Excerpt from A Treatise of Therapeutics: Comprising Materia Medica and Toxicology, With Special Reference to the Application of the Physiological Action of Drugs to Clinical Medicine This is so well known that it seems superfluous to cite examples of the therapeutic discord; and one only shall be mentioned, namely, rheumatism. In this disease, bleeding, nitrate of potassium, quinine, mercurials, flying blis ters, purgation, opium, the bromides, veratria, and a host of other remedies, all have their advocates clamorous for a hearing; and above all the tumult are to be heard the trumpet-tones of a Chambers, Wrap your patients in blankets and let them alone. Experience is said to be the mother of wisdom. Verily she has been in medicine rather a blind leader of the blind; and the history of medical program is a history of men groping in the darkness, finding seeming gems of truth one after another, only in a few minutes to cast each back to the vast heap of forgotten baubles that in their day had also been mistaken for verities. In the past, there is scarcely a conceivable absurdity that men have not tested by experience and for a time found to be the thing desired; in the present, homoeopathy and other similar delusions are eagerly embraced and honestly believed in by men who rest their faith upon experience. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.