The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1941-06-12

his column.
sive and intelligent. Naturally
there has been some change IN
things as time has gone on:
would like to quote from the New
York State Journal Of Med'e'ns
as follows:
'"You will never operate under
a carbolic acid shower" doctor
Lister, who introduced antisepsis'
did that and surgeons followed the
practice for many years.) You
will probably never carry ca
theter in the sweatband Of your
hat. You will never see tan bark
on the streets around hospitals TO
prevent noise or bales Of oakum
and peat moss in hospital corri-
doris to be used as over-dressing
for infected wounds. You Will
probably never see 100 cases OF
typhoid in a row or 5 in one family
die of diphtheria in one and one
half hours" (Forty years ago ty'
phoid and diphtheria were among
the commonest Of diseases and we
were then Just beginning to learn
to prevent them. Now they are
things Of the past.)
Old Diseases Crop Up
"At our 1941 meeting in Buffalo
YOU will not see a single trache-
otomy demonstrated or l case OF
diphtheria intubated. Yet at the
time of the eighty-first meeting
O'Dwyer's tubes were the sur
geon's hope. OF his experiences
Jacob wrote: nearly 5000 trache-
otomies. ? 800 terminated in death
Fifty-four years"
So those old diseases will not be
seen but we must continue to work
TO prevent them because nobody
knows when danger will raise its
head. We have conquered the
water-borne diseases, but we must
continue to keep the water clean
Insect-borne diseases are always
likely to crop up when filth and
disorder recur in the world. read
in the news that Red Cross doctors
having deloused Serbia and thu:
prevented the ravages of typhui
fever, have gone over into Spain
where typhus (not typhoid) Is
'aid to be epidemic.
Typhus a Filth Disease
Typhus fever is an old disease
which almost died out in the 18th
century. It was called "jail fever"
OF ship fever, or spotted fever"
1t is spread by lice and is natural
" a disease Of filth, famine and
over-crowding. ! have never seer
case in my life and have seer
nearly everything. Yet, here il
our modern world, this old diseas'
crops up again. So eternal vigi
lance is the price Of freedom.
The doctors who come to thu
medical meetings are different too
Fifty years ago they came BY
horse-drawn buggy, but this veal
they come by automobile or plane
so there are more Of them anC
there is more interchange of ex
perience. They will keep in toucl
with their Offices through the tele
phone, and if they are unavoidably
prevented from attending, the!
may hear some of the proceedings
on the radio.
1t seems hard to believe that il
1886 at the University of Buffalo
DR.. White raised storm of pro
test throughout the state, and in
deed, throughout the United
States, by introducing a course O
demonstration Of clinical mid
wifery into the college course. |
had never before been attempte,
in this country. Seldom" it i
said, "has an event occurred tina
so completely shook the fundation
If society in any city as did thi.
Newspapers denounced it as i'm
moral"
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
H. E. B.: Wasp bites affect m
ike blood poisoning. What acid j
in the sting Of a yellow jacket
Do any Of our foods contain thi
same acid?"
Answer-Bees, wasps and yeI
low jackets deliver formic acid j
their sting. There is some formi
acid in fruits but the digestiv
juices modify it so that it does nc
produce the same result as whe
injected by the insect