74 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



PROPHYLAXIS 



Preventable disease is associated inseparably with poverty 

 and ignorance, and any successful attempt at prevention must 

 be an attack upon these twin brothers of human misery. 



Poverty may be the great predisposing cause of disease or 

 the result of it. Poverty by underfeeding, overworking, and 

 poorly housing renders the individual more susceptible to dis- 

 ease; by overcrowding presents a favorable opportunity for 

 the spread of infection. The English Royal Commission on 

 Poverty states that 55-60 per cent of the poverty of Great 

 Britain is due to sickness. The report of the Charity Organi- 

 zation of New York City shows about the same per cent for 

 New York City. 



The poverty-stricken individual is a fourfold menace to the 

 nation — a poor progenitor, an inefficient producer, a potential 

 source of disease, and frequently a malcontent. Society 

 should realize that every individual who makes his best efforts 

 and every child born to the nation must be guaranteed as their 

 inalienable rights sufficient food for growth and energy, the 

 necessary amount of sleep and rest, abundance of fresh air, 

 sanitary quarters, and an opportunity for an education. A 

 different attitude fails to promote the general welfare, pro- 

 creates weaklings, invites disease and undermines the stability 

 of the nation. 



Ignorance can be removed only by education, and if the in- 

 telligent individuals of every community who realize the seri- 

 ous importance of disease to the nation are to be interested 

 and increased in numbers until they will demand preventive 

 machinery commensurate with scientific knowledge and the 

 enactment of laws founded upon the present development of 

 preventive medicine, public education must be pushed with 

 greater vigor. 



Much has been accomplished by popular literature, lectures, 

 and demonstrations, more will be done by them in the future, 

 but the importance of preventable disease upon the social and 

 economic conditions of the nation demands more than an occa- 

 sional public lecture, pamphlets at infrequent intervals or 

 casual demonstrations. Instruction in the methods of pre- 



