ON THE PROGRESSIVE AND CONSERVATIVE SPIRIT IN MEDICAL SCIENCE.
The Annual Address Delivered before the Boston Gynœcological Society, December, 1887,BY HORACE C. WHITE, M.D.,OF SOMERVILLE, MASS.In the broad domain of medical science there is room for many laborers; each may cultivate his chosen field for his own profit and for the general good. The historian records the discoveries and inventions of the past, relates the rise and overthrow of theories, and teaches us of the errors, as well as the truths, which have been promulgated. He that collates from reports and statistics furnishes sometimes important, and sometimes unreliable, data upon which to form opinions and theories.The investigator, whether his researches are in the laboratory or by the sick bed, is often discovering new facts and frequently advancing new theories. These theories are put to the test and approved or condemned, by him who stands in the