present organized. This is a specialty of the first rank and importance. In the East work for children is of high grade and some of the brightest minds of the profession devote their lives to it. Children are unwelcome patients in many general hospitals for adults. There is no question that they require special temperamental characteristics on the part of those assuming to care for them. A hospital for children gathers around it those having special temperamental qualifications adapted to the handling of children and becomes a delightful place for service to these little folk. They are often considered a nuisance in general hospitals. So little is being done for children in this part of the country in a special way that such an institution would be a god-send and at the same time conflict with no agency now in the field. A Woman's Hospital for the surgical treatment of all diseases peculiar to the sex especially, but to care as well for all surgical affections of women, excluding obstetrics, always adds immensely to better service for this vast class of sufferers. Gynecology is a well defined specialty and should be afforded special facilities in the form of special hospitals whenever possible. The field of usefulness such an institution would fill in St. Joseph would be extensive and far-reaching, and would add tremendously to our prestige as a medical center. Whenever a special hospital is founded there gathers around it, men engaged in the practice of that specialty. So that every special hospital becomes an influence for developing specialism among the profession where it is located. On the other hand specialists promote the creation of special hospitals. Both work together for more efficient service. In these latter years we hear much of city planning. Every department of civic life is being mapped out on paper so that when the plan is completed there will be no overlapping of effort, with consequent waste of money and efficiency. We have an illustration of this wise movement in St. Joseph today in the proposed Park System which is being laid out by experts, the plans looking far into the future and contemplating a complete whole, that will see its fulfillment after you and I are in our graves. Throughout our entire country cities are studying, studying, studying methods of better organization. Surveys for finding the actual conditions of every phase of city life are the order of the day, social surveys, sanitary surveys, school surveys, public utilities surveys, industrial surveys. The spirit of modern city building demands that system take the place of chaos, that the diversified activities of city life be brought into helpful relation with each other and that each activity in turn be organized on a basis of business efficiency that will actually accomplish the end sought. The medical service of St. Joseph is now in process of creation. Slowly it will grow through the years that are to come. Additions will be made at times by governmental, at times by philanthropic foundation. Periods of years will elapse often between the dates of these additions. It is manifestly impossible for money to accomplish its full purpose, whether donated by philanthropists or appropriated by government if used without reference to a general plan of medical service, without reference to the most urgent need of the time, without reference to the need of strengthening institutions already in the field but inadequately supported. It may be better to strengthen a hospital already in existence, but inadequately endowed than to found a new hospital, neither of which will efficiently do the work attempted. The urgent need of the day may not be a hospital, it may be instead a nurses' home in connection with a hospital, or a nurses' training school properly endowed, or a medical laboratory, or a visiting nurse association established on a firm financial basis, or a special hospital instead of a general one. If it is thought desirable to establish a new unit in the general scheme of organization it should first be ascertained that the unit proposed fits into the general plan of medical service, that it will not conflict with agencies already in the field and that it will adequately perform the work it proposes to attempt. There can be no difference of opinion over the statement that no efficient medical service for St. Joseph will be created if it is to be developed in a haphazard, hit or miss, way. A plan must be proposed looking far into the future as well as dealing with the present and indicating broad lines of organization along which efficiency may be obtained and waste of effort and capital avoided. With a definite plan to work toward, we would have every reason to expect that St. Joseph would become in deed and in truth, a "medical center." Today the need is specialism in the medical profession, an endowed medical laboratory, the strengthening