Evening star., 1933-06-18
d. C.. Doctor, 80, Tomorrow

\ r. LYMAN B. SWORMSTED,
\ 2 Thomas circle, Washington's S
oldest practicing physician. to-

Oldest practicing physician. to-
- morrow will observe his Both
birthday anniversary.
He has been in active practice as
family doctor for Sc years-53 of them
In Washington-and he still keeps regu-
lar Office hours and attends to large
clientele Of patients. He has seen
Washington change from a muddy, ILL
lighted, sprawling city-where the
physician always carried q stout club
to repel thugs when he was called out
at night-to the ornate National Capital
of today. He has lived through the
age of miracles in the history Of medi-
cine.
When Dr. Swormsted went back to
the little college town of Westminster,
Md, with brand-new medical diploma
from Philadelphia Sc years ago to be-
come 'the young doctor" he went into
a very archaic picture as judged by the
medical practice of today. Every year
a mysterious disease known as in
flammation of the bowels took its toll
of lives More prevalent still was con
sumption" concerning which physicians
knew only that 1t was an almost in
evitably fatal breaking down of lung
tissue for which they could do very
little. Appendicitis" and "tuberculosis"
still were quite ways in the future.
Victims died or got well, according to
laws of which the doctor knew nothing.
Smallpox Frequent Concern.
Smallpox was a matter of frequent
concern. DR.. Swormsted's father also
was a practicing physician in West
minister. He got a lot of practical
medical training as boy. Every time
there was smallpox scare there would
be rush to be vaccinated. The boys
job was to make the vaccine, using
macerated tissue from the scabs on the
arms Of children. With this home
made vaccine they gave protection to
hundreds and never had a bad result
from the treatment.
This was long before the day Of writ
ing prescriptions to be filled at the
corner drug store. DR.. Swormsted and
his father used to make most OF the
medicine they prescribed. AS small
boy he was taken into the woods by
"the old doctor" and taught the me-
dicinal properties of various herbs. It
was a thoroughly practical course in
medicinal botany. After that his
Summer job was to roam over the coun-
tryside about Westminster gathering
these herbs-lobelia for fevers and
coughs, boneset for malaria and pneu
monia, witch hazel for skin ailments
and scores of other plants which largely
have passed out of medical practice.
In those days only few specific dis
eases were recognized, the treatment
was crude and the results largely de-
pendent On the intuition of the indi-
vidual doctor
DR.. Swormsted remembers when the
discoveries of Pasteur and Koch, which
have revolutionized medicine, were
matters of debate before local medical
societies. One disease after another
he has seen conquered by the miracle
workers in the great laboratories. He
has seen inflammation of the bowels"
pass from mysterious, fatal disease
to the familiar appendicitis which is
cured by a simple operation. He has
seen consumption" change to the
tuberculosis which can be both cured
and prevented. He has seen the in
PRODUCTION of diphtheria anti-toxin
which has practically wiped out the
most dreaded of child diseases.
Many New Ailments.
But, he says, he also has seen dis
eases multiply. Many of the ailments
of today were unheard of when he
started medical practice. The more
medicine advances the more the field
widens. 1t Is harder to practice today,
he says, than when he first came to
Washington Then the diagnosis and
treatment of sickness were fairly SIM
pie because there were not many dis
eases or remedies to choose between.
Then folks had fever" Now there are
scores of kinds of fevers which must
be differentiated and treated differ
emily.
But the doctor himself, the veteran
physician believes, hardly has improved
at the same pace as his science. The
old-fashioned physician had few tools
to work with, but he did remarkably
well with them. The field has mar
rowed. In his fathers day, the family
doctor was a general practitioner to
an extent almost incomprehensible
today. He was consulted about bodily
ailments and also about financial pre-
dicaments, family quarrels, education
of children. plans for building new
house, etc. His profession covered
practically the whole field Of human
activities. He had to be botanist,
chemist, a pharmacist, psychiatrist,
an economist, social worker.
Specialization was beginning to make
its appearance when DR.. SwormSted
came to Washington. He has watched
it progress to what he believes is an
absurd degree, while that grand old
general utility institution, the family
doctor, has been on the decline. He
believes there is bound to be a re-
action. The general practitioner will
come back strong because the world
cannot get along without him.
When DR.. Swormsted came to Wash
ington he practiced at Fourteenth and
P streets and covered a wide territory