Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-06-23
COULD LENGTHEN
HUMAN LIFE BY
FIFTEEN YEARS
All Necessary, Or. Vaughn Tells
Physicians, Is Application of
Medical knowledge.
STATES SHOULD ESTABLISH
HYGlENlC LABORATORIES
Historians Will Say That goth
Century People Were Bar
barians, He Declares.

ATLANTIC CITY, June 23.-At the
first general session of the sixty-fifth
annual convention of the American
Medical Association here today, DR..
Victor c. Vaughn was installed as
president of the association, succeed
ing DIR. John A. Witherspocn, of
Nashville, Tenn.
DR.. Vaughn made THE Service of
Medicine to Civilization" the subject
of his inaugural address
In the last century the average of
human life has been increased by fif-
teen years, and this increase could be
duplicated in the next twenty
years" he said. IF the facts we now
possess were effectively employed
THE further developments of medi-
cine, both curative and preventive,
depend on scientific Investigations.
The public is the beneficiary and
should in every way encourage medi-
cal research. The federal government
and the States should sustain and
promote scientific research. That
government is the best which secures
for its citizens the greatest freedom
from disease, the highest degree of
health and the longest life, and that
people which most fully secure the
enjoyment of these blessings will
uomlnate the world.
Says We Are Barbarians.
we boast of a great civilization,
but this is justified only within linn
its. 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 bar
barism, as he will tell that the school
and saloon f1ourished in close sproA-
unity; that the capitalist worked his
employees under conditions which pre-
cluded soundness of body; that the
labor union man dynamted build
ings; that whilst we sent missionaries
TO convert the Mosems and the
Buddhist, ten thousand murders were
committed annually in our midst, and
that a large percentage of our NOR
tality was due to preventable disease.
In each State there should be a
hygienic laboratory equipped with
able men supplied with facilities for
the study of sanitary conditions and
for the prosecution of scientific re-
search. The hygienic laboratory at
Washington should be developed into
a great institution for research, which
would improve the conditions OF life.
Danger of Infected Tonslls.
DIR. Norton l.. Wilson, of Elizabeth,
read a paper on "The Nostrl as a
Gateway to General Infection" He
said:
1.-The specialist recognizes the tonsil
as a gateway to general infection, but
the general practitioner is slow 20 ac-
cept this fact. Acute rheumatism and
acute inflammations of the kidneys
Lave been known to occur from acute
Inflammation of the middle ear, but
n most instances they follow acute
fonsilitis.
Acute rheumatic fever is an in
fection, and in most cases enters the
body through the inf1amed tonsils. 1t
Is not dependent on indiscretlons
of diet, like gout, but is the direct re-
suit of some infectious material en-
tering the body. Not only rheumatism
may result from tonsilitis but kidney
disease, heart trouble, chorea, neu-
rtis, tuberculosis, iritis and many
other diseases. General infections
may take place through the diseased
tonsils. Where the tonsil becomes
diseased il should be removed"
Appendicitis.
people are still dying from appen-
dicits, but the deaths are being re-
duced every year by operation" de-
clared DR.. James e. Moore, of Mime
apolis, in his talk on Has the Last
Word Been Spoken Concerning APP
pendicitis?"
Without operation he continued,
"about twenty out of every hundred
patients die from appendicitis, hut
with prompt operation not over five
out of one hundred die. In few
cases it is difficult for the surgeon
to recognize appendicitis, but the
average case is so plain that the
patient should be able to make the
diagnosis. 1t is more common to mis-
take other painful conditions in the
abdomen for appendicitis than it is to
overlook the disease.
"All stomach aches are not appen-
dicitis, but many of them are, and
every patient suffering from severe
abdominal pain should be seen by a
competent surgeon. Pain beginning
anywhere in the abdomen and gradu-
ally settling in the lower right side.
1accompanied by vomiting, hardness
and tenderness in that region, means
appendicitis wheher the patient has
much fever or not There is only
one treatment for appendicitis, and
that is operation. The operation
should always be done as soon as the
patient can be gotten into a hospital
and competent surgeon secured.
Delay is dangerous. for it is not the
operation but the disease that kills
the patient"