A SANITARY OUTLOOK 349 



A SANITARY OUTLOOK 1 



By SIR JAMES CRICHTON-BROWNE, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. 



OXE of the hopeful sigus of the times is the popular interest that 

 is manifested in health questions. Xo doubt, as Carlyle said, 

 all men are born hypochondriac, and in all ages — never more so than 

 in the present one — swindlers like Caliogstro have driven a thriving 

 trade in well-advertised potions and specifics, but never before has 

 health in the aggregate been the object of public concernment as it now 

 is ; never before have the scientific principles that underline its preserva- 

 tion and the practical methods by which these may be applied become, 

 to the same extent as now, part of the civil polity of the nation. The 

 whole country is valetudinarian now, in the best sense of the word, 

 conscious of its weakness, determined to recover its strength. Topics 

 that not long ago would have been thought suitable only for a medical 

 society are discussed in the streets and across the dinner table, while 

 the newspapers teem with articles on physical deterioration, infantile 

 mortality, tuberculosis and cancer research. 



And this is, I think, as it should be. The intelligent cooperation 

 of all classes is needed in carrying on the great work of sanitary re- 

 form. There should be no squeamish affectation in ignoring subjects 

 that are of vital and universal significance. There is no mystery in 

 physiology and hygiene, and the better these are understood the greater 

 will be the deference paid to expert opinion in matters in which special 

 knowledge is involved, the clearer will be the appreciation of the boun- 

 dary where prophylaxis terminates and medical diagnosis and treatment 

 begin. 



But the inevitability with which all statements bearing on public 

 health are in these days bruited abroad and the avidity with which they 

 are received make it incumbent more than ever on those who speak 

 with authority on such subjects to observe caution and discretion, for 

 doubts or speculations that would be harmless or even stimulating 

 when addressed to a critical and well-informed audience, may become 

 confusing or misleading when, having passed through the alembic of 

 the journalistic mind, they appeal to the general. I had that brought 

 home to me somewhat forcibly on a recent occasion on reading the 

 newspaper reports, just for one day, of the meeting of the British 

 Medical Association at Leicester. I found there an eminent medical 

 authority reported as giving some countenance to telepathy, which I 



J A paper read before the second London conference of the Sanitary In- 

 spectors' Association. 



