قراءة كتاب Superstition in Medicine

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‏اللغة: English

Superstition in Medicine

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المؤلف:

Magnus Hugo

دار النشر: Project Gutenberg

الصفحة رقم: 1

Note: The cover of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain. A more extensive transcriber’s note can be found at the end of this book.

SUPERSTITION
IN MEDICINE

BY
Prof. Dr. HUGO MAGNUS

AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION FROM
THE GERMAN, EDITED BY
Dr. JULIUS L. SALINGER
Late Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Jefferson Medical
College; Physician to the Philadelphia General Hospital, etc.

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
NEW YORK AND LONDON
1908

PREFACE

The history of medicine is closely interlinked with the development of theology. The errors of one are for the most part reflected in the mistakes of the other. No matter how obscure and dark the origin of either, whether derived from ignorance and superstition or not, the ultimate achievement alone must be taken into consideration. We do not reject chemistry because it originated in alchemy, we do not disregard astronomy because its roots are entwined with the teachings of astrology, and so in theology and medicine we look to the final issue. The statements set forth in this book should not be construed as reflecting the development of theology or medicine at the time, but as the belief of the people existing in these periods. Philosophy may have been pure, but if the mind of man was faulty the responsibility must not be laid at the door of science. It is the function of the historian truthfully to depict the thought and spirit of the time of which he writes. This has been attempted in the present work. It is not a criticism of a system, but a criticism of man. There can be no doubt that absurd superstitions are still existent for which the twentieth century will be severely criticized in time to come. Thus the words of our martyred President may well be used as a motto for this book: “With malice towards none, with charity for all.”

The last chapter of this book has been added by the translator, as it seemed necessary for the full discussion of the subject.

Julius L. Salinger.

Philadelphia, Pa.

		PAGE
I.	What is Medical Superstition?	1
II.	Theism in Its Relation to Medicine and in Its Struggle with the Physico-Mechanical Theory of Life	7
III.	Religion the Support Of Medical Superstition	23
IV.	The Influence Of Philosophy Upon the Form and Origin of Medical Superstition	89
V.	The Relations of Natural Science to Medical Superstition	128
VI.	Influence Exerted Upon the Development of Superstition by Medicine Itself	185
VII.	Medical Superstition and Insanity	191
	Bibliography	201

[viii]
[ix]

ILLUSTRATIONS

	PAGE
CIRCLE OF PETOSIRIS	141
CIRCLE OF PETOSIRIS	143
THE TABLE OF DEMOCRITUS	145
THE RELATION OF THE PARTS OF THE HUMAN BODY TO THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC	159
VENESECTION IN ITS ASTRONOMICAL CONNECTION	175

I

WHAT IS MEDICAL SUPERSTITION?

Faith and superstition are twin brothers. Altho the former leads humanity to its sublimest ideals and the latter only presents us with a caricature of human knowledge, both are children of the same family. Both originate in a sense of the inadequacy of human science in regard to natural phenomena. The fact that the most important processes of organic life can not be traced to their ultimate origin, but that their investigation will soon lead to a point of irresistible opposition to further analysis, has always called forth a feeling of impotency and dependence in the human mind. This consciousness of being dependent upon factors which are entirely beyond human understanding has thus given rise to the metaphysical need of

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