Heberden, William, 1767-1845. William Heberden papers, 1790-1837 (inclusive). Remarks upon the principles to be observed in the management and care of the sick, undated. H MS c25 Box 01, Folder 07, Countway Library of Medicine.

On the Treatment of Diseases

Remarks upon the Principles to be observed in the management and cure of the sick By Dr. Heberden.

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On the treatment of diseases

It cannot have escaped the notice of any one conversant with the writings of physicians, that very different methods of practice have prevailed at different periods, & in different places. For the trite aphorism, that "Art is long, but life short", is not more true than that "Nature is uniform, but judgment variable". While therefore diseases have age after age followed the same course appointed by their (divine) author, their treatment has been affected by the infirmity inseparable from all human affairs. Hence system has succeeded system, and the sons have often look'd back with astonishment as the supposed errors of their fathers. Nay, even in the same place, & at the same time, plans of treatment totally opposite have had their several patrons, and a spirit of party has not seldom strengthen'd the prejudices of men in favor of the opinions they had adopted. Nor is it surprising if the speculations of an idle brain should be so uncertain; for many of these doctrines can hardly be regarded by a sober inquirer in any other light; or if they claim to be the result of observation & experience, the facts, upon which they rest, have been in many cases too doubtful, in many too few, to form the basis of any general conclusion.

It must be acknowledged however to be the merit of the present age, that we are very free from errors of this kind. There perhaps never was a period, when physicians were

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so little attached to theoretical opinions, as during the last fifty years; the rapid progress of science having exposed the futility of the reasoning, upon which the medical creeds of our predecessors had been constructed. But while we avoid the extravagance of theorists, we must take care that we do not incur the imputation of empirics. It is very well for uneducated men to deceive others, as they may perhaps have previously deceived themselves, in the search efficacy of drugs for the cure of particular diseases; but it may reasonably move our indignation to see regular practi-tioners perpetually catching at new remedies, & hoping to subdue diseases not by skill, but by luck. Did the practice of physic consist in the discovery, or the application of such means, it would deservedly lose all pretensions to a liberal art. There are, no doubt, remedies capable of exerting a specific action in the removal of certain disorders, as Peruvian bark, Mercury, Sulphur, & some others; and it is proper that physicians should avail themselves of their help, when opportunity offers. But the number of these is so limited, that they form a very inconsiderable part of the practice of physic; while their mode of operation is so little understood, that any rude hand many administer them with almost equal success. It was long ago said by Guy Patin - "pour des specifies, il n'ya che des charlatans, qui se servent de ce terme".

A physician ought to have other objects in view. It is his business by patient investigation to form a correct judge-ment of each case; to consider the age, the habits, the temper