48 



past, aiid I hope to see more in the futiu-e; perhaps they could be grouped 

 under a separate head, that of Sanitary Science. 



Our Academy has a counnittee on "Legislation for the Restriction of 

 Weeds." The popular conception of a weed is, a plant growing in the gar- 

 den or field or meadow, of a plant out of place and more or less resisting 

 destruction at the hands of inan. That some plants grow on and in the 

 human body, and in animals as well, is not so well known. The thought 

 has suggested itself: Perhaps the scope of this committee could be en- 

 larged by taii:ing account of the minute weeds of the body. I would like 

 to see the title of this committee read "Legislation for the Restriction of 

 Weeds and Diseases."* 



STATE HOSPITAL FOR TUBERCULOSIS. 



In conclusion I desire to make a few remarks concerning the establish- 

 ment of a State institution for the treatment of tuberculosis. 



Modei'n medicine concerns itself more and more with disease preven- 

 tion, in the individual and in the community. To give relief from disease 

 and affliction has always been the aim and the practice of the physician, 

 but so long as the active causes of diseases and the modes of their trans- 

 mission were unknown, little could be done in disease prevention. The 

 good Samaritan still has a place, but the physician who today is only a 

 Samaritan in binding up wounds and who makes no effort to prevent the 

 infliction of wounds, or who treats diseases and makes no effort to prevent 

 the propagation of diseases. — such a physician does not fully represent 

 modern medicine. 



Modern medicine knows uuich about disease prevention, if the knowl- 

 edge were only applied. Intelligence counts for much. The intelligent of 

 a community often avoid much sickness, whereas the ignorant suffer ; some 

 of the latter are kept in a state of poverty on account of their lack of 

 knowledge of diseases and disease prevention. As people become better 

 educated in sanitary science and in hygiene, they will require more of their 

 physicians. The high school graduate who has studied the human body in 

 health and in disease is not apt to be a purchaser of quack medicines, or to 

 consult an ignorant physician, much less one who has to herald his ac- 



'■'On the day followin}? this susgestion, the chairman of the above committee made a 

 motion to enlarge this committee by adding two men who ><re physicians and changing the 

 title as suggested; the motion was carried without a dissenting voice. 



