The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1941-11-25

a remarkable address ! heard .
doctor make to other doctors
called, "The Historical Importance
Of Removing the Shirt"
He pointed out that In the pic
lures, cartoons and the general
literature of the Sixteenth, Seven
teenth and Eighteenth Centuries
the doctor was depicted as q very
low fellow. In Hogarth's cartoons,
Moliere's plays, in the novel "Gl
Bias" the doctor is shown a. .
funny, ignorant, dirty. grating
quack. They made fun Of his pratt
ings, preachings, bumptious man
ner and especially his ignorance.
Attains New Dignity
At the beginning Of the Nine
teenth Century, however, the doc
tor suddenly assumes q character
Of dignity and nobility in litera-
ture and art. Stevenson and
Thackeray, John Brown, Conan
Doyle and Eakins show the doctor
at work, and he Is turned into q
fellow Of high principles and use
fulness. What was the cause Of
the sudden changed
DR.. w. M. Dock Of New York
assigns the change to two discov-
cries, one being that Of the Au.
strian, Auerbrugger. who invented
. method Of tapping the chest with
the fingers (percussion) and that
Of the Frenchman, Laennec, who
invented the stethoscope to listen
to the chest. In order to do this,
the patient had to take of his shirt
so the doctor could examine him.
These discoveries put the exam
nation Of the patient on a scien-
tific basis. Before that the patient
told the doctor what was the mat
ter; after the doctor made the pa
tient remove his shirt and exam
med him, the doctor told the pa.
:ient what was the matter. Before
that, all the doctor did was listen
70 the pulse and look at the tongue.
He left the shirt on.
These two discoveries really
.44..a.ed nlL-.- IN se.S..-..-e L.
cine. Besides that, the doctor both
literally and figuratively got
loser to his patient. They are
robably more important in the
.istory of tuberculosis than any
Their disease. Actually the begin
ling Of the conquest Of the age-old
disease Of tuberculosis began at
the time when doctors began TO
remove the patients shirt. The de-
cline in the death rate Of tubercu-
losis has been steady since that
time and step by step with this
increase in control Of the disease
has been an increase in the knowl.
edge Of objective methods of study.
ing the human being who 10 sick
patient.
Following Auenbrugger and
Laennec there came the discovery
Of the tibercle bacillus by Koch
and following that, the use Of the
x-ray, discovered by Roentgen.
And from these there came our
modern methods Of treatment by
rest, fresh air and collapse of the
lung.
Only after we knew the cause
Of the disease and the nature of its
spread, could we initiate methods
Of prevention which consist in de.
tecting all carriers and the re.
moval Of all patients from house.
hold where they might infect
others.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Office Staff, Brookfield, MOI
I'VE understand that q girl in q
city not far from here was in an
automobile accident and is now in
the hospital in that town. She was
wearing nylon hose at the time of
the accident and It Is said that she
developed q cancer on her injured
leg, supposedly resultant from the
nylon fabric. Please either Danish
our hesitancy about wearing ny.
Ion or tell US the worst"
Answer: l am glad to do nv bit
Danish fear of nylon stockings.
They have nothing to do with can
GER. There was plenty Of cancer
long before there was nylon.
olan In detail. and it's hard at II,
whether or not such cabinet groups
IS Treasury Secretary Morgen-
hau's and Commerce Secretary
Jesse Jones' do consider that in
lustry and finance Except the ag-
icultural kind) are none of
Iaude's business.
Claude's giving out press re-
eases on the subject. too. II he
an prevent a postwar depression
md all later daprauaiops for ovar-