Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1914-07-30
lcoprright. lgla. BY a. S Gnyl
DIAGNOSIS.

Who shall decide when doctors dis
agree?" There surely will be no dis
senting voice if we answer that ques-
ton with one short word-FACTS. 1t
would seem that it should not be a
difficult matter to secure the facts
concerning any given subject; but 1t
is. Much data is available but we
have come to distrust it because we
know so many investigate not to
ascertain the truth, but merely to win
a 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 gam
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 1t wants and needs. In conse-
0uence we are continually being called
on 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
be done? And yet the burden of that
decision usually rests on him
There are two methods of education,
the natural and the artificial. by the
natural method one observes partcu-
Err facts and forms therefrom generai
%fdeas. BY the artificial method one
acquires "a vast store of general ideas
through hearing or reading what other
people have observed and think. Inc
first 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 nnrella-
BILE unless we are extremely carefu
In selecting the source OF our informa-
ton. This explains why it SO fire.
quently happens that after a long
course of learning we enter real lie
either with an almost artless igno-
rance of many important things or
with wrong and often distorted and
unwholesome ideas about them. We
were either misinformed, or were not
instructed at all, and must learn in
the school of bitter experience what
we might easily have been taught.
We must 60 to those competent to
speak with the authority of expert
ence for our knowledge, or work 1t
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
go 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
comprehensively covered by our cen
GuuulGIdIlDH,
tables, when efficiently handled. And
until this data is efficiently handled
disease will continue to be a matter
of opinion, within and dogma, and the
sick to be subjects for exploitation
and rich material for the personal
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Of the most incompe-
tent. because the most incompetent in
their ignorance make the boldest and
most attractive claims.
1t is a 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
ton can overcome this desire for the
least unpleasant Interpretation of evil
dent facts.
The first step in the study Of dis
ease prevention is to have known
base-and an accurate registration of
births is scarcely to be found in the
United States, and 25~of our As states
do not require registration of deaths!
At the present time we have reliable
mortality returns on only 61.8 per
cent, birth returns on less than rs per
cent. and accident returns on but an
insignificant portion of our 100,O00,000
population. We know more about cat
tie, sheep and hogs than we do about
our men, women and children, We
do not know and we have no accurate
means for determining Where we are
at" and nothing short of national
clearing house will enable us to know.
In place of 4S distinct bodies having
Jurisdiction over birth, accident and
mortality returns there should be one.
What we need in this country is a
we'll trained central body, free from
the paralyzing effects of pecuniary
embarrassment and it's temptations,
possessed of minds big enough, broad
enough and keen enough to see and
TO grasp the really few fundamental
principles Of life; with authority to
reach over and beyond state, county,
and municipal boundaries, thereby be-
ing freed from the blighting influence
"a Io,nI vraindina and aalf-intproat. !