The Washington herald., 1914-07-27
Are We Civilizsdl
p DH. vioTOR Q. VAUGHAN,

l. - u Il
i President-sisct American Medical Association
We boast Of great civilization but this Is justified
only within limits. Science moTe nearly dominates
the world than at any time In the past Learning
peFmeates the masses deeply but credulity and
ignorance are widely prevalent. In this country OF
nearly one hundred millions there are thousands
whose greed mpedes the progress Of the whole tens
of thousands whose ignorance retardS their own
growth, and other thousands who live by crime and
procreate their kind to feed generations to come
We have our schools, colleges and universities,
while almshouses, insane asylums and penal nsti-
tutons full. In our cities we see the palatial
homes Of the utrareh the splendid temples of trade
and commerce the slums of want and poverty and
the homes, both rich and squad, of vice and crime
No nation in this condition can be given clean bill
of health.
Our hitops are illuminated by the light of knowl-
edge but our valleys are covered by the clouds oi
gnorsnce. We have not emerged from the shadows
of the dark ages The historian of the future will
have no difficulty in convincing his readers that those
who lived at the beginning of the twentieth century
were but slightly removed from barbarism, as he will
tell that the school, saloon and house of prostitution
flourish in close proximity that the capitalist worked
his employees under conditions which precluded
soundness of body; that the labor union man dyna-
mted buildings; that while sent missionaries to
convert the Moslem and the Buddhist 10000 murders
were committed annually in our midst, and that
large percentage of mortality due to prevent
able disease.
Evidently there is much to be done before we
pass out from the shadows Of ignorance into the
full light of knowledge. In this great work for the
bettermentA of the the medical profession has
important duties to perform I do not mean TO
imply that the upift of mankind devolves wholly on
the medical man. The burdens are too many and
too diversified the ascent too steep and the pathways
too rough for one profession to hope to reach un-
aided the high plateau we seek Moreover, other call
ngs have right and should have no desire to shr
the moral responsibilities, which rest alike on all
But in past ages medical men have been the chief
torchbearers of science the only light in which man
can safely walk, and we must keep and transmit to
our successors this trust and honor know of no
scientific discovery from the ignition of wood by
friction TO the demonstration of the causes of infec
ton and the restriction of disease, which has not
sooner later assisted in the beterment of the race
1t may be added that nothing else has so aided man in
his slow and halting progress from the pestential
marshes Of ignorance to the open lands of intelligence
In so great work the eradication of preventabe
disease all intelligent people must cooperate The
law must support by proper enactments and these |
must be enforced with justice and intelligence it |
must recognize that the right enjoy health is quite
as sacred that to possess property that to poison
men in factories and mines. to polute drinking water
supplies adulterate foods and to drug with nos
rums is manslaughter.
Religion must teach the sanctity of the body as
we'll as that of the SOUL that ignorance is sin and
knowledge virtue that parenthood is the holiest fune
ion performed by and that to transmit disease
S unpardonable sin.
The teacher must know hygiene as well as mathe-
natcs. The capitalist must recognize that improve
nent in health and growth in intelligence increase the
Efficiency Of labor. There has been time when
scientific medicine has had many and such efficient
md appreciative helpers as it has today
Our sanitary laws for the most part good,
ut their administration is weak account Of igno-
ance The pulpits of the land open for the most
art, to the santarian The respectable newspapers
re most effective in the crusade against quackery
nd disease. The phanthropist has learned that the
dvancement of science coners the greatest and most
astng benefits on man.
There is a moral obligation to be intelligent
ignorance is vice and when it results in injury to
ny one it becomes crime, moral if not a stat
tory one. To infect another with disease either
irectly or indirectly result of ignorance is an
IMMORAL act The purpose of government is to pro-
ect its citizens and government which fails to S
helter its citizens against infection is neither intel
gent nor moral To transmit disease of BODY or
lind TO offspring is unpardonable sin. In rea-
onable sense it is than murder because it pro-
ects suffering into the future indefinitely