The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The Health Bulletin January, 1927
invarinhly be i,'()0(l for all other patients
similarly alJlictccl. In short old wives'
tales and Tom Sawyer therapeutics
with its dead cats and graveyards at
midnifiht would be Scientific Medicine.
A diagnosis could always be made by
telephone and prescribin,i; done by number
with happy results to all. Naturally
the only effective, and valuable, and
honest health teaching that is possible
to impart is for us to confine our activities
to matters of proved conclusions,
the observance of which are always of
value to everybody. As an example.
Typhoid fever is a preventable disease
and as preventive measures are simple
and easily understood by everyone it
is a duty of a public health educational
service to use every means at its command
to impart such information to all
the State's citizens. Another example
is to promote in every way possible the
eradicati(m of malaria, tuberculosis,
hooliworm, diphtheria, smallpox, diarrhoea
and enteritis and other diseases
in which the established methods of
control are known and practical. Still
another duty is to encourage as far as
possible the universal use in the dietary
of every family in the State, of fresh
fruits and vegetables and dairy products.
Good housing and sleeping with
plenty of available fresh air are other
desirable habits which every health department
should always encourage.
These things are health builders and
serve to promote happiness and prosperity
and are habits that it is just as
desirable to promote as habits of thrift
and saving. Both objectives have the
same appeal—that is they not only promote
happiness but fortify against the
days of adversity and old age. A health
department ofHcial cannot sit in his
ollice in Raleigh and read a letter from
a citizen in Cherokee or Harnett
County, describing symptoms of some
suspected disease, and attempt to make
a diagnosis. If such an official undertakes
to do so he then and there writes
himself down, and advertises the fact
to the world, as an ordinary quack. The
only sensible disposition to make of
such an inquiry is to urge the writer to
consult a reputable physician. On the
other hand if a citizen writes the health
department and wants to know how to
protect himself and his family against
smallpox it is the duty of the health
official to provide such citizen with all
the information to be had on the subject.
Such a course is not only safe,
and wise and desirable but is in the
interest of other citizens in addition
to the individual making the inquiry.
This is the season of the year when
the so-called "Common Cold" is prevalent.
Nearly every other person one
meets is mopping his nose and sneezing.
In the street cars and stores there is
a regular barrage of human saliva flying
through the vitiated atmosphere.
Every friend has advice and a prescription
to recommend. Eve*-y physician is
repeatedly asked how to prevent a
"cold," what causes it, and what to do
for it. Every individual has a theory
all his own about the cause, especially
as to the cause of the one he has. The
worst of it is so far as scientific fact is
concerned the guess of one individual
is just as apt to be correct as that of
any other person. There is probably no
other affliction of man-kind that has
such a wide appeal and is fraught with
so much genuine interest and concern.
Scientific people the world over are
THE "COMMON COLD"
striving all the time to get at the underlying
causes of the so-called "cold."
Some of the more cocksure members
of the medical profession and an occasional
health officer frequently express
positive opinions on the subject. For
instance last winter the City Health
Officer of New York calmly advised
New Yorkers to keep their feet dry in
order to prevent "colds" and pneumonia.
About that time all the New
York papers were giving front page
space to old man Edward Weston, the
famous walker, who has just about
walked all over the earth in every sort
of weather. Mr. Weston described his
experience in walking through one of
New York State's winter blizzards. He
said that he had been exposed and ice
bound for hours but suffered no ill
consequence, and to quote his exact
words, "could not get up a sneeze."