MARCH OF SURGERY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 287, 1 December 1923, Page 15

MARCH OF SURGERY.

DEMONSTRATION AT MEDICAL CONFERENCE. jJGKt IN CHILD HEALTH. ' >-EW ZEALAND RESULTS APPRECIATED. Kemarkable demonstrations in nerve „.„erv as the result oi experiments on 33 ««■ -= een , b >- **• T r by King "the recent medical conference in Melbourne, where New Zealand's sue"Lses in child welfare were keenly appreciated, says the '-"Dominion." "The conference a 5 I=. whole was a -rest success."' said Dr. Tmby King, So returned by the Maunganui. '"both {mm the scientific and the social points 0 f view. A number of papers were j riven dealing with medicine, surgery, and j ™blic health. j The contributions which evoked the | most appreciation and interest were j joint papers in anatomy and surgery by Dr. Hunter, professor of anatomy of | Sydney University, and Dr. Boyle, an j orthopaedic surgeon. These addresses j lad to do on the one band with theories j and conclusions recently arrived at con- ! ceraing the functions of what is known j as the sympathetic nervous system, and j on the other hand with operations on ] tie lower animals and on man. Performed as the outcome of these conclusions, a very simple and painless operation on a goat made it safe and justifiable to cut certain of the nerve roots in the case of a returned soldier ■whose lower limbs had become rigid and unless as the result of grave injuries to the nervous system received during war time. The soldier was glad to have anything done which would afford even a remote chance of alleviation, where an entire cure was in any ease out of the question. . ?The result was more than gratifying. Moving pictures were shown of both -the patients. In the course of a few months this man, who previously had been unable to walk, was enabled not only to walk forward and backwards on level ground, but to go up hill a£l down hill and up and -down stairs, and this in spite of the fact that the operation had been performed only on one side. The patient exhibited lis powers in person at the close of the address. Both sides of the body lad not been operated on, as it was necessary to go cautiously. Therefore, in the meantime, the one limb remains stiff, as before; but even so the mobility of the other limb has enabled effective locomotion to be carried out, though naturally with certain limitations. It is highly desirable for the public to understand that actual experiments on living beings afford the only.anfians by which such advances in treatment can be made. If matters <rf this-, kind were properly understood •rrell-nieaning people would, be prevented from condemning simple operations on the lower animals which are necessary steps to the advance of knowledge In connection with surgery applied to -the benefit of mankind. .•v3"hat the conference was a lar°e -mac-may be realised from the fact that -jj^fcre l were nearly SO women doctors mainly Melbourne graduates. W_\ . ?ie Causes of Ricketa.

I "Some very interesting addresses were jf-jjen -in - wkh._cMld welfare gSpfbe diseases-of children, the" most of the latter being a paper by -Dr. Elsie Dalziel, of Sydney, giving the of investigations "and" work "coniducted by herself and others at the LisInstitute in London and at Vienna University in connection with rickets. "™*- nas become such a jrrave scourge as the outcome c( war famine Sand-post-war : conditions. It has been recognised" for centuries tlaat this disease . "is liable to arise where the lives and iygienic surroundings of children are unfavourable in various respects.; but it during the last two years that the' importance attaching to the deficiency of light, or rather to tue cutting off or restriction of the ultra violet rays of the spectrum, has come to be appreciated.

The research in question and investigations and treatment especially in Prance- and in the United States, "show conclusively the stupendously important part played by light in nutrition and health. A deficiency in this respect, and in the animal fats and oils, in the food, appear "to be the most important causatrreV factors in rickets. The practical hearing of such facts on everyday life will be realised when it is pointed out that the vital ultra violet chemical raya are cut off by window glass, out of all proportion to the obstruction of the visible light-giving rays. This, of course, onphasises the damage done by undue confinement indoors, whether in - the home or in school, and makes it im-

peratiyely necessary that children should.:have more exposure to open air sad sunlight, especially in the middle [oi the day. Other obstructions to the ultra violet, rays are the concomitants of crowded city life, especially where the houses are high, the streets narrow, and playgrounds and open air spaces few. In cities such as London and Glasgow, and m most manufacturing centres,** the smoky atmosphere is highly injurious, not only on account of the cutting off of light, hut still more on account of the cutting off of the invisible rays specially concerned in tlie due activities of the cells of the body. Chfld Welfare. ■"Great interest was shown at the Child Warfare section in the almost complete wiping out of infantile diarrhoea in Dunedin, and its reduction to very low proportions .throughout New Zealand, contrasted with the high rate of mortality from this gravest disease of early life still prevalent throughout the whole of Australia and Tasmania.