The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1914-07-31
copyright. 1914, by A. S. Gray)
DIAGNOSIS.


Who shall decide when doctors dis
agree" There surely will be no dis
senting voice If we answer that Ques-
don with one short word-FACTS. 1t
would seem that 1t should not be a
difficult matter to secure the facts
concerning any given subject; but it
b. Much data is available but we
have come to distrust 1t because we
know so many investigate not to
ascertain the truth, but merely to win
point for some particular theory,
Just as some lawyers strive only to
WIN cases, not to secure justice; some
doctors to cure diseases, not to pre-
vent sickness; some ministers to gain
church attendance, not to secure
wholesome practical morality in the
home and in the place of business.
The fault undoubtedly lies in our edu-
cational system. What the world
wants to know Is, what is known, not
what Is thought, and it is not getting
what it wants and needs. In conse-
saence We are continually being called
% to decide momentous questions in.
volving our lives without possessing
adequate information concerning the
fundamental facts. How fit Is the
average sick man to decide what shall
DO done? And yet the burden of that
decision usually rests on him.
There are two methods of education,
he natural and the artificial. BY the
natural method one observes particu.
Tar facts and forms therefrom general
ideas. BY the artificial method one
acquires vast store of general ideas
through hearing or reading what other
people have observed and think. The
arst method is very reliable but very
slow. The second method, the one on
which most Of us depend for our ad.
vancement, Is rapid but very unrelia.
BE unless we are extremely careful
in selecting the source Of our informa-
zion. This explains why it SO fire.
Quently happens that after a long
course Of learning we enter real life
either with an almost artless igno-
rance OF many important things or
with wrong and often distorted and
anwholesome ideas about them. We
were either misinfGrmed, or were not
instructed at ell, and must learn in
the school of bitter experience what
we might easily have been taught.
We must go to those competent to
speak with the authority Of expert
ance for our knowledge, or work it
out each for himself. A very casual
consideration of the subject will show
IT to be quite impossible that we
search out the truth each for himself;
therefore, for our knowledge we must
60 to those who by reason of training
and experience are qualified to speak
with authority. And even to make
such selection requires good judgment
and no small degree OF training under
existing conditions, because matters in
general are too often questions Of
opinion.
No progress has ever been made in
any science until three things have
been discovered: determined units;
measured units; devices for measure
ment. These three requirements are
somprehensively covered by our CEN
sus enumeration, birth and mortality
tables, when efficiently handled. And
until this data is efficiently handled
disease will continue to be a matter
Of opinion, whim and dogma, and the
sick to be subjects for exploitation
and rich material for the personal
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the most incompe-
sent, because the most incompetent in
sheir ignorance make the boldest and
most attractive claims.
1t Is curious fact that people In
general dislike the simple, direct
truth-they want 1t emasculated and
sugar coated; and nothing but the
cold, hard mathematics of the situa-
zion can overcome this desire for the
least unpleasant Interpretation OF evi.
dent facts.
The. first step in the study OF dis
ease prevention is to have a known
base-and an accurate registration OF
Births is scarcely to be found In the
United States, and IS Of our 4S states
DO not require registration Of deaths!
At the present time we have reliable
mortality returns on only SIS per
cent, birth returns on less than Is per
cent, and accident returns on but an
Insignificant portion of our 100000, 900
population. We know more about cat
de, sheep and hogs than we do about
eur men, women and children. We
DO not know and we have no accurate
means for determining Where we are
at," and nothing short Of a national
clearing house will enable us to know.
In place Of 48 distinct bodies having
Jurisdiction over birth, accident and
mortality returns there should be one.
WHAT we need In this country is q
well trained central body, free from |
the paralyzing effects Of pecuniary |
embarrassment and It's temptations. |
possessed of minds big enough, broad |
~xor1h noS ho,n ano,ch &o ,aa anS |