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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 996 



been permitted to endanger the lives of 

 half a million of people. In his family calls 

 the doctor met with conditions equally 

 lamentable. A fond mother in her ignor- 

 ance had nursed a sore throat in one of her 

 children with domestic remedies. The 

 membranous patches on the tonsils, extend- 

 ing upward into the nasal passages and 

 downward into the larynx, and the cyanotic 

 face with labored breathing showed that 

 even the magical curative action of diph- 

 theria antitoxin, that wonderful discovery 

 of modern medicine, would be of little avail 

 in this individual case. The other children 

 were treated with immunizing doses and 

 the doctor had the consolation of knowing 

 that death's harvest in that household 

 would be limited to the one whom the 

 mother's ignorance had doomed. 



The next call brought Dr. Smith to a 

 home in which the conditions were equally 

 deplorable and still more inexcusable. One 

 of the children some months before had 

 been bitten by a strange cur which soon 

 disappeared in the alley. The wound was 

 only a scratch and was soon forgotten. 

 Now, the child was showing the first symp- 

 toms of that horrible disease hydrophobia. 

 But dogs must not be muzzled. Women 

 with plumes, torn from living birds, in 

 their hats, formed a society for the preven- 

 tion of cruelty to animals, and so declared. 



It must not be inferred that all of Dr. 

 Smith's experiences on that November day 

 were sad. Men are mortal; all sickness is 

 not preventable, accidents will happen and 

 distressing injuries result. This world is 

 not an Eden and no one expects that all 

 sorrow will be banished from it. Decay and 

 death approach with advancing years. 

 Strength and weakness are relative terms 

 and those possessed of the former must help 

 bear the burdens of those afflicted with the 

 latter. Dr. Smith being a hard-headed, 

 reasonable, scientific man, is no Utopian, 



and he frequently meets in sick rooms ex- 

 periences which greatly increase both his 

 interest and his confidence in man. He 

 finds the young and vigorous denying them- 

 selves many pleasures in order to brighten 

 the pathways of the old and infirm, the 

 fortunate lending a helping hand to the 

 unfortunate, and the wise leading the un- 

 wise. No one, more than the family phy- 

 sician, can measure and appreciate the in- 

 nate goodness that springs without an effort 

 from the heart of humanity. It is diificult 

 for the physician of large experience to 

 unreservedly condemn any one, and he is 

 inclined to regard all sins as due to either 

 heredity or environment. However, it must 

 be admitted that on this day Dr. Smith had 

 seen but little sunshine and the clouds that 

 had gathered about him had hidden the 

 virtues and magnified the vices of his com- 

 munity, and especially was this true of the 

 vice of ignorance, for ignorance which re- 

 sults in injury to one's fellows is not only 

 a vice but a crime, a moral, if not a statu- 

 tory one. 



Late that night as the doctor sat before 

 his grate he fell asleep, and now he is busy 

 among his patients in a way hitherto quite 

 unknown to him. His waiting-room is filled 

 with people, old and young, of both sexes, 

 who have come to be examined in order to 

 ascertain the exact condition of their 

 health. A young man before proposing 

 marriage to the woman of his choice wishes 

 a thorough examination. He wishes to 

 know that in offering himself he is not 

 bringing to the woman any harm. He de- 

 sires to become the father of healthy chil- 

 dren and he is not willing to transmit any 

 serious defect to them. He tells the doctor 

 to examine him as carefully as he would 

 were he applying for a large life insurance. 

 The doctor goes through the most thorough 

 physical examination and tests the secre- 

 tions and blood with the utmost care. He 



