HOME FROM GRAND TOUR

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 119, 22 May 1928, Page 9

HOME FROM GRAND TOUR

AUCKLAND SURGEON

RETURNS.

IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA.

VALUE OP SUNLIGHT TREATMENT.

"With regard to the sunlight treatment, it is largely advocated now, and has become very popular because of its value in the treatment of rickets and tuberculosis," said Mr. Leslie J. Thompson, F.R.C.S. (Edin.), an Auckland surgeon, who has returned to Auckland after a twelve months' tour abroad

Mr. Thompson said artificial sunlight was not a "quack" thing, but a scientific treatment A lot of new things were over-rated, especially by untrained persons, but in rickets, particularly, the artificial rays were used with great success

In the course of an interview with a representative of the "Star" this morning, Mr. Thompson said that, accompanied by Mrs. Thompson, he left Auckland about twelve months ago chiefly for postgraduate work. After reaching England he was invited to join a party of surgeons from the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Medi-

cine, England, which was about '• to visit America.

They were going on a visit to various hospitals as the guests of the American College of Surgeons. The trip was under the control of the Cunard Shipping Line and the Canadian National Railways, who supplied a courier for the trip through the United States and Canada. The party comprised 25 surgeons, and their wives, from the surgical section of the Royal Society of Medicine of theßritish Empire.

The first part of the tour included visits to Quebec, Toronto and Montreal, when visits were paid to the hospitals and places of interest. From there they went to Chicago, where they were welcomed by Dr. Franklin Martin, president, and Dr. McEachern, secretary. The latter was in New Zealand some time ago. The party arrived in Chicago on a Saturday, and were given a most enthusiastic welcome. Adjoining the building in which the welcome was given was the wonderful Murphy Memorial, erected in memory of Dr. John B. Murphy, of Chicago, who was considered one of the greatest surgeons of the world. Hospitality of Americans. Referring to the programme for the tour, which was mapped out to the minute, Mr. Thompson said he would like to talk about the hospitality of the American people. They did things on a big scale, particularly when they a large party in hand. Everywhere and every day the programmes were so big that they became tiring. Not only were inspections and demonstrations of hospital work arranged for every minute of the day, but lavish luncheons and banquets were also arranged. Some of the luncheons were quite important affairs, and were held at country clubs. The hospital demonstrations and the hospitality were on a big scale, but Mr. Thompson said he would not like to say anything which would tend to show lack of appreciation of this hospitality, which was overwhelming and truly American.

An interesting part of the tour was that Which included a visit to Detroit and Airport. Here they were the guests of Henry Ford and his son, Edsel. Henry Ford has a wonderful hospital which is a hobby of his. He maintains a fullypaid medical staff, numbering something near 100, and a staff of about 200 nurses. The patients number only ahout 300. The nurses' home is a sumptuous place. Each patient and each nurse has a single room with own bathroom, in fact, said Mr. Thompson, in nearly all modern hospitals in America every patient has hie own room and bathroom. At Airport the party were uet by Mr. Ford and given a run in the new Ford as early as last September, to the surprise of every American they met. They were taken up in one of the huge Ford aeroplanes, which carry about 10 to 12 passengers each. The works are turning out about one a month. Enormous Hospital Centre. As to the hospitals generally in the United States, Mr. Thompson said they were under different classes of control. Churches like the Methodists and Presbyterians have hospital work as well as their other activities, so much so that the biggest pile of medical buildings in the world is being built New York by the Columbia University and Presbyterian Church in combination. The building is called the ColumbiaPresbyterian Medical Centre and will incorporate the Columbia School of Medicine. It is situated on a magnificent site overlooking the Hudson River and the building is to-cost 50,000,000 dollars. The hospital building and equipment are absolutely the last thing in their line, but in the opinon of Mr. Thompson they are in some aspects unnecessarily extravagant. Some time was spent in England and Edinburgh by Mr. Thompson, doing postgraduate work and then he and Mrs. Thompson wer.t across to the Continent and spent a holiday on the Riviera and in North Italy. Furthe. - post-gradu-ate work was done in Venna, where he found the people particularly friendly to Britishers. A peculiar situation has arisen in Vienna as far as Britishers are concerned. Practically all post-graduate work in English has been "bought up" by the American Medical Association and the Britishers have to join the American Association to get any work, but it Is of the very best and of a type not procurable in England. What New Zealand Lacks. In reply to a question as to how the work of our hospitals compared with what he had seen overseas, Mr. Thompson said it was quite good here, but we suffered from the lack of opportunity for an exchange of ideas. In England a great deal of attention is being paid to the value of the general practitioner's work, because of the importance of the recognition of early systems and their classification not only in the cure of disease, but its prevention in the early stages. The late Sir James Mackenzie founded an institute at St. Andrews, where general practitioners co-operated with specialists in research work and many are regarding their participation as the most important thing in the furtherance of medical research. Institutes of thrt sort would Le valuable in countries such as New Zealand, where we have a lack of means of co-operation between men in hospitals and those not in hospitals.