Evening star., 1927-05-18
PRESIDENT REVIEWS PROGRESS OE MEDICAL SCIENCE

, OF research and investigation and the
| benefits Of discovery and invention
This policy has been the practica
working out OF the applied theory ol
efficiency In life. We have opened oui
mines and assembled coal and iror
with which " have wrought wonder
full machinery, we have harnessed our
water power, we have directed inven
ton to agriculture, the result of which
has been to put more power at the
disposal of the individual, eliminating
waste and increasing production. II
has all been a coordination of effort
which has raised the whole standard
of life.
''In the development OF this general
policy the science of medicine has
had it's part to play. No tendencies
in recent History have been more out
standing than those toward conserva
tion and cooperation, both in public
and in private activities. For years
the value OF conservation OF our ma.
terial resources. forests. mineral de-
postts, water power, animal life. has
been generally recognized. Move
ments have been started to cut down
waste and unnecessary destruction IN
business and industrial operations.
We are practxcing economy In our
servation Of human health and life Is
one of the greatest achievements In
the advance Of civilization. both social
ly and economically.
What an incaNculable loss to the
world may have been the premature
blotting out of a single brilliant ere.
ative mind which might have been
saved through modem healing or pre-.
ventive measures. Efficiency experts
translate into dollars and cents what
disease and the resulting loss OF man
power mean. Directly, disease costs
heavily. Indirectly. Ms results are
even more costly. In the days before
medical men robbed them OF their
terrors, a single case OF, yellow fever
or cholera reported in New York Har'
to interfere with businessa Now such
sporadic cases would scarcely cause
public comment. Industry now fig
ures what disease and temporary dis
ability of employees, from t0e highest
to the lowest, means on taie yearly
balance sheet. It is not uncommon
for q corporation to take out an irsur'
ance policy for its own benefit on the
life OF an executive. Thus 1t attempts
to neutralize the monetary loss II pre-.
sumab bly, might suffer through being
deprived of his services.
Industry Benefits.
Factory buildings now are equip
ped with modern sanitary and ,hy'
gienic devices. Large industrial esAab-
lishments employ not only doctors but
nurses to care for their employees
Industry has found all Of this not
only a social but a financial benefit
The cost of such improvements has
been returned many times in the
amount OF productive labor saved.
Life insurance companies have health
clinics and distribute hygienic litera-
ture. Several have sanatoriums for
the treatment of their policyholders>
There is no finer page In the
history Of civilization than that which
records the advance in medical
science. The heroism of those who
have worked with deadly germs and
permitted themselves to be tnoculated
with disease, to the end that countless
thousands might be saved. was less
spectacular but no less far-reachtng
than that on the battlefield or OF an
isolated rescue from a burning build
ing or a sinking ship.
"In the early part of the nineteenth
century there were only three medical
schools in the United States and two
general hospitals. Since then prog
ress has been marked, Writing IN
1920, William Osler said the average
working life of English speaking men
had been doubled within three centu-
ries. Most of that gain has been made