of the general hospitals now in the field and the establishment of new hospitals for special work. Iodides stimulate secretion. Thyroids administered with iodides quickly produce coryza and other signs of iodism. A hungry old Ute hunted lizards to eat, The difference, just knowing. Through Scotland of old, Marmion's messenger ran, He bore the dread rood, stained by fire and by bloodBut now, when the Douglass would summon the clan, He sits in his office and calls them by wire: The difference, just knowing. Once witches brewed hell-broth, to ward away ill, Just knowing, not guessing, not halfknowledge, but scientific certainty. From out the storehouse of Infinite Wisdom, man has culled facts one by one, each an atom of human advancement. And as the scope of the known widens, it moves ever faster and broader; it increases with geometrical progression. The wonder of yesternight is the veriest commonplace in the morning. All Nature pulses with progress to Plan and Purpose, a growth to perfection, and whether we name it God or evolution, we mean the same infinite energy, and there is no conflict 'twixt science and religion, only in the minds content with seeing but one side. But, doctor, how many of the profession who cease to study and to investigate, when the diploma is handed them, My first diploma, dated 1875, was merely a cer tificate, to me, that I was qualified to continued study, and I work harder today than in my student days. The range of human attainment is now so wide that no one mind may grasp all of any one department of knowledge; the educated man of today is he who knows how and where to find the detail facts, and whose base foundation of general training has given him the power to weigh and measure relative importances. The man who seeks to memorize masses of details has so encumbered his intellect with rubbish, that he canot store great central truths. Truth belongs to no man nor to any one organization of men. The doctor who would wield the "Power of Knowing" must look upon all sides. He must read journals-please note the plural, and make it numerously plural-he must keep abreast of the cyclonic progress of the era. If he does not, he is criminally responsible for the death and suffering that shall follow his ignorance. But I am growing bitter. Allow me to beg you never to be content with "good intentions," and "all I know." Keep up with the band-wagon, even though you do not climb up and blow a horn. We cannot all play in the band, but we can, at the least, keep within hearing distance. If you must be a chip on the surface, don't float on the stagnant surface of a puddle; get into the current, at least, and float with Life's stream! THE PAID-UP SUBSCRIBER. How dear to our heart is the steady subscriber He never says, "Stop it; I cannot afford it, I'm getting more journals than now I can read." But always says, "Send it: we doctors all like it In fact we all think it a help and a need." How welcome his check when it reaches our sanctum, How it makes our pulse throb: how it makes our hearts dance. We outwardly thank him; we inwardly bless him The steady subscriber who pays in advance. Incorporating ST. CLOUD COOPER, Fort Smith, Ark. T. D. CROTHERS, Hartford, Conn. S. S. GLASSCOCK, Kansas City, Kan. H. C. CROWELL, Gynecology JOS. LICHTENBERG, Ophthalmology R. T. SLOAN, Internal Medicine "Nothing is more estimable than a physician who, having studied nature from his youth, THE JACKSON COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY. Dr. Nimrod P. Wood was elected presi- Though not a candidate, his election over After in elevating Dr. Wood to their leadership. As another evidence of desiring a high MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY. The spring meeting of this society will be held at the Coates House, Kansas City, March 20, 21, 22, with the third day devoted entirely to clinics in the various hospitals. The Jackson County Medical Society will be the host, and a committee of arrangement has been appointed, comprising Drs. H. E. Pearse, R. L. Sutton and E. G. Blair. A symposium on cancer, a dinner at the Coates House, and an address by Surgeon-General Rupert Blue will be features of the first day. Program will be printed in the next issue of the Herald. The annual relaxation from strenuous practice by the members of the above society consisted of a lot of highly sublimated fun for the cognosienti. The mise en scene was frequently impromptu, and the feast verified the old saying that men are but grown up children. A few hundred years ago the French said of the physician: Sunrise to sunset the doctor must slave, He ne'er folds his arms except in the grave. Fully aware of the incompetence of contemporary judgment, thoughtful readers will throw the mantle of charity on the chronicler of current events in medical circles. In order to relax abundantly they follow the example of the famous