Medicine is not an exact science, and it is reasonable to presume that
even Time, with all its qualifying influences, will fail in its effects on
this one branch of science. As the millions of faces seem each to present
some differentiating feature, so each human system seems to require
special study of its individual temperament.
So physicians find it necessary to have more than one remedy for a given
ill; they still find truth in the old adage, "What is one man's meat is
another's poison." But Mother finds a variety of remedies necessary for
another reason. Her medicine-chest is usually lacking the full quota of
drugs required to meet the many emergencies, and she must turn to the
"remedy at hand."
Necessity has again proved its influence and with the years thousands of
simple home concoctions have found their way to the relief of the daily
demands on Mother's ingenuity. These mothers' remedies have become a
valuable asset to the raising of a family, and have become a recognized
essential in a Mother's general equipment for home-making.
For fifteen years the Publisher has handled so-called home medical works;
during that time he has had occasion to examine practically all the home
medical works published. He has been impressed with the utter uselessness
of many, perhaps most, of these books because the simple home remedies
were lacking.
A few years ago he conceived the idea of gathering together the "Mothers'
Remedies" of the world. This one feature of this book he claims as
distinctly his own. Letters were sent by him to Mothers in every state and
territory of the United States, and to Canada and other countries, asking
for tried and tested "Mothers' Remedies." The appeal was met with prompt
replies, and between one thousand and two thousand valuable remedies were
collected in this way.
Through courtesy to these Mothers who helped to make this book possible,
the book was named "MOTHERS' REMEDIES."
Dr. T. J. Ritter, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a graduate of the regular School
of Medicine at the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and later one of
the medical staff of the University, consented to furnish the necessary
material to complete the Medical Department. Dr. Ritter, in over thirty
years of actual practice, has met with all the exigencies of both city and
country practice which have brought to him the ripe experience of what
would be called a "physician's life-time." His success has been, in part,
due to his honesty, kindliness and conscientiousness, as well as to his
thorough training and natural adaptability to the profession.
Besides writing the Causes, Symptoms, Preventives, Nursing, Diet,
Physicians' Treatment, etc., he has examined each and every one of the
Mothers' Remedies and added, when possible, the reason why that remedy is
valuable. In short, he supplied in his remarks following each Mother's
Remedy the Medical virtue or active principle of the ingredients. This
lifts each Mother's Remedy into the realm of science,--in fact, to the
level of a Doctor's Prescription.
In writing his part, Dr. Ritter consulted, personally or through their
works, considerably over one hundred of the acknowledged Medical
Specialists of the world. Thus he has brought to you the latest
discoveries of modern science,--the Medical knowledge of the world's great
specialists.
Dr. Ritter, therefore, wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the
following: On the subject of Theory and Practice, to Dr. Wm. Osler, Oxford
University, England; Dr. James M. Andres, Ph. D., Medico-Chirurgical
College, Philadelphia, Pa.; Dr. Hughes Dayton, Vanderbilt Clinic-College
of Physicians and Surgeons; Dr. Hobart A. Hare, Jefferson Medical College,
Philadelphia, Pa.; Dr. Temple S. Hoyne, Hahnemann Medical College,
Chicago, Ill.; Dr. A. E. Small, Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago, Ill.;
Dr. C. G. Raue, Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa.; Dr. John
King, Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio. On the subject of
Materia Medica to Dr. John Shoemaker, Medico-Chirurgical College,
Philadelphia, Pa.; Dr. Hobart A. Hare; Drs. Hemple and Arndt, Homeopathic,
and others. On the subject of Obstetrics, to Dr. W. P. Manton, Detroit
Medical College, and others. On the subject of Surgery, to the American
Text Book on Surgery, edited by Drs. Keen and White, of Philadelphia, and
many contributors. On the subject of Nervous Diseases, to Dr. Joseph D.
Nagel and others. On the subject of the Eye, to Dr. Arthur N. Alling, of
Yale University. On the subject of the Ear, to Dr. Albert H. Buck, College
of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City; Dr. O. A. Griffin, University
of Michigan and others. On the Nose and Throat, to Dr. James B. Ball,
London, England. On the Skin, to Dr. James N. Hyde, Rush Medical College,
Chicago, Ill.; Dr. Alfred Schalek, Rush Medical College, Chicago, Ill. On
the Rectum and Anus, to Dr. Samuel G. Gant, Ph. D., Post-graduate College,
New York City. On the Diseases of Children, to Dr. L. Emmett Holt, College
of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City; Dr. Koplik, New York City; Dr.
Charles Douglas, Detroit College of Medicine; Dr. Henry E. Tuley,
University of Kentucky; Dr. Tooker, Chicago. On the subject of Nursing, to
Isabel Hampton Robb, and on Dietetics, to Dr. Julius Friedenwald, College
Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Md. On the Baby to Drs. Holt, Douglas,
Tooker, Koplik and Coolidge. On Insanity, to Dr. Selden Talcott, formerly
superintendent of the Middleton State Hospital for the Insane, New York
State. Besides the above a great many other physicians and their works
might be mentioned, and to all appreciation is gratefully acknowledged.
Mrs. Elizabeth Johnstone, who writes the department on "Manners and Social
Customs," is the only daughter of the late Francis Gardiner, one of the
early settlers of Washtenaw County, Michigan. She was educated at the
State Normal School, now the Normal College at Ypsilanti, and taught for
several years after graduation. In 1880 she married the late Robert
Ferguson Johnstone, editor of the Michigan Farmer, and after his death
became editor of the Household Department of that paper. In 1895, the
Farmer having passed into other ownership, she became a member of the
Editorial Staff of the Detroit Free Press, where,--continuing to write
under the pseudonym of "Beatrix" she has become widely known through the
vast circulation of that paper.
Years of experience have enabled her to write on topics of interest to
women with comprehension of their needs, and to answer social inquiries
with exactness.
Miss Edna Gertrude Thompson, who supplies the chapter on Domestic Science,
is a graduate of the Northern State Normal of Michigan. She was for a time
a teacher in the Public Schools of Michigan and New York State. Miss
Thompson later graduated from and is now the director of the Domestic
Science Department of the Thomas Normal Training School of Detroit,
Michigan.
Miss Thompson has won an enviable reputation in Domestic Science work. She
has avoided all of the quackery, self-exploitation and money schemes,
which have proved a temptation to many in the work, and which have tended
to brand the science as an advertising scheme, and confined herself to
study, teaching and the legitimate development of the science. Her work in
the Normal and in giving lectures on Domestic Science brings her in touch
with large numbers of intelligent and practical women who realize that
housekeeping and cookery must be reduced to a science. Luxuries of fifty
years ago are necessities today. The increase in the cost of living
without a corresponding advance in wages has made it imperative that
method and system he installed in the home.
Domestic Science is still in the embryo, but let us hope it will, in a
measure at least, prove a panacea for modern domestic ills and receive the
encouragement and speedy endorsement that it deserves.