Scientific collective investigation of disease / by Henry B. Baker.

  • Baker, Henry B. (Henry Brooks), 1837-1920.
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Scientific collective investigation of disease / by Henry B. Baker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    are. For instance, I show you a diagram'exhibiting by months the relations which sickness from pneu- monia bears to the atmospheric temperature, the diagram giving the averages of over 150,000 obser- vations of the temperature, and of over 30,000 weekly reports by physicians. Of that which was contributed by the physicians who took part in this investigation, that which has been used from the re port each week, was the fact whether the physician did or did not see a case of the disease in question. The State Board of Health supplied the blanks, the postage, and the compilation of the whole in con- nection with the meteorological data similarly col- lected and compiled. The results when published are sent to each observer, but they are published as the common property of the world. It seems that by this method we are able to learn the times of greatest and of least danger from each important disease; soon we should be able to see exactly what re- lation each rneteorological condition bears to each important disease. If these investigations shall be carried on in different States and countries, we ought soon to be able to learn whether the meteorological conditions bear the same relations in all countries, or whether local conditions modify the results, and how they are modified. It may be practicable to extend the scope of such investigations by govern- mental cooperation. But at any rate, such coopera- tion as is now in force in Michigan, will make it pos- sible for medical associations to direct their energies to investigations into results of different modes of treatment of diseases, and in therapeutic and other directions so as to supplement those investigations, as to causes and prevention, which it is manifestly the duty of Governments to maintain. For the most accurate recording of facts which shall serve as the basis for the scientific investigation PROMPT REPORTS NEEDED. I %