Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-06-24

attic, planning to prevent a plague
| cf71d' mic during its great Alaska
| ukon exposition. or scattered in
| Southern cities, ready to block q scare
or an unnecessary and injurious quar-
anime If few eases of yellow-jack
appear. Eut wherever it is, it is
studying the epidemic diseases in their
respective stronSholds-m malaria, ty-
phoid, tuberculosis, and other dread
destroyers of human life
| But whether or not you find places
upon the great boards of public health,
| be true to- Bowdoin and to yourselves
by telling the truth and the whole
| truth. Vital statistics in this country
| arc still an infant science Director
North, until recently of the Census
| Bureau, has been persistent and in
| sistert, but as yet only fifteen, Com
monW ealths. representing As per cent
of our population, comprise the regis
tration area. Outside this little group
of states a man may be buried and no
| one be the wiser as to his death or the
cause of it. Registration makes work
and trouble for the undertaken, who
| as rule is its potent enemy. In Iowa
his influence repealed the law, and last
year in Virginia he defeated a similar
benehccnt measure. Even in Ohio
now the mother of Presidents, not
more than 60 per cent. of it's deaths
are reported. Knowledge of what is
killing us is the first step toward saw
ing our lives and to the doctors must
we appeal for q truthful standard on
which to base comparisons. To in
crease their growth, cities prefer to
advertise a low death rate and di-
seascs which do not indicate an I'M
healthful climate. For this reason
tuberculosis is the disease most mis-
reported In a paper read before the
recent International tuberculosis Con-
grcSs, Professor Fisher estimated the
annual cost Of tuberculosis to the peo-
PIE of the United States, taking into
consideration the death rate, the loss
of the earning capacity of the patients,
the period of invalidism, and the eX-
ponsc of caring for the sick, at over
| one billion dollars. So much Advertise
! ing has been given tuberculosis that
some communities regard it a disgrace
to die of consumption. and to save the
family's feelings and town pride physi-
clans too often report the cause as
bronchitis or pneumonia. After this,
Of course the premises arc not dsin-
fcct"d, and the gCrm-rceking atmos-
lhcre is left to be breathcd possibly
by a baby, which soon dies, perhaps of
tuberculosis of the intestnes. Young
men. 1t is up to you TO report the
truth and save life, for the physician
who obligingly falsifes Il report is
morally guilty of homicide through
criminal negligence. Remember that
first of all, and above all else, you
have Il character at stake. When the
battle line was sweeping forward in
the last murdcrouS charge at Chicka-
manga, jack rabbit jumped up, and
with few frightened leaps ran to the
rear. GO it, Cottontail,' exclaimed
one of the boys in blue, eff | didn't
have mere character at stake than YOU
I'd run too
1t is deeply interesting to note the
unsclGsh work of young doctors who
are seeking the origin of disease, re-
porting their experiments, and adding
to the stock Of information for gcncr-
alzatinn; but their assistance in com
hininG medical with neighborly help is
rot whit less praise worthy or more
amazing in its results. To my mind
this social hospital service. although it's
work is scarcely seven years old, is
next in Importance to the study of the
germ. 1t starts with the promise that
Il patient is not necessarily cured be-
cause discharged from the hospital. OF
What use is it to treat one for Lead
poisoning. and by allowing him to seek
his old occupation have him back again
vii Ii
economy nor humantaransn. A few
months ago Il Brooklyn lad, sixteen
years old. walked out from his widow
cd mothers funeral into the great
world. alone. Soon after the ambulance
Brought him to the hospital, sick be-
cause Of starvation. Will you cure
him and turn him into the street
AGAIN" A babes life is saved, and
shall it go back into the arms of an
ignorant mother to die? Formerly the
dispeusary and hospital laid their
stress on drugs and the knife: today it
IS laid V here medicine and the ward
stop. So it happens that the Brooklyn
orphan boy is on a farm, the lead poi
soncd patient has different employ
ment and the babes mother has been
given instruction.
\ few days ago. in one of the rooms
of the National Museum at Washing
ton. | stood before the bust of DR.
Walter Reed, who discovered in the
mosquito the carrier of yellow-fevcr
poison. AS / studied the lines of his
young. fair face, and reflected upon the
almost Divine work that crowns his
life. there seemed to gather above it n
halo through which shone the radiant
features of DIR. Lazcar. who to prove
the theory, received into his veins the
MOSQUITOES virus and died that others
might live. Already tho floor is worn
by the admirinS nIulttudes that lingcr
rcvcrcntially about the marble Their
achievements very properly bring great
celebrity and undying honor. But the
faithful physician. wherever located
and however limited his environment,
can belong in the same class of we'll
doors Everywhere is opportunity.
White the profession has long recog-
.ized the common house fly as the