The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English Part 1

The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English.

by R. V. Pierce.

PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION

The popular favor with which former editions of this work have been received has required the production of such a vast number of copies, that the original electrotype plates from which it has heretofore been printed, have been completely worn out.

The book has been re-produced in London, England, where six editions have already been necessary to supply the demand for it.

In order to continue its publication to meet the demand which is still active in this country, it has been necessary, inasmuch as the original electrotype plates have become worn and useless, to re-set the work throughout. This has afforded the Author an opportunity to carefully revise the book and re-write many portions, that it may embody the latest discoveries and improvements in medicine and surgery. In performing this labor he has been greatly a.s.sisted by contributions and valuable aid kindly supplied by his staff of a.s.sociate specialists in medicine and surgery who const.i.tute the Faculty of the Invalids' Hotel and Surgical Inst.i.tute.

That part of the book treating of Diseases and Their Remedies will be found to be thoroughly reliable; the prescriptions recommended therein having all received the sanction and endors.e.m.e.nt of medical gentlemen of rare professional attainments and mature experience.

THE AUTHOR.

BUFFALO, N.Y., January, 1895.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

Every family needs a COMMON SENSE MEDICAL ADVISER. The frequent inquiries from his numerous patients throughout the land, suggested to the Author the importance and popular demand for a reliable work of this kind. Consequently, he has been induced to prepare and publish an extensive dissertation on Physiology, Hygiene, Temperaments, Diseases and Domestic Remedies. It is for the interest and welfare of _every_ person, not only to understand the means for the preservation of health, but also to know what remedies should be employed for the alleviation of the common ailments of life.

The frequency of accidents of all kinds, injuries sustained by machinery, contusions, drowning, poisoning, fainting, etc., and also of sudden attacks of painful diseases, such as headache, affections of the heart and nerves, inflammation of the eye, ear and other organs, renders it necessary that non-professionals should possess sufficient knowledge to enable them to employ the proper means for speedy relief. To impart this important information is the aim of the author.

Moreover, this volume treats of Human Temperaments, not only of their influence upon mental characteristics and bodily susceptibilities, but also of their vital and non-vital combinations, which transmit to the offspring either health, hardihood, and longevity, or feebleness, disease, and death. It clearly points out those temperaments which are compatible with each other and harmoniously blend, and also those which, when united in marriage, result in barrenness, or produce in the offspring imbecility, deformity, and idiocy. These matters are freely discussed from original investigations and clinical observations, thus rendering the work a true and scientific guide to marriage.

While instruction is imparted for the care of the body, those diseases (alas how prevalent!) are investigated which are sure to follow as a consequence of certain abuses, usually committed through ignorance. That these ills do exist is evident from the fact that the Author is consulted by mult.i.tudes of unfortunate young men and women, who are desirous of procuring relief from the weaknesses and derangements incurred by having unwittingly violated physiological laws.

Although some of these subjects may seem out of place in a work designed for _every_ member of the family, yet they are presented in a style which cannot offend the most fastidious, and with a studied avoidance of all language that can possibly displease the chaste, or disturb the delicate susceptibilities of persons of either s.e.x.

This book should not be excluded from the young, for it is eminently adapted to their wants, and imparts information without which millions will suffer untold misery. It is a _false_ modesty which debars the youth of our land from obtaining such information.

As its t.i.tle indicates, the Author aims to make this book a useful and practical Medical Adviser. He proposes to express himself in plain and simple language, and, so far as possible, to avoid the employment of technical words, so that all his readers may readily comprehend the work, and profit by its perusal. Written as it is amid the many cares attendant upon a practice embracing the treatment of thousands of cases annually, and therefore containing the fruits of a rich and varied experience, some excuse exists for any literary imperfections which the critical reader may observe.

THE AUTHOR.

BUFFALO, N.Y., July, 1875.

INTRODUCTORY WORDS.

Health and disease are physical conditions upon which pleasure and pain, success and failure, depend. Every _individual_ gain increases public gain. Upon the health of its people is based the prosperity of a nation; by it every value is increased, every joy enhanced. Life is incomplete without the enjoyment of healthy organs and faculties, for these give rise to the delightful sensations of existence. Health is essential to the accomplishment of every purpose; while sickness thwarts the best intentions and loftiest aims. We are continually deciding upon those conditions which are either the source of joy and happiness or which occasion pain and disease. Prudence requires that we should meet the foes and obviate the dangers which threaten us, by turning all our philosophy, science, and art, into practical _common sense_.

The profession of medicine is no _sinecure_; its labors are constant, its toils unremitting, its cares unceasing. The physician is expected to meet the grim monster, "break the jaws of death, and pluck the spoil out of his teeth." _His_ ear is ever attentive to entreaty, and within his faithful breast are concealed the disclosures of the suffering. Success may elate him, as conquest flushes the victor. Honors are lavished upon the brave soldiers who, in the struggle with the foe, have covered themselves with glory, and returned victorious from the field of battle; but how much more brilliant is the achievement of those who overwhelm disease, that common enemy of mankind, whose victims are numbered by millions! Is it meritorious in the physician to modestly veil his discoveries, regardless of their importance? If he have light, why hide it from the world? Truth should be made as universal and health-giving as sunlight. We say, give light to all who are in darkness, and a remedy to the afflicted everywhere.

