The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-12-07
PEOPLE ARE CHILDREN

PEOPLE ARE CHILDREN
 At present in this country any one who has a license to practice medicine may hold himself out as a surgeon or specialist in any field he chooses-and unfortunately for Che credulous public a great many doctors do just so.
 Various groups or societies of medical practitioners have made faint-hearted efforts to establish some sort of minimum require- ments for physicians who seeks rec ognition as specialists, but since there is no force of law behind such abitrary standards they fail to bring about any appreciable inl- provement in the situation.
 Whatever, I say about the prac- tice of medicine, doctors, physi- clans, headers, applies, wish to emphasize, not to any particular school system or pathy but to all who hold themselves out IS being able to diagnose, treat, operate or prescribe for any human ailrnent, injury, deformity or physical con- dition. After all any one who is not an utter idot knows that a healer (of unidentified utilization of any) requires as great knowledge and skill to prescribe a charge of diet or to administer antitoxin or to reduce a partial dislocation as he does to extirpate tonsils with diathermy or to treat diabetic coma.
 The specialist" abuse, fear, will grow worse and worse in almighty dollarland as long as the chaotic and halfbaked state and provincial hodge-podge of statutes "regulat- ing" practice remain in force.
 It is absurd that in these days of free and unlimited intercourse and commerce between the states or provinces a healer qualified by training, experience and license to practice in this or that state or province must go hat in hand and submit to Schoolboy examination at the hands of the politicians who control the graft when he elects to practice in some other state or province. The grafters are the only individuals who benefit from this quaint custom, so far as I can de- termine. Certainly the people at large can derive no benefit from it.
 For many years national board of examiners with headquarters in Washington, D. C., has conducted examinations and candidates who pass the national board examina- tion are now thereby qualified fol license in more than forty states. If such a test is satisfactory for the fitness of healers to serve 95% ot the population of the country, the army, the public health service and numerous others, why can't this ol any equally thorough test be set ur for any and all healers to practice anywhere in America?
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
 Rupture in Boy
 Grandson suffered from rupture while at play. Last spring an ex- cellent physician saw him, advised injection treatment. This was done with absolutely perfect results. The boy. now 12, is as strong and active as any youngster. Mrs. E. L. M0
 Answer-Thank you. In the hands of physician skilled in the technique the ambulant (njection) treatment should be as successful in children as it is in adults.
 Buttermilk
 Has buttermilk the same amount of calcium and phosphorus as grade B fresh milk? Has milk the tenden- cy to increase persons weight? (MrS. R. O.
 Answer - Yes, practically the same. Each glas of whole fresh milk has about the same nutritive value as small stewed prunes, or two thin slices of bread, or four teaspoonfuls of sugar, or a medium size potato.
 Drops in Nose
 Please give your opinion of the asserted danger of using oil-baSe medicamentS in the form of drops, inhalants or sprays in the nasal passages, for treatment or relief of sinus trouble, catarrhal conditions, etc. (B. s. W)
 Answer-There is some reason to doubt the safety of using such medicaments especially if the oil l base is mineral oil Less reason to