Doctors, like some other types of scientists, suspect that they might be able to clean up some of the mess that politicians have made. More than a score of the world's most famous physicians met in Manhattan last week to consider the idea. The occasion was a centennial meeting of the New York Academy of Medicine. Their topic: "Social Medicine."
What is "social medicine?" Some doctors thought it sounded like socialized medicinewhich it is not. Social medicine, as its eminent sponsors were more than willing to explain, is an ambitious project to improve man's health by attacking the environmental causes of disease.
One...