Neither would they listen "if one rose from the dead."
[Sidenote: What observation is for.]
In dwelling upon the vital importance of _sound_ observation, it must
never be lost sight of what observation is for. It is not for the sake
of piling up miscellaneous information or curious facts, but for the
sake of saving life and increasing health and comfort. The caution may
seem useless, but it is quite surprising how many men (some women do it
too), practically behave as if the scientific end were the only one in
view, or as if the sick body were but a reservoir for stowing medicines
into, and the surgical disease only a curious case the sufferer has made
for the attendant's special information. This is really no exaggeration.
You think, if you suspected your patient was being poisoned, say, by a
copper kettle, you would instantly, as you ought, cut off all possible
connection between him and the suspected source of injury, without
regard to the fact that a curious mine of observation is thereby lost.
But it is not everybody who does so, and it has actually been made a
question of medical ethics, what should the medical man do if he
suspected poisoning? The answer seems a very simple one,--insist on a
confidential nurse being placed with the patient, or give up the case.
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