M. D., "Doctor of Mankind"

All are aware of the noble work being carried on in dozens of cities by 25,000 women recruited by the Red Cross and trained at 875 hospitals. They are serving as unpaid "assist­ant nurses," in order to help solve the wartime problem by enabling one graduate nurse to do the work of six. "For these assistant nurses it is all work and no pay—except the satisfaction of serving." At first hospitals were skeptical because they felt that few women would be willing to leave comfortable homes for the drudgery of caring for the sick. They asked to be convinced, and so convinced have they be­come that the goal is set for ioo,000 nurse's aides to be on active duty by 1943.

Why has this program succeeded? Lois Mills, in charge of Bellevue's volunteer groups, says : "The volunteer nurse's aides have brought to nursing all those qualities that Florence Nightingale envisioned for it." A graduate nurse adds : "We don't know exactly what it is, but they have something that we do not, perhaps something that we lost in the course of scientific training." And a head nurse declares, "Their courage and unselfishness make you really proud of American women."

No one can estimate the good accomplished by these sacrificing women, ninny of whom have other jobs during the day and do their hospital work at night. Why are they willing to give freely of their time and best efforts ? Because the needs are great, and their country calls for volunteers

Today the King of the universe sounds forth a call for volunteers to practice the principles of the gospel. Jesus stands forth as the great Medical Missionary, urging us to follow His example and to sense the supreme importance of the place of medical missionary work in the proclamation of the last message. This call for volunteers is for all. It comes not only to phy­sicians and nurses, but to every member of the church.

"We have come to a time when every member of the church should take hold of medical missionary work. The world is a lazar house filled with victims of both physical and spiritual disease. Everywhere people are perishing for lack of a knowledge of the truths that have been committed to us. The members of the church are in need of an awakening, that they may realize their responsibility to impart these truths. Those who have been enlightened by the truth are to be light bearers to the world. To hide our light at this time is to make a terrible mistake.... Before the true reformer, the medical missionary work will open many doors. No one need wait until called to some distant field before beginning to help others."—"Testimonies," Vol. VII, p. 62. (Italics ours.)

The Lord does not leave us in doubt as to further direction. We are told through His messenger : "Wherever you are, you can begin at once. . . . Take up the work for which you are held responsible,—the work that should be done in your home and in your neighborhood. . . . Act as if you heard Christ calling upon you personally to do your utmost in His service." —Id., pp. 62, 63.

As men's hearts" begin "failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth," it is our opportunity to minister to their physical and spiritual needs. We need a clearer conception of the fine distinc­tion concerning medical mission work, which is made clear by Dr. A. J. Brown in his book, "A New Era in Foreign Missions :"

"There are medical missions and medical missions —Medical missions that emphasize medicine and the practice of medicine, and medical missions that put the emphasis upon missions. The true medical mis­sionary practices the latter. He does not argue that the ordained man should look after the souls, while the physician cares for the bodies."

The modern doctor carries the degree M. D., which, interpreted, means "Doctor of Medicine," but which should mean, if he desires to minister to the full man, "Doctor of Mankind." He not only seeks to understand the importance of bac­teria, "the sanitation of the physical environ­ment," and other causes of physical disease, but endeavors to understand the mental and emo­tional forces which are frustrating men and women and are causing functional disorders for which there seems to be no physical basis, no anatomic derangement, no definite pathology.

"The relation that exists between the mind and the body is very intimate. When one is affected, the other sympathizes. The condition of the mind affects the health to a far greater degree than many realize. Many of the diseases from which men suffer are the result of mental depression. Grief, anxiety, discontentment, remorse, guilt, distrust, all tend to break down the life forces, and to invite decay and death."—"Ministry of Healing," p_. 241.

"How Your Mind May Make You Ill," an article by Elsie McCormick, which appeared in the Reader's Digest, October, 1942, presents scientific evidences that mental conditions can upset normal physical conditions, weaken re­sistance to infection, and actually cause physical change in vital organs. When fifteen hundred patients, suffering from a variety of illnesses, were examined at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, it was found that an emotional upset lay at the root of more than half the cases. At Johns Hopkins fifty patients who complained of nausea or stomach pains were examined, but only six had a definite organic reason—the rest were literally worrying themselves sick. A study of mucous colitis pa­tients made at Massachusetts General Hospital showed that ninety-two per cent of them were harried by worry and emotional strain.