Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-12-03

this direction, it is surely medical active In
has there been want of Jealous byeie1Ss1t never
was to be solved, one might be sure ~ gS5 AXIS
medical men engaged in the work. W. AuulnS
custoned to this obligation that we aI,, ~ ac-
hygiene and prophylaxs as belonging to fnaiiego
anu 10 no other science" O1ueI
He could. at least, say this fully Of bir,s,,s
aiIlnooeh Known as patbologist he has bee31 al,
along an biologist -"' Oeen all
me collection of treatises connected with S....
Insaleahe and epidemiology as4s-Is79. RerI5
5sotSi' contains various papers by him on er;'
ueInlcs' mortality statistics, school hvqiene ana
s sui Ls care OF cities; while Alderman Of Per
~ and representative of the city in tie Lower
islation. '''eN oi SANITARY leg
The general address before the congras, -,
surgery by Prof Nolknlan, was specially notics-
aoie IN that It attributed to the doctrine OF ase
tleism and its application the greatest s'f,a,ls
which have, since the year 1870. marked a o
surgical epoch. lew
:, The anti-septic method, SAYS he 6. has .o,ar.
1ea surgery to the rank Of the latest experimanal
science by rescuing from the domain of cbaiee tb
results OF our labors. Never has discover bs
ineae N surgery which has even approached tbis
IN IN It's benefit to humanity in general.
The principles Of the anti-septic tro.tr,o4
of wounds will Herer again be abandonaI a. -,
as the whole Of our knowledge is not lost ne
matter how our art or the points of attact MAJ
change. The necessity Of a primary dish
lection Of fresh wounds is / believa r,is1a.-eii-
ackno wledged" Our views on the natnro =,
eontagia ia the surgical department of bosnitsis
on their origin and breeding places have eniireI
changed. The discovery OF the mycotic 1oy
tungus) nature Of wound diseases has oo,,sel
many problems" He boldly saws that bec,,,So
of the advance made by this great rnefhoJ 90
exclusion and prevention "the surgeon Of To-
day must reprosch himself severely If. af.er an
operation, bagging of pus occurs, and especialIv
If death occurs from pyamia''
The lamented Raymond, in his address M,
sheptlclsm In Medicine, after naming as azioms
in medicine tll the absolute constancy of fba
laws which regulate life and ~ the strict sinh.
ordination of phenomena to certain consit;ons
winch nave to be determined makes the d rora-
ton OF his argument against medical skeptlcism
thus:
"When in these latt days the study of snor-
taneous generation led to the discovery Of tbst
world OF infnitesimal organism which seems to
beset US everywhere, one may we'll ask how the
human species and how animal lie itself cas
resist these myriads of Invisible enemies ever
ready to take advantage of the least failure of
the organism to penetrate in its room Iaving
hold OF this idea, great surgeon, and so
thlnker-Lister-has introduced a new method
Wh1cn d1mln1shes and euppresses the chancaS
of consecutive infection in the great operations
extends the limits of his art and assures tina All
most lnfal1ble success of daring attempts from
which surgeons recoiIed but a short time AGO.
On the other ssde, a man of genius whose
name am proud to mention, my illusfrious
friend Pasteur, resuming and reducing t. svs-
tenn our great Jenner's work succeeded BY the
methodical attenuation of virus in inauguIatinp
the prophylaxy of virulent diseases an TINS
opened up to new and indefinite horizons
In view OF such results gentlemen what ground
has skepticism to rest on =? We might iadeed
nave TO guard ourselves from excessive en- hush
asm If our admiration were not fully in flied
by the discoveries already made Thus he
sh ows that preventive medicine is furnish NO to
the general science and art its strongest defense
against the charge Of empiricism and uncsr-
tainty. He also defends the avis Medl,,ting
HiDnDcrafps &c ypOr Inv NJ f,ors.
because it is this force of vital resistance mon
which we rely as our aid both in proph laxis
aud cure. Taking into account" says he the
great a. Is made clear by the light of etiolopv
pathological anatomy, is no longer a meditation
upon death, but the sci nee of indications "a
principle, we may add, which hygiene and pre-
ventive medicine Apply with such confidence
and with such success as to make the art o. pre-
serving from diseases as conservative and essen
tial as that of cure
The whole Of the address of Professor Huxley
on the connection Of the biological sciences with
medicine is in one view but profound and tbiIo
sophie argument to show how the fun know EDGE.
Of all life is the true science and art of medicine
and its highest exercise in preventing interfer-
ence Herewith by other causes, including other
lives, although our lack Of knowledge o. life
makes its pathology, and the dealing with the
perturbatioDs causing it necessary part If the
art
He thus makes "the great truths respecting
animal and vegetable life, and the study IF the
laws Of their maintenance, the real pith aud eower
of our cal'ing so that the entire address an
nounces and defends the methods Of Geological
and preventive investigation even more primarily
and radically it does the true basis of the
healing art.
