MEDICAL NOTES.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18129, 19 July 1924, Page 17

MEDICAL NOTES.

RECORD OF CANCER RESEARCH. HEALTH OF THE MIND. (rr.on oca ovz. coebesfokcsst.) LONDON, Juno 3. fc-inco the- beginning of the present v t >ar about 150 cases of encephalitis lethargica. or sleepy sickness, have been reported in Birmingham, and during the past six weeks cases have been reported at the rate of about 20 a week. They are occurring all over the city, and almost without exception there is no connexion between any two cases,. There havo been 20 fatal cases during the present year. The milder types of the disease are undoubtedly now being more freely reported than hitherto. Dublin doctors who have treated sufferers of this disease with influenza vaccine report good results. Ihe experience- of the Ministry of health, however, does not support the Dublin investigators. Official results appear to show that the respiratory troubles present in influenza are rare in sleepy sickness, and that the infection connected with influenza i 3 seldom to be found in the malady now attracting attention.

The Ministry point to dozens of experiments made with the disease in which the injection of the influenza bacillus, while sometimes rewarded by a reaction on the part of the patient, just.as often was not. Research has been going on at the laboratory of special pathology at the University College of Dublin for some time, and it is declared that "pink eye," so typical of influenza, is also notable in many cases of sleepy sickness. One Dublin medical man is convinced that practically nil cases of sleepy sickness, if taken in their early stages, may be cured by doses of influenza bacillus vaccine.

, Malaria as a Cure. Fresh light was thrown on the latest method of treatment of general paralysis of the insane and certain other diseases, bv Dr. Andrew Balfour at the Royal Institution, in his discourse on "Historical Aspects of Malaria." Until very recently, he said, it would not have been possible to adduce evidence showing any direct benefit to man from malaria, but a surprising development took place a few years ago, when Professor Wagner-Jauregg, of Vienna, began to treat cases of general paralysis of tiie insane by introducing; into the blood of patients the organism causing malaria, thereby producing in these patients attacks of malarial fever. He had noticed, as had others, the beneficial effects of febrile attacks in cases of general and conceived the idea of inducing high temperature at short intervals.

Although patients were treated on these'lines as early as 1917, nothing was published on the subject until 1920, but-the remarkable results obtained in certain instances and the fact that, in most cases; distinct benefit resulted, led to extensive trials of the new treatment on the Continent, and later to its employment in this country. "Ere now," satd Dr. Balfour, "one malady has been used to combat another, but never before has use been made in therapeutics of a serious disease, which, once its good work is accomplished, can be'- effectively and speedily controlled, as is the case with malaria. The method, promising though it be, is still in its infancy. It is possible that it may be applicable to other diseases of the central nervous system. If malaria proves itself able to cope with locomotor'>~ ataxia, disseminated sclerosis, and paralysis agitans, then, indeed, it will be hailed as a benefactor, and be considered as having in some Small degree made, amends for its past atrocities."

A Misused Worfi. Dr. E. Farqubar. Buzzard, Physician •Extraordinary to the King, was one of the speakers at the International Conferenco of the People's League of Health at Wembley. He said it had become the fashion for everyone to discuss his or her bodily ailments, or those of friends and relatives, without reserve or restraint at the tea or din ner table, whereas at a reference to mental ailments there was only Bilence or whispered comment. They must make everyone recognise; that when anyone suffered from "nerves" he suffered from a mental disorder. We all suffered from mental disorders at some time or another. When one was tired and irritable, and when one made mountains out of molehills, one's disorder was mental, and not nervous. "Nerves" was a term invented for our deception, because while we did not shrink from talking about our stomachß. we drew the line at talking about our minds. No doubt this disinclination arose from the suggestion of insanity, and from the prevailing idea that insanity was some dire condition which came as a bolt from the blue, without cause or reason. So long as this prejudice about the mind existed everyone beginning to suffer from ill-health would refuse to acknowledge, even to himself, its mental origin. "If," declared Dr. Buzzard, "the prejudice about the use of the word 'mental' -were destroyed and the employment of the word 'nerves' abolished in the next ten years, then the biggest step in the promotion of mental hygiene would have been taken, and this alone would mark, the period -as one of the greatest epochs in the advance of medicine and in the promotion of health and happiness."

