MEDICAL NOTES.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17207, 26 July 1921, Page 10

MEDICAL NOTES.

(jTOOM [OVR I-OWN: CJJRBESPOifpfeNX.) .;;' '■ ■ ',- lonijon, Juno 2, ; " Dr.-Leonard Williams has been in Geneva as one-of; the British special- ' ists.-jnvited,''to inspect Dr. Spahlihger's laiooratory and tbveacamine the various steges in the manufacture of the scrum tireatment for consumption. "My-owri connexion with the treatment goes back to 1918,'' he says, "when I was working 'in'.England in conjunction with Dr. Spahlinger. We tried his serum on a number of tubercular cases—rsome of thein'Very bad;casos indeed, where the lungs showed extensive, cavitation.'.:. In ißs,per'CentiOf the cases the treatment ■ has-been tremehdously beneficial. SpnHlinger's discovery is, ui my; opinion, unr doubtedly> the greatest .advance in its partially proved results, and in its enormous latent potentialities,', since Jenner's epoch-making .'introduction of vaccination. One must' not use,the word 'cure:'"" It-is criminal to behasty , in one's judgment,df such matters, but the facts 'as-we know point in '.":■ one'direction.' They are sign-posts to hope. : But the position is only • hopefuTih be found to v carryiiou't ex^riments v oh ah extended #(&lel;/; • WMt is; wahixxl isa' millionaire ' wlro will back the financial offers have been made to Dr. instbllationV and his activities eeneratly, •'-'■'■'.'• matter of remoral is iat''presentvin embrvo. ; The -.' pirocessiof mnnufucture of the serum is %ieftgthy'and costly: ittakes four years. '■■.■'■•■■'•lvpin.'my-> faith more to a millionaire . philanthropist thnri to Governm-nt .he-, • ft man of big money, and- "■: a biggeri!'hearty it is an idea oh vhich heimigKt* well expend himself and his -money: in 'the great cause of suffering ; -:-:hainsofutyi?.' ■ '■• . . ■ | / Dr.-Spahlhiger is about 85, of pure -.SwissVd;iscent.. Ho holds the degree' :• A ; «f ;the\<Geneva vUnrversity, and speaks .'-;Eiglislir;parfectlyj and he, is to marry ' - \\ '''■■■■■'.• '■«■'■■< £.\Bimple:new.cure for neuralgia is : ;desoraied'by the "Presse M-die-ale" TBarißfequoted:,, by. the "Medical World."' Itwwars r discovered by. Dr. W. , : Janowski. .irko? found that repeated . pressure flh't^'aff^t^.-nerve where it j 1 comes outtromtheskull is an effectual remedy. Dr. Jnnowskj.,'• holds the par j .tieht'e 'lii*d-firmly his own • chest -while 'he; .jiressjw with his first! finger on iierveV at. its.-point of ■ emergence; '-•■• Pressure is kept up for •: with intervals of '<«« 'second;' ■''jtVisvirepeated.-''about.-'ten :- timifcat If the trentv' tnent Jb not effectual, in five or six days vrin'-ihterval>bf-tivo days should be al- "..'■]■, renewing it. . "'■:'■ ;' Handing:on the Torch. Sff-Mnfcolm Morris, in his prestden- : tial iaddrSss"*6:the Incorporated Institute of indicated some encouraging, progress - and some' features which are'disappointing.. In fiftyjyearaV'he said, the death-rate has gone down .fromv2l.4 per 1000 .to 13»8;''.But'-tbat does not I justify a rest-and-he-thankfuj spirit. We ought to aim at nothing less than'the reduction. : f of the' present rate by one-half during thei "next half "century.~ In the same period infantile mortality has gone • down from; 149 per 1000 births to 89. But'inNej? Zealand the rate.is only W"; ariS iDr? Harold Westergaard, of Copenhngeh, holds that 'in all civilised lauds if, may -be ultimately reduced to botweett; 80 ahd,4o. Whfle we nave "been; sap mothers have not. ■;■-.■■;■ bf»ri,saved/. "Every year more than :'■ 8000 women perish in handing on the torch of hie to the next generation,' of those who\survive the ordeal a &«b»t>intiai proportion rise from child- '■• ■'", bed ; W'live a life of chronic invalidism.. X : corto be." Sir Malcolm ■- insii*9tFthat the teaching of hygiene in arndbls nngh- to.be made more interesting.: ';..«.'lf,V he a tiny fraction <6f.such, ingenuity as is displayed .... by. of our great news- . papers in' makinc. the dars news at-