We, as a people, are becoming idle, living in luxury and ease, and in the gratification of artificial wants. Some indulge in the use of food rendered unwholesome by bad cookery, and think more of gratifying a morbid appet.i.te than of supplying the body with proper nourishment.

Others devote unnecessary attention to the display of dress and a genteel figure, yielding themselves completely to the sway of fas.h.i.+on.

Such intemperance in diet and dress manifests itself in the general appearance of the unfortunate transgressor, and exposes his folly to the world, with little less precision than certain vices signify their presence by a tobacco-tainted breath, beer-bloated body, rum-emblazoned nose, and kindred manifestations. They coddle themselves instead of practicing self-denial, and appear to think that the chief end of life is gratification, rather than useful endeavor.

I purpose to express myself candidly and earnestly on all topics relating to health, and appeal to the common sense of the reader for justification. Although it is my aim to simplify the work, and render it a practical common-sense guide to the farmer, mechanic, mariner, and day-laborer, yet I trust that it may not prove less acceptable to the scholar, in its discussion of the problems of Life. Not only does the method adopted in this volume of treating of the Functions of the Brain and Nervous System present many new suggestions, in its application to hygiene, the management of disease, generation and the development and improvement of man, but the conclusions correspond with the results of the latest investigations of the world's most distinguished _savants_.

My object is to inculcate the facts of science rather than the theories of philosophy.

Unto us are committed important health trusts, which we hold, not merely in our own behalf, but for the benefit of others. If we discharge the obligations of our trustees.h.i.+p, we shall enjoy present strength, usefulness, and length of days; but if we fail in their performance, then inefficiency, incapacity, and sickness, will follow, the sequel of which is pain and death. Let us, then, prove worthy of this generous commission, that we may enjoy the sweetest of all pleasures, the delicious fruitage of honest toil and faithful obedience.

PART I.

PHYSIOLOGY.

CHAPTER I.

BIOLOGY.

In this chapter we propose to consider Life in its primitive manifestations. _Biology_ is the science of living bodies, or the science of life. Every organ of a living body has a function to perform, and _Physiology_ treats of these functions.

_Function_ means the peculiar action of some particular organ or part.

There can be no vital action without change, and no change without organs. Every living thing has a structure, and _Anatomy_ treats of the structures of organized bodies. Several chapters of this work are devoted to _Physiological Anatomy_, which treats of the human organism and its functions.

The beginning of life is called _generation_; its perpetuation, _reproduction_. By the former function, individual life is insured; by the latter, it is maintained. Since nutrition sustains life, it has been pertinently termed _perpetual reproduction_.

LATENT LIFE is contained in a small globule, a mere atom of matter, in the sperm-cell. This element is something which, under certain conditions, develops into a living organism. The entire realm of nature teems with these interesting phenomena, thus manifesting that admirable adjustment of internal to external relations, which claims our profound attention. We are simply humble scholars, waiting on the threshold of nature's glorious sanctuary, to receive the interpretation of her divine mysteries.

Some have conjectured that chemical and physical forces account for all the phenomena of life, and that organization is not the result of vital forces. Physical science cannot inform us what the beginning was, or how vitality is the result of chemical forces; nor can it tell us what trans.m.u.tations will occur at the end of organized existence. This mysterious life-principle eludes the grasp of the profoundest scientists, and its presence in the world will ever continue to be an astonis.h.i.+ng and indubitable testimony of Divine Power.

The physical act of generation is accomplished by the union of two cells; and as this conjugation is known to be so generally indispensable to the organization of life, we may fairly infer that it is a universal necessity. Investigations with the microscope have destroyed the hypothesis of "spontaneous generation." These show us that even the minutest living forms are derived from a parent organization.

GENERATION. So long as the vital principle remains in the sperm-cell, it lies dormant. That part of the cell which contains this principle is called the _spermatozoon_, which consists of a flattened body, having a long appendage tapering to the finest point. If it be remembered that a line is the one-twelfth part of an inch in length, some idea may be formed of the extreme minuteness of the body of a human spermatozoon, when we state that it is from 1/800 to 1/600 part of a line, and the filiform tail 1/50 of a line, in length. This life-atom, which can be discerned only with a powerful magnifying gla.s.s, is perfectly transparent, and moves about by executing a vibratile motion with its long appendage. Within this speck of matter are hidden the multifarious forces which, under certain favorable conditions, result in organization. Magnify this infinitesimal atom a thousand times, and no congeries of formative powers is perceived wherewith to work out the wonders of its existence. Yet it contains the principle, which is the contribution on the part of the male toward the generation of a new being.

The _ovum_ or germ-cell, is the special contribution on the part of the female for the production of another being. The human ovum, though larger than the spermatozoon, is also extremely small, measuring not more than from 1/20 to 1/10 of a line, or from 1/240 to 1/120 of an inch, in diameter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1.