But this state of things cannot always remain. The light of truth is shining, and is destined to dispel the clouds of mystery, which have so long covered the pathway to the grave, of millions of our fellow-men. Men of intellect, science, and humanity, are engaged in this good cause, and, so sure as “truth is mighty,” it must prevail. In order, however, to the accomplishment of this desired event, physicians must be men of principle, and adhere firmly to that which they know to be right. In the practice of some, there is too much disposition to accommodate the taste and prejudice of the patient, even at his expense. I was talking with a physician not long since, who advocated the practice of making medicine to suit the taste of the patient. Instead of accommodating his desire too much, in a matter about which he cannot be a judge, the physician should take that course which will be most likely to cure him speedily, though the remedy be not quite so palatable; there should be no tampering with his whims, to the prolonging of his disease.
This principle cannot be too deeply impressed upon the mind of every one, while he is receiving his medical education; for the triumph of our cause, and the rescuing of suffering humanity from the iron grasp of medical tyranny, depend upon the integrity of our practitioners, and their strict adherence to the true principles of practice. In the name of Humanity, let us not fall into the same vortex of quackery, which characterizes the practice against which we war!
RHEUMATISM—ITS CAUSES.
A PECULIAR acid, in rheumatic complaints, is now generally admitted to secrete, or accumulate, in the system; and, though this acid is found to pervade the entire body, yet this form of disease has been thought to be rather a local complaint—that the joints, or parts affected, are particularly in fault, and the remedies used are to be of a local, and external character; or, if general, are particularly to act on the seat of the pain.
The more we study the human frame, and become familiar with the organism of the human body, the more convinced we are that, whenever one organ or function of the system is deranged, all others feel its effects. In rheumatism, therefore, we have always discovered that the stomach and liver are diseased; these notions we have had very well substantiated by many. The internal irritation, renders the nutritive energy of certain parts at the periphery, (namely, the fibrous sheaths and covering of the muscles,) feeble, and their power of resisting external causes of disease, deficient. When cold and damp, therefore, are applied to the skin, the blood is driven thence toward the parts most ready, from their want of organic energy, to retain it, and least able to resist its flow. Those parts are the tissues which have been most violently employed—the tissues connected with the organs of voluntary motion, and the fibrous tissues of the muscles and joints. In some persons, these tissues are congenitally weak, the hereditary predisposition exists, and there is morbid sympathy always existing between them and the centre of nutrition. The laboring man who keeps his stomach and liver in a constant state of irritation, with spirituous drinks—who uses his voluntary muscles hard and long every day, and is exposed to all kinds of weather, is the most eligible, and the most frequent victim of rheumatism; for in him the condition of the stomach, the limbs, and the exciting cause, meet in all their strength. Hence, in places where perry and cider abound, the peasantry are especially subject to rheumatism.
Why the rheumatism seizes one joint or set of muscles, more than another, we know not, positively; but we do know, that more or less digestive derangements are present at the time. I never saw a rheumatic attack, in which such derangements were not present, previously to its commencement. How often does it happen that a patient, racked with pain is instantly relieved by a copious vomiting of bile, or by a common diarrhœa.
We come to the conclusion, then, that rheumatism is not a mere inflammatory pain of the sheaths of the muscles, but has its origin in some digestive irritation—exhibited by a certain kind and amount of fibrous inflammation, and this may be caused by the circulation of this acid blood, in its passage through the minute cappillaries of the joints and tendons, since nothing but the white and thin blood can pass through the circulation of the tendons and ligaments. Perhaps this blood may be almost entirely of an acid character; it has no red particles, and may lack those qualities which render it subservient to nutrition and assimilation.
If this view of the subject is correct, we readily perceive how the bleeding, cupping, leeching, and blistering processes, tend directly to weaken the energy of the organs, and render them more liable to distension and congestion.