Clinical medicine is a pragmatic discipline. Because of its aim to alleviate pain and suffering as well as to foster well-being, its practitioners can be lulled into thinking that there are times when basic science is irrelevant to the practice of medicine. This attitude is evaluated by comparing a 19th century medical curiosity, the nasogenital reflex, to a set of reflexes, the little used and little known Chapman's reflexes. We must always attempt to substantiate the principles of clinical medicine.