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IN PLAIN ENGLISH:
OR,
MEDICINE SIMPLIFIED.
BY
MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.
FIFTY-FOURTH EDITION.
Carefully Revised by the Author, assisted by his full Staff of Associate Specialists in Medicine and Surgery,
the Faculty of the Invalids' Hotel and Surgical Institute.
[pg 2]
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1895, by the WORLD'S DISPENSARY MEDICAL
ASSOCIATION, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C.
[pg 3]
MEDICAL ADVISER 1
The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser
TO
MY PATIENTS,
WHO HAVE SOLICITED MY PROFESSIONAL SERVICES,
FROM THEIR HOMES
IN EVERY STATE, CITY, TOWN, AND ALMOST EVERY HAMLET,
WITHIN THE AMERICAN UNION;
ALSO TO THOSE DWELLING IN EUROPE, MEXICO, SOUTH AMERICA,
THE EAST AND WEST INDIES, AND OTHER
FOREIGN LANDS,
I RESPECTFULLY DEDICATE
THIS WORK.
[pg 4]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I
CHAPTER I. BIOLOGY
CHAPTER II. PHYSIOLOGICAL ANATOMY. THE BONES.
CHAPTER III. PHYSIOLOGICAL ANATOMY. THE MUSCLES.
CHAPTER IV. PHYSIOLOGICAL ANATOMY. THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS.
CHAPTER V. PHYSIOLOGICAL ANATOMY. ABSORPTION.
CHAPTER VI. PHYSICAL AND VITAL PROPERTIES OF THE BLOOD.
CHAPTER VII. PHYSIOLOGICAL ANATOMY. CIRCULATORY ORGANS.
CHAPTER VIII. PHYSIOLOGICAL ANATOMY. THE ORGANS OF RESPIRATION.
CHAPTER IX. PHYSIOLOGICAL ANATOMY. THE SKIN.
CHAPTER X. PHYSIOLOGICAL ANATOMY. SECRETION.
CHAPTER XI. PHYSIOLOGICAL ANATOMY. EXCRETION.
CHAPTER XII. PHYSIOLOGICAL ANATOMY. THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.
CHAPTER XIII. THE SPECIAL SENSES. SIGHT.
CHAPTER XIV. CEREBRAL PHYSIOLOGY.
CHAPTER XV. THE HUMAN TEMPERAMENTS.
CHAPTER XVI. MARRIAGE. LOVE.
CHAPTER XVII. REPRODUCTION.
INDEX
FOOTNOTES
[pg 5]
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.
[pg 6][pg 7]
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
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.
[pg 9]
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.
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.
[pg 11]
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The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser
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