"
Consult your doctor, therefore. Be careful of medicines he does not
prescribe. The most innocent drug is a veiled force, a compound of
hidden powers--the system a delicate intricacy whose condition may be
different every day. The neurosis of our American life is seducing
too many of our best and busiest men to the use of chemicals,
mixtures, nostrums, pick-me-ups, etc., which make nerves and brain
utter brave falsehoods of a strength that is not theirs.
Your doctor won't let you do this--he will stay your unconsciously
suicidal hand. If your machinery is out of order, he will tell you so,
and do what is necessary to repair it. He will comfort and reassure
you, too, and administer to the mind a medicine as potent as powder or
liquid. But you will get no false sympathy from him. If you have
nothing the matter with you, yet think you have, your doctor will take
you by the collar of your coat, stand you on your feet, and bid you be
a man. So don't dose yourself. Be a faithful guardian of the treasures
Nature gave you.
Returning now to reading: You are not to neglect books. They must be
read. If you are a professional man they must be more than read; they
must be studied, absorbed, made a part of your intellectual being.
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