October 23^ 1914] 



SCIENCE 



581 



life to the best of my ability, in the conviction 

 wMch has grown with my growth and strengthened 

 with my strength, that there is no alleviation for 

 the sufferings of mankind except veracity of 

 thought and of action, and the resolute facing of 

 the world as it is when the garment of make- 

 believe by which pious hands have hidden its 

 uglier features is stripped off. 



Ross G. Harbison 



PUBLIC HEALTH EDUCATION, WITH SPE- 

 CIAL SEFEBENCE TO THE SCHOOL FOB 

 HEALTH OFFICERS OF HAEVASD 

 UNIVERSITY AND THE MASSA- 

 CHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF 

 TECHNOLOGY^ 



From time immemorial the world lias recog- 

 nized three great professions — the ministry, 

 law, medicine. They stand, respectively, for 

 love, order and health— the great trinity upon 

 which human happiness is founded. During 

 the nineteenth century another profession 

 arose, different from the other three in that it 

 concerns itself with things external, but never- 

 theless of vast importance to the well being 

 of the race — ^the profession of engineering. 

 "With many parts, heterogeneous, amorphous, 

 the world has not always recognized it as a 

 united whole; but gradually it has become 

 crystallized around the central idea that 

 " engineering is the application of the great 

 forces of nature for the use and convenience 

 of man." Thus our professional triangle has 

 become four square and our modern civiliza- 

 tion may be said to rest upon the four learned 

 professions — ^the ministry, law, medicine, engi- 

 neering. 



Between these corner posts of education the 

 framing of our social structure is intimate and 

 complex. Beams stretch from one post to the 

 other, and there are braces and cross-braces; 

 combinations of sciences, sub-professions and 

 vocations. As civilization becomes more com- 

 plex the network thickens until we can 

 scarcely recognize the boundaries of our call- 

 ings and even our avocations become mixed 

 with our vocations. 



1 Address delivered at the New York State Con- 

 ference of Sanitary Officers at Saratoga, N. Y., 

 Sept. 15, 1914. 



Every once in a while some particular need 

 of the race comes prominently to the front, and 

 as the need becomes filled and men educate 

 themselves for it we say a new profession has 

 come — ^meaning a new species, not a genus. 



At the present time the great need of the 

 world is peace. The new science of engineer- 

 ing has built one of its structures too high and 

 it has toppled over. Over-developed arma- 

 ments have thrown the nations into a sea of 

 blood, from which only the other three pro- 

 fessions can rescue them, those which stand for 

 love, order and health. But it is not civil 

 engineering which has wrecked Europe, it ia 

 military engineering — the application of the 

 great forces of nature not for the U3e and 

 convenience of man but for the destruction of 

 man. This is not what is meant when we 

 speak of the new fourth great profession. 



Although engineering has failed to blot out 

 war, it has done much to blot out the other 

 great scourges of the race — famine and pesti- 

 lence. The development of transportation on 

 land and sea has brought the wheat fields of 

 the smiling prairie to the parched desert, and 

 has widened the market gardens of the city. 

 Agricultural engineering has multiplied the 

 fruits of the soil. The development of cold 

 storage has widened our markets in time as 

 well as distance. Future famines from natural 

 causes will occur only when engineering fails 

 to do its work. 



In combating pestilence the profession of 

 engineering has combined with that of medi- 

 cine. When disease comes from without it 

 requires the aid of a profession which deals 

 with things external, and as disease always 

 acts within it requires the aid of a profession 

 which deals with things internal. It is idle 

 to discuss whether the doctor or the engineer 

 plays the greater part in preventing disease. 

 Where so much has been accomplished by both, 

 where the work to be done is so great, there 

 are tasks enough and rewards enough for both 

 professions. In fact we must include the pro- 

 fessions of ministry and law because social 

 service and legal force are potent weapons in 

 the campaign for health. Let us recognize as 

 our first principle that the leaders in this cam- 



