<p>reading a medical book from 1947 and it's taking more cognitive effort to decipher the flowery euphemistic language of the time than it is to decipher the medical jargon.</p><p>"avoided a flat-footed diagnosis" = listed several possible causes.</p><p>"an admission of intemperance" = the patient had a drinking problem.</p><p>"can seldom be repulsed by specific medication" = we don't have any good meds for this.</p><p>"he focused upon alleviation of the manifest particulars" = he treated the symptoms, not the cause.</p>
