THE ROMANCE OF MEDICINE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12145, 7 April 1908, Page 3

THE ROMANCE OF MEDICINE.

The practice of medicine is generally regarded a-3 one. of those s&rious professions which do : not admit of romance. But in its gradual .evolution, from, an un-known-..science, to what is practically an art, there is plenty of room for speculation". Dr. Ronald' Maefa'e, indeed, has found material enough in its study to write a whole book. ~He ..reminds us tliat the publication of Virehow's■■ treatise-, on cellular pathology in. 1858 inaugurated a new era in medicine. Previously the body had been' considered a. mysteriously metaphysical whole or as an aggregate of organs, .-and the organs themselves as a. patchwork of tissues/ But observation after the .publication of the work became centred upon the ultimate structural elements, the cells. It was soon recognised that dis* ease -was; to a large extent simply a fight "between the cells of the body "and the invading microbes, and-.methods of treatment were devised For assisting the cells in repelling the invaders. According to -Dr. Macfie, even cancer becomes less formidable .when regarded in its cellular aspect. The' disease is a mass of cells, and the doctors advance the uncanny theory that in this respect it is a first cousin to man himself. The .same withi the heart. The terms "high spirits"' and' "low spirits," which are still in use, had a much wider "meaning befoi-e Harvey discovered that the heart was 'merely a force pump driving a red fluid through a "system of closed tubes. It was thought for hundreds of. years that the breath was drawn into tho heart an:T there changed into the vital and animal spirits-which ran down the nerves and gave-.m-ajft his power of feeling and1 movement. But though the mechanism" by which the blood is made, to circulate is: now fully understood, the mystery of the heart-beat is still unsolvable. Galen talked of "vital spirits," whilst his' successors to-day're-fer to "molecular re-arrangemeut,'' but in both cases the terms are simply .employed to cloak 'professional ignorance. The whole thing- is a mighty mystery, and whilst men are sighing- for new worlds, to conquer, the" ,-vast field of medicine still retains unconquered lands which no man has trod.