ity in our public schools. The common schools do not lessen the
necessity for colleges or universities, but rather contribute to their
prosperity. Nor are we so presumptuous as to anticipate that we could
possibly make this volume so instructive as to render "every man his own
physician." No man can with advantage be his own lawyer, carpenter,
tailor, and printer; much less can he hope to artfully repair his own
constitution when shattered by grave maladies, which not only impair the
physical functions, but weaken and derange the mental faculties. What
physician presumes to prescribe for himself, when suddenly prostrated by
serious illness? He very sensibly submits to the treatment of another,
because he realizes that sickness impairs his judgment, and morbid
sensations mislead and unfit him for the exercise of his skill. If this
is true of the physician, with how much greater force does it apply to
the unprofessional! If a sick sea-captain is unfit to stand at the helm
and direct his ship, how utterly incompetent must the raw sailor be when
similarly disqualified! Nor is the physician as competent to treat those
near and dear to him, when they are suffering from dangerous illness, as
another medical man not similarly situated, whose judgment is not liable
to be misled by intense anxiety and affectionate sympathy.

Notwithstanding all these facts, however, a knowledge on the part of the
unprofessional, of something more than physiology and hygiene, and
appertaining more closely to medicine proper, will many times prove
valuable.

In the first stage of many acute affections which, if unheeded,
gradually assume a threatening aspect, endangering life and demanding
the services of the most skilled physician to avert fatal results, the
early administration of some common domestic remedy, such as a
cathartic, or a diaphoretic herb, associated with a warm bath, a spirit
vapor-bath, or a hot foot-bath, will very often obviate the necessity
for calling a family physician, and frequently save days and weeks of
sickness and suffering.

So, likewise, are there numerous, acute diseases of a milder character
which are easily and unmistakably recognized without the possession of
great medical knowledge, and which readily yield to plain, simple,
medical treatment which is within the ready reach of all who strive to
acquaint themselves with the rudiments of medical science. But in sudden
and painful attacks of acute disease, life may