Idaho semi-weekly world., 1893-03-14
s0yANCE IN MEDICINE.
-.,.eKAsLs PROGRESS MADE 70
N PREVENT DISEASES.

osep IN Ihree O'S''' -Ne-
,f Cleanliness IL the Greatest
...,or IN Modern Treatment.
.e,,aneipation from the thraldom OF
.h"rity in which it was fast bound for
'u'.i .sriea said DR.. Osler, medicine has
lsu',r,ssed with extraordinary rapidity,
RI aven within the present generation
~ undergone complete revolution.
T,s r advance has been in three directions.
r,r., in the prevention OF disease. A
rns 'ar n the conditions under which epi-
,'an s.mcs develop has led to the important
".rL of sanitary science. For fifty
ssars w" the watchworl ~ the profession
,.i ,his matter has been 'cleanliness;' and
.,san streets. good drains and pure wa
~ have in many towns reduced the
ar,aI;ty from certain diseases so per
in this department certainly medi-
loo has achieved its greatest victories
M n IA thought full Of encouragement
~ know that such diseases as typhoid
ssvsr = and diphtheria may ultimately be
canned out and be as rare among us as
Isnrosy and smallpox. In this work the
urofession requires and can often obtain
tbs intelligent cooperation Of CITY au-
.hor;ties and the public People scarce
" understand how much has already
heen done, nor do they yet appreciate
ths possibilities of preventive medicine.
PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE
The second great advance which
medicine has made relates to the knowl-
EDGE which has been gained of the agents
nroducing diseases. Dating from the
studies on fermentation by Pasteur, and
the early work Of Lister, we have gradu-
.lly learned to recognize the importance
of the structures known as bacteria,
which has revolutionized the practice Of
surgery and gynecology. Today surgery
isa new art, and hundreds now recover
after operations from which hundreds
nreyiorsly died The information which
we now have on these subjects has been
slowly and painfully acquired, here a
little and there little; but the outcome
Of it all is that as clean streets and good
drains and pure water mean municipal
health, SO absolute cleanliness and abb
sence of co., ..sl,,3a;ion mean in great
mart freedom from infection.
so universally present are the infect
i've agents, particularly of suppuration,
that it is only by the most scrupulous
care that the infection of wounds can be
prevented, and it is now generally ac-
knowledged that the highest type of this
antseI ticisln is obtained, not by the
use of various solutions which destroy
the germs, but by such measures of clean
illness as effectually prevent the possibil-
ity of their presence.
THE researches showing the relation
Of special microscopic organisms to spec
ial diseases are likely to lead to the most
important results. The cultivation of
the germs of disease outside of the body
has enabled US to study the products OF
their growth and in several instances
from them to obtain materials which,
when injected into an animal, act as a
sort of vaccine against the disease itself.
The hope of obtaining in some of the
most important diseases vaccines which
will bear the same relation to them as
ordinary vaccine to smallpox is very
reasonable and likely ere long to be real
lied In another direction, too, the
studies OF Koch have shown that in the
growth of these bacilli materials are OBJ
tanned which may act most powerfully
upon the body and attack the elements
Of the disease itself His discovery of
the acton of the product of the growth
Of the tubercle bacilli upon tuberculous
tissue ranks as one of the most remark
able of late years
CHANCES OF LIVING ARE BETTER.
But hear the householder say: All
that Is very well, but Tommy gets the
measles and Mary has the mumps and
slsle gets the whooping cough just as
my grandmother tells me her children
mad hfty years ago. My doctors bills
are possibly little larger than were
fathers, and | know his drug bill could
net have been as heavy as mine for the
last quarter. This may be perfectly
Tue, Tor the millennium has not vet come,
out II Is perfectly true that today Mrs.
nouseholder's risks have been reduced to
minimum in the necessary domestic
emergencies, and her children's chances
OF reaching maturity have been enor-
mously enhanced.
lhe third great advance has been the
uiHuslon in the profession and among
lne puolc OF more rational ideas upon
'he treatment of disease. Dieting and
nursing have supplanted in great part
oieeding and physicking We know now
'nat majority of febrile affections run
auennlte course uninhuenced by drugs.
we recognize daily the great fact that
aisease Is only a modification of the nor
a'ai processes of health, and that there
Sa natural tendency to recover. We
'snnot claim in the medicinal treatment
y. uisease to have made great positive
su'ahces, still we have learned not to
W what we did is for the poor patients
sFeat gain. The past half century
;n nas paced only a half dozen absolutely
irresponsible drugs which must be used
healing art.
,h deSlre to take medicine is perhaps
uae great feature which distinguishes
na,i. aan from other animals. Why this ap-
rou's ~.i'e should have developed, how it
s;"ns sTuia nave grown to its present dimen-
;nta ;irtus, what 1t will ultimately reach, are
.seaiesting saeg problems too deep for me.
r,s some OF the brightest hopes of hu-
nMaalty Many are with the medical profession.
mss U,sease Will always be with us, but we
Say look forward confidently to the
MI SLe when epidemics shall be no more,
sns "uen typhoid shall be as rare as typhus
NIL, ra tuberculosis as leprosy. Man. nat
uay MAiy transgressor daily, both in ig-