TO FIGHT DISEASE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 43, 20 February 1929, Page 12

TO FIGHT DISEASE.

TRIUMPHS OF SURGERY. PHYSICIAN'S DAILY ROUND. B.M.A. CONFERENCE ADDRESS. MEDICAL MEN' IX WELLINGTON". 'Br TVlPcrnpli. —Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON", this day. Tn his presidential arlrlress at an open »p*Mon of tlie British .Medical Association conference Inst night. Dr. .T. S. Klliott, of Wellington, took as his theme ♦he salient points of recent knowledge pained by scientific research in its proeecntion as an aid t>, medical practice. The address was broadcast, directly and T>y relay, throughout New Zealand. It was followed w.'lh close attention bpth l»y the conference gathering and by lit-fonera-in.

"Greatly daring." said the speaker, "I venture my barque upon a somewhat troubled sea of disputation, and even into those cross currents where science and religion meet. As for mir, the higher animal, it i> enough to say that he is compounded of various chemicals— fat enough for seven bars of soap, iron enough for one medium-sized nail; sugar enough to fill a shaker, lime enough to whitewash a chicken-coop, phosphorus sufficient to make 2200 match heads, magnesium enough for one dose of salts. potash enough to explode a toy cannon and sulphur enough it rid one dog of fleas. Even at post-war prices, one could buy all the ingredients for 5/. But that wo may not be too humble, let ur consider further the use to which our chemical composition is applie 1. The most perfect camera is the eye, the most perfect telephone is the of, the most perfect musical instrument 5* the larynx, tho most perfect chemicai laboratory the intestinal tract, the niosi, perfect ball and socket joint the human shoulder, the most perfect thatch the human hair, for such as are blessed with a sufficient quantity when youth has faded. AT>ove all, the most jiVfeet form of government, i* the grey cellular •ystem of the human biain."

Search After Truth. Turning to the personal science.., Dr. Elliott eaid that although the re* lit of Darwin's search after truth was not admired in Tennessee, yet the scientifically trained mind could not fail to see in Darwinism a golden nugget perhaps scarcely yet cleansed from its clay. "For centuries," he said, "the germs of dieease attacked mankind, and man knew not how to set up a defence against an unknown and invisible foe, but during the last half-century medical scientists have unmasked the germ armies, and shown how to defeat them. This victory is the greatest for humanity, above all the victories of war since the world began. Epidemic disease has been controlled, and the control of putrefaction has led to the great triumphs of modern surgery."

With telling effect the speaker mentioned the names and achievements of men who had rendered noble service and made heroic sacrifice in discovering remedies for disease. Malaria and yellow fever had been heroically investigated, and the noxious organisms responsible for them had been discovered end dealt with, thanks to the splendid but inadequately-acknowledged .service of Manson, Ross, Carroll, Lazear and Noguchi, the brilliant Japanese bacteriologist and martyr.

The plague bacillus—accountable for "the pestilence that walketh in darknetis •nd the destruction that wasteth at noonday" with decimating effects?—had been found and fought. C'astellani and Sambon hud traced the causes of sleeping sickness and typhus fever. Rogers had brought hope to the leper, all except advanced cases being now curable.

Inoculation against cholera and typhoid had saved many thousands of lives. "Malta fever" had been overcome. The wonderful discoveries leading to X-ray and radium and light treatment — advanees adding to the long roll of medical martyrs—had been epochal. Investigation of the mystery of cancer was bringing a fuller knowledge of life Itself. Goitre, diphtheria, syphilis and diabetes were yielding to scientific attack. Miracles were wrought by surgery In the last great war, and modern investigation and treatment had made preventable dysentery, tetanus and trench fever.

Sympathy and Understanding. "It is for the relief of the.human race," said Dr. Elliott, "that our profeseion exists, and not only to fight disease hut with sympathy to understand the men, women and children who seek our knowledge and experience. "How far we succeed is not for us to •ay, and we dare not look for approval to those gifted amateurs who by intuition know more than by years of toil and study, or to featherbrains selfconsciously deep in all the pseudonciences. Kipling says, 'the average patient looks upon the average doctor very much as the non-combatant looks upon the troops fighting on his behalf. The more trained men there are between his body and the enemy the better,' and he says that our days are filled with the piteous procession of men and women begging us daily for leave to be allowed to live a little longer, upon whatever terms.

"In all time of flood, fire, famine, plague, pestilence, battle, murder and sudden death, says Kipling, that master of the magic of the necessary word, it will be required of us that we report for duty at once, and go on duty at once, end that we, stay on duty until our strength fails us or our conscious relieves us; whichever may be the longer period. There is no legislation to limit our output or shorten our working hours, for, you see, we are a privileged class. We have to make the best terms we can with death on our patients' behalf." These being their responsibilities and this the work they had in hand, said the speaker, they were all necessarily materialists in a sense, for they had to work in the finest material, the texture man, infinitely complex, infinitely precious. Nevertheless, they were not necessarily materialists in the sense generally implied by that term. "It is not ho difficult," he said, "for a physician to peer into the cloudy places of the soul and see a spiritual fourth dimension in the earthly house of this mansion. . . .

The physician's daily round carries him wven to that valley where the. King of JTerrore ridee his pallid horse, and he Hebei ti P e *- turn to thoughts of what that am**! the bonda S c of tne grave in ' hath ii *2S?v ** ■ r Tn °mas Browne of enow' 3S Py'amids pillars ' -'* past a moment.' " in the heavei»r»nd toll,*. adm 'ration t.nuou. «volution6f wS, d . earth of con- *«, Huxley had sauTanT W ?" »" any form of * ience ' SSflfLfffS

lost in mechanical detail that he lost the grandeur of the whole design and faith in the spirit which breathed through the whole universe. The gradual conquest of disease by the energy and sacrifice of single-minded men, Harvey's groat discovery, Jenner's fight against smallpox. Pasteur and Lister'? tight against hospital fever, Simpson's banishment of pain, the gradual conquest of malaria, yellow fever and other scourges of mankind, the great hospital system of the present day, perhaps the choicest flower of our civilisation, pointed to )i future that was bright with promise and radiant with hope. ••We may," concluded the speaker, '"recall the words of Isaac Newton, who compared himself to a child playing on the seashore who had the good fortune to find a prettier and more polished pebble than his fellows had seen, but he had not -o much as launched his boat on the broad ocean which called the more venturesome to the discovery of continents still unknown. The best is yot to be. The Golden Age is not behind, but before us. Future discoveries will not spring full bloom from barren soil. There are long years of preparation and experiment, the gradual accumulation of knowledge and experience in all fields of endeavour, and, above all, the will to succeed in the end no matter how protracted it may be. "Thew is no chance, no destiny, no fate Can circumvent, can hinder or control The firm resolve of a determined soul. Gifts count as nothing. Will alone is great All things give way before it soon or late.