Dissections daily convince us of our ignorance of the seats of diseases, and cause us to blush at our prescriptions. How often are we disappointed in our expectation from the most certain and powerful of our remedies, by the negligence or obstinacy of our patients! What mischief have we done under the belief of false facts and false theories! We have assisted in multiplying diseases. We have done more β we have increased their mortality.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the limits of medical knowledge and the impact of patient behavior on treatment outcomes.
Benjamin Rush's quote emphasizes the challenges and limitations faced in the medical field. It illustrates how dissections reveal the complexities and unknowns regarding the causes of diseases, leading to self-reflection among practitioners about their treatments. Rush highlights the disappointment experienced when patients do not adhere to prescribed remedies, and he critiques the potential harm caused by reliance on flawed medical theories, ultimately suggesting that this has contributed to worsening health outcomes and mortality rates.
In practice
This quote could be used in a medical ethics discussion to highlight the importance of understanding limitations in medical practice.
...This large and expensive stock of drugs will be unnecessary. By...doses of...medicines...multiplying...combining them properly, 20 to 30 articles, aided by the common resources of the lancet, a garden, a kitchen, fresh air, cool water, exercise, will be sufficient to cure all the diseases that are at present under the power of medicine.
The Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life...The Bible...should be read in our schools in preference to all other books because it contains the greatest portion of that kind of knowledge which is calculated to produce private and public happiness.
The gospel of Jesus Christ prescribes the wisest rules for just conduct in every situation in life. Happy they who are enabled to obey them in all situations!
Temperate, sincere, and intelligent inquiry and discussion are only to be dreaded by the advocates of error. The truth need not fear them.
The art of healing is like an unroofed temple, uncovered at the top and cracked at the foundation.
[W]here there is no law, there is no liberty; and nothing deserves the name of law but that which is certain and universal in its operation upon all the members of the community.
String theory has the potential to show that all of the wondrous happenings in the universe - from the frantic dance of subatomic quarks to the stately waltz of orbiting binary stars; from the primordial fireball of the big bang to the majestic swirl of heavenly galaxies - are reflections of one, grand physical principle, one master equation.
Our circadian biology, and the insatiable early-morning demands of a post-industrial way of life, denies us the sleep we vitally need.
Even though NASA tries to simulate launch, and we practice in simulators, it's not the same - it's not even close to the same.
The art of doing science is doing the important things first.
We are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us.
The dimmed outlines of phenomenal things all merge into one another unless we put on the focusing-glass of theory, and screw it up sometimes to one pitch of definition and sometimes to another, so as to see down into different depths through the great millstone of the world.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.