NEW YORK CITY'S TUBERCULOSIS SANATORIUM AT OTISVILLE IS SENDING HOME APOSTLES OF SEMI-ANNUAL EXAMINATIONS
BOSTON'S PICTURESQUE DAY CAMP FOR TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS IS TEACHING THE NEED FOR A PERIODIC INVENTORY OF PHYSICAL RESOURCES
To encourage periodic physical examination is not to encourage morbid thinking of disease. One reason for our tardiness in recognizing the need for thorough physical examination is the doctor's tradition of treating symptoms. After men and women are intelligent enough to demand an inventory of their physical resources,—a balance sheet of their physical assets and liabilities,—physicians will study the whole man and not the fraction of a man in which they happen to be specializing or about which the patient worries. By removing the mystery of bodily ailments and by familiarizing ourselves with the essentials to healthy living, we find protection against charlatans, quacks, faddists, and experimenters. By taking a periodic inventory of our physical resources we discharge a sacred obligation of citizenship.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] See Dangerous Trades, compiled by Thomas Oliver; also list of reports by the United States Bureau of Labor.