Annual address before the Medical Society of the County of Albany, November 8, 1859 / by Sylvester D. Willard.

  • Willard, Sylvester David, 1825-1865.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual address before the Medical Society of the County of Albany, November 8, 1859 / by Sylvester D. Willard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    have operated in giving direction to the State and National government-, unfolding resources for the gratification of antiquarian research, it affords no possible information to the student who would trace with its growth and increasing prosperity, the origin and progress of diseases incidental to its climate, with their various types and modifications. It does not, indeed, excite our surprise that such has been the condition of our intelligence, but we may justly inquire why this condition continues when the value of statistical science has not only aroused the attention of the philanthropist, but pressed its importance upon the interests of the state, and in the value of mortuary returns made an earnest appeal to those of our profession. Let the question be asked if with the changes incident to our climate, within our own city, pulmonary diseases have decreased, or if the ratio of mortality is less within this limit than in cities around us, or what is the relative comparison with its fatality in other cities, and we have no data by which to solve the problem. Nor are we more familiar with the mortuary results of either eruptive or epidimic diseases. This is a point upon which we are frequently appealed to as conservators of the public health, but upon which any knowledge we generally possess, is at least empty and unsatisfactory to ourselves. The epidemic of the last year fully confirms this assertion. To the objection that mortuary statistics if known could add nothing to the skill of conducting an individual through the various stages of any malady, a reply need scarcely be urged. I should be unwilling to believe that the objection could find an honest advocate within sight of an academy where the science of medicine is taught, in which so many of us were educated, and under whose seal scores of young men yearly go forth inspired with zeal for the principles of our art. The statute or ordinance by which such informa- tion is gained and made subservient to our use, must have its origin in Ihe medical profession, and be executed by the