probably best explained by what it is not. In dealing with this subject I shall confine my remarks to the theory and practice of the "Allopathic," or regular school, or "old school," of medicine. At the same time, I shall take into consideration that while the doctrine of disease and practice of medicine has varied in different ages and with different sects of philosophers and medicine, there are here and there expressed ideas through the ages which formed the basis for development-it was ob scured and retarded, aided and suppressed in development, according to the fancy of religion, philosophy and politics.

History and Philosophy of Its Development: The history of medicine is more conceived as an aggregate of isolated, disconnected theories and practices than as an evolution. There have been mighty efforts and corresponding failures, and very slow advance towards truth. There are differences and contradictions, and many deviations from the prin ciples laid down by Hippocrates to his guild which the student of medical history can perceive from the beginning to the end of the seventeenth century. While it is a true saying that whatever is in the realm of matter or ideas is continuous and based upon its antecedents, however changed or modified it may be, yet the medical profession did not know and accept a sufficient number of truths upon which to establish a basis for the evolution of the medicine of to-day until the beginning of the eighteenth century. The pathological anatomy of Rokitansy and Virchow; development of the methods of auscultation and percussion by Laennec; the antiseptic method of Lister; the chemistry and bacteriology of Pasteur; theories of disease as promulgated by Koch are of modern origin.

The history of ancient medicine up to the time of the establishing of the school of medicine at Salerno is one in which there is great speculation, for the only valuable records we have are from non-medical writers, as Homer, Arrain, Strabo and the physicians, Hippocrates, Galen and Celsus.

Ancient Medicine: The clippings from the ancient writers (poets., etc.,) concerning the ability of their contemporary doctors, which have been collected and commented upon by many historians, are of no practical importance to the medical profession, for they give no valuable information. Their praise may have been just or influenced by their own delusion-we don't know. We know that the Greeks were of a too notionate disposition to have ad

vanced very far in medicine. On the other hand, the Romans were not materially inclined to the arts and sciences, and what they did cultivate was obtained from foreign sources. Again, if the ancient nations had reached that degree of perfection which many think they did, we certainly would have had more advanced medicine taught at Salerno; even if only a few manuscripts were handed down, the art being an imperative one, the knowledge would have been kept in a great measure by oral repetition. But such was not the case. The only things that this period has given us are the principles of Hippocrates and the theory of evolution as proclaimed by Empedocles and his contemporaries, precursors of Darwin. There is no doubt also that from the very earliest times the knowledge of the healing powers of tissues were known, and the rudiments in the most elementary form of surgery, obstetrics and hygiene were understood. (See Herodotus, Euterpe 11, p. 125.)

Coming to the medicine of mediaeval Europe we find it crude and barbarous in the extreme, survivals of which are readily distinguishable in the medicine of to-day. We still speak of disease "attacking," "seizing," which smack of the old demoniacal theory of disease. You may say that such ideas belong to religion. But you must remember that in the beginning of human affairs everything presented a religious aspect. Even Epicurus (340 B. A. D.) attributed premature death to the evils, not due to the creation of the gods. It was not until the rise of the great universities in Europe that there seems to be any definite attempt at specialization in studies. From a very early day we can trace distinct differences of purpose only in the higher schools of learning, for example, Bologna law and Salerno medicine.

Mediaeval Medicine: The methods of the school at Salerno were unscientific and crude in the last degree. The works of Hippocrates and Galen, which, together with those of Aristotle, Plato and Euclid, were translated into Arabic in the ninth century, formed the basis of their medical knowledge; but the Arabian physicians did good service to medicine in introducing new articles from the last into the much-needed European materia medica, such as rhubarb, camphor, senna and cassia; and making the first elements of pharmacy and chemistry, adding such knowledge as that of distillation and the means of obtaining the metallic oxides and salts. Any knowledge of the working causes at this period could hardly be separated in the minds

of the people from the notion of opposition of the divine plan. It was not until Western Europe let their thoughts go on the new fields of inquiry and break away from the teachings of the Greek scholars that settled in Italy and the Arabians in Spain, that the culture of to-day in medicine and other fields. began to dawn. From the middle of the fifteenth century on medicine makes wonderful strides. In biology, the Belgian Vesale lays the foundation of the science of human anatomy; the Englishman Harvey proves the circulation of the blood, however previously advanced by the Spaniard Michel Serves, and the Italians, Realdo Colombo and Andreas Caesalpinus. There was an appreciable advancement made in this period until the French Revolution, after which medicine enters upon the glorious and triumphant period of to-day. It was during this period also that Joseph Priestly (1733-1804), theologian, philosopher and naturalist, and discoverer of oxygen, is the first to try to reconcile religion, materialistic philosophy and science with Christianity, and even Calvanism. The French great materialistic physician, Julien Offrey de la Mettrie (1709-1751), however, does not share in these illusions. The evolutionistic and transformistic conception familiar as we have seen to ancient philosophy reappears in various forms advocated by Denis, Diderot, Robinet, Charles de Bonnet, precursors of Lamarck and Darwin. Finally, on the eve of the Revolution, the physician, Cabanis, formulated the principles of psychological materialism with such vigor as has never been excelled, and proclaimed physiology and psychology the one and the same science.

