The St. Johns herald., 1890-06-05
TIE FAMILY PHYSICIAN.
An Earnest and Able Plea for the Prevs-
 ton of Disease.

U 10 know lCSG what tS the PnyS. condition of each member Uf the fa: fly in the absence ot any manifest e idence of disease. To this end por;o ical examinations should be made
 such a character as to reveal 8. lurking morbid tendency withol waiting for its development in actual disease. There should be [ such thing as a discoverable affoc tion remaining undiscovered. Deat from UnSuspected heart or kidney di ease, for example, should cease to | possible. There should be no me histories like the following, now frequently repeated:
 A person supposed to be in goC health is hastening along the stree perhaps hurrying to catch trail. All at once he is seen to staggcr ant fall. Passers = by rush to his a. sistance, but he gasps a few times and. before any aid can be rendered he is dead. An autopsy reveals tha he had fatty degeneration of th heart, and the extra demand mac upon the heart by the unusual eXei ton was more than its enfeebied wal could respond to. He was not awa- of the existence of this condition, b if his doctor had merely laid his fng on his pulse his suspicion would has been aroused, and listening to tb heart would immediately have cor firmed it. By proper treatment ar. the avoidance of severe exertion th catastrophe might have been averte: for many years, and the usual limit life might perhaps have been al tained
 Or again, a gentleman who has thought himself quite we'll goes a. usual in the morning to his place C. business. A few hours later he is brought home in carriage in stat of unconsciousness. In spite of th, most prompt and judicious treatmen he does not recover from his coma. c. the contrary, convulsions set in, an, in the course of few hours he dies Unknown to him or to his family ht has been suffering from Bright's dis ease. the symptoms being latent upt the last moment. Yet ve V simp t examination would have revealed to his doctor the actual condition of af fairs, and by proper care and prope treatment the fatal termination migh have been almost indefinitely deferred
 Tine records of examinations by tn physicians of life insurance companie> show numerous instances in which very serious disease exists without be ing suspected either by the patient his friends. This fact, in addition | the frequency of cases such as thos described above, is enough to shoe the extreme importance of system b. which the actual condition of persons not consciously ill should be periodi- cally investigated.
 In view of this it should be part the duty of the family physician tc make a thorough physical examina- ton of every member of the family a, least twice a year, and in the case 0! feeble or delicate person at much shorter intervals. The results of these examinations should be fully recorded. and the record kept in possession O! the doctor, to be transmitted to hls sue cessor. A record of this kind woul, possess immense value, not only fOI the persons immediately interested but also for their posterity. It is b knowing the vital history of the pa ents that we know what to expect the children. Heredity is an infiuenc which it is difficult to estimate, for ;h reason that the absence of recorG prevents our tracing it backward ]. the family history. Yet we know tha this influence may shape the rbys.ca destiny of generations to como. DI Holmes has said that the proper tim. to begin the treatment of some dis eases is a hundred years before th, birth of the patient. He might hay, added that the treatment sometime needs to be continued for hundred years after his death.
 But the opportunity afforded to thc family physician to ward off injur' e influences from those under ' might be extended much fS I should be within his prQvince to-gG cate what occupations were suitable1 given youth, and what. in the inteI ests of his health, should be. avoided He should be able to prevent a feeble i.l-nourished, narrow-chestedl lad bein put behind desk in a counting-ro0m where the tendency to pulmonary dis ease already existing would certaini, be developed. He should have such voice in the selection of boarding schools as would prevent the chiIdret being sent to institutions in unhealth ful localities, or in which there Wa danger from defective sanitary pre- cautions. In the selection of ney dwelling, and even in choosing a sun mer resort. his judgment as to th topography and the sanitary cond tions should have a controlling infiu .ence. His supervision should exter to Q proper adaptation of education methods to the capabilities of the se5 cral children of the family, and to tb order in which their faculties daYeIog