Object of this lesson
In this lesson I have examined only a few of the many thousand drugs in general use. I have omitted many drugs and compounds whose properties and uses would form interesting information, but the purpose of this book is to impart a knowledge of foods, not a knowledge of drugs. This lesson, however, is for the purpose of giving the reader some authentic information about the standard drugs and medicines, so that he may form his own conclusions in regard to the efficacy of drugs in curing dis-ease. If the reader will secure at a public library a copy of the "National Standard Dispensatory," the book used by practising druggists, and scan through its two thousand pages, he can form some idea of the limitless number of things, and the complex, uncertain, and unscientific methods used in the prescribing and in the dispensing of drugs.
[LESSON X]
Importance of Correct Diagnosis and Correct Treatment
The word "diagnosis" is derived from two Greek words, "dia," meaning through, and "gnosis," meaning knowing. It therefore means literally "through knowledge," "to know thoroughly," or, as we now say, "thorough knowledge." The old form of the word is still retained in the very common expression "to know it through and through."
Diagnosis may be a source of danger
The primary purpose of diagnosis is to locate a difficulty, to find an internal disorder that is causing unpleasant symptoms. It will readily be granted that this is only desirable when, after the internal disorder has been located, we are able to do something to correct it; that otherwise it is of no more importance than to learn by post-mortem examination what caused death. Indeed, to know what the trouble is without knowing how to deal with it, is a very grave source of danger, and has caused many a death through resort to wrong methods. In a large percentage of cases Nature will heal, if her processes are not interfered with, and in all cases she is the real physician; our only proper office is to supply the right materials, and to leave her to use them as she will.
True diagnosis, merely an interpretation of Nature's language