640 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



or cess-pool, so long as men prefer swallowing drugs to abstaining from 

 favorite articles of food, or regulating personal habits, so long must 

 the medical advisers of a community find their best efforts to advance 

 sound sanitary science thwarted. It will be a long and tedious task 

 this of educating out of the popular mind this strange passion for dos- 

 ing ; but herein lies one of the most important tasks of the physician 

 of the future. If he does his work well, he must be strong enough 

 and determined enough to stem a powerful current of deeply rooted 

 prejudice and self-indulgent unreasonableness ; but, if he and his fel- 

 lows only persevere, they will do incalculable good. So difficult is this 

 work that many shrink from it. They admit the importance of fresh 

 air in hospitals, nay, they demand it, but in their private practice they 

 say little about ventilation. They are careful that their prescriptions 

 shall be properly compounded and regularly taken, but they are much 

 less careful about the diet of their patients. They treat zymotic dis- 

 eases, but do not enforce such sanitary regulations as they know to be 

 necessary. I do not say that all are open to this charge not all, but 

 some and there should be none. With all earnestness would I plead 

 that the people be taught how to live, and I would urge this not only 

 for the sake of the people, but for that of the doctors as well. It is 

 evident that their success as healers of disease must be far greater 

 if their patients observe hygienic laws than if they do not. The in- 

 structions of the doctor, weighty enough when given to one stricken 

 with grave disease, may often fall unheeded upon the listless ears of a 

 well person. Sick people are usually more eager to get well than well 

 people to avoid sickness ; and yet, even though the labor seem well-nigh 

 useless, the welfare of the race demands that the principles of hygiene 

 be made known, and the task of doing this naturally rests upon those 

 who have undertaken to be the medical advisers of the community. 

 It may be that the people will learn to care very much for those laws 

 upon the observance of which good health depends, with discouraging 

 slowness, but the good work once begun must go on with increasing 

 power and influence. We may take heart as we see what has already 

 been done in this direction, for a great deal of very important knowl- 

 edge has already baen received by the people knowledge of the 

 necessity for fresh air and sunshine, of cleanliness of person and of 

 premises, of proper food, clothing, and exercise, of the laws of hered- 

 ity and how hereditary tendencies to disease may be overcome. If 

 we compare the sanitary condition of the homes and the villages of 

 our ancestors not more than a century ago, with that which we may 

 now find, we shall, I think, be led to hope very much for the future. 

 It may still be true, as an eminent medical writer not long since de- 

 clared it to be, that " men in general behave in relation to the laws 

 which govern human evolution very much as primeval savages be- 

 haved in relation to the laws of physical nature are content with 

 superstition where they should strive to get knowledge, and put up 



