52 The Philippine Journal of Science 1920 
cultivating as much independence of the laboratory as possible. 
But these men were wonderful and did great things, and we do 
not detract from their greatness by suggesting how much greater 
they would have been in the present day with its increased ad- 
vantages and with the aid of modern diagnostic methods. It 
only serves to emphasize how much greater your responsibilities 
are to-day. You have the same opportunity to develop the 
powers that lie within you; greater, for they have broken the 
ground for you in many places. In addition you have the new 
things. The value of modern methods cannot be denied. How 
many cases of so-called latent syphilis did the great Hunter 
miss ? There have been untold numbers maltreated for malaria 
simply because , the diagnosis was unaided by the blood exam- 
ination and the clinical picture was all they had to depend on. 
On the other hand, there has been many a case of atypical ma- 
laria go down without the benefit of specific treatment because 
they did not know that the disease had a more definite and 
tangible etiology than the mysterious miasm that arose with 
the damp night air from marshy places. 
I am not particularly enthusiastic about haphazard routine 
examinations, not so much from the clinical side as from the 
demoralizing effect they are apt to have on the laboratory. This 
applies more especially to hospitals, of course. Large numbers 
of routine examinations may lead to carelessness and super- 
ficiality. But even so, conditions are often picked up during 
such examinations that would otherwise have been overlooked 
and have remained hidden, so we must look on them as necessary 
evils. There are certain things you should know about your 
patient, no matter how obvious the conditions may seem. In 
this day it is much safer to assume everybody syphilitic until 
proven otherwise, no matter what his or her civil, social, or 
sexual state. You should know the condition of the urine as 
a matter of routine, and in this part of the world, where para- 
sitism is so common, this should be always eliminated in its 
various common possibilities. There have been many cases of 
chronic amoebic dysentery operated for appendicitis. But it is 
not necessary to dwell on the possibilities of the obscure and 
misleading symptoms that are at times manifested by the va- 
rious parasites; you are more familiar with them than I am. 
Nor is it necessary for me to detail further the great benefits 
that are to be derived from the sane and intelligent use of the 
laboratory. You cannot practice medicine in this day and gen- 
eration without recourse to the laboratory. 
