1893-1894 - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

190 APl'ENDIX.
disease and fearful death seem to have given to theui the hope of a coming
dav/n.
But this does not yet supply the want that unsanitary lives and surroundings
create. In spite of warnings, in spite of the teachings of the
doctor and even the secular press, the people put away from themselves
the patent truths that cleanliness demands increasing vigilance, and
vigilance in turn gives a reasonable hope of safety. The surgeon has
caught the prime point of this lesson, and he is extending his field of
work almost without limit. Regions of the body subject to disease and
injury and needing the surgeon's care but which formerly were considered
too dangerous to enter now lie ready for his exploring and curing
hand under the rules of cleanliness.
The brain, the chest, the throat, the abdomen have all been opened,
the organs have been exposed to view, diseased portions been taken away,
the resulting gap been sewed up and health restored. The skill of the
surgeon would not avail if he did not appreciate and apply to practical
purposes the fact that success in his specialty demands that he, his assistants,
his instruments and his surroundings should be clean. This is
antiseptic and aseptic surgery. The presence of dirt means death, and
its absence insures a chance for life in cases otherwise desperate. We
must keep our environments healthy if we would be healthy. Disease
germs can only grow and flourish in a fertile soil, which a hygienic condition
of persons and premises does not afford. The individual who lives a
sanitary life, that keeps his home and surroundings in a condition of
sweetness and purity, does more to starve out disease germs and prevent
sickness than all the drugs and medicaments of all the shops can ever
accomplish for a cure when once the foe has laid siege to the body. If
sickness comes in the shape of infectious or contagious disease besides
the care for the patient and the sick-room clean up the yard, the stables
and barns—look well to the enemy that is still lurking at the gate.
When the Carthaginians had carried home their mercenaries after the
first Punic war the}^ were sadlj' in arrears to their hired soldiers. In
vain they sought to distract them from the demands they made for their
hard-earned money. They made great feasts for them, amusements were
provided and extravagant promises indulged in, all to put off" the final
day of settlement, hoping for some nnlooked-for event to relieve them of
the duty of discharging a just debt. The battle-scarred veterans grew
impatient at the delaj^ and their patience and confidence being destroyed,
they broke into revolt against their officers and again demanded for the
last time their money. No satisfaction being accorded them, they declared
their intention to sack the city, and accordingly lay siege to it.
Every device that their training as
soldiers had taught them was set
in action against the beleaguered town, all the machinery that was known
to warfare in that age was set in motion. They destroyed the food, they