Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 79.djvu/239

Rh of the mind to speculative thought; and the proper remedy is not vituperation, but education. With the diffusion of medical knowledge among the people—not by hysterical propaganda but by gradual and substantial enlightenment—which seems inevitable now that the profession can exert its influence from an unimpeachable basis, greater mutual sympathy and understanding are bound to come between the public and the profession.

In its rational development internal medicine is the laggard among the medical sciences, having always been centuries behind such branches as surgery and anatomy. This is natural, since the data of the latter are superficial and obvious, while those of internal medicine are deep-seated, obscure and inaccessible, and allow much play for theory or imagination. Moreover, internal medicine lacks the spectacular appeal which is exerted, for example, by surgery. Yet though its data are inaccessible, its problems difficult, its therapeutic possibilities limited, the greater the difficulties the greater is the glory of surmounting them, and it is evident that internal medicine has at last entered upon a career in honor and efficiency second to none.