Page:The Thruston speech on the progress of medicine 1880.djvu/21

17 little or no thought to the primary cause of the attack.

In glancing at the various theories which we find at one time or another to have been held in high repute even among those most to be noted for their absurdity, we cannot help being struck by some points deserving the attention of the student of medical history. Thus, if we examine closely into the system of medicine as laid down by Stahl, who about the beginning of the eighteenth century appears to have led the more advanced school of medicine, we shall gain our first insight into the expectant method of treating disease, a method based upon the belief that Nature itself is gifted with those forces which alone are sufficient to restore health when interfered with by disease. We shall find that in the case of Stahl the most extreme views were held. He promulgated the opinion that in the treatment of disease more reliance should be placed on the unaided powers of Nature. A wondrous step in the right direction when considered