ORGANIZATION FOR PROTECTING HEALTH 399 



skin. Each symptom may be present in many different com- 

 binations. Diagnosis is important because today we are no 

 longer satisfied with "curing" each of the separate disturb- 

 ances ; we want to get at the main cause of the trouble and 

 eliminate that. 



295. Laboratories for diagnosis. If the doctor needs a special 

 test or culture made, he may take the materials with him to his 

 own laboratory. In larger towns and cities, however, he is more 

 likely to send the samples to a commercial laboratory or to 

 a board-of-health laboratory for more exact examination. It 

 is really impossible for the individual physician to have the 

 necessary equipment of microscopes and chemical apparatus 

 and bacteriological apparatus to make a thorough examination 

 of every kind of material that has to be considered in the 

 diagnosis of disease. ^Moreover, it is impossible for each doc- 

 tor to give the time from his attendance upon patients. In a 

 well-organized laboratory one man specializes on certain kinds 

 of microscopical examinations, another on certain chemical 

 tests, another on certain bacterial cultures, and so on. This 

 high degree of expertness is possible only where a laboratory 

 serves a large number of physicians and their patients ; and since 

 many of these examinations, especially those that have to do 

 with contagious diseases, are of concern to the whole com- 

 munity, many cities maintain such laboratories and so report 

 promptly to the health officers the appearance of certain kinds 

 of diseases. 



Similar laboratories are maintained in connection with many 

 hospitals, since here it is important that a prompt decision be 

 made in cases that may call for surgical operations, the adminis- 

 tration of antitoxin, or other radical treatment. 



296. Treatment and attendance. After the doctor has decided 

 what ought to be done with the patient, or to him, the nursing 

 and other treatment are commonly left to mother or sister, not 

 because she is trained for this task but because she stays at 

 home and all the extra home duties are thrown upon her. Where 

 treatment of a particularly difficult or skilled kind is required, 



