The New York herald., 1922-07-23
. HE old order of things in the
oara of tho foy,,;lx baolfb 10

care of the family health is
becoming the new, and the
family doctor, who in the days of our
grandfathers was a household insti-
tuition, will be the physician of the
future. That is the prediction of DIR.
George E. Vincent, president of the
Rockefeller Foundation.
1t was the custom in years gone by
before the cities forced the home
dweller to seek housing room either
in hotels or apartment buildings or
drove him into the suburbs for tile
family physician to be everything the
title implied, paid retainer who had
the entree to the home just as
member of the family, and who was
health protector. counselor and
friend.
In British homes the family physi-
Glen is an institution. Our doctor"
is a term of endearment, and there
are many physicians attached to
English, Irish and Welsh homes who
are closer to the family hearth and
the family conscience than the rector
or parish priest.
Old Doctor Knew Fansily History.
The old time family physician,
starting with his evolution from a
professional barber-surgeon, has
been and is to-day in parts of the old
world and isolated hamlets in this
country obstetrician, dentist for the
teething youngster dropping his milk
teeth and general adviser as to the
care and hygiene of the home. Some
physicians are the sons and grand
sons Of family doctors who have
been retained by the same family for
generations. They have brought
children and children's children into
the world, and are possessed of his
tory of the families they serve that
even the families themselves have
little knowledge of, and which il re-
vealed to them by these real custo-
dians of family secrets would be al
most unbelievable
Prenatal influences advanced now
adays as excuses for juvenile de-
linquencies, criminal depravity or al
legged insanity had no place in the be-
liefs of the old time family doctor
If insanity had been an affiiction Of
any member of a family that he had
care of, he exercised vigilance in
tracing the causes and spent half a
lifetime in eradicating any predis-
position to hysteria. nerves or
anamia He counseled the growing
boys and girls of the family in the
selection of healthy minded and
healthy bodied mates, watching over
their physical training and checking
all possible tendencies toward alb
normal living, ever holding up 10
their mental view the unfortunate
ending of Aunt Margaret, who died
of softening of the brain, or Uncle
Jack, who persisted in forcing his
horse at six foot wall when intoxi-
Gated and broke his neck besides
killing the horse
The family history was written
more legibly in the medical notebook
Of the family physician than in the
family Bible or household records.
AS the pathological observer of in
herited family traits the old time
family doctor was in a position to
prevent many domestic tragedy,
and his word in an English court of
law regarding inherited diseases that
affected sanity in the case of a fam
ily in which he and his forebears
had been household physicians has
not been and is scarcely ever
doubted.
DR.. Vincent says that the prog
ress of public. health depends upon
the appreciation. sympathy and sup
port of the medical profession.
Doctors" he says, Will gradually
come to think of themselves and to
be regarded by the public as pri-
marily responsible for keeping people
well. Periodic physical examinations.
the early discovery of incipient mall
aides. warnings against environs
mental dangers, the wise control of
diet insistence on appropriate exer-
else. suggestions about personal and
social life will in increasing measure