Article September 23, 1911 Issue

WHEN DOCTORS DISAGREE

FLORENCE S. WEAVER.

Some months ago invitations were sent out from a public school in the city of Baltimore to parents of the attending children, to be present on an occasion when the educational system of the school would be discussed. There were about two hundred present, and after a few preliminary remarks by the principal of the school, the meeting was thrown into an open conference. The length of the lesson and the physical condition of the average child were discussed until it seemed that the school tasks were difficult, and the child a frail creature indeed; that it was doubtful if he could stand the strain.

Then a doctor in the audience arose and said that while they were considering what was good for the child, he should like to suggest that the water in the school be boiled. He added that he was a doctor in good standing in the city, and he had used boiled water in his home for four years, and that not one number of his family had had typhoid fever, and that he had had a like result with many patients. Instantly another man was on his feet, claiming that as a physician in equally good standing he would like to state that he had also used boiled water at his table for several years, and that every member of his family had had this disease, and that many of his patients who had taken the same precaution had suffered similarly. He was interrupted by a man who said that from his standpoint he could not see that boiling the water both at home and at the school would suffice to insure against disease, as any child might be tempted to take a drink on his way to or from school.

Before the speaker could offer a solution to this dilemma he was vigorously interrupted by a doctor who said that he knew what he was talking about; that he had devoted years of study to the subject, and that he would like to denounce the practice of boiling the water; that in boiling what was objectionable in the water the life-giving properties were destroyed, and that one could not flourish, could not have the proper use of his faculties, while he was kept on boiled water. Thus, with much fervor, the discussion continued on the advisability of boiling or not boiling the water. One could hardly imagine how a settlement could be reached when the doctors disagreed.

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