23 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



The Evolution of Medicine in Indiana. 



Robert IIessler, A. M., M. D. 



On looking over tlie addresses of our past Presidents, I observe tliat 

 they liave usually dwelt upon subjects in which they were especially in- 

 terested, and 1 feel it but natural that I should do likewise. 



In addressing you I am not unmindful of the fact that the people as 

 a whole are behind you, are in a measure represented by you as leaders 

 in scientihe thought, and that a discourse should be shaped accordingly. 

 All that I should lilce to say would re<iuire much time; what I can say 

 in the brief time allotted must be suggestive rather than a full and exact 

 statement of scientific facts and deductions. 



The subject is a ^'ast one, but I shall consider it brietiy from three 

 standpoints : First, the evolution of the medical student and the coming 

 of the medical man into our State; second, the evolution of diseases and 

 the coming in of now diseases, oi', rather, the introduction of old diseases 

 into a new locality ; and lastly, the changes in metho'ds of the treatment 

 of diseases. . 



Art precedes science everywhere. Plants were used and cultivated 

 before there was a science of botany ; many of the processes underlying 

 chemistry were known before there was a science of chemistry. Likewise 

 the siclv were treated befoi'e thei'e was a science of medicine. There are 

 not wanting those who deny that there is a science of medicine and who 

 assert that it is simply an art based on many sciences — on anatomy, bac- 

 teriology, chemistry, and so on through the alphabet, but the prevailing 

 view is that there is a science of medicine. Whichever view we adopt 

 must lead to the conclusion that the greater a man's knowledge of science, 

 the better a practitioner he Avill likely be, other things being equal. 



