Excerpt from A Text-Book of Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacology It must be confessed that medical art has too often been dis credited by professional incompetence, and consequent failure to effect the care that with the laity is wont to form, however ignor antly, the only criterion of ability. In America especially - where from defective laws the widest latitude ls given to incapacity and imposture - the lack of proper academical training is' frequently the cause of serious consequences in practice, little calculated to enhance the popular confidence and esteem. It therefore behooves the student of medicine to master thoroughly the details of the remedial art, become practically conversant with physiological conditions and the manifold phenomena of morbid anatomy, and so familiarize himself with the varying indications of disease that in the presence of whatever malady, his diagnosis and treatment may command respect - not only from the laity, but, what is of far more consequence to him, from the profession. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.