June 15, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



899 



the people, for with, them lies the final 

 word. 



THE PROFESSION AND THE PUBLIC. 



General sanitary matters of the great- 

 est importance are becoming understood 

 through medical influences. The public 

 has been and is being educated in regard 

 to 'the great white plague,' tuberculosis, 

 and statistics are beginning to show the 

 effect of this diffusion of knowledge. In 

 Massachusetts and some other states a com- 

 mittee has been appointed in each district 

 to promulgate measures for the relief and 

 control of tuberculosis. This should be 

 imitated in every state in the union. 



We can already see the good which has 

 resulted from the teaching of the habits 

 of mosquitoes, the short distances they 

 travel from their breeding places, and es- 

 pecially the necessity for the quarantine of 

 patients afflicted with yellow . fever and 

 malaria, not directly to protect mankind, 

 but to prevent infection of the little pests 

 who act as carriers of the contagious micro- 

 organisms. 



Society must be taught the early symp- 

 toms of cancer, the greatest foe of human- 

 ity, that its manifestations may be recog- 

 nized while in the curable period. A 

 propaganda of this kind, inaugurated by 

 the profession of Germany, has borne fruit. 

 The typhoid fever crime of cities 

 through polluted water supply is not the 

 least of the many branches of popular edu- 

 cation. There is no reason why a man who 

 has become infected with typhoid from a 

 city's neglect should not sue for damages 

 as he would for personal injury sustained 

 from falling through a defective sidewalk. 

 Unavoidable sickness is bad enough, but 

 when we stop to consider that the life of 

 the individual is worth $5,000 to the state, 

 and that those who recover undergo great 

 disability and expense, the continuance of 

 unsanitary conditions is criminal. The ex- 



perience of Vienna, which was converted 

 from a typhoid center to one of freedom 

 from such outbreaks by bringing in a pure 

 water supply, has now been repeated over 

 and over again in every civilized land. 

 Yet hundreds of deaths from this prevent- 

 able source yearly attest that the lesson has 

 not yet been learned. 



How can this work of education be best 

 continued? The answer, as shown by our 

 very efficient national organizer. Dr. J. N. 

 McCormack, is through the local society. 

 Occasional meetings to which the public 

 shall be invited, must be devoted to ques- 

 tions of general interest, and the proceed- 

 ings published in the local newspapers. 

 The county society must become the unit, 

 and the allied professions of pharmacy and 

 dentistry urged to attend and take part in 

 the deliberations. 



To the Ladies' Home Jotirnal and Col- 

 lier's Weekly the public owe the successful 

 crusade against poisonous substances and 

 intoxicating beverages which are sold under 

 the guise of patent medicines, 'patent' only 

 in the sense that the name is copyrighted; 

 the constituents can be changed at any 

 time and in any way. 



Do you think that our American mothers 

 will continue to give 'Kopp's Baby's 

 Friend' and 'Mother Winslow's Soothing 

 Syrup' to their babes when they find that 

 these mixtures contain opium and that in- 

 stead of securing rest the little ones are 

 narcotized and that many deaths are di- 

 rectly attributable to this cause? 



Will the American people continue to 

 use bromo-seltzer and similar dangerous 

 preparations to an extent which causes 

 them to exhibit blueness of the skin sur- 

 faces from poisonous coal-tar products, or 

 become victims of drug habits from cocaine 

 catarrh cures, when they discover the 

 harmful and dangerous character of these 

 agents ? 

 Will our prominent people, statesmen, 



