The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-01-19
CONJECTURE PLAYS A ROLE IN
MODERN MEDICAL SCIENCE"

CONJECTURE PLAYS A ROLE IN
MODERN MEDICAL SCIENCE"
Doctors who get the notion they
are scientific are comical. Boil
down the prodigous amount Of bonn
hast about medical science and you
have precious little absolute know
ledge left-little In comparison with
our pretense. Medicine rs an art, by
no means o science. What we don't
know about the cause, nature and
cure Of disease 80 vastly over.
shadows the little we do know that
we Just have to resort to assumption
and conjecture to keep-well, to
keep the people In awe OF the medi-
cine man.
When was q young doctor the
thought often occurred to me Il
don't care at ell what this may
signify that II was rather silly for
men two or three times my age
(maybe ! was rather young) to en-.
gage In practice. Why with only O
year or two Of experience as an
intern ! knew oil doctor needed
to know; indeed ! knew more than
the leading doctors In the commun-
ity knew-I am quite serious about
this. For instance, I knew what the
Vidal test for typhoid fever was
and older doctors practicing In the
community had only the vagueSt
notion about II. You see, ! was
freshly crammed with what was
then the science Of medicine. felt
O sort Of pity for the shallow
knowledge OF my older colleagues.
It took me o few years to md out
that they had advantages over me
which more than compensated for
my more recent knowledge Of med.
icine. For instance they could rec
0gnize typhoid fever by q peculiar
odor which, In 0 fairly extensive
observation Of cases In the hospi.
tal ! had never learned TO do. Tx.
perience had brought my older col.
leagues greater skill In the practice
Of their profession and In the
handling Of people-the one art be-
Ing fully as important as the other
In building O practice. II took me
many years TO learn that medicine
Is On art, and by no means o sol.
ence.
A reader quotes On item he found
which said that too much sunshine
vitamin D may cause hardening Of
various organs or tissues from de-
posts Of calcium.
The reader asks my opinion about
this. In my opinion there ID not the
sllgksest ground for the conjecture
that "too much" Vitamin . (what-
ever that may mean never does any
one any harm. believe that II In.
FAINT, child or adult gets more vita.
min D that tho body requires, the
excess Is simply not absorbed, vast.
cd. On the other hand I believe the
great majority--of infants, children
and immature adults get insufiicient
vitamin D TO insure optimal health.
The reader erfs when no pays
serious attention 10 o statement ap.
peAring In such publication and
purporting TO DO "scientifc".
Even II the writer or editor or
contributor who prepares the item
Is qualified TO give o true trans
cript or Interpretation Of the auth
or's work, II the author and tho
scientific publication presenting his
original report or article ore not
identified, one must regard the pur.
port OF the item with great Skep.
tlcism. Lack Of such gkepticism In
the mind Of the laynafi accounts
for great deal Of popular misap.
prehension and confusion In regard
10 medical and health questions.
QUESTION b ANSWERS
iodine
From the clipping Enclosed II
would seem there may DO danger Of
getting cancer from taking your
iodin ration. But unless we hear
from you 10 the contrary we intend
TO continue with it. we believe the
iodin ration has kept us young fot
many years. I'M. H.
Afls.-Thank you-the same clip.
ping came In from many readers.
Article In O magazine, by O Doctor
OF some vague sort, implies that
Overdose" Of iodine may cause CAN
Ger. Boy, II beats oil what pro.
found knowledge OF. cancer these
eminent specialists for away have.
EVERYBODY needs O nip Of iodine reg
ularly through the year. Send stamp.
cd envelope bearing your address
and ask for Instructions for Taking
an Iodin Ration.
Paternity Test
You stated "in about three cases