The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-10-06
NzzE4
HAIRY ARD AND HE
MEDICAL VISITOR
How the System Works at the Cam
bridge School.
SOME STATISTICS IN POINT.
The Work Naturally Varies, But on
Some Occasions tho Physician
Has His Hands IFu,I-What
Has Been Done.


BOSTON, October S.-Evety year. now
| in one American college or University. now
| in another, one finds evidence of a growing
| friendIiness in the relations between 1acui-
| ~ and students. OF course TINS means
| that the college can do vastly more for
| its young men than would have been pos
| sible say a generation ago. An excellent
| case in point is the establishment at Har-
ward University, within the last decade, OF
| the position of medical visitor-a sort OF
| appointment which. in any American col
| lege would have been viewed by the I'M
dergraduates with general alarm not so
| very many years ago, as probably intend
| ed to work out a stricter discipline among
| them but which is now welcomed at Cam
bridge throughout the whole student body
| as a wise, kind, and effective measure for
| the general good Of all. 1t is realized that
| the students may trust such an officer as
! implicitly as they would their own family
| physician.
The system OF medical visiting as it ex-
| lists & t Harvard was original with the Har-
] ward authorities and indeed, has not yet
| been adopted elsewhere Its usefulness
| can DE readily understood. The present
/ medical visitor. DIR. Marshall II. Bailey.
| may be fairly described as the college
| health officer. with oversight over so
| much of the university as is situated in
| ana about the college yard in Cambridge
| The students to whom he must give his
| attention will number this year about 35t3,
! including not only those in the college
| proper but IN the law school, the graduate
| school. the Lawrence. scientific school. and
| the Divinity school.
HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS.
To each OF these young men in Cam
| bridge card is sent at the beginning OF
| the college term calling attention to the
| Importance of the rule requiring that
! every case Of illness be reported at once
| to Dr.. Bailey. Special stress is laid ON
the necessity of communicating with him
on the slightest suspicion of any conta-
gious disease. In addition, the ianitors of
the various dormtcries are instructed to
| make an independent report of any sick
ness in the buildings under their charge.
AS a result of these two methods OF no.
LITIGATION DR.. Bailey has at all times Il
practically complete knowledge Of the
health of the university.
An important point. however is ;hat the
medical visitor is not supposed TO take the
| place of Il Students regular physician
His visit is preliminary one. merely to
inform himself OF the conditions. or 10
advise the student as to whether his synp-
toms are sufficiently serious to warrant
| sending Tor his own doctor.
| Certain cases, of course. remain under
his treatment. either from personal inter
est or because it would have been incon-
venient to the patient to incur The charges
of outside medical assistance. But this is
not the usual thing
The work of the medical visitor varies
naturally. very greatly: occasionally there
is almost nothing TO do, while at other
times he may be called upon to pay as
/ M Cxyt
tai number of consultations for q period
OF four years. as recently tabulated is
S.49o. In the last published report. that
for lS9S-'99, the total number of cases IS
set down at 2.7o5. with the number of
days of illness recorded at the rather sur
prising figure of 1850.
SOME STATISTICS.
OF course. not all, or anywhere near all.
of these cases are serious. In the table
Of diseases. colds number more than a
third of the total. for example. There
were only three cases of typhoid fever
which is the most serious of the diseases
specially noted, and none of either diph-
iberia or scarlet fever. Measles, or the
other hand was to some extent epidemic
| with IS cases. Two cases of still more
innocent contagious disease. humps, con
trast with no less than % during the pre-
lsu.nSG &c peIeQuinu soIin(uI 1894 suoIi
15S four years before
But the value of the work of the med,
zeal visitor is not to be estimated by the
! number of dangerous cases which he is
called upon to attend. 1t is exactly il
this great number Of lesser ailments tina
he finds his largest opportunity of useful
ness. by learning. as he thus does, st
much of the general physical condition OF
the student community. Men who have
overworked or have neglected the proper
care of their bodies through Ignorance q
some hygienic principle. or who dis
cover in some slight illness some defec
in their constitutions, are the class wht
derive the greatest benefit from his con
slant, helpful and friendly advice. With
out some such regular system of com
muncation with university physician
very many students who now consult hin
would have gone without the services OF
a physician altogether. and in many cases
therefore. have lost the benefit coming
from a weli-considered examination OF
their general physical condition. Many
dangerous diseases. also, like appendicitis
often run Il great part of their course
with no very alarming symptoms, ano
may approach the crisis almost before the
sufferer realizes that anything much ou1
of the ordinary is the matter with him
Accustomed as the students now are &c
reporting every suspicious symptom tc
the medical visitor, half the danger CT
such disease is eliminated
CONTAGIOUS DISEASE.
Even more important in consideration
of the general welfare of tbs undergrad
yates as a whole, is the increased posi-
bility OF discovering, at the very begin
Ming ali cases of contagious disease. 4 4
mild attack of diphtheria, for example
may easily pass, during its entire course
| for a simple case of tonsiliiis, and yet OF
capable of spreading the disease in it
most malignant form. So with scarle
fever But under the present system
wherever there is the least suspicion o
a contagious disease a culture IS mmedi
ateiy made and. if the suspicion is con
firmed, the patient is az once removed Il
the hospital. or. If the disease is one o
the light kind which the hospitals d.
MOI care TO receive, such as measles o
,numps, is carefully isolated IN his ow,
room. In either event, the college see
10 it that every precausor IS taken, b!
funisation and the most careful atten
ton to the patient, to prevent the spceat
of the disease.