly always in motion ; even in sleep, when the limbs, head and eyelids may be still, the incessant rise and fall of the chest continue to remind us that we are viewing slumber and not death.

"More careful observation, however, is needed to detect the motion of the heart ; or the pulsation of the arteries ; or the changes in the size of the pupil of the eye with varying light; or to ascertain that the air which is breathed out of the body is hotter and damper than the air which is taken in by breathing.

"And lastly, when we try to ascertain what happens in the eye when that organ is adjusted to different distances ; or what in a nerve when it is excited ; or of what materials flesh and blood are made; or in virtue of what mechanism it is that a sudden pain makes one start — we have to call into operation all the methods of inductive and deductive logic; all the resources of physics and chemistry ; and all the delicacies of the art of experiment." (Huxley.)

The first lesson we learn from these brief but expressive paragraphs is, that we are to observe this man, who "is plainly always in motion/' and that we are not to be satisfied with the observations of another. Then follows the natural sequence in these observations. At first the gross expressions of the body, and the difference between the man awake, asleep, dead. Next a "more careful observation," determining the motion of the heart, etc. And lastly, the skilled observation, from a trained mind, aided by the various instrumentalities and appliances of science.

Books are necessary in this study — they serve as guide-boards, pointing the way, and at the same time give us a standard of comparison. They tell us what to exercise our senses upon — what to observe — and they also tell us what others have observed, and what is the common standard of healthy activities.

There is nothing in the life of man but should be a subject of close scrutiny. " We want to know him in the entirety of his action, as we wish to know him in every detail. And we want to know him so intimately and thoroughly, that this physiological man shall be always present with us as a standard of comparison.

The reader will at once see the necessity of this study as a basis for diagnosis. The physiological man is the man of health, the pathological man is one who has left this common standard of being. The physiological man is the standard of measurement, the common mean that we measure from. To have a measurement at all, it is necessary to have a fixed point to start from;

A Brief Consideration of Normal Life. 13

this healthy man is the fixed point. Measurement has reference to certainty, and certainty is what we most desire in medicine.

The first thing that the physician wants, then, is a sound physiological standard, which he carries with him as he makes his rounds. It is lain by the side of the patient in bed, sits by him on the chair, stands by him, walks by him, puts out its tongue, extends its hand to give the pulse, has lungs, bowels, kidneys, reproductive apparatus, etc., always at your service, and open for comparison.

Disease is wrong life, and a wrong presupposes a right. To determine the existence of a wrong, we must know what the right is; to determine the character of the wrong, we must compare it in all its parts with the standard set. This is diagnosis, as the reader can at once see.

How shall we get this physiological standard? Clearly, by observation with our own eyes and the use of our own senses. Each man must make it for himself, and give it distinctness by the education of his own senses. Theoretical knowledge will not do.

If we carefully observe the phenomena of sleep in the infant, child and adult, we cannot fail to discover that the expressions of sleep are distinctive, and soon have a healthy standard by which to be guided.

There are also distinctive expressions of the body in death that cannot be counterfeited. It is not only the absence of motion, of respiration, of pulse, or heart-beat, of heat, but there is an absence of the expression of life in its totality, and an expression of lifelessness that is characteristic. The relaxation of death is distinctive, as is the rigor mortis, and as is the decomposition of tissue.

It is well to have two points to measure from — the standard of life and the standard of death. There is an approximate death, as well as a total death; a dying by degree, or part, as well as a dying at once and in entirety.

Taking a man in entirety, we find a distinct expression when he walks, stands, sits, or lies. Every part of the man talks to us, his hands, his arms, his legs and his feet.

We not only learn from this much of the physical life of the outer man, but learn of the life within. The expression is the shadowing forth of the underlying nervous system. As physical and mental health has a distinct expression in the outer man, which we purpose using as a standard of admeasure ; so all diseases, physical and mental, have a distinct expression in the outer man.

We have a standard of temperature which we readily measure with the thermometer. We have a standard electrical condition as an important factor of life, which we will learn to recognize in the general expression and movement, the special expression of the face and eyes, and by the touch. We also have a standard formative force, which we will recognize in the expression of tissues, and the sensations they give to touch.

We have a standard color for the general surface, and for special parts that the eye will learn to recognize, and use for comparison. We make this study thorough ; it is the skin at large, and then those portions where the circulation is less free, where it is very superficial and free, the nails, hair, veins, etc. We have a standard color for mucous membranes, for lips, gums, tongue, etc.

