THE MEDICAL CONFERENCE.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18013, 4 March 1924, Page 7

THE MEDICAL CONFERENCE.

YESTERDAY'S SESSION.

(J2ES9 ASSOCIATION TM-EGBAM.)

AUCKLAND, Mnreh 3. Tho Medical Conference was resumed

to-day. Tho Council decided that the noxt meeting of tho Australasian Medical Congress lie held in Punedin in 1926. Mr L. E. Barnett, of that city, ivai elected president. Tho classification of arthritis and the principles of treatmont was the subject before the medical section of Professor D. W. Carmalt Jones, who dealt with the classification and general principles of the pathology and treatment. He also referred to nonspecific therapy in connexion with this disorder. Dr. Duncan, Eotorua, dealt with hydro-therapeutic therapy in the treatment of joint conditions as practised in the Government Balneological Department at Eotorua Sanatorium. Ha described the character of the waters at Eotorua, and indicated tho important fact that Kotorua possesses tho only free sulphuric acid water in tho world, and to this element he largely attributed tho wonderful results obtained there in such a largo proportion of cases. Dr. Bartram, Eotorua, spoko from a wide experienco of joint conditions. Ho referred to changes occurring in the blood as a direct result of tho baths at Kotorua, and attributed this to tho tonic benefits of the baths. Dr. Hamilton Marshall, physician to the Prince Alfred Sydney, advocated the thorough investigation of a patient to locato a possible sourco of infection which may bo located in any part of tho body. Ho emphasised tho importance of tho alimentary tract. Dr. Staloy, a woman doctor long resident in India, raised tho importance of malaria as a precoding factor in arthritis. She stated that inflammation of the joints was a common sequenco to malaria in India.

Dr. E. B. Gunson, of Auckland, in reply to Dr. Staloy's questions, mentioned that in Salonika the same thing had been observed where it was attributed to poßt-malarial ulceration of the bowel, which was treated by local irrigation. Professor Carmalt Jones, in reply, said tho feeling of the mooting was apparently strongly favourable to colon lavage as the routine treatmont in arthritis, on the grounds that there wae practically always a serious condition. of the bowel which was responsible largely for the persistence of the joint symptoms. The surgical section heard a paper by Mr Gordon Craig, of Sydney, on renal tumours. Mr Craig described in particular a new operation for the removal of the kidney. Mr Barnett devoted his remarks to a new operation which he strongly advocated. * Dr. Mayo supported Mr Barnett V . contentions, and said he found the operation a good one in tho majority of kidney cases requiring removal. Mr Kenneth Mackenzie, Auckland, gave examples and clinical demonstrations of cases recently investigated, here, and dealt particularly with :i new method of diagnosis In which tho kidney is injected and X-rayed. Before the special section, Dr. E. Spencer Godsall, Sydney, read a pnpor discussing the frontal sinews operating through the orbitosinus wall, with, special reference to open treatment. Dr G. E. 0. Fenwick, Auckland, Tfead'a paper by Dr. Wolff FreuAaa-. thai, of New York, on laryngeal tuberculosis. The greater the development of the forepart of the brain, the greater tho intelligence of the human being concerned, said Dr. S. V. Sewell, of Melbourne, lecturing on "Cerebral Tumour" before the general mooting of the Conference this afternoon. Dr. y Sewell showed a series of lantern slides illustrating the development of the . brain. He traced its development through the lower types, such as amphibians to mammalians. There occurred in the mammal for the first time an area of brain substance set apart for the storage of impressions of sense, such as taste and smell. When the t animal assumed an upright position in the ascent of the scale toward man, there was an increase in the storage capacity coincident with the growth of intelligence. In the higher apea there was a well-developed area in the posterior part of the' brain On the surface. When the human brain was reached, this area' had extended further and occupied the greater part of the back of the brain. In human beings there were large control areas in the front part of the brain which were more highly developed than any other part of the brain. In proportion to the development of this part of the brain, so was the development of the intelligence of the human being con- ; cerned. There was a tremendous difference in this development in mental defectives. This portion of the brain was small and ill-developed■ eoap*jJ with normal individuals. Dr. Sewell proceeded to apply "marks on the anatomy and physiology of the brain to the problem of the diagnosis and treatment of brain tumour. By means of special tests it was possible accurately to localise cerebral tumours so that a surgeon could with confidence decide upon the exact area of the skull, through which the operation could give the most ready access to the tumour. Professor Emerson, of Boston, referred to the association of ear disease and brain abscess and the differentiation of such abscess from cerebral tumour. .