Norwich bulletin., 1910-03-30
Published by Request-) )

I
 on here for medical inspection in our schools. The writer is a gentleman | who has given the subject close study | and his views are freely and frankly ! set forth in the following:
 | To the Editor:
 l Sir.T4ae subject of medical inspec- | tdon of the children in the public schools is prominently brought to the public attention, just now, through re- | cent action Of the board of health l in appointing a medical inspector for 1 the schools; through the special ad- 1 dress of the president of the board | strongly recommending it, and through | the action of the board of finance in refusing to pay the salary" of the
 medcial inspector, and it does not I seem out of order to take up some | features of the subject, of interest to | the average citizen. at this particular 1 time.
 | It seems pertinent to ask, first, is ! there any real need for medical fn- spection, in the schools in particular; second what warrant has the board of | public health for its action in ap- | pointing a medical inspector at s1,20o per year when the appropriation ask | ed for, for this purpose, had been dis allowed; and, third, if medical iDspec- ton is as necessary and important as our medical friends would have us believe. can the work be done fully and satisfactorily by one doctor, de- voting only portion of his time,
 among the 10000 children at present in our schools?
 When the subject of medical inspec- ton in our public schools was first advocated two inspectors were asked | for, at a salary of $400 per year each. At that time It was seriously ques- l tioned if medical inspection, if so vi- tally important and necessary, could l be had at an expenditure of only $500 l per year and be good for anything. The advocates of the matter admitted that the sum asked for, then, would not begin to pay for the thorough med 1 ical school inspection they declared we were sadly in need of, but gave als-
 surance that, once established, rnedi- cal inspection would prove itself such
 a benefit and blessing to the cornrnuni- | ty that the appropriations for it would be voluntarily increased year by year. If I remember correctly, it's advo- cates at the time failed to show the
 need for medical Inspection and the
 sum asked for was not appropriated: The board Of health. however. found itself in possession of an unexpended l balance from its regular appropria- tions, and with this sum at their dis postal, established medical inspection in spite of the failure to obtain a reg ular appropriation for it. In this way the thin endge of the wedge was used l to enable the doctors, in turn, to feed they have been regular boerders since, through appropriations made especial ly for medical inspection.
 It would seem. however. that the
 
 | which it's advocates predicted, would cause voluntary increase in appro- priations for it year by year, has not | been realized, for this year our city fathers cut out the appropriation for
 1t in the budget A need for strict economy is understood to be the req
 son. but it is fair to assume that only such items of expense as. after care full consideration, were found needless and could be safely dispensed with were cut out
 The advocates of medical inspection base their declaratfo of necessity for
 1t, first, on the theory that nearly all diseases are contagious, and that these l diseases arise only through contagfon;
 second, on the theory that diseases
 are caused by disease germs which,
 disseminated by the sick. invade the l bodies of the we'll and cause infection; third on the prediction that at some rtble disease will break out in the schools and spread among the children. a calamity they confidently expect
 medical inspection can and will pre- vent.
 It will be my endeavor to show that these theories, and the prediction, are not well founded and that, as a con sequence there is no such necessity for medical inspection as it's advocates would have us believe.
 The theory of contagion in disease, and the commonly so-caaled germ theory are closely associated, the lat
  in an effort to explain, and sustain, the theory of contagion. But, the tf1eO- ry of contagion still remains a theory, and the so-called germ theory, a1- though it would seem to be generally
 accepted as a well founded truth. Is destined to go down in the annals Of medical history as the most fallacfous and delusive pathological doctrine ever devised.
 One of the arguments in opposition to the theory of contagdon in disease. and that these diseases arise through contagion only, is made on the tenable a first case" some time, and that this first case' could not have been con tracted, or caught the disease from some one lese. This argument will not appeal to those who hold that there never was a beginning, that all things have always existed, disease included, and always will; but they are connpara- lively few, and their views will not be considered in this argument There fore granting that a first case" must
 have occurred, if the same conditions
 existed today as existed then, they would necessarily produce the same
 result in any given case, and it is an indisputable fact that cases of so-
 called contagious diseases occur singly isolated cases-where 1t Is impossible to trace the contagton to any one, ho case of the kind having occurred in years before. and where no one "caug1t' the disease from the solitary patient.
 Attempts have been made to explain
 such cases by suggesting that the
 germs" Of the disease had hid away
 in old colthes, old furniture, in walls
 of houses or what not, and, in some
 manner becoming liberated, had in-
 fected the person. In case no similar
 case had occurred in the memory of
 even "the oldest inhabitant" it would be explained that these germs are
 possessed with life everlasting, and
 some previous case must have been the
 cause regardless of lapse of time and without any certain knowledge of a
 case ever having occurred in the
 neighborhood. A recent example of
 similar absurdity is the case of the
 Egyptian mummy which fs charged
 with scattering the germs of consump-
 tion (newly named tuberculosis) and
 injecting the people of England, and
 this after being buried thousands of
 years The wonder is that intelligent
 people will take any stock in such non-
 sense. but they seem as ready to swal-
 low the doctors explanations and ex-
 cuses as his medicines, all without
 question.
 How often do we not read of a so-
 called contagious disease aff1icting
 some individual who has been found at large and mingled with hundreds,
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