414 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



in New York City. The war interfered somewhat with 

 the progress of this organization, but following the war 

 it grew rapidly and within the last few years organi- 

 zations have been started in various cities of the country. 

 Our Chicago organization was launched in April, 1922. 

 In June of that year a meeting of the men from several 

 cities of the country was held in St. Louis under the 

 initiative of the New York association, and it was de- 

 cided to form a rather loose union of all the organiza- 

 tions existing or that might come into existence in this 

 country. 



The purposes of these organizations are, first, educa- 

 tion of the public; second, coordination of all organiza- 

 tions in a community which deal in any way with the 

 problem of heart disease and aid in establishment of 

 such new organizations as are needed; third, promotion 

 of research in the problem of heart disease, especially 

 as it relates to public health and the gathering of ade- 

 quate statistics. 



The question which you now ask is: Are such organi- 

 zations needed and have those which have already been 

 formed justified themselves? It has been stated above 

 that in so far as numbers are concerned, the heart prob- 

 lem offers food for thought to any community, and more 

 especially to the larger ones in which the laboring class 

 makes a good body of the population. It remains to be 

 seen whether this problem has or has not been handled 

 properly without such organizations. 



Let us go back to the time when patients suffering 

 from heart disease were treated exclusively in the gen- 

 eral dispensary. The patient came to the out-patient 

 department, was examined, was given instructions per- 

 haps and digitalis or other medicine if needed. Among 

 the instructions might be included the recommendation 

 to stop work and rest for a month or so and often to 

 change the occupation. I well remember having a strap- 

 ping, healthy looking teamster come to me for examina- 

 tion shortly after his discharge from the hospital. He 

 had had a breaking down of his heart secondary to a 

 valvular lesion; his heart had compensated fairly well 

 with rest and he was sent to the dispensary for further 



