The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-06-22

VIII no doubt be pleased to know that
North Carolina is beginning to be
looked up to by the other Southern
states as a State who leads in public
Board of Health are we'll considered
and their policies are constructive.
and with DR.. w. S. Rankin as execu-
tive officer, these plans and policies
are Well carried out. l bespeak for
the State Board of Health the con-
tlnued loyal and hearty cooperation
Of every member Of this Society.
Health Officer.
The health officer is in greater and
greater demand throughout the State
OF North Carolina, and even how some
ten or twelve men are devoting their
whole time to this work, at a fairly |
remunerative salary. The demand for |
HISt-claSS health officers in North
Carolina will increase rapidly as the !
days go by; not only in North Caro-
lima, but IN every medium sized town |
and IN a large percentage of counties
in every State in the Union. The |
health officer, whether city or county. !
is peculiarly the function of the physi-
can. The sanitary engineer, the pub
Tic health nurse, cannot now nor can
they ever take the place of the physi-
clan as health officer. However, if the
physicians sit idly by and do not meet
the demands or do not show sufficient
interest to place one of their profess
sion where a health officer is needed.
the sanitary engineer is not to be
blamed if he places one of his pro-
fession in such place. We delight to
honor Col. GOethals in accomplishing
the splendid feat of engineering in the
construction of the Panama Canal, but
1t was not an engineer that discovered
the method Of transmission of yellow
fever and Of malaria, without which
discovery the building of the Panama
Canal would have rom9jnn6 imnOCCi-
bic. 1t is the physician who has made
the profession OF sanitary engineering
possible, n more honor is due Col.
GOrgas and the men who discovered
the methods Of transmission of yellow
fever and malaria than is due Colonel
|GOethals.
h public health nurse is an i'm
!. portant factor in the campaign
against disease, just as is the sanitary
! engineer. h physician in reality
and does now and will ever make this
. nurse, of whatever title, possible; and
! the nurse who assumes that she
: knows more han the physician in
= public health work or in any other
I kind of work in her profession is max
ing an egregiOuS blunder The
+. physicians must furnish the health of
ficers of this country; they have never
!, failed to measure up to their oppor-
tunity or to their responsibility, and
lIlCy WALL 1lOt Adll III k1lS instance. n
= few OF the best schools have put on q
course for health officers, at the com
pletiOn of which they confer the de.
gree of doctor Of public health. It is
y proper to make mention in this con.
q %nection of the fact that DR.. w. S
Rankin, secretary of our State BOARD
Of Health, has outlined a plan FOL
training health officers which in tn,
opinion of those competent. to judg'
le will give a physician far better train
q ing than car be given in the school
n offering the degree of doctor OF publ,
% health, this training, of course, pre-
~SuppOSing a certain amount of knOWl
e edge of public health work to begil
n with.
The Control of Cancer.
" h increasing number Of death
from n means, more than any
thing else, that the physicians do nc
re pay that attention to the early lesion
&c that the importance Of these early lie
tie SiOns demands. Our knowledge is nc
sufficient at this time to enable us t
speak of the prevention of cancer, bu
a knowing that in the large per cent Q
of cases If the early LESSONS were proper
lis ly treated the death rate from canoe
J.. would be reduced fifty per cent Q
more, 1t is proper to speak of the cor
troll of cancer. Until our researc
be workers have given us more infOrma
a ton In regard to the cause of canoe.
the fight resolves itself into obtainin
the cooperation of the physicians i
treating the early manifestations {
d. cancer and in educating the peopl
tn to understand what these early man
be festations are and what they mean.
I'd is with pleasure that we note IN tf
We last few months that DR.. JONI Wesle
he Long has been appointed a membt
ed of the American Society for the Coz
Of troll of Cancer and that through hi
a good, large committee of surgeons
N this State mas Deen formed INTO
20 State m Tor the control
cancer. 1t is hoped hat the form;
he ton Of this committee Of surgeon
we will serve to interest more deeply II
he surgeons of North Carolina in the pr
by ventlon or disease. II is appareI
lid however, mat unless TINS comnltt'
~correlates itself with the State Boar
to Of Health hat the publicity VOL