Now the present case, as the doctor sees it, is just
exactly such a collection of paltry individual facts as never was
before,--a snarl and tangle of special conditions which it is his
business to wind as much thread out of as he can. It is a good deal as
when a painter goes to take the portrait of any sitter who happens to
send for him. He has seen just such noses and just such eyes and just
such mouths, but he never saw exactly such a face before, and his
business is with that and no other person's,--with the features of the
worthy father of a family before him, and not with the portraits he has
seen in galleries or books, or Mr. Copley's grand pictures of the fine
old Tories, or the Apollos and Jupiters of Greek sculpture. It is the
same thing with the patient. His disease has features of its own; there
never was and never will be another case in all respects exactly like it.
If a doctor has science without common sense, he treats a fever, but not
this man's fever. If he has common sense without science, he treats this
man's fever without knowing the general laws that govern all fevers and
all vital movements. I 'll tell you what saves these last fellows. They
go for weakness whenever they see it, with stimulants and strengtheners,
and they go for overaction, heat, and high pulse, and the rest, with
cooling and reducing remedies.
Pages:
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153