Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-05-22
BY BISHOP w. A. GAMBLER

sicians.
! The medical colleges of Georgia this
! year will not graduate enough men to
supply the number of the internes re-
quired for the hospitals in the state, and
| similar condition seems to exist In
| other states.
| few days ago 1 received a communi-
cation for the president of a hospital
| in one of the northern states. in which
| there are a number of medical colleges,
| asking if the school OF medicine of
| Emory university could not supply
some of the internes needed by the in
stitution over which he presided.
I could not supply his needs. and /
| am unable to supply the needs of some
| others who have asked that physicians
| be sent to them. In my letter files are
| some half dozen letters from thriving
communities in the south which are
now without competent physicians, and
| yet l am unable to send them the men
they desire.
| The graduates of the school of medi-
cine of Emory university, and as l
suppose the graduates Of the first
class medical colleges in the south, have
| openings waiting for them before they
receive their diplomas the demand for
| physicians being so great.
| This year the demand is emphasized
] ny the LdCL liidI tue 1SucIdl
is calling for surgeons for the army and
| navy. All the schools Of medicine in
| the country have been asked to graduate
a certain number of the members of
| their senior classes in advance of the
usual date for graduation, in order that
! the urgent needs of the army and navy
might be met without delay.
The federal authorities at Washing
| ton have asked the medical colleges to
| advise medical students to continue In
their studies and not to enlist in the
army. Thus 1t appears that the need
for surgeons far exceeds the number
available. 1t is not improbable that
the federal government will need the
services Of at least $4,000 surgeons dur
ing the next two year,. This demand
can hardly be met by the medical schools
of the country, and some communities
are going to lose their physicians who
will be drawn into the service OF the
| government.
In view of this state of things 1t be-
! hoOves young men, who are able to
pursue medical courses, to graduation, to
enter upon the study of medicine in
order to serve the country well. Provi-
| dence clearly indicates this as the duty
Of not a few.
While the work of a physician taxes
| the mind and the heart and the strength
of man, the profession of medicine
is a noble vocation Alexander Pope
did not exaggerate the importance of
| the medical profession when he wrote,
"A wise physician, skilled our wounds
to heal
Is more than armies to the public
veal"
The poet is entirely right. Men for
/ a1 ia- hn hk
manhood in the absence of capable
physicians throughout the country; and
armies once formed will speedily perish
away except they be served by compe-
tent surgeons
The value of surgeons to an army
was made manifest most conspicuously
| in the recent war between Japan and
Russia, The Japanese armies were at
tended by the most thoroughly qualified
| physicians and surgeons These scien-
tific men analysed the water along the
ways taken by their armies, and orders
were issued forbidding the troops to use
water from any source which the sur
geons had condemned as being impure
| The nature and quantity of the food
consumed by the troops also was under
the direction of the medical department,
asSwas the sanitation of the camps. and
the health of the military forces. By
fully reduced, and the Japanese troops
were able to stay on the firing line.
Very few of them died in hospitals. or
from disease usually incident to camp
life. For every man who died in a hos
pital, four men persisted at the front.
which result was the reversal of the
experience of all armies heretofore. 1t
might be truly said. that the Japanese
physicians made possible the success of
ha To i, he
But medicine achieves it's victories IN
peace as well as its triumphs in war.
BY it's ministrations even enfeebled ma
tions may be reinvigorated, and by its
skillful services strong people may be
made stronger through wise sanitation
under the direction of competent medi-
cal men. The rate of mortality may be
reduced among both children and adults.
and thus be increased and rendered
more efficient in lines of productive in
dustry.
A very little reflection upon all these
facts will suffice to show of what great
Importance and dignity is the office of
the physician and surgeon TIE profess
sion may not offer the rem, Neration
which may be won in commercial pur-
suits; but it offers assurance OF COM
Portable compensation to capable men,
and it presents opportunities for the
]
A physician while visiting the SICK
may often render services as holy and
edifying as the ministdations of a pas
tor, and many consecrated physicians
have been pastors to the poor as well
as healers to them.
Another consideration which makes
the medical profession one which should
appeal to the minds of noble young men
1 the opportunity which is offers for
making discoveries that may advance
the healing art. The last twenty-five
years have brought many such dis
coveries, and the profession of medi-
cine and surgery has made most glo
rious progress during that pediod. An
accurate and full statement of all that
has been achieved would be most
thrilling story.
Let us take one instance alone to
show how far-reaching, and how i'm
mensely beneficial has been a physi-
clans work: For years the South-At-