Article May 1, 1915 Issue

Following the custom of his predecessors, the director of...

Philadelphia (Pa.) Inquirer

Following the custom of his predecessors, the director of public health has just issued the usual weekly "health bulletin." But why label it "health"? Why not "disease"? since it is disease that is always discussed, not health. This time we are treated to a lecture on germs. If we do not do this or do that, we shall catch germs of one kind or another, and then dreadful things will happen. This is the month of March, and it seems that poor suffering humanity is especially liable to be germ-inflicted just now. But in April we will be told the same thing, and in May and June, and throughout the other months of the year. All of which leads to the natural query, Haven't we gone germ mad?

In the olden days of our grandfathers such terrible enemies as germs were unknown. For that matter, neither were many of the diseases of present-day medical development. Something new is bobbing up all of the time, bent on our destruction; the germ happens to be the latest. So nowadays we are told that we must bend every effort to fight the germ. It is to be found on all sides. It lurks in milk, in water, in the food we eat, in the air we breathe. If we were to believe everything that has been said about germs, we would be afraid to walk the streets, afraid to go to bed, afraid to go to sleep, and most assuredly we should starve to death, because we would not dare to eat or drink.

Germs are becoming quite fashionable with our medical men. They do not know just what a germ is, because if a germ appears, it must be the effect of some preceding cause. Now, if they could only find the cause and suppress that, what a splendidly germless world this would be, to be sure Medical views and methods are constantly changing. It is considered essential now to begin with the infant and preach disease through life. From the cradle, through the schools, and into after-life there is no let-up. The harassed human is never permitted to go without a reminder that disease is to be expected, whereas health is really the natural thing. The idea seems to be that if we would escape disease we must be frightened so that we shall stand in constant fear of it. Hence, we are continually bombarded with disease warnings.

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