In War and Peace, "First Aid" is now a National Thought. IOCAMFEN (about 71% free Iodine) Smooth, stable, well-adhering, concentrated, economical liquid, produced by the interaction, and composed exclusively, of Iodine, Camphor and Phenol. Active Iodine in a Co-Active Vehicle" Penetration, Protracted Action, Pain-Relief, Stimulation, Granulation. All surgical, gynecological, dermatological and general medical indications of free Iodine. Manufactured by us in the U. S. A. and Furnished in One, Four and Eight Ounce Bottles. Gratis Sample on Request. SCHERING & GLATZ, Inc. Coward "REG. V. S. PAT. OFF." 'ASES that call for the temporary or permanent CASES assistance of remedial footwear in overcoming a natural or resultant arch or ankle weakness are referred to us almost daily. The construction of Coward Shoes is along the lines universally approved by the profession. Many physicians find it best to prescribe Coward Shoes to small children as a measure of precaution during the early growing period. Others recommend Coward Shoes in the final treatment of strained ankle ligaments. An examination of the shoe itself will recommend it to you for correcting the troubles mentioned. An interesting treatise on "flat foot" will be mailed to any physician on request. Sold Nowhere Else JAMES S. COWARD 262-274 Greenwich St. (wear st.) New York Mention Medical Council—it insures prompt attention and special service. WHITE MINERAL OIL in treating chronic constipation or intestinal stasis. The following quotation from an eminent English authority is typical: "As one of the first to systematically administer Liquid Paraffin in intestinal stasis, the writer can speak with some authority regarding its value. As the result of his experience, he has no hesitation in stating that in a large majority of cases of early intestinal stasis the judicious use of Liquid Paraffin is usually quite efficacious in affording perma. nent relief."-R. Murray Leslie, M.A., B.Sc., M.D., Senior Physician Prince of Wales General Hospital, London.-American Practitioner, June 6, 1913. "Vaseline" White Mineral Oil is a pure hydro-carbon mineral oil. It is prepared without the use of chemicals, is thoroughly sterilized in the process of manufacture and will not become rancid. It conforms to all the requirements for Liquid Petrolatum U. S. P. Avoid Substitutes 49 A Crisis in the Narcotic Situation. Why? 50 Another Crisis in the Narcotic Situation..... Importance of Taking Culture in Sore Throat. By Hyman I. Goldstein, M.D....... 50 50 An Important Meeting. Notice Annual Meeting of Alien. ists and Neurologists.. 50 The Business Side of Medical Practice Our Practices and Our War Duties....... 51 America Expects Every Doctor to do His Part. Suggestions to Life Insurance Examiners, By Henry Jacobson, M.D..... The Laborer is Worthy of His Hire. Overdoing Tablets Surgical Best Current Medical Thought Surgical Scissors, by Douglas H. Stewart, M.D. vs. Tuberculin Treatment of Renal culosis ......... Tuber. 55 55 56 56 56 56 You can buy with Confidence-See “Service Guarantee to Readers,” on page 18. Entered as second-class matter Feb. 13, 1896, at the post office at Philadelphia, Pa., under Act of March 3, 1879. The Status of Civilian Practice During the War. The Duty and the Opportunity of the General Practitioner. So The editorial and first article in the current County Medical Map show that 35 per cent. of our physicians are in the age limits commonly selected for military physicians assigned to field work. far as ascertainable, present statistics show about forty thousand active physicians in the United States not over thirty-five years of age. Twenty thousand of these-one-half-are already wanted for Army, Navy and Red Cross service, and a large part of the remainder to serve in civilian hospitals and in public and semi-public capacities. No. 7 If the war lasts two years, there will be very few physicians under forty years of age in private practice. LET US TRUST WE SHALL SOON HAVE HONORABLE PEACE. Crisis Confronting Us Doctor, do you realize what this two-year war means to you, to medicine and to the Nation? It means that practically the whole problem of private medical and surgical practice, much of the sanitation, and the immense task of maintaining a low mortality percentage, a minimum morbidity incidence and national efficiency will devolve upon men out of medical college for from fifteen to forty years. Can we measure up to the task? No, as a class we cannot-UNLESS. Let us frankly face what this "unless" means. Go back only fifteen years and only 6 per cent. of our medical graduates were from high-standard colleges. Now don't squirm; it's a bad showing, but we can't help the past. Fortunately, a great many of the 94 per cent. have repaired their educational deficiencies. Indeed, the greater proportion of these very gentlemen have, by reading good medical journals and text-books, by active work in the medical societies, or by postgraduate courses, come into practical and more or less intimate touch with modern medicine. Yet many, very many, have amiably and superficially "gone along" with advance but were not One-tenth to the Lord and One-tenth to the Nation. TITHES OF MONEY are usually one-tenth. Though the Church has demanded this proportion and has received it, the Government never has until now. But the war may need one-tenth of our wealth. If you have not bought a Liberty Bond, save your money; other bond issues may be offered, and they will be a safe investment. Your Country has as great a claim as your Church, even to one-tenth of your income. TITHES OF MEN are seldom one-tenth, and they will not be of our laymen in this extensive war; but ONE-TENTH OF THE DOCTORS are demanded. A great emergency confronts the Medical Profession; it confronts YOU. LET THE GOVERNMENT DECIDE what you should do; but register, even as our young men did on June fifth. On page 59 of this journal will be found