AN ADDRESS 
DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
Physio-Medical Association of Indiana, 
MAY 3. 1882. 
By J. Redding, M. D.* 
IS MEDICINE A SCIENCE? 
It is with pleasure that I greet you as friends and workers in 
the noble and beneficent cause of sanative medication. This 
honorable and scientific body has imposed upon me the duty of 
addressing you on this occasion, and in scanning the field of 
medical literature for a subject for our consideration, I could 
think of nothing of more importance to the profession in gen- 
eral, or of greater moment to the public at large, than that 
which is involved in the answer to the question, “Is medicine 
a science?” 
Science, as defined by Webster, “is a collection of general 
principles or leading truths relating to any subject, arranged 
in systematic order.” 2 
Is Medicme a Science ? 
Dr. Austin Flint says: “The principles of medicine consti- 
tute medical science; the practice of medicine is the exercise 
of medical art.” He also says: “The principles of medicine 
and general pathology are, in fact, synonymous terms, each 
term having the same scope of application.” This is but one 
of the many statements which show that medicine as practiced 
by a large class of physicians is regarded as unscientific. And 
while we admire their honesty of heart, and are perfectly will- 
ing to lend them a helping hand out of their art-istic muddle 
into the noon-day light of a truly scientific practice, it is not 
our purpose at this time to discuss the merits or de-merits of 
the different schools, systems, or sects of medicine, but to 
show by well attested facts that every system of medicine 
making any pretentions whatever to science is either wholly 
scientific both in theory and in practice, or else their pathology 
and therapeutics are alike founded in error. 
Dr. Beale, in treating of inflammation of the kidneys, says: 
“So far from disease bring universally a destructive process— 
a disintegration—it consists essentially, and in the majority of 
cases, of a too rapid increase of the living or germinal matter, 
of an addition to a part rater than a subtraction from it, and if 
in many morbid changes, increased destruction could be 
brought about, the diseased state would cease.” 
Now this statement involves at least three distinct and lead- 
propositions—involves a collection of general principles, ar- 
ranged in systematic order—and all that is essential to consti- 
tute it a scientific arrangement, is to prove that they are indi- 
vidually and collectively founded on leading truths relating to 
this subject. For instance, if it can be shown, first, that man 
is a duad being, is composed of living and non-living matter, 
as is plainly implied in the statement; and, secondly, that 
disease essentially consists of a too rapid increase of the former 
of these two distinct elements; and lastly, that there are agents 
which posess fixed and definite properties, which, when given, 
will destroy the living matter, the practice of medicine will 
have been shown to be no less scientific than chemistry, astron- 
omy, or mathematics. 
Collectively, these propositions comprehend all there is in Is Medicine a Science ? 
3 
medicine, so far as fundamental principles are concerned, whether 
they be true or false; and they are so intimately interwove, in 
part, that they (the principles and practice) must either stand 
or fall together as a systematic arragement. 
Adopting the above statement then, as a text for what we 
have to say, we are at the very threshold of our subject forced 
to enquire into the physiology and physiological histology of 
man, in order that we may safely enter into the discussion of 
the principles and practice of medicine. 
Did it ever occurr to you that a man, though he be dead, 
may, nevertheless, be a perfect organism ? That a tree, though 
it be dead, is no less a tree? We look at the man and instantly 
recognize him as one with whom we conversed but a little 
while ago. His features are blanched and shrunken, it is true, 
but this is due to the recession of blood to the internal organs, 
as you all well know. We see all that was visible to the un- 
aided eye while he yet lived as you and I now live. But what 
a change ! And yet how little changed!! 
We search in vain for evidence of structural derangement— 
not a fiber is missing, not a cell wanting; no lesion of struc- 
ture can be discovered anywhere. A perfect organism ! A 
lifeless body!! A motionless mass ! !! 
So also in the case of the tree, we find it perfect in its struc- 
tural arrangement, its tissues all in their proper place, and its 
different parts united into one harmonious whole, so that we 
may readily determine its genius and species. The botanist 
will tell you that the time was when this mighty tree—towering 
to the skies—was but a minute particle of living matter, with- 
out structure, color or form. That it made for itself a protec- 
tive covering, which was destined to become food for it during 
its infantile life. The farmer will inform you that the grain of 
corn, however perfect in outward appearance, has no power 
whereby it can appropriate the inorganic elements of the earth 
to its own growth unless it possess a living germ within. 
And so we will find, if we go back in the history of man, 
when he too was but a minute particle of living matter, with- 
out form and void of structure, and follow him up, step by 
step, through all the gradations of developmental change, until 4 
Is Medicine a Science? 
at last he has reached mans perfect estate, that this primative 
particle of structurless matter is the author and builder of every 
cell, fibre, tissue, structure, and organ of the entire body. 
