"It is impossible to perform a surgical operation of any magnitude without producing several injurious effects, each one of which argues against operations as a means of cure save in exceptional cases:
"1. The amount of vitality destroyed by the fear and dread of passing through an operation, combined with the operation frequently places cases beyond hope, a case that might easily have been cured if the correct treatment had been prescribed.
"2. To cut into the deep tissues of the body makes a severe wound in addition to the already existing condition. The amount of vitality required to heal such a wound draws heavily on the vital force of the patient.
"3. The anaesthetic usually administered under such circumstances still further reduces the vital force of the sufferer.
"4. The pain and weakness caused by the operation has
THE MEDICINES OF NATURE 27
a similar effect.
"Any one of these detrimental influences frequently is sufficient to bring about the death of a very weak patient.
"Consider for a moment, the contrast: If, instead of fear, you substitute hope; if, in place of pain, you give ease and comfort; if, instead of benumbing and deadening the sensatory nerves with a poison, you stimulate and strengthen with a real medicine, the life of a patient is often saved when otherwise that life would be lost. It is an appalling fact that actual murder is often committed by performing needless surgical operations, and prescribing benumbing poisons as medicine.
"Why have old modes failed? Simply because the means employed were not adapted to accomplish the end desired.
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