"Could you well get along without us? Would your beautiful city get along as well as it does without the doctors who compose the Duval County Medical Society? Who do you first think of when the wife of your bosom lies sick in the perils of childbirth? Who, when the little curly head is found struggling for breath with the dreaded diphtheria? Who, when the young man, the hope of the father, or the beautiful young woman, the pride of the home, lies unconscious with typhoid fever? Who, when father is brought in with fractured limb or other dangerous wounds? Who stands guard in your city when plague and pestilence hover over you as dark-winged messengers of death? Who goes, night or day, with hurried step to the railroad wreck, or the exploded boiler accident, or the wounded policeman? It is the doctor. We carry the secrets of hundreds of people. It is safe to say that should any one of us divulge what he knows he would not live to see the light of another day. We are the custodians of the people's secrets, and, be it said to our everlasting credit, those secrets are kept sacred. The true doctor is honest, but he early learns the limitations upon human life, and for this cause does not promise to perform miracles. The quack, the patent medicine man, the christian scientist, mental scientist, and all other humbuggers of this class are constantly attacking the medical profession. They clamor for the right to cure people of disease before they have mastered the elementary principles that govern the body in health or disease, but if you asked any one of them to perform the service in your city that any and every doctor is constantly called on to perform he would refuse the contract. "And now, gentlemen, in closing I will say that while the medical profession should be honored in the hall of fame,' I will at this time present a matter of more direct importance to you and to our profession. Florida is about to enter upon a stage of prosperity, not dreamed of by our most optimistic. With the work on the Panama canal and the extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West, our State will soon become the chief trade route for the business of the Western World. That concerns us indirectly, and we hope to profit as other people will, but as a medical body we want to get on the front seat. And now for your help you are all honorable men, and all have influence. The lawmakers of our State are now in session. We want you to ask them to remove or repeal the license tax imposed upon physicians. The tax is not specially needed by the State, and is a burden upon us poor doctors. We have lots of charity work to do whether we will to do it or not, and the doctor should not pay an occupation tax. Then, too, if Florida is to be up-to-date we should abolish the district boards of medical examiners and establish a State board. This is greatly needed as a protection to the people of the State against incompetents, and it may be said that the best states in the Union now have State boards of medica! examiners. "Nothing is intended in this law to be construed as denying to the poor the services of a medical man, or to create a trust composed of the doctors now resident in the State, but the purpose is to establish a uniform grade of examination as an assurance to the people that whosoever is allowed to practice the healing art is qualified so to do. "The medical profession is constantly striving to raise the standard of medical education, and it only asks of our lawmakers that those who style themselves 'doctors' shall be qualified according to modern standards. "Now, gentlemen, we thank you again for your cordial welcome, we thank you in advance for the interest which we expect you will take in these little requests, and let us, one and all, be reminded that "We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on the dial. We should not count time by heart throbs. He lives Upon the delivery of Doctor Hughlett's address Doctor Hoover, temporary chairman, resigned the chair to Dr. E. N. Liell, of Jacksonville, the president of the Association. Upon motion, duly seconded and carried, the privi leges of the floor were accorded visiting physicians in the city of Jacksonville. Dr. E. N. Liell, president of the Association, presented and read the president's annual address, as follows: THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN ITS RELATION TO THE ELIMINATION OF COMMUNI CABLE DISEASES. BY EDWARD N. LIELL, M. D., JACKSONVILLE, FLA., ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE THIRTY-SECOND ANNUAL Every thought has a literal value. In the degree that thought is focused and given direction, is it effective in the work it is sent out to accomplish. We should not fail to realize that, however small our contribution, its impulse may be felt far and near. 'Those of us who, from year to year are honored through this high office, in being chosen to speak to our fellow practitioners, must be regarded mainly as torch-bearers receiving light from those whose torches have burned brightly and placing a still larger flame in the hands of their successors. Every act of a physician's life inscribes itself in the memory of its fellows. He must be a light to illume, to be prepared to scatter sunshine where clouds. and shadows reign. The conscientious physician is attached to just principles and governed by the highest motives in doing good. His work is never-ending, and his patience inexhaustible. Moreover, he owes allegiance primarily to the general welfare of the community, and to moral and intellectual convictions; to devote whatever talents may be his toward safeguarding the public health and to advance the best interests of his profession. To learn the truth with him is to proclaim it. To this spirit of selfsacrifice and scientific zeal devoted to humanity there is no parallel. THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE. There is a spirit of inquiry, a thirst for knowledge pervading our profession. Intuition has given way to precision, and speculation is displaced by fact. One of the most important elements of success in life, and even of happiness, is a trained habit of observation-the power of noting accurately and comparing. Invaluable discoveries have been made by simply observing and reflecting on what was going on under one's eyes. Observation and research are prime factors in the wonderful advances and revolutionary changes constantly undergoing. Theories advanced by one are overthrown by another unless they stand the crucial test of successful repetition. As science is so abundantly demonstrating to day, the things which we see are but a small fraction of the things that are. The real vital forces at work in the world about us are not seen by the ordinary physical eye. There are two classes of workers in the profession of medicine: those engaged in the discovery, and those engaged in the practical application of scientific truths. Both of these realize the immensity of the field, the danger of propagating error, the gradual development and practical application of medical knowledge, and the futility of an argument with ignorance, prejudice and superstition. CAUSATION OF DISEASE. Prophylaxis, the science of the preservation of health or the prevention of disease, is based upon our knowledge of the causation of disease. To prevent the latter, one must first grasp somewhat of its nature and origin. What has been accomplished in this direction within the past quarter of a century far transcends the wildest speculation of the theorist of but a half century ago. During this period medical science has turned empiric chaos into scientific order. A complete revolution has been brought about through bacteriology, and renewed zeal has been awakened in various directions to curtail or prevent disease, and thus tend to increase the average duration of life. To acquaint laymen with the aims and possibilities of the medical profession in relation to preventive and sanitary measures is a problem of gradual solution. There is a natural conservatism possessing the human mind, which makes it slow to grasp the import of revolutionary facts. Until the public is educated through us to under stand its importance and possibilities, and necessary laws enacted and enforced, preventive medicine will never be accorded its proper place as a scientific branch of medicine. The slow working of natural laws tends to bring about reforms in all things, but it should be the accepted duty of every intelligent citizen to endeavor to assist in educating the masses. The public as well as our patients should be taught the nature of infection and contagion as applied to various diseases, and they should be persuaded to observe ordinary sanitary precautions. Where the will fails the law should step in. |