Henry Baird Favill, AB, MD, LL.D., 1860-1916, a ... - University Library

MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH 317
logical agent through which the State shall operate in the
maintenance and furtherance of its public affairs. It is
my conviction that the medical profession as a body should
undertake and set for itself tasks related to public health,
in the nature of conservation of public health, and of cooperation
with State forces. Such tasks will clearly demonstrate,
first, the interest of the profession; second, the capacity
of the profession to deal with them, which is by no means
recognized now; and third, the fact that the profession cannot
be dispensed with in this new phase of its vocation.
For all of these reasons which I have hastily sketched,
it
seems to me that the responsibility of the medical profession
to the public as a moral issue, and as a practical issue,
is beyond peradventure. And yet I set this forth as a series
of very deep convictions and as an expression of wonder
that I have as to whether these things are not ripe for action.