Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-09-15
WORK OF DOCTORS
WHO MAKE NO
CURES
OF
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
People Died in 1.-THE Good
Old Days. Present Condi-
tlonS and the Promise of the
Future.

washington, Sept. 14.-Governor
Magoon of Cuba, recently reported
to the authorities in Washington that
the outbreak OF yellow fever I'm the
island would be conquered before the
n OF September. This Is one Of sew
eral recent happenings indicating how
the doctor who may perhaps never
make a cure has v%indicated his right
to a high position in the medical prov
fessiOn Yellow fever appeared in
cuba this year. Yet nobody was seri-
iously alarmed, although there was
some natural evaporation because the
ICubans could not or would not con-
tinue in practice the things which
they had been taught from the United
States. The island again being I'M
der American control. steps wert
promptly taken TO give yellow Jack
his quietus and a national department.
OF sanitation was created to have full
control OF sanitary conditions. Even
before this was done C~ienfuegos was
given a house cleaning such as IL had
never known before. The men who
devote themselves TO the prevention OF
4 disease won a signal victory immedi-
ately after the Spanish-American war.
Had they continued in charge Of the
situation, II is extremely doubtful IT
the few recent cases OF the once
dreaded scourge would have appeared
in the island.
on the isthmus Of Panama. through
out the canal zon where the Ameri-
cans have fun swing, yellow fever
has been conquered for the first time
in the history OF that region. In a
recent interview. DIR. Pau NJ. Carpen-
ter of Milton. Mass. chief OF the san
tary department in the zone town
Of Empire. says hat SO thoroughly
has the war on the troublesome mos
quito been carried on that although
every bed is provided with "A mosquito
netting. these defenses are now falling
into disuse. In hundreds OF bed
rooms, although the mosquito netting
Is still visible, IL hangs looped from
the ceiling, and Is never dropped
about the bed" Every intelligent
American knows that. when the mos
quitoes have been killed off and
the danger Of the spread of yellow
fever has been practically eliminated.
OF course, yellow fever will appear
from time TO time, Notwithstanding
the fight waged against IL. In 1905
there was in New Orleans, what was
according to present ideas, an cpl
demic: vet It was small indeed, when
compared with the ravages OF the
same our before the doctors a
discovered the pernicious activities Of
the mosquitoes and began their wars
upon these pests. Thus. in 1873, In an
epidemic in the Mississippi valley, l5,-
934 people died, and the number Of
cases exceeded $4,000.
Even before the adoption Of mod
ern methods In combating the dis
ease. something had been accom-
plished by strict quarantine regula-
tons. During the first sixty years
Of the nineteenth century, yellow fever
prevailed almost annually in one or
more of the southern seaports OF the
TTnffan States and fFpnnnnflW aNtgnna1
its ravages to interior towns In fact,
the permanent residents Of southern
cities commonly regarded II as a dis
ease OF the climate and a necessary
evil against which It was useless to
impose quarantine restrictions.
The fight with yellow fever may be
regarded as already won. The BATHS
with the great white scourge is being
waged with increasing vigor through
out the world, and il is confidently
predicted that the time Is coming
when tuberculosis will be almost as
rare as smallpox. Diphtheria has los.
many of Its terrors. Typhoid is also
regarded as doomed although II ls
still Il serious menace in all parts Of
the world. And the activities OF the
doctors who devote all their talent
and energy to prevention rather than
cure are not confined to the battle
with contagious and infectious dis
eases. A noted physician in Boston
has built up a large practice among
people who are perfectly well and who
go to him at stated intervals so that,
acting under his advice, they may
keep well.
The universities are beginning tO
make special provisions for the train
ing of the men who viii in the future
devote themselves to stamping out
disease rather than to curing II after