nrhe Progress of Medical Science
As Indicating the Culmination of the Present Age. A Selection from a Recent English Publication — “After Civilization, What?”
B>> EDW A RD G . ROW LAN D , M . D.
of the g reatest medical geniuses. Even today, the profession, influenced unhap pily by greed and commercial interest, stands almost a un it in opposition to some of th e g reatest th erapeu tic tru th s, whose adoption would probably do more to bring abou t th e “ ideal conditions” sought for by th e followers of th a t pro fession, th an all the new discoveries th a t present day investigators hope to make. Satan seems to inspire the pro fession w ith ju st those item s of knowl edge which will cause a m inimum of benefit, togeth er w ith a maximum of discord. This fact, in itself, is discour aging enough; b u t th e most sobering aspect of modern medicine is th e way in which its operation is undeniably underm ining, gradually, bu t steadily, the physical stam ina of mankind. This statem en t may seem to many to he th a t of an insane person, and it certainly needs an explanation. But a tru e sta te m ent it is. The medical fra te rn ity is, and always h as been, engaged in th e u tte rly hopeless ta sk of try in g to keep hum an society from reap ing th e n a tu ra l resu lts of its iniquities. The to ttering stru ctu re of decaying hum anity is con tinu ally being braced a t one point, pin ned a t another, screwed up, tied down, patched, painted, or-—where th e ru in is complete and offensive to th e eye of man— hidden as much as possible and lied about, so as to “ keep up appear ances.” T h at th e mere existence of hum anity as a whole, and especially th a t of its least desirable portions, is being prolonged by these desperate ex pedients is beyond question. But th a t its final desolation will be proportion ately the more disastrous, as th e in-
LTHOUGH I am a practising physician myself, I am forced to adm it th a t th ere is,'- to my m ind, no single s y s t e m , or institution, which so perfectly illus tra te s S atan ’s method of assum ing sheep’s clothing
for the purpose of ravaging the hum an race as th e science of medicine in its p resen t state of development. To be gin with, th ere is no o th er science which, in th e course of its development, has exacted such a fearfu l to ll of life for the purpose of its experiments. Every “ advance” has been obtained only a t a trem endous sacrifice of hum an victims. I assume a t th e s ta rt (what I will prove a little la te r on ), th a t medi cal practice a t the present day is abso lu tely wrong in its fundam ental aims, and th a t it is working, unconsciously I will adm it, for th e attainm en t of a goal, the contemplation of which must th rill S atan ’s h ea rt w ith joy and satisfaction; yet, on the other hand, Satan is not de sirous of the speediest possible a tta in m ent of th e goal alluded to. G reat as is th e in ju ry he m ight in stan tly w reak on hum anity were th is g reat aim already achieved, yet a still g reater sum to tal of suffering, and ruin, can be caused by reta rd in g th e progress of medical sci ence in different ways, and by scatter ing evils more thickly along its arduous path. This is seen in th e fact th a t th ere is a certain intangible something con nected w ith the profession which gen ders discord and enm ity, even among its own members. The b itterest rid i cule, and even persecution, by th e fra te rn ity itself, has ever been th e rew ard
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