We will find that this particle, trillions of times less than that 
which it has produced, has imparted life to that which was 
dead, and it became living matter. We will find that the mul- 
tiplied millions of living particles which have resulted from the 
division and re-divisions of this primative particle, have sur- 
rendered a portion of their substance a sacrifice on the altar of 
death, that an organism of marvelous, though exceedingly sim- 
ple workmanship might be produced. 
This is not mere idle speculation, for we have seen this mat- 
ter grow and divide, and re-divide, until hundreds and thou- 
sands had been produced out of that which had neither life or 
power of its own. We have seen this matter produce tissues, 
organs and structures out of that which was destitute of either. 
This is the only matter in the world that can convert other 
things into its own substance, and thereby grow, and multiply; 
and it is the only matter that can produce new tissue, and 
renew that which is old, and restore that which is lost. It is 
this matter that performs every secretory function of the body, 
and without it not one of the excretory functions could possibly 
take place. It is to these particles we must look for the source 
of the impulse by the exercise of which every and all vital 
phenomena are made manifest. And notwithstanding all these 
facts, it is this matter that the third proposition of our text 
would involve in destruction. 
If we continue our investigations still farther we will find 
that all organs, tissues, and organisms, however diverse in ap- 
pearance, in physical properties or chemical composition, are 
but the expression of the formative capacities of this living 
matter, which has neither color, structure, or form; neither 
physical or chemical properties, whereby we can differentiate 
that which will produce the lowest from that which will pro- 
duce the highest organism in the scale of creation. It is only 
after they have undergone condensation in their outer part 
into formed material that we may determine the kingdom, the 
genius, and the species; to which they belong. And notwith- Is Medicine a Science ? 
5 
standing the countless millions of living, growing, multiplying 
particles that are brought into existence every day, they never 
make mistakes in developmental change. 
Ought we not ponder well these facts then, before we judge 
them too harshly, and strike the fatal blow that terminates 
their vital existence. The command has gone forth, “Thou 
shalt not kill.” Ought we not weigh well the pros and cons 
before resorting to the use of agents which, like the bush- 
whacker stealthily, and in the dead of night, strikes down 
the sentinels of our being, the authors of our organic existence, 
strikes down that which guards the very citadel of life—the 
brain—the organ of thought, of reason, of judgement, of love, 
of joy, of worship? 
Man is a duad being; is composed of matter in two directly 
opposite states—living matter, and formed material. The first, 
the progenitor of the latter, is appropriately called bioplasm ; 
the formed material is so named because it has been fashioned 
by that which was without form. 
Having shown the first proposition to be founded on leading 
truths, which are general in principle, we will next ascertain if 
there are not means whereby increased destruction can be 
brought about. 
Dr. Beard, of New York, says: “Opium will kill, and that, 
so far as it goes, is science.” And so it is, since it is a leading 
truth in nature that—“All poisons, whatever their difference 
in other respects, agree in this they suddenly and rapidly ex- 
tinguish a large proportion of the vitality of the system.” 
Morphia will allay a cough, will obtund nerve sensibility, will 
destroy the power to think, will cure fits, will convert a reason- 
ing, thinking, sentient being, into a lifeless, thoughtless, mo- 
tionless, organism; yea, morphia will accomplish wonders. It 
is stated in Reynold’s system of medicine, that “we may put 
and end to fits, it is true, by so far reducing life that function 
cannot manifest itself even in a disorderly manner.” And we 
ask, who ever knew a dead man to cough ; to cry out with 
anguish, or to reason upon the problem of life and immortal- 
ity? Yes, my friends, death puts and end to physical suffer- 
ing, suspends every vital manifestation, and arrests all organic 6 
Is Medicine a Science ? 
processes. There is seldom a day that we do not see a reported 
death from the destructive action of some one of the many 
agents, currently known as poisons, and constantly administered 
as remedies, which had been taken for the cure of an imaginary 
disease, a vital manifestation, a mere symptom of the patho- 
logical condition. 
One individual had a gastralgia, or an enteralgia, superin- 
duced by imperfect mastication and insufficient insalivation of 
his food, and resorted to the use of opium in some one of its 
forms to obtain relief from his suffering. What, deaden nerve 
sensibility and leave the putrefying mass undisturbed to work 
its septic influence ! 
Would it not have been better practice to follow the instinct 
of the cat or dog and obey the behest of the system by dis- 
lodging the offending substance? We think so, but all men 
do not believe alike. 
It is stated by the most eminent authority, that strychneia, 
arsenic, corrosive sublimate, antimony, carbolic acid, alcohol, 
&c., &c., are poisonous ; and some enthusiastic poison-mongers 
have gone so far as to assert that all things are poisonous, even 
the food we eat is not excepted from this sweeping charge. 
