Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1878-12-16


ter to which the uAproiessional are to
an unfortunate degree Shut out Hence
when the Doctors have anything to say,
for which they do not expect u lee, We
are always ready to give audience.
We have heard II asserted, and we
thought With some truth, that "a Doc
tor only knows the sick side OF man,
and very little about his well side
Or in other worls, the skill
of physician being only
called into requisition for restorlnga
man who is already sick, and seldom, il
ever, for keeping healthy man from
becoming sick, they have only occasion
To study him in one aspect and neglect
the principles Of hygiene to greater or
less degree.
We think this was more the case for
merly than now. A broader concep-
ton of the office OF Il physician is being
manifested in these medic
al associations and in various
ways distributing information to the
public, upon matters relating to the in
dividual aud general health ot the rcc-
pie.
We are glad, too, that tho profession
have come 10 the conclusion that this
reticcnt policy il neither profitable to
themselves nor just to the public.
Whatever of knowledge, or skill, or use
fulness, runs over to the public from
any profession or calling is always
placed to its credit II will come
back ~ bread cast upon the waters. II
simply demonstrates To the public the
usefulness of that profession and estab-
fishes it in increased favor. The
physician is a public educator by virtue
of his peculiar position rs a student Of
and an expert In science of which he
il the exclusive master, and yet one
which interests every individual.
But our object in referring tn this sub
ject, was simply to call attention to one
Of the papers read at the session of the
Medical Association by DIR. Nj. >. Hall,
in which he discusses the importance of
a State Board of Health for West Nir-
ginia. IL seems to us II subject that
should have occupied public attention
before this, and the REASONS for II are SO
cogently put by DR. Hall, that We hope
they will be read, AMI have their in
huence upon public sentiment. Among
other things, DIR. Hall said;
An Act creating State Boards ri
Health is very detective that contains
no provisions for the registration Of the
vital and mortuary statistics Of the
State. Observing, collecting, systcmat-
ically arranging and publishing facts re-
lating To the life, health, sickness and
death Of the citizens OF Il State should
constitute the chief duties of state
Board OF Health.
West Virginia has not availcd herself
of this great sanitary boon. Shall she
do So? II so, when and how is it to
he accomplished? The importance and
value of an efficient State Board of
Health, no thoughtful and intelligent
man will giinsay. The preservation ui
health is one Of the necessities 0i So
cicty, it constitutes the most important
reform Of this or any other age.
The peculiar AMI Important duties Oi
Preventive Medicine are To ObsGrer, not
and MAKE kHOTa the causes that deterl-
crate, or in any way injure the public
health, DR.. rarkcs, OF England, puts
il IN this concise but elegant language;
Public hygiene aims at rendering
growth more perfect, decay less rapid,
life more vigorous and death more rG-
mote
Or. Sims, in his address before the
American Medican Association at Phil
adelpail in 1876, analysed the subject
in this manner:
State medicine investigates the mir
We breathe, the lood We eat, the water
We drink, the clothes We wear the fuel
We burn, the houses We live IN, the soil
We cultivate the habits and indus,rier,
III lille, the origin and nature oi rndcm-
les and cpidcmlcs, the methods al trans
mission aud the means Ui their supprcs-
sion wherever found. Ii this Is the
mission al State Medicine what should
West Virginia do? What should her
Legislature do2 Ii VT rightly under,
stand the object oi all government, il Ii
the securing the happiness and prosper
ity Ut It's subjects.
Pope tells III IN his immortal essay on
Man:
Reasons whole pleasure, all the joys ~ sense,
Lie Ia three words, health. p,aco Hmd com.
pctcuce,"
II the practical beauty OI this scnti-
mcnt would not have been married, lac
could have said, that all were contained
in one word, health; for all know where
disease is rampant there are misery and
unhappincsS, which, like milestone,
tend 10 bring down the welfare Of the
people.
Health is wealth, says the philophcr
and statesman Benjamin Franklin, ~
much 81 Us the iron and coal that lie
buried in the mountains. Health In
the vital factor in the poor man : TX
istcnce.
4 few ycars ago the census of Dublin
was taken in u single night, and one
IT lis tables shows that lur every death
there We're twenty five other eases OF
sickness, and that each case Of sickness
represented twenty iyecasos oisuspend-
,ilabor, Now la this add the needed
ctre for tho sick and We have an cx-
pepse that We cannot calculate.
There are many other reasons why
West Virginia should have State
Bpaii III Health, but will only add the
follow ing; II is generally known that
there is what Is called The American
Public Health Association formed in
1872. 1t is a voluntary organization,
composed OF persons Who are selected
with special reference 10 their acknowl.
c,ig,sl interest in, or devotion to, saui-
lsry studies and the sllic,i sciences, and
to their practical application. The Oh
ject oi the } sspSiation Is the advance
ment Ot sanitary science ami the promo
ton IL organizations anl measures Tor
rho nrartical apulicaliuu of puhlir