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

134 THE HEALTH BULLETIN.treated, curable—disease, should l:e allowedto suffer and die because ignorantparents have been persuadedto reiy on these mechanical frauds, isno less than criminal. As for themiserable harpies who for a few filthydollars will write such cold-bloodeduntruths as those quoted above, thesafety of society demands that theybe put where they can do no furtherharm.""The State Board of Health of Vermontdeclared the Oxygenator to be'physically and therapeutically inert'and prohibited the sale of the fraud.""To sum up:Summary.The 'Electropoise,' the'Oxydonor,' the 'Oxygenor,' the 'Oxygenator(or 'Oxypathor') and the 'Oxytonor'are utterly worthless except asa means of enriching their exploiters.Their therapeutic value, aside fromthe element of suggestion that may beinduced in those who are willing topay from ten to thirty dollars for apiece of nickel-plated tubing, is absolutelynil. As already said, if adultswish to squander their money on suchfoolishness and are content to confinethe 'treatment' to their own persons,well and good.If they have nothingmuch the matter with them theymay believe they have received benefit;if they are dangerously ill, Nature willprobably exterminate them as unfit.But let no person try to 'cure' thehelpless child with such frauds; assoon as that is attempted, such an individualceases to be a harn?less idiotand becomes a dangerous one."YADKIN COUNTY DECIDES TO SPEND$200 A YEAR ON HEALTH.This is going some, isn't it? A physicianof that county writes: "OurBoard of Health lets everything takecare of itself. We are now havingscarlet fever in several portions of thecounty and 'not a one' has been quarantined.Our Board of Health metthe first Monday in October and electedDr. S. L. Russell for one year at theextravagant salary of $200. So yousee we will have everything quarantinedand fumigated. (He is to furnishall disinfectants)."In Yadkin County there are 16,000people—men, women and little children.Assuming that the average deathrate of the United States t»revails inthat county, there are 250 of thesepeople who die every year. There isan amount of sickness equivalent to750 of the Yadkin folk being in bed theentire year. 100 of these deaths arefrom preventable diseases, and 250 ofthe bedridden sick people ought to beon their feet earning a living for themselvesand others.35 of the 100 deathsare from consumption; there are 100other active cases of consumption inthe county. There are 8 deaths fromtyphoid fever; there are between 80and 90 other cases of fever every year.There are 8 or 10 deaths from contagions.20 babies under two years ofage die in that county every year fromdiarrheal diseases, and about 150other babies are sick from that disease.Now, evidently these diseases, thatmost of the civilized world has regardedof a preventable nature, acquirevery peculiar properties when theybreak out in Yadkin; they becomewholly unpreventable. Up there manhas no control whatever over thesediseases and therefore no responsi-,,bility for their occurrence. All thatfthe rest of us can do when the tolkfdie in Yadkin is to extend our sympathy,and let the preacher say, "theLord giveth and the Lord taketh"; thecounty commissioners can't help it.