A man consumes more aliment at one time than he has gastric 
juice to properly digest and the consequence is a most un- 
pleasant colic. The enthusiast, after having administered a 
dose of “quieting truck,” looks up with a beaming counte- 
nance, and in the fullness of his joy says: “Didn’t I tole ye 
so.” We kindly secure a portion of the offending substance, 
which had evidently undergone fermentative change, and place 
it before him; but behold his countenance instantly express 
deep disgust. When we remember that the word poison car- 
ries with it the very import of death, and that man, or his 
bioplasm, lives upon the food he eats, we marvle how it can be 
that that which sustains life and vigor, also destroys life and 
motion. 
Another individual contracts a cold, whereby the function of 
the skin is suppressed, and consequently an inflammatory 
condition of the kidneys is engendered. Does he seek to remove 
the cause of—the necessity for—the inflammation by resorting Is Medicine a Science f 
7 
to the use of sanative agencies to restore the cutaneous func- 
tion? Evidently not, or his death would not have been record- 
ed. He has been taught that disease consists essentially in a 
too rapid increase of the living or germinal matter, and that 
“the most virulent poisons are our best remedies,” and being 
of a logical turn of mind, he concludes, therefore, that the 
sooner he encompass the death of this matter, the sooner the 
diseased state would cease. He took the poison that he might 
destroy the living and preserve the dead; and succeeded 'be- 
yond his most sanguine anticipations. The result was strictly 
in accordance with the laws of nature, fixed, sure and definite. 
He hoped it would expend its entire influences at a given point. 
Vain hope! It entered the blood on its mission of death, and 
no man could say thus far and no farther. We are confronted 
with the statement, however, that quantity alters quality, and 
that he took an over dose. 
Now we have always suspected that two q’s was equivalent 
to one quack; but let that be as it may, it was evidently the 
poisonous quality he sought, otherwise the living or germinal 
matter would not have been destroyed, and hence the supposed 
disease would not have ceased. 
In view of the above hypothesis it is claimed that the prac- 
tice of medicine can never be reduced to a science, because the 
mind of finite being can near know, in any case, just how 
little quantity will be curative or destructive. 
We have endeavored to determine this question by submit- 
ting the living matter of man, and animal, and reptile, to the 
influence of these agents under the microscope. We found 
that 1-7,000,000 part of a grain of strychnia almost instantly 
transformed the living germs into non-living fat globules. 
Authorities state that the antimonials, the mercurials, arsen- 
ious acid, the mineral acids, phosphorous, etc., produce fatty 
degeneration, or molecular death of living matter, even when 
given in medicinal doses. We have seen hundreds of living, 
moving bioplasts “suddenly and rapidly” suspend all vital 
phenomena from the destructive influence of less than 1-40,000 
part of a grain of morphia, and thus remain a dead and smeary 
mass. We have witnessed the death of living matter from the 8 
Is Medicine a Science f 
effects of alcohol, chloroform, carbolic acid, aconite, hellebore, 
stramonium, and indeed a large number of such agents, even 
when used in exceedingly small quantities. We conclude, 
therefore, that nothing is more certain in this world than the 
death of living or germinal matter when subject to the action 
of these agents. I care not how minute the quantity may be 
the result is essentially the same in kind. And should but one 
single bioplast be destroyed the vitality of the organism is re- 
duced just that much ; there is one particle less to perform a 
function; one more to be eliminated as effete matter—in addi- 
tion to that already existing—and hence an increased burden 
thrown on the excretory bioplasts, which are at the same time 
rendered less competent to perform their accustomed function 
by virture of the debilitating influence of the poison. We are free 
to confess, therefore, that he took an over dose, whatever the 
quantity may have been. 
Many poisons have a preservative, as well as a destructive 
influence, however, but the question presents itself—what do 
they preserve and what from ? In every instance in which we 
have examined matter undergoing putrefactive change, we have 
found myriads of living, moving bacteria and allied forms, and 
hence, we conclude that they are the active agents in the trans- 
forming process. 
As an additional evidence in proof of this we site the fact 
that those agents possessing preservative properties—such as 
alcohol, arsenious acid, carbolic acid, etc.—when added to the 
decaying mass instantly arrest the putrefactive process, and the 
active living particles are at once reduced to the state of dead 
matter, and at the same time the formed material, or organic 
structure is prevented from undergoing farther change. We 
see, then, that these two properties, wrhich are characteristic of 
many poisons, are, after all, dependent upon their destructive 
influence. They preserve the dead by destroying the living, 
they preserve the non-living formed material by preventing the 
growth and multiplication of the lower as well as the higher 
organism at the expense of this matter. 
