Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1914-11-18
The Price Of Health Worship.
printed BY REQUEST.

Printed py Request.
nv Goldwater, commissioner Of health
.,xsw York, in recent article said:
The next great task OF preventive medicine
). ,h.refore, the inauguration of universal
.,odie medical examinations as an indfs.
pn..hle means for the control OF III diseases,
ras,her arising from injurious personal
r.n,,s from congenital or constitutional
..satpess, or from social and vocational con-
ditions.
Commenting editorially ON DIR. Gold
water's article, the Evening Post OF New
York says
i've see this In the green tree. what NAV
- expect to and In the dryf win Il be
much Of step from "universaip examination
a. compulsory axsminationY VIII II be
,,ueh of a step from that 90 compulsory heed
,,,r Of the results OF that examinationt IL
,hs,e any limit that can safely be set to the
s,,ension, not OF life, but OF the meddling
With life, which this whole movement prom
isess
INT 1t is by no means on the score of legal
compulsion alone that the proposal OF "uni-
versal periodic medical examination" is open
40 objection. whether brought about by
legal requirement or by the pressure Of gen.
s,al opinion, the benefits to health, and the
,rolongation OF life, which It might bring
about, would be purchased at tremendous
nrice what that price would be 1t requires
.ome power OF imagination, perhaps, to real
ire. but some idea of IL may be obtained from
the very facts which DR.. 0oldwater adduces
Take bat single one Of them. ain recent
examination Of the employees Of New York
city bank" he says. zone handred per cent
~ the employees were found to be abnormal
and on the sure road TO diseases Of heart,
lungs, kidneys. or blood vessels" Very
likely this examination will have been the
means OF stopping the progress of disease in
the case Of some Of these men; but II the fact
is as stated the whole body OF them were
suddenly converted from a group,o Of nor
NAL men, nearly all OF whom were doubtless
soiug about their work and their play with
no thought OF sickness, into solid body of
semi-invalids. Who shall say that the Addi-
ton Of two or three years to the average
duration OF their existence win outweigh, in
tie scales which measure real human values,
the freedom, the elasticity. the unconscious
ness OF the trsmmeis OF the body, which have
been impaired or destroyed by this ntiusions
And even from the standpoint OF medical
results, III the uAfrpWcEt bcunc. tuEft Is room
for grave misgivings- Not all diagnoses are
correct; not all alarms given by medical men
are weli-founded. It may be said In reply
that we must do the best we can. So be 1t.
Let every man who feels that he has some
reason TO suspect that there may be some
thing wrong get medical advice by all means,
and get it early. He must take his chance of
aeertsin average percentage of error. But
whatever that percentage of error may now
be--and 1t is Lot insisnihcant-it would be
mere ,riae in comparison with wha. she new
program bids fair to furnish.
"The task before u.s." says DR.. Goldwater.
"is TO discover the frst sign OF departure from
the normal physiological path. and promptly
and etfeotually to apply the brake" With
this as the ideal before them, twin not the
false alarms OF the physicians outnumber
those Of to-day ten to one. or ifty to one?
VIII not thousands of persons who might
have lived happily and comfortably to three
score and ten before that "arst sign of depart
ure" had developed into anything serious. be
called upon 10 exercise care, to be solicitous
shout their bodies instead OF ignoring them,
and, in no one knows how many cases, have
their lives not only duiled, but actually
shortened by hypochondrias
Those to whom the care OF delicate me- |
chanieal apparatus is entrusted" says DR..
Goldwater, do not walt until breakdown
occurs, but inspect and examine the appara-
tuS miuuteiy, a, regular intervals, and thus
detect the nrss signs of damage" This is the
fsvorte simiie of the heaith-entha siasts.
But In it are embedded two fatal faliacies. In
the first place. the working of machine is
not affected by our concern over it, while our