Measures necessary to eradicate that pest, the house fly, must be
enforced, the mosquito must be as nearly as possible exterminated,
streets and yards must be kept clean, the smoke nuisance abated, the
slaughtering of animals and canning of food sharply regulated, sanitary
conditions enforced in homes and factories. One of the prerequisites
to any marked improvement will be the "taking out of politics" of the
public health service and making it an expert profession.
(3) Another service that the community must eventually, in its own
interests, provide, is free medical attendance, by really competent
physicians, wherever there is need. Without referring to the suffering
and anxiety spared, the expense of this service will far more than
be saved the State in the prevention of illness and premature death.
The most careful medical inspection of school children, including
attention by experts to eyes, ears, and teeth, is of utmost importance;
all sorts of ills can thus be averted which the parents are too ignorant
or careless to forestall. [Footnote: Consult the literature of the
American School Hygiene Association (Secretary T. A. Storey, College
of the City of New York). L. D. Cruickshank, School Clinics at Home
and Abroad. Outlook, vol. 84, p. 662.] It is earnestly to be hoped
that the present chaos of medical education and practice will be soon
reduced to a better order; that practitioners who prefer manipulation
or mental healing, for example, will, instead of forming separate and
antagonistic schools, unite their insight and experience with the main
stream of scientific therapeutic effort.
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