The preservative properties of these agents are not demand- 
ed for remedial purposes, however, since a loss of formed ma- Is Medicine a Science f 
9 
terial can usually be replaced by the living matter in the imme- 
diate neighborhood of the lesion, while death of the latter for- 
ever arrests developmental change. For instance, the cutan- 
eous epithelia is constantly being desquamated on the one hand 
and just as constantly being renewed on the other by the ger- 
minal matter beneath. If the latter should loose their vitality 
the loss cannot be restored. Moreover, if the object is to pre- 
vent the ravages of these low organisms upon the non-living 
formed material the serum of the blood, which is caused to 
constantly traverse the formed material of every cell of the 
entire body, so long as the cell maintains its vital integrity, is 
the very best preservative known to the practical microscopist, 
and evidently the sooner a cell that has lost its vitality, and 
hence its power to function, is removed (even though it be 
through the instrumentality of these harmless little bodies) and 
its place supplied, the better it will be for the individual. 
Again, if disease does consist essentially, and in the majority 
of cases, of a too rapid increase of the living or germinal mat- 
ter, it would certainly be contrary to the plain teachings of 
science to use these agents for any other than their destructive 
properties. And if in a minority of cases the disease is essen- 
tially a destructive process;—a disintegration—these agents 
would be contraindicated, since they would prevent any repar- 
ative effort, Poisons, if used at all, should be given for the 
express purpose, then, of destroying life, or, more properly 
speaking, for the purpose of deranging living or germinal mat- 
ter, so degrading it, rendering it so obnoxious that the pure 
spirit of God has no longer a fit dwelling place therein. I say 
“pure spirit of God” because that which is dead cannot im- 
part life to the dead, or, for that matter, to the living either. 
How, then, came life in the early dawn of creation, when the 
earth was one vast wilderness of inanimate matter? It came 
from the living and that was God. 
Now, we have conclusively shown that man, in his perfect 
state, is composed of living matter and non-living formed ma- 
terial, and secondly, that there is a class of agents which are 
eminently destructive of the living matter, in any and all quan- 
tities, and if it can be shown that disease is essentially a too 
VOL. VIII. —IO. Is Medicme a Science ? 
rapid increase of the normal bioplasm of man’s organism, the 
practice of giving poison will have been proven to be pure- 
ly and truly scientific, and vice versa. 
An individual gets a broken bone; the surgeon approxi- 
mates the two ends and then applies his splints and bandages, 
but unless the vis medicatrix nature? does her part, union never 
takes place. The work of the surgeon it strictly in accordance 
with general principles or leading truths relating to this subject 
and is therefore scientific. But what does this thing we call 
vis medicatrix naturce do in the reparative process, and how 
does it do it? First, the formed material at the seat of the in- 
jury has been so seriously deranged as to unfit it for the pur- 
pose for which it was intended, and hence, it must be elimina- 
ted, and the only way in which this can be effected is by the 
bioplasm in its vicinity converting this matter into its own sub- 
stance. The same may be said of the effused blood in the 
surrounding structures and between the ends of the bone. 
There is, therefore, an extra amount of labor to be performed 
in clearing away the debris, and the living matter by virtue of 
the increased amount of pabulum thus supplied lives faster, or 
what is essentially the same thing, they grow and multiply at 
the expense of this bebris until their volume is in excess of 
the nutrient supply, and consequently formative change ensues. 
The mechanical pressure exerted upon the vessels by their increas- 
ed numbers also has a marked tendency towards diminishing 
the nutrient supply, thus still farther favoring formative change. 
The result is most favorable, since it is in this way that the 
bone is surrounded with a combined splint and bandage far 
more perfectly adjusted than the most accomplished surgeon 
can ever hope to do. Moreover, they dowel-pin the two ends 
of the bone together by inserting a firm plug into the medullary 
canal, extending for some little distance in either direction. 
They also produce new formed material in the place of that 
which they have removed, and after this has been properly in- 
filtrated with calcarious salts—in other words, after the lesion 
has been fully repaired—they remove the provisional callus and 
medullary plug, and all trace of the previous injury disappears. 
Which constitutes the disease in this case, the increase of Is Medicine a Science ? 
11 
the living matter, or the lesion of tissue, the solution of con- 
tinuity? How long do you think it would require to repair the 
injury in case some one should stand by with a club, in the 
shape of a hypodermic syringe loaded with poison, and every 
time a workman commenced operation strike him a fatal blow? 
This is precisely what the third proposition inculcates, and is a 
logical deduction from the second. 
