zation, and an
intelligent patient its worthy setting. Surely it is a moral crime, an
inexcusable folly to tolerate a disease with its inevitable train of
dire consequences, up to the point when the discomfort compels one to
seek treatment. There are patients, of course, who have good and
sufficient excuses for their painful predicament; they have, for
example, tried persistently for relief and cure, but have failed to
find a physician competent to treat their particular case. How many
unskilled prescribers there are, and how glaring their shortcomings!
Some hold out taking inducements to sufferers; their one object being
to transfer their patients' cash to their own pocket. 'Twere charitable
to consider these ignorant; but alas! many of them are poisoned by the
"fakir" germ. Stuff is sold by the conscienceless, claiming to cure
"piles," to "give instant relief," and promising "a complete cure in a
few days"; and as to itching piles, why! "only a few applications are
necessary for a cure; six boxes for five dollars"! etc.

No remedy that sufferers apply themselves can be more than a temporary
relief: it cannot really cure piles, polypus, fistula, tabs, pruritus
(itching)--all of them consequences of proctitis. Of course one should
be thankful for the little relief to be got temporarily from advertised
and drug-store drugs; nothing more than relief can be expected of them.
There are indeed times when a palliative treatment will serve to tide
the sufferer over a few days until he is able to consult a competent
physician. But how strange it is that so many sufferers regard their
anatomy and physiology so lightly as to think of using remedies, even
for relief, without first undergoing a thorough examination by a
competent physician. In troubles of a rectal character it is
exceedingly foolhardy to allow any one to prescribe without insisting
upon a thorough examination to ascertain whether there be any disease
of a cancerous nature present, or what the trouble actually is, and its
progress. To expect one remedy or prescription to meet all the
requirements for the cure of a chronic disease of the anus and rectum
and of the many complications accompanying it is hardly sensible, but
that is just what a great many do expect. No one remedy in the market,
or any number of them combined can effect a cure, for the simple reason
that proper local treatment by a physician is of paramount importance.
Unless of a traumatic (externally p