The Alaska citizen., 1915-07-19
OUR DEBT TO PHYSICIANS.
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the boil. and he recovered. II Kings POT.
 Let Us hasten to confess the debt of society 10 it's physicians and sur geons. In the nature of the case the physician occupies unique po- sition and must avoid publicity. The iurist welcomes the crowd to his court, and the arguments of the lawyers attract many to the case in question. The educator is always among the people and the college professor continues in the limelight. But the work of the physician is done in the silence of the sick room, where when a life is tottering in the balance even the members of the family are excluded. For this reason the medical profession should receive due recognition from the State for the work it does in con querng disease, alleviating pain, heal ing mans wounds. lengthening his llltr anu lut4td94lIS Ilo 'd4uo as e' productive agent. A profession that has succeeded in making the human race taller. stronger healthier, hand somer and more productive is surely deserving of praise from their fellow men.
 It is the duty of the physician to keep the people in health just as il is the duty of the soldier to pre- serve liberty, of the teacher to train the nation. of the jurist to guard his constituents. of the prophet to inspire. The opaqueness of the body makes the physicians duty doubly difficult What if banker had to stand before his clients steel safe, and with stern glance and gentle touch determine the amount of gold within? What if a laweyr had to stand before his opponents brief and by a swing of the hand guess at the contents within? What if the jeweler finding the hands of tn" watch had stopped, guessed at the difficulty from without and took the same position to remedy the silence. In his study of bees the old Greek Hesiod congratulated himself because someone had given him transpar- ent sheet. thought now to have been isinglass. whereby he was able to study the working of the bee. If the human body is a wooden bee hive, the physician is longing for d glass whereby he can look into the normal or abnormal workings of the creatures within. Even Job must said. Thou hast fenced me around with bones and hidden me behind sinews" Once more it is the glory of God to hide a matter from man 5 vision. and it is the eXcellency Of the physician and surgeon 10 un fold the secret,
 The complexity of the human body increases the difficulty of the physi, elan and surgeon. The old Hebrew poet writes that the body is wonder fully and fearfully made. Solomon was so perpleXed and delighted with it's complications that he wrote his thoughts in charming words. He bids men care for the palace 'n which dwells the eyes and ears and nose as servants to the brain. He bids men beware lest through excess the silver cord is loosed or the gold en bowl broken, or the pitcher cracked at the fountain, or the whee at the cistern. The human body is an assembly of machines.
 The eye is telescope and mi croscope, the ear a telephone anc an audiphone, the heart pump, the leg a lever the brain a machine fol thinking, that can run without tla" or fever for seventy summers. Iou can do but one thing with drill but the body is machine that is doing a dozen things at once. Think of a machine so delicate that you can sit down and mediate in a cool place while you are SWelterlnS il the heat, taste the delicious flavor of an orange with the tongue, anC with the eye follow the trip of the traveller be half conscious of the music in the next room, hear the approach of a friend at the door What if the watch could repair it self, making new pivot5 and jewels and furnishing it's own oil? Bu just this does the human body Little wonder that Leibnitz said, "Ht who lays his hand upon the human body has touched the home of tht garment of God"
 It is quite the habit to poke fur at the old medicine, the old sur gery, the old methods of nursing, bu such forget the old farming, tho old manufacturing and the old edu cation. Yes, we have gotten ava, from the old necromancy the olt witchcraft, the old trial by fire Somebody has managed to trade th' old ox-cart for palace car, thu forked stick for blow operated b.
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