The Progress., 1897-06-12
THE PROGRESS.

amid InousnnCs Z. aMputAiIOns.
Napoleon after n battle rode along the
line and saw under q tree, standing In the
snow, Larrey the surgeon, operating upon
the wounded. Napoleon passed ON and
"a hours Afterward came along the same
place, and he saw the same surgeon operat-
ing in the same place, and he had not left
It. Alas for the battlefelds without chic
reform. But now the soldier boy takes a
few breatbs from the sponge and forgets
all the pang of the gunshot fracture, and
while the surgeons of the field hospital are
standing around him he lies there dream
Ing of home and mother and heaven. No
more parents standing around a suffering
child, struggling to get away from the
sharp instrument, but mild slumber in
stead of excruciation, and the child wakes
up and says: Father, what's the matter?
What's the doctor here today for:' Oh,
blessed be God for James Y. Simpson and
the heaven descended Inercies of chloro-
form.
Public Hygiene.
The medical profession steps into the
courtroom, and LITER conflicting " illnesses
have left everything in q fog, by chemical
analyses shows the guilt or innocence of
the prisoner, as by mathematical demon
stration, thus adding honors to medical
Jurisprudence.
This profession has done wonders for
public hygiene! How often they have
stood between this nation and Asiatic
cholera, and the yellow fever! The monu-
ments In Greenwood and Mount Auburn
and Laurel Hill tell something Of Il = /
story Of those men who stood face to face
with pestilence In southern cities, until,
staggering in their own aickness they
stumbled across the corpses of those whom
IN vo N Ne cf~v~
has been the successful advocate Of ventila-
ton. sewerage, drainage and fumigation,
until their sentiments We're we'll expressed
by Lord Palmerston when he said to the
English nation at the time a fast had been
proclaimed to keep of a great pestilence:
Clean your streets or death will ravaee,
Notwithstanding all the prayers Of this
nation. Clean your streets, and then call
on God for help"
See what this profession has done for
human longevity. There was such q fear
full subtraction from human life that there
was prospect that within q few centuries
this world would be left almost inhabit-
antless. Adam started with a whole eter.
nifty OF earthly existence before him, but
he cut of the most of 1t and only COM
paratively few years were left-only 700
years Of life. and then 500, and then 400,
and then 200, and then IOO and then 50,
and then the average of human life came
to 40, and then 1t dropped to 10. But
medical science came in, and since the six
teenth century the average of human life
has risen from Is years to A., and 1t will
continue to rise until the average Of hu-
man life will be so, and IL will be 90, and
1t will be 20, and man will have DO right
to die before 90, and the prophecy of
Isaiah will be literally fulfilled, "And the |
child shall die 100 years DID," The mil |
lennfum for the souls of men will be the |
millennium for the bodies Of men. Sin |
done, disease will be done-the clergyman
and the physician getting through with |
their work at the same time
Tho DispensoFlee.
But it seems to me that the most beau
tiful benediction of the medical profession |
has been dropped upon the poor No ex-
cuse now for any ones not having scien- |
uhc attendance. Dispensaries and inf1rm- |
aries everywhere under the control of the |
best doctors, some of them poorly paid,
some Of them not paid at all. A half /