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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 787 



likely to be in the next generation, and the 

 world will demand that he be worthy of 

 the tasks that will fall upon him. No other 

 profession will be able to render greater 

 service to mankind. The incentive to enter 

 the profession is not likely to be great, meas- 

 ured in the coin of the realm, but measured 

 by the good done to the race, there will be 

 none greater. The function of the new, 

 combined medical department of the Uni- 

 versity of Cincinnati will be to prepare 

 properly its students for worthy service in 

 that profession which has always labored 

 for the uplift of mankind. 



A regular and frequent thorough phys- 

 ical examination of every citizen must be 

 adopted by the people if the race is to be 

 freed from disease. The good that can be 

 accomplished by this is not limited to the 

 infectious diseases. There are many dis- 

 orders of metabolism which, if detected in 

 time, may be arrested or cured. I will at 

 present refer to only one of these. There 

 are many men and women just passing the 

 prime of life who are developing a glyco- 

 suria. At first this is in many instances 

 a pathological condition that is easily con- 

 trolled by a proper diet. Often it begins 

 with a diminished capacity on the part of 

 the individual to properly dispose of a few 

 special carbohydrates. Which these are 

 should be determined and eliminated from 

 the daily food. In his ignorance the indi- 

 vidual continues to eat the food which for 

 him has become a poison. After some 

 months or years the condition grows more 

 grave. The person becomes incapable of 

 properly metabolizing any carbohydrate 

 and finally he can no longer utilize the 

 carbohydrate group in his protein food. 

 Having reached this point, the individual 

 becomes cognizant of the fact that he is not 

 well and he goes to his physician, but the 

 condition is now incurable. 



This is given simply as an illustration 



of the great good that an educated medical 

 profession might render the public by con- 

 stant supervision of the public health, but 

 in order to bring this about both the pro- 

 fession and the public must be educated 

 along scientific lines. It must be begun 

 among the more intelligent, and its good 

 results becoming apparent, it will be 

 adopted by all. In Michigan University 

 this work has been started. Every medical 

 student must submit to a thorough physical 

 examination each semester, and if any ab- 

 normality be detected, the individual must 

 follow rules and regulations if he is to 

 continue in the school. We hope in a few 

 months to extend this to the students of all 

 departments of the university. There is 

 no better place to begin this beneficent 

 work than in our institutions of higher 

 learning. With us no student will be per- 

 mitted to use the gymnasium until he is 

 found by actual examination to be free 

 from venereal disease, and any one attend- 

 ing the gymnasium may be called upon to 

 submit himself to an examination at any 

 time. Those having other physical defects 

 will be placed under such restrictions as 

 the medical men may impose. 



The nation that will profit in the future 

 from the labors and discoveries of the med- 

 ical profession must help in this cause. It 

 must make large appropriations for scien- 

 tific research. It must render financial aid 

 to medical education, which has become too 

 costly for the profession itself to provide, 

 and it must not permit of the use of short 

 roads to practise. While the advanced 

 medical educator in this country is doing 

 his best to elevate his profession, pseudo- 

 medicine is filling the lobbies of every state 

 capitol with demands for legal recognition, 

 and too often it happens that our law 

 makers are not wise enough to distinguish 

 between the true and the false. This im- 

 poses a heavy duty upon the profession, and 



