THE PEOPLE'S

COMMON SENSE

MEDICAL ADVISER

IN PLAIN ENGLISH:

OR,

MEDICINE SIMPLIFIED.

BY

R.V. PIERCE, M.D.

ONE OF THE STAFF OF CONSULTING PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

AT THE INVALIDS' HOTEL AND SURGICAL INSTITUTE, AND

PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD'S DISPENSARY

MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

FIFTY-FOURTH EDITION.

One Million, Six Hundred and Fifty Thousand.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION

The popular favor with which former editions of this work have been received has required the production of such a vast number of copies, that the original electrotype plates from which it has heretofore been printed, have been completely worn out.

The book has been re-produced in London, England, where six editions have already been necessary to supply the demand for it.

In order to continue its publication to meet the demand which is still active in this country, it has been necessary, inasmuch as the original electrotype plates have become worn and useless, to re-set the work throughout. This has afforded the Author an opportunity to carefully revise the book and re-write many portions, that it may embody the latest discoveries and improvements in medicine and surgery. In performing this labor he has been greatly assisted by contributions and valuable aid kindly supplied by his staff of associate specialists in medicine and surgery who constitute the Faculty of the Invalids' Hotel and Surgical Institute.

That part of the book treating of Diseases and Their Remedies will be found to be thoroughly reliable; the prescriptions recommended therein having all received the sanction and endorsement of medical gentlemen of rare professional attainments and mature experience.

THE AUTHOR.

BUFFALO, N.Y., January, 1895.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

Every family needs a COMMON SENSE MEDICAL ADVISER. The frequent inquiries from his numerous patients throughout the land, suggested to the Author the importance and popular demand for a reliable work of this kind. Consequently, he has been induced to prepare and publish an extensive dissertation on Physiology, Hygiene, Temperaments, Diseases and Domestic Remedies. It is for the interest and welfare of every person, not only to understand the means for the preservation of health, but also to know what remedies should be employed for the alleviation of the common ailments of life.

The frequency of accidents of all kinds, injuries sustained by machinery, contusions, drowning, poisoning, fainting, etc., and also of sudden attacks of painful diseases, such as headache, affections of the heart and nerves, inflammation of the eye, ear and other organs, renders it necessary that non-professionals should possess sufficient knowledge to enable them to employ the proper means for speedy relief. To impart this important information is the aim of the author.

Moreover, this volume treats of Human Temperaments, not only of their influence upon mental characteristics and bodily susceptibilities, but also of their vital and non-vital combinations, which transmit to the offspring either health, hardihood, and longevity, or feebleness, disease, and death. It clearly points out those temperaments which are compatible with each other and harmoniously blend, and also those which, when united in marriage, result in barrenness, or produce in the offspring imbecility, deformity, and idiocy. These matters are freely discussed from original investigations and clinical observations, thus rendering the work a true and scientific guide to marriage.

[pg 8]While instruction is imparted for the care of the body, those diseases (alas how prevalent!) are investigated which are sure to follow as a consequence of certain abuses, usually committed through ignorance. That these ills do exist is evident from the fact that the Author is consulted by multitudes of unfortunate young men and women, who are desirous of procuring relief from the weaknesses and derangements incurred by having unwittingly violated physiological laws.

Although some of these subjects may seem out of place in a work designed for every member of the family, yet they are presented in a style which cannot offend the most fastidious, and with a studied avoidance of all language that can possibly displease the chaste, or disturb the delicate susceptibilities of persons of either sex.

This book should not be excluded from the young, for it is eminently adapted to their wants, and imparts information without which millions will suffer untold misery. It is a false modesty which debars the youth of our land from obtaining such information.

As its title indicates, the Author aims to make this book a useful and practical Medical Adviser. He proposes to express himself in plain and simple language, and, so far as possible, to avoid the employment of technical words, so that all his readers may readily comprehend the work, and profit by its perusal. Written as it is amid the many cares attendant upon a practice embracing the treatment of thousands of cases annually, and therefore containing the fruits of a rich and varied experience, some excuse exists for any literary imperfections which the critical reader may observe.

THE AUTHOR.

BUFFALO, N.Y., July, 1875.

INTRODUCTORY WORDS.

Health and disease are physical conditions upon which pleasure and pain, success and failure, depend. Every individual gain increases public gain. Upon the health of its people is based the prosperity of a nation; by it every value is increased, every joy enhanced. Life is incomplete without the enjoyment of healthy organs and faculties, for these give rise to the delightful sensations of existence. Health is essential to the accomplishment of every purpose; while sickness thwarts the best intentions and loftiest aims. We are continually deciding upon those conditions which are either the source of joy and happiness or which occasion pain and disease. Prudence requires that we should meet the foes and obviate the dangers which threaten us, by turning all our philosophy, science, and art, into practical common sense.

The profession of medicine is no sinecure; its labors are constant, its toils unremitting, its cares unceasing. The physician is expected to meet the grim monster, "break the jaws of death, and pluck the spoil out of his teeth." His ear is ever attentive to entreaty, and within his faithful breast are concealed the disclosures of the suffering. Success may elate him, as conquest flushes the victor. Honors are lavished upon the brave soldiers who, in the struggle with the foe, have covered themselves with glory, and returned victorious from the field of battle; but how much more brilliant is the achievement of those who overwhelm disease, that common enemy of mankind, whose victims are numbered by millions! Is it meritorious in the physician to modestly veil his discoveries, regardless of their importance? If he have light, why hide it from the world? Truth should be made as universal and health-giving as sunlight. We say, give light to all who are in darkness, and a remedy to the afflicted everywhere.

We, as a people, are becoming idle, living in luxury and ease, and in the gratification of artificial wants. Some indulge in the [pg 10]use of food rendered unwholesome by bad cookery, and think more of gratifying a morbid appetite than of supplying the body with proper nourishment. Others devote unnecessary attention to the display of dress and a genteel figure, yielding themselves completely to the sway of fashion. Such intemperance in diet and dress manifests itself in the general appearance of the unfortunate transgressor, and exposes his folly to the world, with little less precision than certain vices signify their presence by a tobacco-tainted breath, beer-bloated body, rum-emblazoned nose, and kindred manifestations. They coddle themselves instead of practicing self-denial, and appear to think that the chief end of life is gratification, rather than useful endeavor.

I purpose to express myself candidly and earnestly on all topics relating to health, and appeal to the common sense of the reader for justification. Although it is my aim to simplify the work, and render it a practical common-sense guide to the farmer, mechanic, mariner, and day-laborer, yet I trust that it may not prove less acceptable to the scholar, in its discussion of the problems of Life. Not only does the method adopted in this volume of treating of the Functions of the Brain and Nervous System present many new suggestions, in its application to hygiene, the management of disease, generation and the development and improvement of man, but the conclusions correspond with the results of the latest investigations of the world's most distinguished savants. My object is to inculcate the facts of science rather than the theories of philosophy.

Unto us are committed important health trusts, which we hold, not merely in our own behalf, but for the benefit of others. If we discharge the obligations of our trusteeship, we shall enjoy present strength, usefulness, and length of days; but if we fail in their performance, then inefficiency, incapacity, and sickness, will follow, the sequel of which is pain and death. Let us, then, prove worthy of this generous commission, that we may enjoy the sweetest of all pleasures, the delicious fruitage of honest toil and faithful obedience.