Infection and Immunity (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

Excerpt from Infection and Immunity

Evidently there is much to be done before we pass out from the shadows of ignorance into the full light of knowledge. In this great work for the betterment of the race the medical profession has impor tant duties to perform. I do not mean to imply that the uplift of mankind devolves Wholly on the medical man. The burdens are too many and too diversified, the ascent is too steep and the pathways are too rough for one profession to hope to reach unaided the high plateau we seek. Moreover, other callings have no right, and should have no desire to Shirk the moral responsibilities which rest alike on all. But in past ages, medical men have been the chief torch bearers of science, whose light is the only one in which man may safely walk, and we must keep and transmit this trust and honor to those who follow us. I know of no scientific discovery, from the ignition of wood by friction to the demonstration of the causes of infection and the restriction of disease, which has not sooner or later assisted in the betterment of the race. It may be added that nothing else has so aided man in his slow and halting progress from the pestilential marshes of ignorance to the open uplands of intelligence.

In so great a work as the eradication of preventable disease, all intelligent people must cooperate. The law must support by proper enactments, and these must be enforced with justice and intelligence; it must recognize that the right to enjoy health is quite as sacred as that to possess property; that to poison men in factories and mines, to pollute drinking-water supplies, to adulterate foods, and to drug with nostrums, is manslaughter. Religion must teach the sanctity of the body as well as that of the soul, that ignorance is sin and knowledge virtue, that parenthood is the holiest function performed by man, and that to transmit disease is an unpardonable sin. The teacher must know hygiene as well as mathematics. The capitalist must recognize that improvement in health and growth in intelligence increase the efficiency of labor. There never has been a time when scientific medi cine has had so many and such efficient and appreciative helpers as it has to-day. Our sanitary laws are for the most part good, but their administration is weak, on account of ignorance. The pulpits of the land are open, for the most part, to the sanitarian. The respectable newspapers are most effective in the crusade against quackery and disease. The philanthropist has learned that the advance ment of science confers the greatest and most lasting benefits on man.

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