I wish to state, first of all, two self-evident propositions:
First: The administration of a therapeutic agent in a disease, the pathology of which is known, is attended with a greater or less degree of success, depending on the potency of this agent to remedy the pathological condition present.
Second: However potent an agent we may possess, for its use to be attended with the desired result, it must be applied in such dosage, with such frequency, and for so long a period as the pathology of the condition and the ends in view seem to require.
Mercury and iodin are the two remedies that are productive of more good in syphilis than all the other drugs of the Pharmacopeia. They were found to cause a disappearance of the manifestations of this disease long before its pathology or etiology was ascertained. Few patients, however, were permanently cured by these potent