XIV.

PHYSICIANS.

Disease germs.

     “Cure all evils in their early germ, so shall ye be spared endless
     suffering.”

Physicians take very high rank in Montalluyah; they are furnished with palaces and gardens; their revenue is great; they are wholly provided for by the State, since on their knowledge and efforts depend greatly the prolongation of life, the prevention of disease and suffering, the preservation of beauty, and of invaluable nerve and brain power.  As in the moral, so in the physical constitution, the aim is to discover and crush evils in their germ, before they have taken proportions dangerous to the individual and to the community.

Formerly the chief duty of physicians was to wait patiently until disease had worked great and even fatal mischief.  Their chief occupation now is to preserve the patient’s health and prevent disease, and if, from any but accidental causes, any one fell ill, it would be a disgrace to them.  They were formerly called by a name answering to “Disease Doctors,” whilst they are now known by a term signifying “Health Guardians.”

Prior to seasons formerly unhealthy, the physicians make visitations from house to house.  With the aid of powerful microscopes, they examine the minute particles of the perspiration issuing through the pores.  The perspiration, being the result of efforts made by the system to throw off impurities, indicates whether the patient is in good health, or whether there is a tendency to disease.  The state of the perspiration, though varying greatly, does not always show the exact nature of the malady; for many diseases present the same appearances, and, in that case, tests are applied, which do not fail to indicate to what malady the impurities belong.

To give an instance:  There is a disease of the lungs called Scrofiuska, which impedes respiration, and is besides often attended with cough, emaciation of the body, and other symptoms like those that accompany consumption, for which indeed it was formerly mistaken.  It is now well known to be a different disease, requiring different treatment.  In scrofiuska the lungs swell inwardly, but tubercles are not generated, and, unlike consumption, this disease can be cured even when at its height.  I recollect a bad case, early in my reign, where our physicians, mistaking the complaint for confirmed consumption, declared that the right lung was gone.  A short time afterwards the real nature of the disease was discovered, and the patient was completely restored to health.

In both complaints, however, the perspiration, when viewed through our microscopes, presents exactly the same appearance.  In consumption, and to a greater extent in scrofiuska, the lungs are covered with a web-like moisture, portions of which are thrown off by the system with the perspiration.

The ordinary appearance of perspiration in a healthy state is that of an oleaginous liquid consistency resembling, say, a thin cream; but the water exuded by the lungs has the appearance of dew, and is indeed called by a term signifying “lung-dew.”  It does not amalgamate with the oleaginous part of the perspiration.