The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-08-18
GUARDING HEALTH OF M|L|T|AMEN
SURGE0N.GENERAL'S GREAT TASK
COL Henry F. Birmingham, Who Made the Health Record With
10000 Men Of the ManeMer Division at San Antonio
Tells How 1t is Done-Frs Obligation of Sanitary
Corps Is to Keep Men Fit for Duty.

the lighting line as they may be
needed.
I'm the regular army these SAM
tary units have been brought TO n
Mgh degree of efficiency, and in the
) National Guard the doctors and sur
seons are OF high ability. but neither
tney nor their enlisted men have had
the special instruction or intensified
training which those of the regular
army receive and in consequence, with
all professional skill and good inten-
tlon on their part, the same degree
OF excellence cannot be expected from
them.
mo matter how efficient may be
the sanitary companies Of the National
Guard, they can accomplish very little
II they are not provided with medical
and surgical supplies enough to meet
any probable emergency. With a view
to any emergency, as far as our means
will permit, we have been creating a
reserve of medicines. bandages, dis
infectants, surgical appliances, water
filters and similar things.
This reserve has been created by
forethought and economy in past
years; and it is very fortunate, for,
as is well known, the prices of all
drugs have advanced and some have
gone about out of sight.
Reserve Of Surgeons.
"But reserve of even more i'm
portance has been steadily growing,
which today is one of the comforts
to this office, as it should be to all
who have friends in the National
Guard. None ever called in vain on
the medical profession when help was
needed; and the army medical Of
! ficers, six years ago foreseeing that
time would come when the co-opera-
ton Of the medical fraternity would be
needed, began to prepare by calling
upon their brethren to enter medical
reserve.
"Nor did they call in vain, for, led
| by some Of the foremost men in the
profession, doctors have submitted
their records and have been graded
until over 1000 carefully selected have
been enrolled. Their work has been
assigned to them, and they await only
the order Of, the surgeon general to
ever needed, presumably in the base
hospitals. These men, If called into
the service, would be engaged In the
humanitarian work Of treating the sick
and the wounded rather than in that
of prevention and sanitation,
prevention work is twofold. By
means of serums and vaccines the in
dividuals are made immune, even when
exposed to certain very fatal conta-
gions, and by camp sanitation and per-
sonal hygiene certain diseases may be
kept from making their appearance
altogether.
"The success Of the first will de-
pend upon the skill of the specialized
members Of the medical staff, par
ticularly the psychologists; the lat
ter, upon the sanitary companies in
the field, the intelligence and efficiency
of the line officers and the discipline
and obedience Of the troops.
1.-THE Oldest incubation practiced
against contagion is vaccination to pre-
vent smallpox. This is now in so gen.
eral use that its importance is hardly
realized.
1.-THE incubation most talked of just
now Is the prophylaxis against ty-
phoid, which in war has caused more
deaths many times over than any hu-
man enemy can inflict. Anti-typhoid
prophylaxis has eliminated the dis
ease.
Principle Of Prevention.
1.-THE principle Of the preventive is
simple enough. All contagious dis
eases are caused by some organism,
mostly of the lower forms of vegetable
life, which finds it's way into the sys-
TEN, develops at a prodigious rate and
attacks various organs Of the body.
These organisms, however, by some
benign provision of nature not yet un-
derstood produce an antitoxin or anti
bodies which destroy their own germs.
"This may or may not be the prod
uct of the death of some Of the or
ganisms; but practical way has been
found of taking the living organism,
developing colonies of many trillions
of them, killing and sterilizing them,
and making from them prophylactic
which has the power to produce the
anritoxin, without the virulent proper
ties of the living germ. If this be prop
erly made a person inoculated with it
is practically immune from typhoid for
at least three years.
"In 1911 the use of this prophylactic
was made compulsory in the regular
army; and typhoid in the army, like
the little boys apple core, 'ain't going
to be any CORE
Malaria and yellow fever, the latter
a dreadful disease appearing in cpl
demic form, are both carried by mos
uuitoes. The mosquito sucks blood
from a patient Of either Of the dis
eases, and then on thrusting his pro-
boscis into the veins Of some sound
man inoculates him with the disease
as easily and effectively as few
weeks before sanitary officer may
have used his hypodermic syringe to
administer the protecting typhoid pro-