The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-07-07
o = o = o . O = q . o = q = q
MODERN MEDICAL PRACTICE
Q = o = o = o & o = o = o :, q
By DR.. Jos. Y. Porter, Stale
Health Officer.
Throw physic to the dogs:

Throw physic to the dogs:
In other words, avoid the doctor
excepting in case of extreme emer-
| gency and let every man, and wom-
an. be the judge of what constitutes
an emergency.
That was a kind of motto whose
observance in the past has brought
premature obsequies in many a sad
dened family, in the times when
doctors were fewer in proportion to
the total population than now. and
when they were not so well eq,,ip-
ped for the battle against disease
and death.
In the good old times our grand
mothers were fairly good doctors
themselves; probably they were bet
ter equipped than we in these days
with first aid remedies. But they
applied their remedies to the treat
ment of injuries and diseases far be-
yond the first stages, and too often
with serious results.
There must have been a large ele-
ment of faith helping these dear old
ladies in their amateur practice.
From their individual experiences
from theinheritances of the past
and ofrm the neighbors they arcum-
ulated vast stores of "sure cures
and the more disaereeable their ON
coctions of mustard and pepper and
turpentine and the herbs of the
field, the worse they smelled and
tasted, the more certain was their
efficacy in the minds of their much
suffering patients.
Is the practice of medicine a more
exact science than it was fifty years
ago
With no disparagement to the
grand old men who rode their end
less rounds, who carried the suffer-
ings of their patients very close to
their hearts, who brought cheer and
comfort into hundreds of homes and
who took their long delayed pay in
potatoes and bacon, or never col
lected it at all, medicine and sur
gerry have made wonderful strides.
The old time doctor had to be sur
geon and physician and dentist and
occasionally had to prescribe for the
cow. His time was too full of his
never ending daily work to keep
track of the general development of
his profession, excepting through
the journals that he was too busy
to read. He had no opportun;t, to
become specialist
The difference between the old
time and modern practice is the de-
velopment of the specialist and the
growing importance of preventive
medicine. The idea of these days is
that the prevention of disease is
quite as important as it's cure.
The education of the people to the
value of cleanliness, of proper sani-
tation, is the keystone of preven-
ton. Whereas, medicine used to be
classed among the mysteries and its
operative effects secret that the
public had no right to know. the
theories Of the causes and spread of
disease and the operation of reme-
dies are now put into language stip-
ped of technicalities, so that the
man of ordinary intelligence may
understand
The day of the doctor, of the spec
ialist, has come in a new and larger
sense than ever before. His worl-,
with the cooperation of the sanitar-
ian and of the people themselves, is
bringing lower sick and death rates,
higher standards of living, through
cleanery surroundings and better
personal hygiene. More than this.
the Importance of the doctor, his
necessity to the community, the be-
ing recognized as never before. The
| remedies left over from the time
when pa was sick two years ago,
| are not kept to be administered
| when he or some other member of
the family shall have another at
tack"