Sane and Insane. Sir Frederick Mott, dealing with the subiect of "The Study and Treatment of Insanity," said it had been shown that one of the most fatal forms mental disease— general paralysis of the insane—could be prevented by the adoption of all those measures which the State and the medical profession and the public had adopted for the prevention and treatment of venereal disease. He strongly advocated the establishment throughout the country of more hospitals on the lmes ot the Maudslev Hospital. These hospitals for the 'study and treatment of early cases would be much more useful if the law could be so altered that patients could be detained for more than twentyfour hours, oven against their wish. He thought that in such institutions they should have more singing, dancing, and nrusic for the patients. I>r. H. Crichton Miller, speaking on "The Economic Importance of Mental Hygiene," said there was no hard-and-fast differentiation between sane and insane. Enlightened opinion realised to-day that some asylum cases were curable, that many uncertified cases of mental breakdown could be saved, and that a very great proportion of both might be prevented. Dr. B. G. Eowe said to recognise that the delinquent was made and not born •would put an end to the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness which seized so many who were interested in the subject, and would justify the hope that - changing the environment and. educating the~parents and child would do much to prevent the development of delinquency. '■. ~ Cancer Besearch. '' Cancer Beaearch at the ; Middlesex Hospital, 1900-1924, BeJiospeet and

Prospect," is a work just published bv Mr Murray. It has been compiled by me f^ r8 J -° f , *£ e Btaff of the Hospital and Medical School, and is issued by authority of the Cancer and General Besearch Committee. << ™ l Tl l2. can *? r , r ceU - « a rebel," writes "The Times" Medical Correspondent in the course of a notice of this volume. 'lt is a cell which has defied the universal law, which, has renounced its allegiance, denied its obligations, and resumed its independence. By some alchemy within its own being it is able to resist the all-compelling force to which its neighbours so readily submit. It grows, it reproduces itself/it moves about, it feeds at the general expense; in tne end it brings destruction to the whole organisation. Yet it is a child or tiio common ancestor, a 'brother bv blood, so to speak, of every other cell in the body. Here is no intruder which has forced its way into the bodv, no germ of disease, but a member of the family turned traitor and betraver. From which it follows that the problem of cancer is the problem of the cause of this revolt. What, in the first instance, impelled the honest, hardworking, self-sacrificing body-cell to change its nature? We do not know the answer; but readers of this book will discover for themselves how earnestly the workers at the Midd esex Hospital and elsewhere have laboured to supply it, how many new steps have been taken, and how patiently truth has been silted from error. They will discover that it is quite untrue to suggest that progress has not been epenmental production of cancer to refute that idea. They will feel sometimes as they read, that knowledge has advanced so far that the ultimate goal cannot be very distant." Animal L.thology. Last week the Duke of Connaught laid the foundation stone of the Research Institute in Animal Pathology, which, at a cost of over ±3u,uOu, is being added to the Royal Veterinary College, Camden Town. Tho Earl of Northbrook (chairman of the Board of Governors of the College) stated that the institute was designed to provide the accommodation and equipment required for the systematic prosecution of researches regarding tho diseases of the domestic cated animals, and when completed it would be.ir comparison with institutes of the same kind in any part of the world. A substantial sum for the erection and equipment of the building had been provided by the Development Commission, with the approval of tho Ministry of Agriculture,'on condition that the Governors of tiio College provided the site and contributed towards the cost. An increased maintenance grant had also been promised, and tho Governors welcomed this financial assistance as evidence that veterinary education and research were at last recognised as worthy of Stat© support. The Governors foresaw that A furth-j considerable sum might be required to provide salaries that would attract to tho staff and retain the best men. The national losses inflicted by animal disease in this country were still immense. The sole prospect of reducing them lay in the hope that more intense and better directed study might discover more efficient methods of_prevention and euro, and it was reasonr able to hope that advances made in that direction might prove helpful to those who worked in the field of human pathology.