Again, a man gets wounded with a leaden ball. The ball 
becomes encysted; the track of the wound is rapidly being 
filled up with granulation tissue, and all things promise a 
speedy and complete recovery. The encysting membrane is 
formed material and bioplasm is the only matter in the world 
that can produce it. The same is equally true with regard to 
the granulation tissue. The reparative process suddenly ceases, 
however, and the individual sinks lower and lower, day by 
day, until, at last he who was the very picture of health and 
manly vigor is finally consigned to the tomb “as the safest 
refuge from suffering and disease.” 
Let me repeat, there is no other matter known to man, or 
made by the all-wise Creator, that has the capacity to convert 
pabulum into bioplasm; no other matter that can 
formed material, and thus renew that which is old, and restore 
that which is lost; no other matter that can repair an injury or 
heal a wound, but living matter. And in order to do this it 
must increase more rapidly than in the normal condition of 
things, otherwise the growth would be only sufficient to meet 
the natural waste of tissue. And if any one doubt the de- 
structive influence of alcohol, of iodine, carbolic acid, &c., let 
him take a drop of the matter discharging from the wound, 
and submit it to the action of any one of these agents, under 
a power of iooo-x to 2000-x, and he will have abundant cause 
to think differently. Again, if he deny the statement that 
bioplasm is the only matter that is competent to repair the 
injury, let him, (after having fully satisfied himself that the 
discharging material, which had failed to gain an attachment at 
the point of development, is living matter) inject carbolic acid 
into the tract of a wound that he finds is being rapidly healed, 
and he will be convinced that the granulating process was the 12 
Is Medicine a Science ? 
work of these elements, since carbolic acid kills the one and 
preserves the other—kills the living and preserves the dead. 
They undergo molecular decomposition, and that too quickly, 
a very different thing from the death of this matter as it occurs 
normally in the process of tissue formation, in which case there 
is simply a still farther condensation of matter which was fluid 
pabulum, semi-fluid bioplasm and solid formed material. 
Which constitutes the disease in this case—the rapid increase 
of living matter, or the lesion of tissue ? 
If the former, then science would demand the local applica- 
tion of carbolic acid, and the like agents. Moreover, since 
there is an increased demand for pabulum on the part of the 
living germs so that they may grow and multiply, and as this 
demand is being complied with, it would be well to reduce the 
supply of food, and give a little alcohol to modify the serum of 
the blood, and thicken the walls of the vessels, thus rendering 
the nutrient matter less permeable. And to make a sure thing 
doubly sure, apply cold externally—since this has a marked 
influence in producing condensation of the fluids and solids, 
and also greatly diminishes the caliber of the arteries and 
capillaries, thus still farther restricting the access of nutrient 
material. 
If, however, the destruction of tissue, the lesion of struc- 
ture, constitute the disease, the above course would not only 
be unscientific, but would be diametrically opposed to the 
efforts of nature to repair the injury. In this event, such a 
course could but prove pernitious in the extreme, even though 
the sincere prayers of the whole world should ascend to the 
throne of God to the contrary, for it would be adverse to his 
established laws relating to this subject. 
One has an apoplectic stroke as a result of blood extravisa- 
tion into the substance of the brain. The clot destroys a small 
portion of brain substance, and by its mechanical influence sus- 
pends the functional activity of a much greater portion, so 
that complete paralysis of the opposite side of the body ensues. 
The co-ordinated functions cannot be restored until this clot is 
removed and the injury repaired. This firm filbrinous clot is 
not, neither indeed can be taken up by the process of endos- Is Medicine a Science ? 
13 
mosis, as some are inclined to believe, for in addition to its 
semi-solid condition, the vessels in its immediate vicinity are 
occluded by mechanical pressure, brought about in the manner 
just spoken of. The capillary, brain and blood bioplasts take 
on increased activity at the expense of this clot, and thus it 
disappears, little by little, until at last it is entirely removed, 
and the bioplasts have undergone formative change, some into 
brain cells, others into pabulum, and others into new capillary 
vessels, and thus the lost functions are regained, the lesion re- 
paired, and the patient restored to his accustomed health, un- 
less it so happen that a caudate cell had been destroyed, in 
which case the specific function over which it presides will be 
forever lost, since there is no other particle ot living matter in 
the part, (if in the body), which is competent to rebuild and 
endow it, with like properties. If the rapid increase of the 
germinal matter constitutes the disease in this case, science 
would dictate bleeding, starving, and poisoning; but if the 
contrary be true, then we should favor the increase of this mat- 
ter by resorting to sanative means to secure a free circulation 
of uncontaminated blood, so that the mechanical interference 
might be removed as soon as possible, and the lost functions 
thereby re-established. 
