Quote of the Day

[nancylebov]

"Hygiene is the corruption of medicine by morality. It is
impossible to find a hygienist who does not debase his theory
of the healthful with a theory of the virtuous. The whole
hygienic art, indeed, resolves itself into an ethical exhortation.
This brings it, at the end, into diametrical conflict with
medicine proper. The true aim of medicine is not to make
men virtuous; it is to safeguard and rescue them from the
consequences of their vices. The physician does not preach
repentence; he offers absolution."

-- H.L. Mencken, The Smart Set, May 1919

Quoted by David Wright Sr. in alt.fan.heinlein

Comments

[madfilkentist]

The physician does not preach repentance; he offers absolution.

Or ablution, anyway.

[(Anonymous)]

This seems to be applicable to a lot of current alternative medicine, actually -- or at least to the attitudes of their practitioners and proponents whom I have come across. (Whom! Sorry, growing up in a Latin country does this to you...)

(Of course, in the case of ayurvedic and more generally Indian-derived practices, this is entirely to be expected, since purity in the moral as well as physical sense is quite explicitly at the centre of the ayurvedic system. From which it leaked into many other Oriental systems, and eventually into their descendants in the West.)

[holzman.livejournal.com]

That may even have been true in 1919. Little modern medicine looks very much like it did 30 years ago, let alone 86.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

We aren't immune to moral panic these days, either. The Center for Disease Control overestimated the risks from obesity by a factor of 14. And a half.

[redbird]

The only people I've dealt with personally who were called "hygienists" are sensible, hard-working women who cleaned my teeth with equipment more effective than the toothbrush and dental floss I have at home.

However, I think the "City of Madison Public Health Sanitarian" who contributed advice to the first Tiptree cookbook might qualify: the advice consisted of "first, wash your hands" (before cooking) and notes on some recipes that raw eggs carry a risk of disease.

Unlike Mencken, I am quite happy to have professional inspectors to make sure that restaurant kitchens are clean and store food at safe temperatures, and to test the public water supply for bacteria. It is neither virtue nor vice to drink a glass of water: it is a normal activity, and hygienists help ensure that it won't make me sick.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I don't know what Mencken meant by hygiene.

I do think that medical advice is frequently strongly influenced by moral preferences, and moral preferences are given medical justifications--without much evidence on either side.

Some examples are abstinance-only sex education and the wild overreaction to fatness. Also, there's quite a lot of evidence that a glass or two of wine per day is good for people, but they always say "but this doesn't mean you should start drinking". Why not? I understand that there's a risk of alcoholism, but they don't say "drink a little if you have good reason to think you can stop at a little."