Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-04-22
CIVILIZATION AND DISEASE
Many Popular Beliefs Are Ruth
lessly Punctured by
Doctor.

DR.. Woods Hutchinson. in Hampton
Magazine. discusses the Diseases Of Civili-
zation" and punctures many popular beliefs.
He says that nothing is more dangerous
than strict logic which is not quite sure Of
Its premises, and so some Of the most
damnable errors Of history have been per-
fectly sound, logical conclusions from data
which everybody knew to be sound and no
one even doubted but which afterward
turned out to be false" Hence, It is easy
enough to construct a prognostic for any
disease which will be perfectly logical and
absolutely appalling" for all that is needed
is TO show by vital statistics that some
particular disease is increasing at a GER
tain rate per annum. rate greater than
the rate OF Increase of the race and. there
fore. by virtue OF the showing of these
statistics, determination is assured within
so many years or decades.
DR.. Hutchinson asserts that there is no
valid proof that any disease is any more
prevalent now than It was fifty or five
hundred years ago, and there is no positive
proof Of the origin of a single new serious
disease since the dawn of recorded history
Seventy per cent of all the serious diseases
of today were known to the Greeks, and
probably to the Egyptians. Indeed:
The probability is that nearly half of
the remainder were also in existence then,
I though Bright's disease, for instance, was
only clearly recognized and traced to its
| anatomical cause. the kidney some eighty
years ago, by Dr. Richard Bright of Guys
hospital London, whose name 1t now bears
1t had certainly existed for centuries and
probably for two or three thousand years
before that Obviously, any statement as to
its being more or less common in the nine
teenth century than say, the fourteenth
can be nothing better than the merest
guess"
Bright's disease, the writer asserts fur
nishes very pretty illustration of the way
( in which diseases increase" in modern
times, and are manufactured by the very
means devised for their recognition" Pos
sibly the rapid recent increase in frequency
and fatality of Bright's disease has run
parallel with and been chiefly due to a
harmless and wholesome phenomenon, the
spread Of the habit of life insurance and
the consequent frequent examinations for
albumen.
The Same is true, the writer asserts of
heart disease and tuberculosis, and he
acknowledges that the careful physical
examination set on foot by the insurance
companies has been of great hygienic value,
pronling thousands of valuable lives and
saving thousands by warning them of their
danger in time to be cured.
1t is singular what can be made to APP
pear from "unimpeachable vital statis-
| ties taken from the record of certain
cities and areas in the United States. Ac-
cording to these statistics, Bright's disease
has increased 1876 per cent during the last
fifteen years.
| "As the rate Of increase of the community
from natural causes during the same time
has only been 15 per cent, 1t is perfectly
obvious that 1t can only be a matter of
five or six decades before we shall be dead
of Brights disease"
Another statistician has incautiously
taken up another disease which he regards
as menace to the future of the race-in-
sanity. Applying the same formula, he
asserts that ct the present rate of increase
every American-born citizen will have be-
come insane by 1865, forgetting that at
least one-half Of us are to be dead OF
Brights disease before that time" Dr.
Hutchinson adds:
| when you come to consider the claims
as race exterminators of nearly a dozen
equally-to-be-dreaded pathologic perils, such
as appendicitis, cancer, heart disease
tuberculosis. alcoholism, meat eating.
cigarettes, race suicide, sugar and syphilis
1t is obvious that within half a century
there will not be enough human beings left
to go round among the diseases, and fur
nish one meal a day to each. So that the
| process finally lands us in the consoIine
conclusion that just as surely as the human
race becomes extinct so will the diseases,
for lack Of anything to feed upon. and.
/ perhaps, the second conclusion may 20
ahead of the first Certainly we are at
liberty to take our choice between them
and believe-as we generally do in matters
Of logic and observation-disclosures of the
two we personally prefer
DIR. Hutchinson shows what medical sci
ence is doing in relief of Rright's disease,
which nowadays does not inspire the terror
Of former years. in many cases by rational
methods holding it in check for years or
even decades. Although there is yet no
positive cure for Bright's disease, stin
there are so many ways of palliating its
symptoms and delaying it's course that the
outlook for the sufferer is good.
| The chief cause of Brights disease and
renal disturbances, according to the writer.
apart from the necessary wear and tear
of life, are muscular overwork for long
hours, the attack of infectious diseases and
the use Of alcohol. all Of which, he says,
| are entirely preventable. and in fact are
being rapidly prevented by Industrial legis-
lation, by sanitary improvements. and by
the growth OF temperance and self-re,
straint. In other words
Civilization is curing, and viii continue
to cure, the diseases which il has helped
to cause"