Medical Essaysby Oliver Wendell Holmes1842-1882CONTENTS:I. HOMEOPATHY AND ITS KINDRED DELUSIONSII. THE CONTAGIOUSNESS OF PUERPERAL FEVERIII. CURRENTS AND COUNTER-CURRENTS IN MEDICAL SCIENCEIV. BORDER LINES OF KNOWLEDGE IN SOME PROVINCES OF MEDICAL SCIENCEV. SCHOLASTIC AND BEDSIDE TEACHINGVI. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN MASSACHUSETTSVII. THE YOUNG PRACTITIONERVIII. MEDICAL LIBRARIESIX. SOME OF MY EARLY TEACHERSPREFACE.The character of the opposition which some of these papers have met with suggests the inference that they contain really important, but unwelcome truths. Negatives multiplied into each other change their sign and become positives. Hostile criticisms meeting together are often equivalent to praise, and the square of fault-finding turns out to be the same thing as eulogy.But a writer has rarely so many enemies as it pleases him to believe. Self-love leads us to overra