Again, an individul has typhoid fever, as a result, perhaps, 
of the destructive influence of unwholesome food or impure 
water. The solitary and agminated glands of the bowels 
undergo molecular decomposition and are completely destroy- 
ed. Cornil and Ranvier state that: “It is the most elevated 
part of the follicle or Pyer’s patch which first mortifies. * * 
* * The mortified part is soon cut off from the rest of 
the morbid tissue by a narrow border, then by a furrow, and it 
is subsequently eliminated in small fragments.”' The most ele- 
vated part is the part which first feels the impress of the de- 
structive elements within the intestinal canal, and hence its 
early death. The only matter which can establish a line of 
demarkation, which can throw up a dyke between the mortify- 
ing and comparatively healthy tissues, is living matter. And 
it is this matter that repairs the injury after the glands which 
had been destroyed are eliminated, if repair be possible. Sta- Is Medicine a Science ? 
tistics will show that just in proportion as a poisonous, has 
given place to a sanative course of treatment, in the same pro- 
portion the per cent of recoveries from this form of disease has 
been increased. It is useless to ask then which constitutes the 
disease here, for, in addition to the above facts, those advoca- 
ting the doctrine which is the foundation of a poisonous thera- 
peutics, confess the falsity of the proposition in the statement 
that the disease must run its course, that is, nature must accom- 
plish the cure, if recovery take place; and yet, forsooth, they 
claim the honor when the patient gets well. Strange incon- 
sistency! they belie their words by dosing, first with one 
poison and then with another and another, thus not only 
counteracting the curative efforts of the living matter, but at 
the same time so far reducing the vitality of the system that 
complete, and I was about to say, eternal death is inevitable, 
unless the wet-sheet pack, or other sanative means be speedily 
instituted in lieu of the above. But' we are assured that these 
agents are not given for the purpose of cure, but merely to 
guard against complications—that is, to guard against an indefi- 
nite something that only exists in the prolific imagination of 
the prescriber. And hence, the treatment will be vacilating 
and uncertain in character, just in proportion to the imagina- 
tive capacity of the author of said treatment. But mark the 
fact that the anticipated complication is always vital in character 
and consequently there is a gradual sinking of the vital energy 
from the moment the first dose of poison is given until the 
last; and who ever knew complications appear in the dead 
body? I cannot believe a practice founded upon a vapory 
nothing to be either scientific or artistic, but look upon such a 
course as wholly empirical, and that two of the most perni- 
tious kind. 
In order that we may not be accused of an effort to prevari- 
cate or equivocate, we will accept, in conclusion of this part of 
our subject, the land-marks laid down by Dr. Beale, wherein 
the uriniferous tubules become filled, choked up, and greatly 
distended with the living or germinal matter which normally 
lines their internal surface in such immense numbers. These 
elements not only increase so rapidly under certain circum- Is Medicine a Science ? 
15 
stances, as to fill and distend the tubules, but by their mechan- 
ical influence they prevent the water holding in solution some 
of the solid constituents of the urine, from escaping into the 
pelvis of the kidneys, and at the same time compress the 
intertubular vessels to such an extent as to lead to an anaemic 
state of the cortical substance of the organ, and consequent 
fatty degeneration, or other regressive change of those ele- 
ments situated farthest from the source of nutrient supply, i, e., 
those most centrally located. Not a very desirable state of 
things we confess. But what must be done in the premises is 
the question of paramount importance to the patient, at least. 
It is a law governing living matter, that when the access of 
pabulum is unrestricted they grow and multiply rapidly; if 
the nutrient exchanges are somewhat limited they do not mul- 
tiply, but while they increase at the expense of the pabulum, 
on the one hand, they lose by formative change on the other, 
and the latter is prevented from accumulating injuriously by 
constantly being disintegrated and finally eliminated. If, how- 
ever, the nutrient supply be wholly cut off from any number 
of living particles, they undergo molecular death, or fatty de- 
generation. 
It is evident, therefore, that this rapid increase is dependent 
upon prior changes whereby the amount of matter, constituting 
their proper pabulum, is increased; or else that they are doing 
the work of other bioplasts in addition to that which properly 
constitutes the secretory function. 
