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COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY LEA & FEBIGER

66

It has been deemed wise to omit illustrations from this
book. The reader is referred to the 'Journal of the
Outdoor Life," wherein many if not all of the articles
mentioned in this work are to be found fully illustrated.

1311 387 1916

PREFACE

THIS little book has been written to help patients avoid blunders, which are very easily made at first, but very apparent to any patient who knows the problem. It has been written primarily for the author's patients, for the mild and pleasurable excitement of human intercourse deflects at a thousand angles the train of thought, and many important details may not be sufficiently emphasized or overlooked entirely. It is not the author's intention that the book should be hastily read and laid aside, like the modern novel, but he believes that it should be read slowly, chapter by chapter, day by day. When it has been carefully read in this manner, he hopes it will be used as a book of reference, a handbook, so to speak, of the fundamental principles of the cure. He has attempted to make clear the whys and wherefores of many rules ordinarily given to patients in an oracular manner, for he believes that the day has come when the physician should look upon the patient, not as an ignorant child, but as a human being endowed with more or less mature intelligence, as one, in fact, who has a right to demand an explanation of the way certain effects follow certain causes. The physician of today must

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teach as well as serve, or better, he must teach in order to serve most intelligently. There may be a few patients who are willing to do what they are told without thinking about the matter, and for these explanations may possibly for a time be unnecessary.

The writer owes much to Dr. Trudeau and to his colleagues in Saranac Lake, from whom he has borrowed expressions, similes and ideas. He wishes to take this opportunity to express his deep and affectionate gratitude to Dr. Trudeau and to his associates, without whose aid and stimulus this little book could never have been written.

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