Page:Thirty-five years in the East.djvu/20

X INTRODUCTION. convinced that this medium-sstem was the best, and I now confidently recommned it as the most efficients " Magna est Veritas et prcevalebit." " Truth is mighty, and must prevail." Besides other advantages which this system pos- sesses, the remedies are administered in so agree- able a form, that they may be taken without the consciousness of their being medicinal. This is worthy of attention, as it removes one of the many difficulties which obstruct the way of the physician, in the exercise of his profession. He has often to contend with prejudices and notions imbibed in early infancy, and to attend.to idiosyncrasies, lest he should increase instead of removing evils. In children, he has to struggle with obstinacy, ill-humor caused by pain, &c. In the treatment of females, he must never lose sight of their nervous mobility (natural or aflfected) which often becomes constitutional ; their greater sensitiveness, their stronger irritability, and their more delicate organisation and if, eventually, he is fortunate enough to conquer all these difficulties, still he may not cry victory^ until he has acquired the art of removing from his prescriptions all that is nau- seous or disagreeable. It is a palpable act of cruelty in mothers to force their infants to swallow remedies which are repug- nant to their taste, in the mistaken notion that bitter pains must be removed by bitter medicines. Nature, in placing at our disposal such vast stores of medi- cinal treasures, surely never conceived the revenge- ful notion of punishing those who had recourse to their aid. It is more consonant with reason to suppose,