The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1897-12-17
State board of Health.


The recent meeting In Detroit of the State
Board of Health. together with the loca
health officers and certain professional ce
lebrities throughout the State, exemplifed
the truth of the adage, that "when doctors
disagree there is no one to decide"
Good and true men differed widely or
matters supposed to be of vital importance,
and were Furthermore very decided In Their
opinion and positive In their utterances, as
doctors of age and erudition are very apt te
be. So that on the whole it was not love-
feast in the usual acceptation of the term.
tho doctors may disagree and still, like law
yers who quarrel over their clients, there is
no ill-will or brood0g hate left after the
battle is over.
Certain decisions Promulgated and formu-
lated by the State loard, as we'll as direc-
tions and mandator1 directions too, which
practitioners are clled upon to 20 and
abide by, occasionally strike man as being
altogether visionaryand superfuous. The
fact is that the LEGISLATURES of the past
in our State, whle they never could
be made to undertand the necessity of a
law to protect thepeople from quackery,
have been willing enact almost anything
that was presented to them by the State
board of health, on the ground of its being
of sanitary natup, viz: To prevent dis
ease, or the spread u it, at least.
This is certaly commendable but
should be carried hr enough so that when
the individual "des of doctor"-as not
unfrequently hapens--the law should
quarantine agains him. 1t has been my
province during brty years of practice, to
note the death of OF few, who were hus-
tied off this stage 4 action solely by their
medical attendan. People must and will
have something d'ne for t.Sir disorders, and
their fancied ailnents are Not unfrequent-
ly made real, by some young. ignorant, or
unscrupulous doctor who sticss to them
with the persistncy of leech ntil they
drop out Of his hands into the graveS There
is no law against this, howeyer-tot in
our State.
The primitive enactments secured by ne
State board and sent out to the variou
local boards of health, which were compara-
lively rare, were moderate in their demands
and usually appealed to the good sense OF
the laity, as we'll as the profession, but re-
cent discoveries in the germ line -princi-
pally by Germans-has put new energy into
these enactments until 1t has become dill
cult for a man to practice medicine, ac'
cording to the dictates of his own conscience
and experience, without running counter tt
some of them. Diseases said to be conta
gious and infectious are constantly on th'
increass, and the end is not in sight. Th'
bacillus OF consumption is expectorated OF
the street where it dries and is floated in tn
air, peihaps by the skirts of the nymph
du pabe, or tost aloft by the swirlinl
winds 10 be inhaled and absorbed by tn
open nouthed yantic or laughing innocents
while the diphtheritic microbe hurries fron
the sick room and gallivants about in searc
of victim.
Now, as matter of fact, while due eau
tion should be observed, these comminute
statements should be taken cum gran
sdNs-with a grain of salt-for the fact
that not every child that is exposed to dipt
liberia, for instance, will contract the di'
ease, or every person who sleeps with
consumptve, have tuberculosis, but it is BET
always to avoid exposure when 1t can b
done, which is not always the case.
The idea is being broached of havirg
State hospital for consumptives, but thoug
it may be theoretically correct, practically
could be nothing but fiat failure. Poop
are not going to send their diseased dear ont
to any segregation of such, the very su
roundings of which would bar possibility
recovery, which we are fast coming to loo
for In many, If not most cases, taken ear
especially with the young. WARD.
Laingsburg, Dec. IA, '97.