THE DAY'S WORK IN RELATION TO HEALTH 407 



For example, we know that the doctor, the nurse, the dentist, 

 the druggist, represent skilled occupations that have to do with 

 making people well or with keeping them well ; but we do not 

 often look upon the unskilled trench-digger or truck-driver as 

 engaged in health service. Yet, on account of the great division 

 of labor in modern society, every bit of useful work may have 

 some bearing on the health and well-being not only of the 

 worker himself but of many people with whom he never comes 

 in direct contact. The work of the untrained laborer, if directed 

 to useful purposes, may be just as vital as that of the most 

 skilled scientist or professional worker. In short, all useful work 

 contributes to the welfare and health of the whole community. 



303. Subdivision of service. You have long ago learned that 

 it is possible for the physician to give so much of his time to his 

 patients only because he can leave to others most of the work 

 necessary to maintain his home and supply his personal needs. 

 The house in which he lives was designed and built by others ; 

 the furniture and furnishings come from many factories and 

 shops; the fabrics of which his clothes are made and their 

 tailoring depend upon people that he has probably never seen ; 

 the house-cleaning, the preparation of his meals, and the thou- 

 sand other details are looked after by people of all degrees 

 of skill and training. If he had to do all these things himself, 

 he could not give his best thought and efforts to the welfare of 

 his patients. The same sort of thing is true in the home of the 

 minister and the machinist, of the printer and the plasterer. 

 This is only another way of saying that there is division of labor 

 and a corresponding exchange of services, a corresponding inter- 

 dependence of all members of the community. It does not show 

 how the various occupations are particularly related to health. 



304. Specialties directly related to health. The profession of 

 medicine is itself subdivided into a large number of specialties ; 

 in fact, the general practitioner is getting to be very scarce ex- 

 cept in smaller towns. One division of specialists is based on 

 the more intensive study of particular organs or systems of or- 

 gans ; so we have dentists, oculists, throat specialists, stomach 