Quaker, Dr. I. Lettsom, who survives. principally by the following epigram When any sick to me apply, I physics, bleed and sweat's 'em; The doctor is rich in those things which, being without price, are therefore priceless. No man can have the intimacy and diversity of human association which come to the physician. Being ill-paid in the world's goods, physicians approach most nearly to the ideal occupation in which "No one shall work for money, And no one shall work for fame." But contrary to this, many doctors judge of their success by telling you the exact amount of money they made last month or year. The advertisements of modern quacks are not remarkable for their modesty; even members of the profession in good standing are sometimes a trifle bitter in denouncing their confreres, the implication being that the speaker is free from the faults he ascribes to others. Dr. J. I. Byrne made a dignified and splendid toastmaster. On his right sat the guest of honor, Dr. C. J. Siemens. The toast, "Why are We Here?" was orated by Dr. W. L. Kenney in an eloquent manner, depicting with colors the life-work of the physician and the relations between physicians. It was an extemporaneous effort, and the doctor covered himself with glory. Dr. Daniel Morton had for his subject "St. Joseph as a Medical Center," which is printed in full in our original department, and is well worth a careful reading. A wag at the writer's table in a playful spirit composed the following adaptation it were by Milton." "Poetry," the caller after "Hoch Der Kaiser und Teddy:" Dr. O. B. Campbell spoke to "Our Honored Guests;" unfortunately Dr. S. F. Carpenter was detained by illness, and Dr. C. J. Siemens alone was present. Dr. Campbell paid a glowing tribute to Dr. Siemens as an upright reputable physician since 1865. He said the doctor had been the ideal physician of the city, and practiced the medical sciences from the standpoint of making it a responsible art and not a trade for revenue only. (The memory of man does not run to the contrary, for on this occasion alone, Dr. Campbell displayed great timidity and mental hyperesthesia !) Dr. C. W. Fassett's toast was entitled "From Our Foreign Correspondent," in which he showed intimate relations, not only with New York doctors, but those inhabiting the benighted districts of Paris, London, Berlin, Vienna, etc., and told a number of good stories. (Mr. Lon Hardman, of this city, who is not only poetically inclined, but is also the publisher of poems of his own, as well as of those submitted by outsiders, happens to have offices in the same building with Dr. Fassett. One day an unannounced caller, who had managed to evade the porter, opened Hardman's door. His hair was long, and his clothes were shabby and untidy. He had a roll of papers in his hand. Hardman surmising a poet and an epic several thousand miles long, looked up. "Well, sir?" "I've brought you something about sarcoma and carcinoma." "We're overcrowded with poetry--couldn't accept another line, not if flashed. "Do you know anything about sarcoma and carcinoma?" "Italian lovers, aren't they?" said Hardman imperturbably. The caller retreated, with a withering glance at the publisher. The article was intended for the Medical Herald, and the euphonious names of the tumor formations misled the otherwise astute Hardman, who ascribed the characters to medieval romance.) The toastmaster called upon Dr. E. C. Carle, a veterinary meat inspector at the local stockyards who gave an interesting talk about the relation of bovine to human tuberculosis, and spoke of the recent strides made in the direction of pure foods, including milk and meat. Dr. Carle is an ardent advocate of preventive medicine. Dr. A. L. Gray introduced a fair selection of of muck-rakings, but to the great dismay of ordinary mortals he touched up only the "high brows." The banquet had an aftermath in at least one instance: Dr. ———, whose dining idiosyncrasies are well-known, was immediately called after this highly stimulating banquet to attend a lady patient. Owing to his condition he had great difficulty in counting her pulse, and finally muttered to himself, "Drunk, by Jove!" Next day he was waited upon by one of the lady's servants, whose message he anticipated with considerable trepidation. was, however, to the effect that he shou preserve her secret inviolate. The doctor thought it well to make a second call to assure his anxious patient that he would be reticent as the gravel At banquets men get closer together and democracy and good will reign supreme. We are reminded, in closing, of the beautiful stanza by Eugene Field, which seems apropos: "How sweet and gracious even in common speech Many experienced physicians, representing both private and hospital practice, believe that in the phylacogens we have the most efficient remedial agents yet devised for the treatment of acute and chronic infections. |