A Bit of the Truth

Bruce Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3100, 19 September 1899, Page 2

A Bit of the Truth

■• - -' ' ' ■ * " , — The most pertinent and startling qaeation ever asked is this : — " What is truthV A Roman Governor propounded it once, under ciicumstances which greatly wormed and perplexed his official mind* And be was not the first man or the last— not by myriads, So far as I know there has been no satisfactory answer. Some people (radicals and come outers of various sorts) fancy that | in this, the tail end of a rather braggart and conceited century, they have | flushed a fair-sized convey of truths by firing speculative shotguns into every wayside bußh and bog. Bat have they done it ? No, gentle reader, no. They have put up crows and sparrows, the same orowa that picked the bones of the cave dwellers, and the same sparrows that sold two for a farthing in the time of Pilate* There were plenty of fooig of old, and there are plenty now. The ancient doctors, indeed, prescribed some horrible stuffs as medicine : — They used electuaries of viper's flesh and recommended pomegranate seeds for toothache because those seeds resemble human teeth. Very shallow *nd silly, to be aure, this sounds to us. But if you wanted to find things that come very nearly matching them in modern practice, I could show you where to look. On my table I have a list of about 300 new " remedies " introduced to a Buffering world within the past twelvemonth. " Must be Borne good ones among them," do you say ? Possibly. Time will tell. Meanwhile let as stick to whatever we are aure of. " We learn how to cure diseases," said Celsus, " by experience, not by reasoning." " Some of the greatest truths in medicine/ said a learned Scotch doctor, " came by the humblest means ; not by synthesis or venesection, but by the observations of peasants and the experiments of motherly women." Concerning a medicine discovered by one such woman, thousands of stories have been told and letters written. Here is an example : — " For many years I have suffered from indigestion and weakness. I seemed to have no energy for anything. I had a poor appetite, and what little food I ate caused me violent pains at the chest and between the shoulders. Frequently I had attacks of giddiness, and when I stooped I suffered from an unnatural rush of blood to the head. The pain which I was called upon to bear was often very severe \ it affected all parts of my body, and at night I got little proper and refreshing sleep on account of it. "As time went on and the complaint grew fixed upon me, I came to be exceedingly weak ; and now and again was obliged to take to my bed. C lost flesh and became quite thin, living, as I did, only on milk, beef tea, and other kinds of liquid food. It will oe understood, of course, that I had medical care, besides attending the South London Dispensary. Yet I received no benefio from what was done for me, «' It happened that in January, 1889, a friend, Mr Pullen, told me he had suffered in a similiar manner and been cared by a remedy called Mother Seigel'B Syrup. Acting on Ms suggestion I got a bottle, and. after having taken it I found great relief. Presently my appetite returned and food no longer distressed me. Convinced that Mother Syrup was adapted to my ailment I continued the use of it until it was no longer needed. My health and strength WQC© reestablished,, and \ have since been well. This medicine had done what no others had been able to do. My husband! who suffered from biliousness, used ifc with the same result. You have my free consent to publish this brief statement if you desire to do so,"-^(Signed) Mrs Julia Massey, 133, Lor ri more Road, Kennington, London, 5.8., January 20th, 1898. There is no royal road to the discovery of truth or knowledge. Anybody may find it anywhere. It is not always he who seeks that finds. Valuable discoveries are usually made by what, for lack of a better word, we call accident. The medicine that cures is the medicine we want, no matter whether it it old as the earth or w»s picked up yesterday in the fields by a child. That Mother Seigel's Syrup cures is proved by a cloud of witnesses. It is a bit of the truth. Therefore it will not die out and nothing can take its place.