Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-02-09


| For the past twenty years at least
physicians have universally held ane
taught the contagiousness of tubercu-
losis, more commonly called consump-
ton, and yet it is only in the past few
! years that the general public has beer
awakened to this fact. The delay has
been long and most disastrous to life
| to the state and to the nation. The
germs of disease have beer scattered
widely, having invaded almost, Is moi
every town and community. When W.
stop in the rush of this great CONNER
cial struggle for breathing spell
there are some appalling things to loois
| upon. In our own state 1000 furera
professions are moving each year, 413,-
900 in the United States last year.
mostly because of neglected duty or
the part of not alone the ignorant, but
more especially of the intelligent. Car
this be possible? you ask 1t certainly
is as true as life itself. There is some
thing wrong in our life, and it is part
of the physicians duty to lead people
back to the right way.
Tuberculosis is durable disease In
it's early stages-is a preventable dis
ease and disease that should be elm
mated from our state. There are some
factors, believe, to be most promi-
nent that might be mentioned that
really have acted as agents in the wide
distribution of the disease. The quack,
patent medicine that cures CD con-
sumption-now here is the fraud, a de-
ception practiced for gain, cause for
hope to the afflicted, inducing delay
in seeking medical advice. and finally.
makes itself known as a fraud only
when the silent messenger calls. Med
ical science knows no drug cures for
consumption. Then, we have the belief
which stands out almost as black as
despair itself, that if the parents have
consumption the son or daughter must
likewise fall a victim to disease, which
we know is not the case, knowing de-
spondency leads to depressed vital
forces, however, and to ill-health, not
knowing that consumption is a con-
tagious disease and not a hereditary
one, that it can be prevented, that it is
only scattered by splitting. leads me to
mention another factor which 1 cannot
called the least the part the physician
should or does take-in warding off
this disease and depressing and de-
spondent thought.
He converses, argues and writes to
his fellow physicians about the facts
regarding this disease, thru the med
ium, however, OF the medical journals,
which the laity seldom ever see, leav-
ing the field in the public press to the
quack advertiser to foist himself and
cures co upon the public mind. In
this manner fear We all have neglect
ed our whole duty in the past.
I believe the physicians all over this
great state of ours, which is one of the
most healthful, should not hesitate but
keep in the forefront of the fight to
eliminate from the state and nation
this great white plague, so called, US
ing the public press freely, whose col
posal of the physician in matters per-
tanning to health and hygiene, for, by
this medium you get directly into the
homes, use the public rostrum, the
pulpit, the schools. the clubs-what
a wonderful work and assistance the
different women's clubs could render
and do if they would take up the study
Of tuberculosis, it's prevention and
cure; cinch and five hundred would
never be thought of as a factor in the
general health of community; the
local boards of health should be urged
and by your assistance invoke all it's
aid toward the one. great purpose -
the plotting out of tuberculosis. for,
only by the united and intelligent eff
forts of physicians and societies, whose
awakening influences have sprung into
existence with determined effort to
be of service in blotting out the raw
ages of this disease. can this great end
be accomplished.
One of the very greatest things to be
is to have the public as
a whole understand that consumption
can be prevented. This is where the
physician must act-where his duty
lies We are the most negligent as a
people in guarding our homes, and at
the present time most helpless to ward
off the invasion of them by this dread
disease because of the general ignor-
ance of the public concerning how it
can be done. That false position into
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