It is stated that cold is the most frequent cause of renal in- 
flammation, and that when thus induced the morbid changes 
are extremely intensified. It is also stated by Drs. Beale, 
Bowman, and others, that the function of the renal bioplasts 
is to depurate the blood of the worn out elements—the tissue- 
detritus—of the body, that they live and grow at the expense 
of this matter, converting them into their own substance, and 
thus preventing them from accumulating to the serious detri- 
ment of the entire economy. It is also well known that the 
skin and kidneys complement each other in both their secretory 
and excretory function; and hence when the perspiratory func- 
function of the former is suppressed, the calibre of the arteries Is Medicine a Science f 
and capillaries reduced, the nutritive changes greatly diminish- 
ed, and the cutaneous bioplasts condensed and rendered inop- 
erative, the fluid and tissue detritis normally eliminated here, 
must be depurated by the kidneys, or else accumulate in the 
blood, thus rendering it unfit for the purpose of general nutri- 
tion, and death, inevitably, will be the final result. The super- 
abundance of excrementitious matter thus thrown back into 
the general circulation, so to speak, can be depurated in no 
other way, and, hence, we claim that the rapid increase of the 
living or germinal matter is essentially conservative in nature 
and tendencies: That it is the physiological duty of the renal 
bioplasts to eliminate this matter, and that when circumstances 
arise demanding compensative action on their part they must 
call for additional workmen, must take on increased activity, 
and that this is in the direct line of their specific function. 
We also claim that the subsequent fatty degeneration, as well 
as the circumstances directly leading to this result, are equally 
conservative in character. For the tubules could not be freed 
from their burden did not the centrally located elements under- 
go fatty change, and final elimination by the expulsive force of 
the accumulated water above; and the mechanical pressure 
which leads to this result, also diverts the major portion of the 
blood from the corticle to the medullary substance, where it is 
acted upon by the living germs lining the loops of Henle. 
And after the convoluted tubules have been freed from a part 
of their contents and the pressure thus removed, the blood 
again flows in its accustomed channels; and if the primary 
conditions, leading to the increased access of pabulum at this 
point, has been removed, the tubules are speedily rehabilitated 
with their normal epithelial lining. For it must be remember- 
ed that those bioplasts situated immediately upon the basement 
membrane, those nearest the source of the nutrient supply, 
are never entirely deprived of pabulum, since death and final 
expulsion of those most distant from the blood current, would 
necessarily have occurred before such a state of things could 
come about. By way of illustration, we will take a strip of 
bibulous paper, and bring one end in contact with a small 
quantity of water. You see at once that the entire amount of Is Medicine a Science ? 
17 
—let us call it pabulum—is exhausted by that portion nearest 
the nutrient supply, and the remaining portion is starving, so 
to speak. 
Suppose, now, this paper was living matter, and the water 
was the circulating blood, and that to this blood we add a de- 
structive agent—a poison—which would be the first to suffer 
death, that most distant from the blood current, or that lining 
the basement membrane, and which alone can rehabilitate the 
tubules with their normal epithelial lining in the event of a 
better state of the economy at large? Kill the latter, and you 
subject the entire organism to the deleterious influence of the 
retained secretion, or more properly, excrementitious sub- 
stances that should be secreted. You cause the death and 
final expulsion of the entire contents of the tubules, and they 
eventually become reduced fibrous cords, incapable of perform- 
ing any function, providing co-ordinate vitality does not cease 
before this extreme condition has obtained. You kill the 
living elements lining the loops of Henle, also, and thus pre- 
vent their compensative action. You taint every drop of blood 
circulating through the entire body and thus render it still less 
fit for nutrient purposes. You convert a condition which is 
easily curable, if properly treated, into a fatal malady, as is 
evidenced by the fact that all the leading authorities, as well 
as the lesser lights who advocate such a course, boldly assert 
that Bright’s disease—so called—is incurable. And yet there 
is no more difficulty in remedying this condition, when proper- 
ly treated, than is the case in the majority of other ailments to 
which the human family is heir. Science demands that the 
cutaneous functions be restored, by diverting the excess of 
blood from the kidneys to its normal channels ; by relaxing the 
condensed cutaneous bioplasts, and stimulating them to in- 
creased activity. And if the renal blood vessels have returned 
to their embryonal or bioplastic condition, science demands 
that formative change be induced as speedily as possible, so 
that they may be enabled to reduce their calibre, and thus 
prevent the increased access of blood to these organs. It only 
remains for us to show that there are agents, which, when 
given, will exert their influence in these directions without en- 
VOL. VIII. —II. 18 
Is Medicine a Science ? 
tailing injury on any part of the body, to establish our scientific 
pretentions upon a sure foundation. 
We have tested the influence of a large number of our 
therapeutical agents upon living matter, under the microscope, 
and found them entirely free from destructive properties. We 
are able to determine in this way the precise influence which 
they exert in each individual instance; and, hence, are not re-, 
quired to adopt the “cut and try” rule that is so much in vogue 
by some, and which is evidently characteristic of the 
empiric. 
