The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1909-12-02
PREVENTIVE MEDICINES.
Extracts from Paper by DR.. c. r
Fleming, Delivered at a Meeting
OF the College Alumni Club.

I his subject, from which the follow
. ing interesting extracts are taken,
with the regret that the entire paper
/ could not b" published. At the close
/ Of the meeting, after the reading Of
/ the paper, II committee was appoint
ed to consider the organization Of an
| Auti-lubcrculoSis League. These
| leagues are being formed all over
the country and are doing much to
fight the "White PLAGUE" by cdu-
cational means. DR.. Fleming said
in part;
"Health and education 20 hand in
| hand. Better sanitary conditions
are conductive to longer lives and
less suffering. We are steadily re-
verting to the early and original
teachings of some Of the great Gree
| ian Physicians, that diseases should
he prevented, and that the truly sue
cessful and conscientious physician
| is the one who takes this broad view
"The discussion of preventive
measures in medicine leads the mind
naturally to the consideration of
small pox and its prOphylaXis, vac
cination. About the middle of the
/ Eighteenth Century the opinion
gained ground in England that moe
ulation with cow-poX lymph pro-
tccted from smallpox.
Looking up the history Of vacci-
nation We find that in parts % Eng
land belief existed amongst the
inhabitants who had the care Of cat
tie, that n disease Of cows, which
was called cow-poX, when commune
Gated to the mixers afforded them n
protection from smallpox. During
this period Il majority of the people
were deeply pitted with the dread
disease. The immunity enjoyed by
the milkmaids from unsightly sores
and scars attracted much attention
and comment. Ii was further no
ticed that dairy maids and farm
hands had sores on their hands
which arose from coming in contact
with sores on the udders Of milch
cows. The sufferers from this local
trouble, it was observed, escaped the
ravages of smallpox.
Later on, in Ia, Benjamin Jcsty,
an English farmer, became ST. much
convinced of the efficacy of cow-poN
in preventing smallpox that he iu-
uculat"d his wifi" and children with
cow-poN, thus performing vacciua-
ton for the first time, and uutiCipat-
ing Edward Jcnucr by twenty years.
ON May I'm, 1876, Jruucr vaccinat-
ed q lad, whom two months later he
failed to inoculntc after repeated cf-
forts.
"Thus we learn Of the early and
effective test or this Godsond TO hui
mnnity, the prevention and cventu-
ally eradication Of smallpox" =
"In considering such diseases as
tetanus aud diphtheria, | trust | get
into close touch and interest with
each OF my hearers without regard
to his vocation, for who of us has
not seen their sOrrOwful consequence
es. But here, my friend, the "curer"
as well as the "preventer" shines, a
brilliant field for treatment rs well
as prophylaXis.
Here serum, as it is generally
termed, is n power. Take diphtheria
with "A mortality of 30 to 80 per cent
before the introduction of amtitOXin
and compare it with the present
mortality Of about > per cent, and
you readily see it's virtue. The
treatment of diphtheria consists in
the early and careful administration
Of antitoXin. This is not period to
discuss its pros and cons, its eff
| cheney is an established fact. Ber-
ings says, with antitoXin used early,
the mortality will not exceed ) per
cent, and this statement can he YER
flied by the reports of many cOmpc-
! tent physicians throughout the old
and the new world. The physician
who thinks the case is mild and
waits for severer SYMPTOMS, then Civ
ing antitoxin, fails to grasp the sit
uation and falls short of his duty to
his patient. But let us go further
with this antitoxin treatment. We
are taught, and experience has prov
en-, the value of the immunizing
dose. Let us be practical and save
the lives OF the children entrusted
to our care. Why should young
life, or more, he sacrificed in every
community each year? When the
indications point to an epidemic, or
when case appears, ] suggest inn
munizing the entire young popula-
lation.
at is simple and safe proceed
ure. The duty of the health officer
should be to advocate this method.