DRUG THERAPY: THE FALLIBILITY OF TEXTBOOKS
Until very recently, we were compelled to acknowledge that little, if any, progress was being made in internal medicine so far as drug therapy was concerned. Everybody knows of the progress made in other branches—in bacteriology, in pathology, in biologic chemistry, in surgery, in etiology and in application of technical methods to diagnosis. Recently, however, pharmacologic research and the application of scientific methods in the study of the physiologic action of drugs are resulting in definite, positive progress. An important lesson, incidentally learned through this scientific investigation, is the fallibility of the drug therapy described in textbooks. The explanation is, of course, that many of these textbooks are mere compilations containing false statements, unproved theories, and unverified clinical evidence representing the guesswork of ancient uncritical observers. Many drugs have been, and still are, vaunted in textbooks as valuable in a variety of conditions, whereas scientific investigation and controlled clinical observation have proved them to be totally worthless; others are proving to be of value in an extremely limited number of conditions. The sooner writers of textbooks realize this fact and enter into the spirit of the new era, the better for the public and for scientific medicine.—(Editorial from The Journal A. M. A., May 27, 1916.)