Under the influence of capsicum the living matter seemed 
instinct with life and increased animation. Their movements 
became more and more vigorous until their internal granular 
commotion, and their external transfiguration were almost 
tumultuous. After they had lived “too fast” for five hours, 
in one instance, they were no less happy; not in the least cast 
down; in no wise exhausted, but as intensely energetic as at 
any former time, and caused us to exclaim stimulate, stimulat- 
ing, stimulated, who would decline the beneficial effects of this 
best, purest and strongest of all stimulants, a stimulant that is 
not followed by depression, as always happens when Alcohol, 
and other falsely so called stimulants are taken. But what 
about that terrible poison, Lobelia, of which a certain class of 
medical men are so exceedingly dubious? Well it refused, 
even in large quantity, to kill a single particle of living matter ; 
on the contrary they seemed to delight in its soothing influence. 
They were much less vigorous in vital movements than was the 
case when feeling the impress of capsicum. Indeed, when 
compared with the latter, they seemed indolently happy; 
languidly contented; would spread themselves out to such a 
degree that they would become as thin a-s t-h-i-n, well a good 
deal thinner than my imagination, and had they not possessed 
an eye single to the welfare of their digestive organs they cer- 
tainly would not have accomplished the feat of again changing 
form. They appeared less granular, and more highly trans- 
parent than did those under the influence of capsicum, hydras- 
tis, sanguinaria, &c., and left the impression on our minds that 
they were impressed by a pure relaxant: Is Medicine a Science ? 
19 
Under the influence of hydrastis, sanguinaria, and some 
other agents, the living particles seemed to experience forma- 
tive change in their outer part, and in the case of frogs blood 
assumed a fusiform shape, which was maintained so long as 
they were under observation. The change was in perfect 
accord with that which occurs in the process of tissue forma- 
tion normally as was evinced by their general apperance, and 
by the fact that granular movements could still be seen in their 
interior. We infer, then, that there action is remedial when- 
ever the nonstriated muscle cells, or other tissues, have return- 
ed to their embryonal condition, and the conditions which gave 
rise to this necessity, no longer exists. We infer that lobelia 
is remedial when the bioplasts are unduly condenced from cold 
or other influence; and that capsicum is remedial when they 
are sluggish, as is the case in every instance of supressed func- 
tion. These agents, as well as All others, belonging to each 
class, will exert the same influence, however, whether their 
therapeutic influence is or is not indicated ; and, hence, it is 
essential that we have an accurate knowledge of the leading 
truths of physiology and pathology in order that we may ap- 
ply our remedies correctly. With the facilities at our com- 
mand, there need be but little difficulty in obtaining this knowl-, 
edge, and hence, the therapeutical measures instituted, can and 
should be just as truly scientific as is the practice of chemistry, 
or even mathematics. The chemist may be ignorant of the 
general principles or leading truths relating to this subject, and 
consequently fail to obtain satisfactory results in many instances. 
But chemistry is no less a science because an ignorant pre- 
tender has been unfortunate in his manipulations. Neither is 
medicine, when founded upon general principles or leading 
truths relating to physiology, pathology, and therapeutics, ren- 
dered unscientific by the failure of one or any number of its 
votaries to apply remedial agencies in conformity with these 
laws principles or truths. 
Medicine, as practiced by those who resort to the use of 
poisons, under the mistaken idea that disease “consists essen- 
tially, and in the majority of cases, of a too rapid increase of 
the living or germinal matter,” is erroneous, unutterably per-, Is Medicme a Science ? 
20 
nicious, eminently destructive—in the language of Prof. Chap- 
man: “Horrible, unwarrantable, murderous quackery.” But 
medicine, as understood and practiced by the well informed 
and truly conscientious physio-medicalist, is justly entitled to 
rank first among the sciences. For it is a system of medicine 
which has for its foundation the immutable laws of Creative 
wisdom; a system of medicine which recognizes the inalienable 
rights of the architects and defenders of our bodies to our pro- 
tection and assistance; a system of medicine that does not in- 
culcate the foolish and utterly absurd doctrine that the best 
means of preserving life is to destroy the living; that the best 
means of securing speedy reparation of structural loss is to kill 
the workmen; that the safest and best means of preserving our 
property from the destructive influence of the fiery fiend is to 
kindle the structure with the lighted torch. 
And now, in conclusion, much has been done in the past in 
the interest of sanative medicine, and hence, of suffering hu- 
manity, but much as has been done’there yet remains a work 
for us to do, and if we do that work as it should be done the 
time is not far distant, I verily believe, when the god of justice 
will enscrsbe on our banner, in letters of gold, that shall be 
• read of all men, the magic word—Science. 
Then, my brothers, if there be those who arrogate to them- 
selves all the science and knowledge in medicine worth possess- 
ing, and who malign and proscribe us for opinions sake, let us 
answer with Nehemiah: “Behold I am engaged in a great 
work; I cannot come down.” THE 
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EE DREE HASTY, M, D., 
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