Medical research

“ At a period when pathological research is lending its aid in investigating the appearances of disease in every part of the body, and many nice distinctions in diagnosis are aimed at, which are better calculated for nosological than practical purposes, it seems to me not a little extraordinary, that so few have cultivated that most important branch of medicine, the study of the diseases of children. ”

“ These are the words of one of our wisest physicians, deliberately written in the full maturity of a life devoted to original research and its practical application to medicine. His experience led him to the recognition of this great truth: that the supreme aim of the medical profession must become more and more the advancement of sanitation. In any comprehensive view of medical art as a science, the cure of disease is rationally secondary to its prevention. ”

“ It is by the recognition of this true method of biological research and by the generous support of physiologists who honestly seek for truth, even when opposed by temporary fashions of medical opinion, that medicine will become a science. ”

“ The advance in these general subjects it is my intention to follow along the lines of physics, chemistry and biology, as they developed in France, England and Germany. And, if in the course of this presentation I have much to say about the work shops of these sciences, it is because universities, laboratories and hospitals, as. well as societies and journals, represent the visible machinery of nineteenth century research in medicine, and whether we regard them as the cause or the effect of the awakening of 70 years ago, they to-day constitute our hope for the future of medical research. ”

“ These accessory sciences have considerably developed in the evolution of medicine, and the art of medicine has become the chief motive power which urges men to research and discovery in the biological sciences, such as histology, embryology, comparative anatomy and physiology, anatomy and physiology of the brain, bacteriology, etc. Pure science now occupies such a position in medical studies that the "healing art" often remains in the background ”

“ The leaven of research which has so completely permeated and revolutionized all doctrines and practises of medicine in the past quarter century is still acting and no one can foretell how it is going to mold the medical science and practise of the coming decades. ”

“ I ask every beneficiary of biomedical research; that is, every citizen of this country, to acknowledge the true worth of biomedical research. I ask biomedical researchers, health care professionals, schools and universities, community organizations, and businesses to join in efforts to celebrate the successes of biomedical research and to promote this enterprise. ”

“ Whatever skill we may boast in investigating the nature of a disease, or in understanding the structure of the body, yet without a knowledge of the instruments which are to be used, and of their properties and action upon the body, whereby they produce a change from sickness to health, other knowledge avails little in the cure of diseases.
The Theory of Physic, more commonly termed Medical Institutions, comprehends under it, the important doctrines of Physiology and Pathology. ”

“ The more nearly the treatment of diseases can be brought throughout to this degree of accuracy, the more scientific will the art of physic become, and the tendency of all medical observation and of all medical writing, should be to advance in this direction. ”

“ But health and disease also claim the attention of the scientist, and not merely of the physician, in so far as an account of their causes is concerned. The extent to which these two differ and investigate diverse provinces must not escape us, since facts show that their inquiries are, at least to a certain extent, conterminous. For physicians of culture and refinement make some mention of natural science, and claim to derive their principles from it, while the most accomplished investigators into nature generally push their studies so far as to conclude with an account of medical principles. ”

“ No doubt both clinical study and pathological observation have not only helped practical medicine onward, but they have also greatly contributed to the progress of physiology itself. In fact, I find it impossible to separate exact clinical and pathological work from scientific research of a purely physiological nature. Is not all treatment more or less experiment? ”

“ Physiology prepared the way for Pathology, and the Principles and Practice of Medicine placed the experience of the whole world under contribution. Therapeutics claimed for her use the vegetable, mineral and animal kingdoms, the collateral sciences became cultivated as auxiliaries, and Botany, Mineralogy, Chemistry and Zoölogy became branches of medical study ”

“ In subsequent experiments by other observers, some of whom perhaps are less hopeful than the original investigator, the same unconscious and irregular elimination takes place, until the objective power of the remedy may for all practical needs be regarded as established. Such is the history and philosophy of medical experimentation in all ages and with all schools of medicine. ”

“ They looked upon it as the art of the diagnosis and treatment of disease, in which the unerring tact of a practiced and happy judgment is of primary importance, and where the rapid and searching glance of genius into the secret laboratories of life or into the hidden sources of disease is, and ever will be, the principal and most essential point. The mere historical acquaintance with the different forms of diseases and their remedies, with botany, and the anatomy of the human body, with the number and structure of its organs, forms merely the materials, the external sphere of medical practice ”

“ It involves a continuance of the mischievous ideal of medical practice of the past, a conception still held by a large portion of the public to its own detriment, that a hasty inquiry, a perfunctory examination, and a bottle of medicine, represent the best that scientific medicine can offer a patient. ”

“ If in this brief article, which does not purport to be more than a sketch of the tremendous strides made by medicine in the Nineteenth Century, so much space has been given to the germ theory of disease, it is because the demonstration of the truth of that theory has been absolute, and has constituted the very marrow of almost all the medical progress of the century that has been the outcome of continuous thought and study as opposed to chance discovery. ”

“ It can hardly be but that the modes of investigating disease ordinarily followed, labour under some radical errors or defects, else the researches of ages, pursued, as they have been, with exemplary diligence, and, in many splendid instances, by minds of the first order of intellect, must, ere this, have rendered our knowledge of the nature and treatment of disease more certain and more complete. ”