The address of DR.. Billings, cur own ex- presi-
dent, on Medical Literature could not of course
have technical reference to hygiene. but may be
permitted to say that in view Of his well known
relation to the progress Of interest in public
health in this country and his present national
connection Herewith, the recognition rded
him and the enthusiasm with which his dress
was received was Of itself more than a volume for
the department in which we labor ard fer this
Association in which ne is our able co-labor-r. I
happened TO be standing with three or four f my
own countTymea near the door as Sir Jam, Paget
came from the platform, and 1 only wish / could
convey to you the heartiness with which he
greeted us b. saying, 4" That American has b aten
Us all"
Profess Foster, President Of Section of Phvsi
ology, emphasized the discovery Of Hook as to the
effect Of the air in respiration On the blood the
work of Hales, who as philosopher and not as a
patentee, invented ventiator for the jails and Of
DR.. Black, who moved on the theory of fespira-
ton a step by demonstrating the presence of car
bonic acid in expired air" and so of others who
studied The physiological basis Of life and showed
that the animal body is an " exquisitely adapted
self regulating Machine" which, as he says we
prize and justly prize leading view to day.
1t is this ground that the preventive art seeks
to deliver il from selfimposed or society imposed
burdens, to protect it from the alien forces that
from with n or by surroundings imperil it, and
thus to give its normal chance to show that life
was made to live.
The names of such Psychologists as DR.. Pavy,
DR.. Carpenter. Professor Samgee, Professor
Huxley, Dr. Rein and DR.. Burden Sanderson.
Professor Roy and Professor Yeo as identified with
this section. and our remembrance of what their
work is and has been in State medicine, is itself
the index Of the essential relations of the two.
In the section Of pathology the opening address
of DR.. Wilkes reads 30 much like paper on pre-
ventiVs medicine, that we are reminded that its
first disciples were those who, in the field Of
Patio ogy, by studying the causes Of disease were
led to consider its limitations.
He shows how-in view OF the influence OF
our ordinary surroundings" Of the parasitic ma
ture of many maladies, of the doctrine of evolu-
ton as applied to the progressive development,
and we may add TO the progressive Limitation Of
Effectiveness, and also Of the evidence that
growths once called malignant or con titutional
are accidental, under ascertainable law of acct
dent dise2ses-not only deviation from the heal
thy standard but includes within the range Of its
pathology, study Of those special ques tons
which have to do with causation, through Incl
dents and surroundings.
Here, again, such PAGERS as that of Professor
Klebs. of Prague, and Professor Fakker on 4" The
Relations of Minute Organisms to Certain Spe-
eihc Diseases" that OF DR.. Carter on the "As-
poets Of the Blood Spirillum in Relspsing
Fever" that Of DR.. 0sler on Infectious EndO-
carditis," that Fof Professor Lister sO1 the
Relations of Minute Organisms to Unhealthy
Processes Arising in Wounds" that of DR..
George Harley 'On the Modus Opersndi of Path
osenic Germs in the Pro uction of Disease in
the Human Body;" that Of DR. Creight on the
" Infection of Tuberculosis by Virus introduced
from Without" serve to illustrate the practical
devotion of this section to sue questions Indeed
the section itself in generous rivalry, sometimes
seemed to vie with that on State medicine N
the handling of identical themes. / listened to
no discussions more thrilling OF noteworthy
than that in which Pasteur, Bastian, Lister and
firch9w were the contestants
In the great field of practi al medicine $50
inclusive Of ali the rest we might almost rest
the proof OF its intimate relation TO the prevent
i've art on the prominence Of such names as
those of Professor Gardner. Of Glasgow Profes-
sor Acland, of Oxford, and DR.. Radcliffe. of
London.
1t seems as IL sanitary medicine was about to
hopeful security, and teach us how to mitigate
or abolish many Of the most deadly of human
ailments. With no small degree of probability
it Is enlarging the doctrine of the specifcity of
disease, is associating their types with forms
derived from without or produced from within,
and pointing out procedures by which the
Introduction can be prevented or the system so
preoccuped as resp ctfully to decline attack.
And be it noted for the benefit of the laity that
bo' our science and art, however Incomplete,
are far ahead Of their practice, of which the
neglect of vaccination and of godly clean mess
may serve as illustrations
Sir William Gull, in opening this section, used
weighty words when he speaks thus Perhaps
no more important step has been made in prac-
teal pathology than the proof that some at least
of the contagia are organized solids. This dis
covery-which has tried the patience expert
mental skill and scientific criticism of the best
observers to establsh-has brought us at lie 9Th
within view Of that which has hitherto been so
mysterious. To have been able to separate,
In - 49, L. al N0