CREATIVE ASPECT OF MEDICINE 201 



case is even more striking when we consider the 

 professional Faculties of Medicine and Law. Here 

 there is the most clearly marked distinction between 

 the interests of the country as a whole and of those 

 who follow these professions. The worse the con- 

 dition of the country the more must both these 

 professions thrive, and, the more free from disease 

 and litigation it is, the worse, financially, for these 

 professions. 



Until the most recent years there was nobody in 

 this country primarily concerned with the scientific 

 study and prevention of disease. The best and most 

 energetic of the young doctors might, and often did, 

 spend a few years in purely voluntary research into 

 the scientific aspects of medicine, but so soon as their 

 success in their profession grew, and their consulting- 

 rooms commenced to fill up, such investigations 

 became more and more competitors with actual 

 lucrative and bread-winning service. With the 

 passing of the Health Insurance Act, the State, for 

 the first time, became interested in the health of the 

 people. At first its interest was purely a financial 

 one, and was concerned with the solvency of the 

 Insurance scheme, but, during the war, with the 

 state of health revealed by recruiting statistics, its 

 interest assumed also a military character. In 

 consequence, just those aspects of medicine which 

 are not of interest, financially, to the medical 

 profession, the research aspect and the preventive 

 aspect, are now receiving more consideration. It is 

 clear that, from the national standpoint, it is more 

 important to study, scientifically, the causes and 

 character of disease with a view to its prevention 

 and elimination than even to provide that disease, 

 after it has been contracted and begun its work, 

 should be properly treated. The prevention of 

 disease is the creation of health, and modern uni- 



