December 8, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



807 



suitable habitations for civilized man, of 

 removing the stigma of being the "home 

 and nursery of disease" from the fertile 

 valleys of the Nile and of returning to cul- 

 tivation the banks of the Euphrates and the 

 Tigris on which the cradle of civilization 

 was rocked. I can not believe that coming 

 generations will be so insane as not to use 

 this most potent agent in reclaiming the 

 marsh, the wilderness and the barrens, and 

 converting them into fields, rich in agricul- 

 tural products and abundant in happy 

 homes. Man's destiny is in his own hands 

 and he may make of this earth a heaven of 

 peace, plenty and prosperity, or he may 

 mar it into a hell of strife, rapine and 

 murder. In knowledge he has advanced to 

 a position in which he becomes a co-worker 

 with the Creator and he must bear the re- 

 sponsibilities which such power imposes. 

 In the struggle between good and evil, 

 knowledge and ignorance, science and 

 superstition, medicine has, and must con- 

 tinue, to lead the way, and you as its stand- 

 ard bearers must serve your day and gen- 

 eration with intelligence, industry and 

 integrity. I do not mean that you are to do 

 your work, always conscious of the burden 

 of duty. With all its imperfections this life 

 is worth living and its highest joys lie in its 

 contests. The man who does not get real 

 pleasure out of his work remains a poor 

 workman and his products do not find 

 ready sale in the market. Even the bit- 

 terest disappointment, when you have done 

 your best, often becomes a beacon light 

 warning you of the rocks and leading you 

 into a safe harbor. 



It must not be inferred from the great 

 stress that I have placed upon preventive 

 medicine that the curative art is not equally 

 worthy. Moreover, cure is not going to be 

 replaced wholly by prevention. Disease 

 and accident will continue so long as man 

 reproduces his kind. The history of this, 



the older, branch of medicine is that of 

 man's efforts to relieve the distress and to 

 minister to the needs of his fellow man. 

 Born in ignorance, nourished on supersti- 

 tion, clothed with mysterious rites and cere- 

 monies, medicine has had a hard task to 

 free itself from hereditary and environ- 

 mental influences. Attempts to break away 

 from these adverse and retarding condi- 

 tions has marked the highest efforts of the 

 race. During nearly every century since 

 recorded history began, there have been 

 some superior men, intelligent and far-see- 

 ing above the masses, who have contributed 

 something to science. Such were Hippo- 

 crates, Galen, Pare, Servetus, Harvey and 

 others whom we now delight to honor as 

 contributors to knowledge and benefactors 

 to the race. The discoveries, by empirical 

 methods, of the specific effects of Peruvian 

 bark in malaria and of mercury in syphilis 

 did much to improve the condition of life 

 and to enlarge the field of human endeavor. 

 Since the scientific era began, the marvel- 

 ous virtue of antitoxin in diphtheria; its 

 great value in tetanus ; the relief of cretin- 

 ism by thyroid feeding; the action of 

 thymol in hookworm disease ; the benefit of 

 salvarsan in the treatment of syphilis; the 

 Pasteur treatment of hydrophobia ; the pre- 

 vention and cure of beri-beri by nutri- 

 tional regulation — mark some of the most 

 evident achievements in curative medicine. 

 For diagnostic and prognostic purposes the 

 medicine man of primitive peoples con- 

 sulted oracles, watched the peristaltic move- 

 ments of the intestines of animals offered 

 in sacrifice, or read the fate of his patient 

 in the positions of the stars. The physi- 

 cian of to-day employs the discoveries in 

 physics, chemistry and biology for these 

 purposes. The physician of fifty years ago 

 was compelled to rely largely upon the 

 study and interpretation of symptoms in 

 which the best became highly proficient, 