We have a standard in touch — of smoothness, resistance, elasticity, size and association ; and we have it of every part of the body. Of course, we cannot learn it from books. We must learn it by the use of our own hands and on the human body.

We have a standard respiration, in frequency, fullness, depth and freedom, which is distinct and clear, and which we know of ourselves by observation.

We have a standard circulation, which we know at the radial artery, by the even, distinct, regular blood wave that passes under our finger, as well as by the expression of parts associated with the heart in action.

We have a standard condition of the digestive organs, which we learn from books and by observation. It does not take long to establish such a standard if we closely observe the general expression and the special expression of the muscles of the mouth.

Blood-making and nutrition must have distinct expression, and a standard for measurement will be readily formed, for all functional activity is dependent upon nutrition.

The standard of healthy excretion by skin, kidneys and bowels is readily formed by observation. Not observation on the sick,

Cultivation of the Senses. 15

and under the influence of drugs, but upon the healthy human being.

The education briefly referred to in the foregoing is essential to good diagnosis, and its attainment, therefore, of the utmost importance to the practitioner of medicine.

The normal senses of man are capable of great development, and in the next chapter brief suggestions will be given in regard to their cultivation.

Chapter II. Cultivation Of The Senses

The physician should give earnest and careful attention to the education of all his senses, especially to those of sight, hearing and touch. These senses should be so trained that they will not only do rapid and accurate work, but also act in harmonious association. A cultivated sense of sight alone is often capable of deciding the diagnosis in many diseases of the nervous system. An abnormal development of features and peculiarities of expression tell to the educated sense of sight a story which often makes for correct diagnosis.

The knowledge acquired from books and lectures is the foundation of a medical education, but it is insufficient for all the needs of the physician who wishes to make a success of his lifework. It must be supplemented by a thorough cultivation of the senses, and the brain must also be so educated that it wi11 quickly receive impressions and make deductions.

Attention has been called to the proper study of anatomy, by which one may knozv the structure of the human body of himself; and the right study of physiology, by which one may know the various activities of this mechanism. To make these attainments requires continuous exercise of our senses upon the human body.

The same course of study is necessary in order to obtain a thorough knowledge of disease. The descriptions given in works on the practice of medicine do not contain all the knowledge needed. We want to knozv disease for ourselves, and it must be learned by the exercise of our senses upon diseased bodies.

If the senses, then, are the instruments by which we obtain knowledge, it will at once be patent to the reader that their development and goodness will be the measure of our ability and our attainments. Hence the man of educated and acute senses will be far superior to and have every advantage over the man who has not been thus trained and developed.

The law of development is always in operation in the human body, as it is throughout the animal and vegetable world. As any organ or part is rightly used, it grozvs in capacity. Not only in infancy, in childhood, up to adult years, but each and every year of a man's life to old age. It is more marked, of course, when the reproductive powers are active, but it is always a law of life.

There is another view of the question, and one which is quite as important to many persons. The law is not only operative in the one direction — to increase functional capacity — but quite as much so in the other direction — to lessen or take away that we have. The part or organ disused loses its functional capacity, becomes atrophied, and finally loses the power of reproduction — is wholly gone. The Indian fakir, who vows to hold his arms above his head, finds after years are passed, that they are no longer obedient to the will ; their power is lost. This is the case with any part of the body — with the organs of special sense, and with the brain and functional activities.

It is the continued and orderly exercise of parts that gives them increased capacity. The organs of special sense have in them a mechanism for skilled use, as well as for the gross purposes of life, and it is this skilled use that we must call forth in diagnosis.

The senses of touch, of sight, of hearing and of smell are all useful in this study of diagnosis, and they all require training. The physician of unskilled touch, sight, hearing or smell can never make a skillful diagnostician. It is hardly necessary to give examples of this, as every physician's experience will show it a truism.

The unskilled touch could not recognize the variations of the pulse, or determine the condition of the skin, or do a great many things that might be done by the educated sense of touch.

The untaught eye cannot distinguish the variations of form, size, color and other physical properties of bodies, which tell of condition and functional activity.

In medicine the ear requires education by use in order to

Cultivation of the Senses. 17

detect some of the minute sounds, as the respiratory murmur, and a still further education to detect the minute shades of difference in sound, which tell of disease.

The uneducated sense of smell has no power of analysis, and the uneducated sense of taste is satisfied with the gross classification which divides all substances into pleasant and unpleasant. To the educated taste there is every gradation of the one and the other, and a power of great discrimination that is sometimes really wonderful in its acuteness.