“ A vast variety of the approaches known to medical science has been explored to find better methods of treatment and prevention of major diseases, particularly heart diseases, cancer, and mental illness. ”

“ So, likewise, are there numerous, acute diseases of a milder character which are easily and unmistakably recognized without the possession of great medical knowledge, and which readily yield to plain, simple, medical treatment which is within the ready reach of all who strive to acquaint themselves with the rudiments of medical science. ”

“ To this end it is important for him, and for us, to learn what are the boundaries of his field of knowledge, and what are the limits of his power within it. Above all, he should recognize the contrasts between medical science and medical art. The science is limited strictly by a knowledge of structure and function. ”

“ During the last half century a great change has taken place in the treatment of disease. Medicine has advanced with rapid strides, from the narrow limits of mere empiricism, to the broader realm of rationalism, until to day it comprehends all the elements of an art and a science. ”

“ Comparative anatomy and physiology have thrown very much light upon many obscure problems to which the study of man gave rise. Therefore, I would most earnestly urge upon all medical men the study of biology. It may be replied that the courses of study are now crowded, but it is certain that the successful physician of the future must know something of nature as a whole. Already many of our most important theories as to disease—the structure of organs, cell-growth, cell-life, and many more—have come to medicine from biology. ”

“ Yet we regard clinical medicine as illustrating art, and didactic medicine as representing science. What figure, think you, would the hospital professor make who should come before you with a patient, and be unable to determine with what disease the person was suffering, the organs affected by it, the nature of their functional disturbance, why some functions rather than others were disordered, how these various elements affect the issue of the attack, what that issue will probably be, and finally, what means should be taken to render it favorable? ”

“ Physiology, including pathology—the first taking cognizance of all the vital functions of organized beings, the second of the disturbance of those functions by disease—is far from maintaining its place in the general march of physical science.—Saturday Review.
The Element of Physic in Medical Practice.
The Element of Physic in Medical Practice becomes constantly more simple. Our drugs are fewer and less complicated. ”

“ And it may be remarked, that physicians, who try all the new remedies recommended from time to time in medical journals, do not add so much to their stock of available experience, as those do who are more cautious, and less ready to adopt everything which is new.
The science of medicine, in all its departments, is in a very changeable state. The discoveries, which are made from time to time in anatomy, physiology, and pathology, the theories which are put forth, and the new remedies, and modes of treatment which are continually proposed, keep up a constant excitement in the profession. ”

“ The practice of medicine is every year becoming [pg 293] more successful. New and improved methods of treating disease are being discovered and developed, and the conscientious physician will avail himself of all the means, by a knowledge of which he may benefit his fellow-men. ”

“ Every malady is accompanied by its characteristic indications, some of which are diagnostic, i.e., they particularize the affection and distinguish it from all others.
Medical diagnosis is both a science and an art; a science when the causes and symptoms of a disease are understood, and an art when this knowledge can be applied to determine its location and exact nature. Science presents the general principles of practice; art detects among the characteristic symptoms the differential signs, and applies the remedy. ”

“ They are, however, taking comfort in the hope that modern medical science, in the course of its onward march, or on reaching its goal of progress, may possibly land its votaries on the very theory which they have at present rejected. ”

“ DISEASE HAS CERTAIN UNMISTAKABLE SIGNS,
or symptoms, and, by reason of this fact, we have been enabled to originate and perfect a system of determining with the greatest accuracy the nature of chronic diseases without seeing and personally examining our patients. In recognizing diseases without a personal examination of the patient, we claim to possess no miraculous powers. We obtain our knowledge of the patient's disease by the practical application of well-established principles of modern science to the practice of medicine. ”

“ Although pathology, therefore, as a branch of medical science, is necessarily founded on physiology, questions may nevertheless arise regarding the true character of a structure or organ, to which occasionally the pathologist may be able to return a more satisfactory and decisive reply than the physiologist—these two branches of medical knowledge being thus found mutually to advance and illustrate each other. ”

“ And it is to the accuracy with which this system has endowed us that we owe our almost world-wide reputation for the skillful treatment of all lingering, or chronic, affections. This system of practice, with the marvelous success which has been attained through it, demonstrates the fact that diseases display certain phenomena, which, being subjected to scientific analysis, furnish abundant and unmistakable data to guide the judgment of the skillful practitioner aright in determining the nature of diseased conditions. ”

“ Then, again, when I attend our medical associations and find the faculty discarding" methods and remedies which were once pronounced 'wonderful discoveries,' and substituting something new or something that had years ago been discarded, I become disgusted, and declare there is no science in materia medica; that it is but 'a bundle of speculative theories,' as Mrs. Eddy puts it in her startling chapter on 'Medicine.'" [Footnote: "Science and Health," page 149.] ”

“ The use of our instruments of precision, our knowledge, of pathology, all tend to narrow that bridge which must extend as a connecting link between empirical treatment, and treatment depending for its success upon a comprehensive knowledge of the natural history of disease. ”

“ Not only does the method adopted in this volume of treating of the Functions of the Brain and Nervous System present many new suggestions, in its application to hygiene, the management of disease, generation and the development and improvement of man, but the conclusions correspond with the results of the latest investigations of the world's most distinguished savants. My object is to inculcate the facts of science rather than the theories of philosophy.
Unto us are committed important health trusts, which we hold, not merely in our own behalf, but for the benefit of others. ”