The daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Leflore Co., Miss.) 1916-1919, 1917-01-16
PRESIDENT JAMES LEWIS AID
DRESS
To the Annual Session Mississippi
N<U- I Ac,nrstsn g..

To the Annual Session Mississippi
Veterinary Medical Association.
The following is a copy Of the ad-
dress of President James Lewis Of
this city delivered before the recent
session of the Mississippi Veterinary
Medical Association held at Clarks-
dale: D
Fellow Members of the Mississippi
Veterinary Medical Association
and Friends:
/ take this opportunity to express
to you my gratefulness for the high
honor you have conferred upon me, by
electing me president of this asso-
citation. This honor l have tried to
appreciate by giving my best efforts
for the welfare of the Association and
Veterinarians Of the State.
A matter that l think should be.of
interest to every member Of this AS
ISOLATION and which is considered per-
tinent to an address of this nature is
the progress being made in the prob
lens Of immunity. The progress is
so tremendous that in the past few
years our State Agricultural Depart
ment, in cooperation with the United
States Department of Agriculture has
put an Agricultural Demonstration
! Agent in nearly every County in the
State; fully equipped with ~"tools" as
he calls them to administer serum
and v~accines then naturally he feels
competent to diagnose and treat any
disease that he might run across. He
may or may not know one thing about
psychological factors designated
as ferments and anti-ferments. The
problem confronting the Medical
world today is how to nationally main
tain the normal balance between the
ferments on the one hand and the
anti-ferments on the other by increas-
ing OF decreasing either as the occa-
sion requires.
The action of ferments and anti
ferments, as research has shown, is
not necessarily specific in character.
Hence, while specific reactions and
changes are not denied, they are not
the only factors involved in the pro-
cess of immunity. Hence, those of US
that have been pinning our faith on
specific therapy in the treatment and
control of infectious diseases and re-
lying upon the doctrine of specificity
to explain the changes occurring dur
ing the process Of acquiring immunity
and in u study Of %immunology must
prepare ourselves to accept and to- ut-
derstand the principles involved in the
newer ideas gained from actual exper-
mental research and clinical applica-
ton of the knowledge acquired by a
study of the role played by the ply
sociological elements known as fer
ments and anti-ferments. The man
who endeavors to keep up with the
process Of scientific medicine of today
has his work cut out for him; he must
have extraordinary energy and be for
titled with a mentality that is capable
of being stimulated by association and
contact with those who ares inter:
ested and are working along similar
lines. Yet the demonstration agent
is passing as a medical man and l
might mention here that we have in
our state a number Of very bright
medical men that pose or act as if
they were qualified veterinarians. |
They are not registered as v~eterinar-
ians, but will go out and solicit vac
cination and administer serum-some
ettempt to treat all diseases in
the lower animals whenever they get
a call.
The illegal practice of veterinary ,
medicine in our state is, in my opinion,
becoming a positive menace, a source
of gross danger to the health of the
country through the ignorance of the
person who attempts to apply
knowledge that he does not possess,
thereby endangering the lives of the
through the transmission from
animal to man Of such diseases as:
Anthrax, Chambers, Rabies, Tubercu.
losis and many others that I might
mention. He does not know of their
.existance, much less Of their pres.
snce when they do exist. II is diff
,ult to use temperate language in dey
bouncing this class Of common vul.
The quack, the dispensing whole.
some house and retail chemist, theI
stable doctor, the horse dentist, the
correspondence school graduate, the
graduate of the disreputable veterin-
Try College and the employer Of the1
unlicensed man. This l must say is
encouraging to the unlicensed vet
student. It is said that this
s the age of competition, and if such
'e the case, ! do not know of any bus
or profession that has 0 many
legal, unjust and .unscruplous 6onf.
tI
We all know, "quack' II . term that
been applied 70 the ~illiterats, tho
and the crook. He Is stunned
Y those who know his qualifications.
ID an usurper, in. that he takes to
4 title that ID not legally Or