, 1891-04-23
ADVANCE IN MEDICINE.
REMARKABLE PROGRESS MADE TO
PREVENT DISEASES.

Factor In Modern Treatment.
Emancipation from the thraIdom Of
authority in which it was fast bound for
centuries, " said Dr.. Osler. medicine has
progressed with extraordinary rapidity,
and wen within the present generation
has undergone a complete revolution.
The advance has been in three directions.
First, in the prevention Of disease. A
study of the conditions under which epi-
denies develop has led to the important
work of sanitary science. For fifty
years the w~atchword Of the profession
in this matter has been cleanliness; and
clean streets, good drains and pure wa
ter nave in many towns reduced the
mortality from certain diseases so per
cent
In this department certainly medi-
cine has achieved its greatest victories.
1t is a thought fun Of encouragement
TO know that such diseases AS typhoid
fever and dIphtheria may ultimately he
stamped ont and - as rare among us as
lepr1sy and smallpox. In this work the
profession requires and ran often obtain
the Intelligent cooperation Of city au-
thorlu-s and the public. People scarce
ly understand how much has already
been done. nor do they vet appreciate
ghe possibilities OF preventive medicine.
PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE
The second great advance which
medicine has made relates 20 the knowl-
edge which has been gained Of the agents
producing diseases. Dating from the
studies on fermentation by Pasteur, and
the early work Of Lister, we nave gradu-
ally learned 10 recognize the importance
Of the structures known a. bacteria,
which has revoluuouized tho practice OF
surgery and gynecology Today surgery
is a new art, and hundreds now recover
after operations from which hundreds
previously died. The information which
we now have on these subjects has been
slowly and painfully acquired, here a
little and there a little; but the outcome
Of 1t all Is that as clean streets and good
drains and pure water mean municipal
health, so absolute cleanliness and alb
sence Of contamination mean in great
part freedom from Infection.
$ universally present ara the infect
i've agents, particularly Of suppuration,
that it Is only boy tho most ~scrupulods
care that the infection Of wounds can be
prevented, and it is now generally nc
kuuWledged that the highest type Of this
autIsepucism is obtained. not by the
use OF various solutions which destroy
the germs, but by such measures Of clean
lines as efIectualiy prevent the POSSIBLE
ity Of their presence,
The researches showing the relation
OF special microscopic organisms to spec
tal diseases are likely 70 lead to the most
important results. Tile cultivation of
the germs of disease outside Of the body
has enabled US TO study the products Of
their growth aud in several instances
from them 10 obtain materials which,
when injected into an animal, act a. a
sort Of vaccine against the disease itself.
The hope OF obtaining in some of the
most important diseases ~vuccines which
VIII bear the same relation TO them as
ordinary vaccino 10 smallpox is very
reasonable aud likely era long to be real
lied. In another direction, too, the
studies Of Koch nave shown that in the
growth Of these bacili materials are OBJ
tanned which may act most powerfully
upon the body and attack the elements
Of the disease itself. His discovery of
the action Of the product OF the growth
Of the tuberclc bacili upon t%uberculous
tissue ranks as one Of the most remark
able Of late years.
CHANCES or LIVING ARE BETTER.
But / hear the householder say; An
that is very we'll, but Tommy gets the
measles and Mary has the humps and
Susie gets the whooping cough Just rs
my grandmother tells me her children
had fifty years ago. Ny doctors bills
are possibly a little larger than We're
fathers, and | know his drug bill could
not have been as heavy Us mine for the
last quarter. This may be perfectly
true, for the millennium has not vet come,
but it is perfectly true that today Mrs.
H~ouseholder's risks have been reduced to
a minimum in tho necessary domestic
emergencies, and her childrcn's chances
OF reaching maturity have been enor,
mously enhanced.
The third great advance has been the
diffusion ia the profession and among
the public of more rational ideas upon
the treatment Of disease. Dieting and
nursing have supplanted in great part
bleeding and physiokiug. We know now
that n majority Of febrile affections run
a definite course ~uninhuenced by drugs.
We recognize daily the great fact that
disease is only a modification Of the nor.
ma processes OF health, and that there
is IA natural tendency 20 recover. We
cannot claim IN the medicinal treatment
of disease TO hav. made great positive
advances, sail we have learned not to
do what We did is Tor the poor patients
a great gain. Tie past half century
has placed only a half dozen absolutely
Indispensable drugs which must DO used
by all iudisCri1ninately who practice tho
healing art.
"A desire to take medicine is perhaps
the great feature which distinguishes
man from other animals. Why this Hp-
petite should have developed. how it
could have grown TO its present dimen-
sious, what il will ultimately rench. are
interesting problems too deep for me.
Some Of the brightest hopes of hu-
manity are with the medical profession.
Disease will always be with US. but We
may lunk forward confidently TO the
time when epidemics shall be no more,
when typhoid shall be as rare as typhus
aud tuberculosis AS leprosy. Man, nat
urally a trausgressor daily. both in ig-
uorauCe and deliberately breaking the
laws uf health, VIII always need doc
tors, but the great get up OF preventable
disease VIII disappear, The progress
viii be- gradual What has been done
Is but an earnest Of the things that shall
be done Amid many Disappointment
we must not be impatient Science
moves but slowly. slowly creeping from
point TO point Baltimore sun.
Struggling up Lies Rugged HUI.
With youth, rigOr, ambition and an in
domiuAble will 10 help US, is no sucl
grieyous matter, but t5ttering down again
afflicted by the ailments which beset oil
age-our backs bent with lumbaEo, on
elastic muscles and JOINTS stuff and painful