I tractive to all:classes of.jieaderswere exercised ir- making hygiene mteiesting to children, there would be no need for teaching personal hygiene to adults. A lavish use should be made of diagram and : piflture, and tihe lantern, slide should be pressed into the service." The hygiene, of the future would have to reconsider the question of . hereditary,responsibility. At sea ships should be periodically freed from the rats, which spread pestilence throughout the world. Babies or Barracks ? Dr. Addison told the Federation or Medical and Allied Societies that the great function • of. the Ministry of H«alth mu3t be to foster preventive ferries, the essence of which was that one did not see iheir result. Certain items of expenditure would have to go, hut he put the interests of British banles before, the building of barracks in Baghdad. If we had to choose between gasbags and maternity homes, he would vote for maternlity homeß. It was sound economy. Sir Alfred ■ Mond (Health Minister) said that no one could contemplate with equanimity the closing "down of beds in voluntary hospitals, and it was inconceivable that | these great institutions could be) allowed to curtail their activities. Payment by Patients. The new system of payment by patients of the Middlesex Hospital has given an increase of revenue during Jho last three months at the £IO,OOO a year, hut the Earl of Atftlone explained that even with tins contribution the great work done inrtitution in teaching and research as well as m the treatment of. "cases, left a deficit of £3500 a quarter. In these civcumstances he made an earnest appeal 'ft* increased voluntary sup-, port of the'hospital, on which they mUBt relv if they were to carry on untrammellod by epf o "^ ll^?. 8 m outside ..minorities." -The report stated that with the creditors' accounts tor the last quarter of 1920 paid an overdraft of £13.000 fronvthe bankers had to be obtained, but hope of a claim of the Goyernment, reprpsentitig the difference between the ffrant't made for the treatment of naval and military patients, and the actual cost..of their, maintenance. Blood WIH TelL. "I sugg€Bt ■certain general blood teste whereby susceptible persons can be eliminated from occupations inimical to their well-being," and Sir K. Goadby, the Home Office Specialist Referee for j Industrial Poisoning, in a lecture at, theltoyal Sobiety of Arts.'"By this means not only would industrial,poisoning in many occupations be' reduced, but some trades now-regarded as dangerous- might even be rendered safe. Natural susceptibility ,is a factor # of I primary importance . in industrial! diseases. Familiar examples j rashfolio wing.the eating of shell fish or I utrawberries, and the rash produced by j handling certain woods and drugs. Sub- { ceptibility can also be induced in ani- i mala which are by nature resistant to '■■ suoh an extent that a small dose of the simple white of an egg injected under the skin-will cause in a few j moments. The usual painters' colic is turpentine; poisoning, which causes hardening of the arterial tissues and in- I creased blood pressure. My- investigations after twenty years' experience in lead works also suggest that a considerable proportion of the population show susceptibility to lead poisoning." Industrial disease was undoubtedly a cause of unemployment, and therefore to decrease unemployment, not only should disease be prevented, but an attempt should be made to select for employment persons whose specific and in. dividual powers of resistance were best suited for the particular tyne-of employment. This side of problems of industrial disease was rarely, given the consideration it deserved, but the mere prevention of the disease by striking out of an industry some special forms of poisonous or partially no:s3nbus com. pound might operate more hardly on persons enminhted from employment than it operated beneficially in protectin ?r the fraction of sttsceptibles from riskß." '