The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 4, December, 1834Various
History
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 4, December, 1834
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
and the distressing frequency with which we were called on to attend
the remains of a fellow being to the gloomy prisons of the dead,
imperatively demanded a radical and extensive reform.
But fortunately for the human species, the "March of Mind" has led to
medical discoveries which have chained up the monster Death in
impotence, and rendered him a plaything to "the faculty." The long and
pompous pageants of M. D.'s diplomas, &c &c. have ceased to overawe the
eager aspirant for medical celebrity, and he now steps forward in the
path of fame at the age of nineteen, _maximus in magnis_, greatest
among the great! Diseases that formerly baffled the utmost skill of
science, and preyed upon their victims for years, are now thoroughly
extirpated in an hour! The long catalogue of noxious medicines with
which the pharmacopia was crammed, and which served no other purpose
than to swell
"The beggarly account of empty boxes,"
which the shelves of a rascally apothecary presented to view, are now
discarded; and their places are supplied by medicines so simple and so
efficacious, that the value of life, once considered so inestimable,
has actually undergone a considerable diminution, merely because of the
ease with which it may be enjoyed. It is now no longer necessary to
watch the various diagnostics of an obdurate disease through their
origin and development; it is no longer important that the unfortunate
patient should be bolstered up in bed for months, and his stomach
annihilated by a nauseous diet of mush and water gruel. This was but
the quackery of the rapacious cormorants, who grew rich upon the
credulity of their dupes. The patient may be on his feet in half an
hour, by the salutary operation of some harmless medicine, which
produces no other evil effect than a remarkable elongation of the
visage, and divers contortions of the abdominal viscera! Instead of
first ascertaining to what extent the body of the patient has been
debilitated by the ravages of his disorder, it is only requisite to
refer to a mystical talisman, vulgarly called a _teetotum_, which
entirely supersedes the necessity of thought or reflection; and whose
final position, after performing sundry gyrations on its point, informs
the practitioner with unerring certainty, whether his patient should be
_puked, sweated, or blistered!_ The result is certain. The most
complicated case of pulmonary consumption is instantly and thoroughly
cured by _steam_; and an obstinate fever, produced by a superabundance
of bile upon the stomach, is effectually extirpated by an injection of
_cayenne pepper!_ As revolutions never retrograde, these important
changes in medical jurisprudence will only terminate in the actual
resuscitation of a dead body, by an external application of camphorated
salts! a "consummation devoutly to be wished," and most certain to be
effected, by the rejection of all mineral medicines,--which the "March
of Mind" has demonstrated to be hurtful,--and the substitution in their
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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