PREFACE
The attitude and the pretensions of the “medicine man” may perhaps have had some value in the days when the multitude was full of superstition and had no scientific knowledge, but we hope those days of ignorance have passed, though we fear superstition remains. The “medicine man” was a more or less clever poseur, who used his small amount of knowledge to conceal his very large amount of ignorance. The medical profession, till the more recent years, cannot be entirely acquitted of the same sort of dishonesty, but a new era of open-mindedness and honesty has, I think, begun.
To get any real success in the treatment of disease, we must get confidences, notone-sided, but on both sides, between ourselves and our patients, and so alone shall we get that co-operation without which there can be little expectation of success. At present we see this success more in the wonderful results of psychotherapy than in the treatment of objective disease, but I firmly maintain that mutual trust will prove its great value in this also. Is it reasonable to expect that men of equal learning and intelligence as ourselves will accept our treatment and advice without knowing the rationale of them? Should we do it in the case of legal or religious matters? Our patients know as well as we do that medical knowledge is in a continuous state of flux and that as yet we are nowhere near finality. The dazzling garment of omniscience will be discovered to be the somewhat shop-worn cloak of ignorance. A wise and observant patient can help us enormously in the investigation ofa difficult problem in disease, for the subjective symptoms are often as important as the objective. What the eye does not see may be there all the time.
The history of the world right up to the present time has shown the futility of dividuality as against individuality both in politics and religion. The greater part of our Christian teaching is against separateness, and towards mutual love, consideration, and help. For this reason I have tried to write so that all may grasp the hope and possibility of a longer and more effectual life. Co-operation is the watchword of the future, isolation the disease and explanation of the past.