and diseases consequent on the courses by which so many women weaken the constitution or ruin the health. By this method the weak limb was first relieved, and after this, by a strict obedience to all the laws of health, for several years I have enjoyed perfect health. I have also been every year gaining in strength and in the increased power of faculties usually diminished by age. And should burnings, and crushings of railroads, and other casualties be escaped, I have a fair chance for at least another twenty years of health, and active usefulness.
But this result has been gained not by any one method of medical treatment, but rather by faithful obedience to the laws of health, while it is preserved and continued only by the same. For whenever I failed in any one respect, my enfeebled nervous system, especially the weaker member, reported the wrong with marvelous precision.
What has been gained is continued only by a faithful and diligent course, securing pure air by night and day; regular and abundant sleep
in the hours of darkness, and no mental or physical labor except by day; a daily towel bath in cool water in the sun or by a fire, except in hot weather; living in light and well ventilated rooms, and often sitting in the sun; abstinence from stimulating drinks of all kinds; a simple diet of properly cooked food in a moderate quantity, and only at regular hours; daily outdoor exercise by walking, riding, and use of the muscles of the arms and trunk; clothing that never compresses any part and always protects from chills; abstinence from over excitement of all kinds; the cultivation of a cheerful and quiet spirit; healthful amusements; benevolent activity never to exceed the strength; and all this prayerfully pursued as a religious duty owed to God, to my fellow men, and to myself.
Another lesson illustrated by my experience, is the advance of medical science in detecting the causes of diseases so as to apply remedies intelligently. My case was simply prostration of the nervous system by mental care and labor, increased by a punctured nerve. And yet my medical advisers, most of them distinguished in their profession,
treated me, one, for diseased stomach, another for diseased spine, another for diseased blood, and most of them applied stimulants to the weak part, always thus increasing the weakness. That was nearly forty years ago. Since then nervous diseases are better understood, while animal chemistry, the microscope, and the thermometer have furnished new means for intelligent search for causes of disease.
And yet our most learned physicians complain of the deficient education given to medical students, and their negligent practice in comparison with European methods. I have before me the Richmond and Louisville Medical Journal of 1869, which claims to be the largest medical monthly in this nation. In it I find a letter from Dr. W. O. Baldwin, late President of the National Congress of physicians, asking from Dr. Wm. Neftel, of New York, late physician of the Russian Imperial Guard, an account of the course of medical study in Europe, and remarking that Dr. Neftel "beautifully illustrates by his example and by his valuable contributions to
science, the wisdom of the system in which he was educated."
In reply, Dr. Neftel states that the first requisition in Europe for medical license, is a course of general study equal to that demanded in our colleges, and in addition, a thorough knowledge of physics. Next follows four summer and four winter sessions in the medical department. The first two years are devoted to anatomy, histology, physiology, chemistry, pathological anatomy, general and special pathology and therapeutics, the principles of operative surgery and obstetrics, working at the same time in the chemical, physiological and pathological laboratories. In the last sessions only the student attends the different clinics—medical, surgical, obstetrical, opthalmological, dermatological, and psychological. Then, under a professor some special branch of medical science is pursued.
Dr. Neftel states as one cause of the advance of medical science in Germany and Russia, is the institution of free teachers or privat docents. These are students distinguished by original genius or great research, who in connexion with the faculty,