On the pathology and treatment of suppurative diseases of the ear / by George P. Field.

  • Field, George P. (George Purdey), 1845-
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the pathology and treatment of suppurative diseases of the ear / by George P. Field. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    that have watched the rapid progress of pathological knowledge during the past 15 years without experienc- ing an impatience amounting sometimes almost to ex- asperation when, face to face with some obstinate com- plaint, they find themselves unable to perceive that all this new science gives them a tittle of substantial aid. If one, however, compares the results of treat- ment some 20 or 30 years ago with those of the pre- sent day, it is impossible not to admit that times have changed for the better, and that, in fact, splendid practical advance has been made in the treatment of aural disease. Although it may be true that the ma- jority of cases are managed much as they were in years gone by, there is yet this difference in our treatment, that it is based no longer on empiricism, however prac- tical, but upon definite and well recognised principles : we can justify our methods by reasons as well as by results. In olden days, conclusions as to the character of disease and the probable efficacy of medicines and of modes of treatment were deduced not so much from observed facts as from fancied analogies among things natural, and the healing art, as a whole, was held to be dominated by the influence of the stars and powers unseen and supernatural. Later, the teachings of ex- perience were clouded by false theories of the construc- tion of the frame corporeal. In these last times—we may say since when John Hunter taught how death itself, when it comes, is no new thing to man, but only the final stage in the processes of life—a new pathology has arisen. Nature has been interrogated, and we have learned from her that though disease may have its phases according to the forces brought to bear upon it, still those forces are of natural origin and can be an- tagonised alone by natural methods. We now know
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