a blank. If you are physically fit and under 55, in active practice, and educationally qualified for field service or special work, you are eligible for the Medical Reserve; but few men over 35 will be sent into field work. Older men especially qualified in surgery or a specialty are needed in limited numbers. This appeal is directed to the men under 35. Sign and mail to "The Surgeon-General, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C." If you can't go yourself, Doctor, try to induce some eligible physician to fill this blank and sign it. really of it; they have recognized the value of these things, but have largely left the actual doing of things requiring a knowledge of technic to the younger men and to specialists in the several lines. And now these doers of the modern work are leaving for the front or are carrying on hospital work. As the soldier physician must now learn the actual doing of many things of which he had but an academic knowledge, so the men who remain behind must now learn the doing of many things also. Both classes have new duties and have need of accurate knowledge. The Empiric vs. The Scientific Far be it from any one to decry the good in empiricism; it still has its place and many empiric measures of known efficiency are unduly neglected. Yes, there is even such a thing as empiricism masquerading as science, and there are empirically developed procedures that science has been placing on firm ground, as well as scientifically well-based things that fail to work out practically. Yet, whether all of we older men like to acknowledge it or not, the blunt facts remain that laboratory diagnosis increases immensely the percentage of accurate findings; that accurate study of biology, pathology, bacteriology, entomology and other sciences have thrown a flood of light upon disease and how to prevent and treat it that is recognized by even every intelligent layman; that modern chemical research has all but revolutionized our ideas of the diseases of metabolism and has reconstructed our resources for their treatment; that pharmacologic and other exact study has all but made over our materia medica and therapeutics; that modern surgery has accomplished absolute wonders; that every specialty has added its quota to the list of modern things of effectiveness, and that the sum total of these modern teachings and findings have immensely reduced the toll of disease and lengthened the average span of life. And now the maintenance of our at-present low death-rate and reduced morbidity incidence through the application of modern method in every domain of medicine and surgery falls upon we older men to a greater degree than ever before. Assuredly we can't permit medicine in the United States to fall behind in efficiency and advance, and our medical colleges can't afford to slow up on the prosecution of research. Get Young Again Practically considered, modern medicine dates back about thirty years, and the way for us to get young again in medicine, if our easygoing past has developed any medical senility in us, is: first, stow away in the garret most text-books written ten or more years ago; second, buy new ones and study them; third, read your medical journals diligently, inclusive of their so-called "heavy" contributions, and be sure that in subscribing you have selected the journals of solid, scientific worth with practical, constructive and progressive viewpoint; fourth, attend every medical society meeting that you can reach; fifth, affiliate with a hospital or a technically trained man in surgical or other technic, learning the hundreds of little things one masters only by doing them; sixth, brush up on laboratory diagnosis, learning to do the work yourself, and, seventh, bury the prejudices, obsessions and indifferences that have grown up in daily life, beginning anew, with a young spirit and enthusiasm for the truth. We Have Become Soft Military authorities claim that our men have become soft and self-indulgent, avoiding hardship and real physical work. The same thing is true in medicine. Most of us, for the last ten or fifteen years, are almost afraid to take a scalpel in our hands, leaving all surgery to the surgeon specialist. Some of us hesitate to pass a sound or a catheter. If we have a forceps delivery, most of us send for assistance. Fie on us! Our daddies beat us to it a hundred ways. The way some of us are going to learn to swim in modern medical waters is because war is pitching us in. The Economic Side in Medicine The medical profession has, in recent years, been charged with having become commercialized. Perhaps it has been commercialized; but, if it has, it is a poor sort of commercialism, for the average physician is netting less at the end of the year now than the average doctor did twenty years ago, before modern medical commercialism was much in evidence. One of the hopeful outlooks of the war as regards the medical profession is that we will be doing necessary work and will be properly paid for it; and the speeding up of efficiency all along the line will have an immense influence in making an efficient personnel in the medical profession. The petty commercial dodges we all see illustrated in the practices of some men make of them equally petty men as involves professional resource. These men fail out both professionally and financially; and they deserve to fail. So, Doctor, the obligations of industry and efficiency imposed upon you by the war ought not to be hard to meet. Just forget all commercial ideas, think only of service and efficiency, study hard, work hard and do your full duty in all things; and you will be surprised to find, after the war is over, that you are a better physician than ever before, with a greater net income, and able to hold your head up among men as one with no subterfuge, no studied pose, no 'veiled business methods, no chicanery and no taint of quackery chargeable to you. |