PHYSICKING OFF FEVER.
The eyes of my mind having just begun to be opened to the impotence of a
mere routine of medication as a _substitute for nature_, rather than _as
an aid to her enfeebled efforts_, I was prepared to make a wise use of
other facts that came before me, especially those in which I had a
personal concern and interest. Here is one of this description.
On the morning of March 12, 1821, during the very period when I was
watching over my sick friend, as mentioned in the preceding chapter, I
took from the post-office a letter with a black seal. It contained the
distressing intelligence of the death of a much-valued sister and her
husband, both of whom, but a few months before, I had left in apparently
perfect health.
On a careful inquiry into the particulars, both by letter and, after my
return, in other ways, I learned that the Connecticut River fever, as it
was then and there called, having carried off several persons who were
residing in the same house with my brother, the survivors were advised
to do something to prevent the germination and development of such seeds
of the disease as were supposed to be in their bodies and ready to burst
forth into action. I do not know that any medical man encouraged this
notion, the offspring of ignorance and superstition; but my brother and
his wife had somehow or other imbibed it, and they governed themselves
accordingly.
Both of them took medicine--moderate cathartics--till they thought they
had physicked off the disease; and all seemed, for a time, to be well,
except that they complained still of great weakness and debility. It was
not long, however, before they were both taken with the disease and
perished; my brother in a very short time, and my sister more slowly.
My sister, on being taken ill, had been removed to the house of her
mother, in the hope that a change of air might do something for her; but
all in vain. My mother and a few other friends who were with them as
assistants sickened, but they all ultimately recovered. They, however,
took no medicine by way of prevention.
Now I do not presume to say, that my young friends were destroyed solely
by medicine, for the assertion would be unwarranted. I only state the
facts, and tell you what my convictions then were, and what they are
still. My belief is, that though they might have sickened had they taken
no medicine or preventive, yet their chance of recovery after they
sickened was very much diminished by the unnecessary and uncalled-for
dosing and drugging.
The notion that we can physick off the seeds of disease, or by our
dosing prevent their germination, is as erroneous as can possibly be,
and is a prolific source of much suffering and frequent death. The best
preventive of disease is good health. Now, physicking off generally
weakens us, instead of giving strength. It takes away from our good
health instead of adding to or increasing it. As a general rule, to
which there are very few exceptions, all medicine, when disease is
unusually common or fatal, is hazardous without sound medical advice,
and not generally safe even then. It is fit only for extreme cases.
You may be at a loss to understand how such facts and reflections as
these could allure me to the study and practice of medicine as a
profession. Yet they most certainly had influence. Not that I felt a
very strong desire to deal out medicine, for to this I felt a repugnance
which strengthened with increase of years and experience. What I most
ardently desired was to know the causes of disease, and how far they
were or were not within human control. Such a science as that of
_hygiene_--nay, even the word itself, and the phrase _laws of
health_--was at that time wholly unknown in the world in which I moved.
There was, in truth, no way then to this species of knowledge, except
through the avenues opened by a course of medical study. Hence it was
that I blundered on, in partial though not entire ignorance, for some
time longer, groping and searching for that light which I hardly knew
how or whence to seek, except in pills and powders and blisters and
tinctures.