The soil of Europe by this time was well fertilized by every variety of mysticism and quackery, opposing philosophy and schools of medicine, that appealed to the imagination and superstitious mind. As an evolutionistic period of nonsense which had existed during the mediaeval period we find flourishing the societies of Illuminate,, Rosicrucians, Alchemists and Occult Free Masons. Joseph Balsamo (B. 1743), necromancer, hypnotist and charletan, being conversant with Mesmer and his theories, accomplishes some remarkable cures which are well attested, is an example of the product of the times. But he does not give the proper agents the power of doing the work-hope and expectation-which, in his case, where no remedies of medicinal value were used, must have been the products of imaginative and superstitious minds. He and oth

ers of his class, who are less noted, are the precursors of Christian Science and other modern fakes. However, he was not the originator of the idea, as wise physicians have made use of this method from time immemorial. Charles of England performed his miracles with the same old instrument. For in olden times the King cured the King's evil by the divine. touch of the royal hand-his valet could have done the same if he had been attired the same way.

Modern Medicine: From the French Revolution to the present day positivism dominates the scientific and literary fields. It is based solely on reality, on facts, on observation and on experience. The arts of surgery and Obstetrics now rest largely on the sciences of anatomy and physiology, normal and pathologi cal pharmocology, which, as we have seen in the preceding period, could not have advanced very much owing to the late date of their formation and establishment. The development and progress of physiological chemistry, physics and biology, protected by freedom of thought, are the principal beneficent agents in modern medicine. Now theory and practice can go hand in hand, supported by science and maintained in its lofty position by the culture and Christianity of the day. Still it is not free from fancies and innovations of new prophets which will never come to pass. The revival of metal therapy (a curative method in which metals were applied to the affected area) by Dr. Burg in 1851 is an example. Mesmer, Perkins and Hahneman had previously advanced the theory. The theories of these three apostles of new creeds were developed more by the revolutionary spirit of the times than original study, and were not the products of a systematic application of the facts of medical art and science as existed at that time. Within the last century in America, several sects of curers have appeared under various names and have seemingly done some wonderful things in curing people without "substantial medicine," but not without "material coin." There are the Mind, Faith, Prayer, Mental Science, Christian Science and every other scientific cure except the right one. They all meet with some degree of success; but do not give the proper agent the credit of doing the work-the patient's imagination. The harm that they do is in deceiving the ignorant class. The society class of people who run after fads and fancies and anything new adopted by way of novelty and set it aside when real disease

makes its inroads upon them; but there are some who firmly believe in such nonsense, influenced by the class of people such doctrines are advocated by. Such people, when defeated in argument, refer the matter to the Bible, which is the shield, not only of the righteous and wise, but the sinners and ignorant ones. The days of such practices, though, are numbered. Culture is becoming too general. As for medicine, it has acquired such character and derived so much benefit by the progress and adoption of modern sciences that its practices are based upon knowledge gained by systemic observation, hospital and army records; its knowledge is co-ordinated, arranged and systematized; publications of societies and hospitals; also the prosecution of truth (as we have seen really had its commencement at the beginning of the eighteenth century), both in the abstract and as a historical development, though of but a short period. Conclusions: Therefore medicine is making rapid strides in the direction of being a true science in the strict sense of the term. The wide diversity of theories and practices, such for example as those concerning practice as advocated by Hippocrates, Cullen and Thomas Sydenham, together with their results, sentimental and capricious ways of administration and the manner in which the medical profession has been a worshipper of men and their dogmas and fads will soon be a thing of the past. Uniformity, that mighty standard for men and things is being enforced. The study of medicine of to-day, deprived of all ideas of the supernatural, both as an art and science, gives the student that knowledge which enables him to predict the course of disease and direct and control its forces; besides that economic position in which he is able to use his talents to the betterment of the human race.

THE NATURE AND GENESIS OF AN INSANE DELUSION.-J. W. Wherry, in the July number of the American Journal of Insanity, at the close of an article with the above title, thus defines an insane delusion: "This, then, is an insane delusion: an idea born in subconscious cerebration, projected into consciousness in times. of stress; believed implicitly and strenuously defended by the originator, but which no one else will accept as true.-Medical Age.