MEDICAL NOTES.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18220, 3 November 1924, Page 15

MEDICAL NOTES.

■ —-♦ jpw facts about cancer -; ■ i PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN HYGIENE. (BOX OU» OYTCf COHMtSPOITDMrr.) • LONDON, September 24. <jj r George Newman, chief medical jjjßcer of the Ministry of Health, has <?dresscd a memorandum to the Minister c * Health, in which he deals with the problem of how to get people to ♦jke advantage of the benefits that medical knowledge can confer. His contention is that "public opinion has j j e pt pace with the rapid development °f thc w!loIc system of sanitary e-tomancc and publie medical ser!|j£>' Admirable legislation has Men P» "the people require jjjjtraetion in understanding, ii3ing, jjd patting into operation the public made on their behalf." has led Sir George to the couthat the time is coming when b||] authorities will have to under£Jo a more" direct form of instruction rf'tbe public in matters_ of hygiene, of confining themselves to the jjirisioa of an efficient sanitary serfa. It is pointed out, for instance, ti*t"p e0 P' c s' '- >0 taught to guard grtjust diseases of the respiratory S e t which are the chief cause of death. The importance of avoiding , anTB of diet which result in digestive ' jjitarbancc—" the second great cause of sickness " —is also emphasised. • Pealing with the adulteration . of foodstuffs, Sir George Newman says, <'eren flour may have a large amount «f its valuable nutrient removed, and j£ treated with undesirable gjemieals to make it white and plc'as- • in* to the eye." Sir George Newman also points out ligt more reasonable dress, the disap,jearancc of tight clothing and trailing a far larger amount of outdoor •nrcise, more active amusements and seties, and the open-air life, have jtliight an immense improvement in M personal health of girls and women improvement which has almost abolished a form of ansemia (chlorosis) wjviously common, and has materially sfMted the whole standard of their With. • With regard to broadcasting, Sir gsrgc states that at present its use /ij health propaganda in this country tf'any rate has scarcely begun, but itiholds out immense possibilities in (H» direction. '. New Zealand Dental Schema. if -tt is evident that the provision of public dental service in Ifogland is still being held up on a,«eoimt of the objection to trained derltal nurses carrying out simple extractions and simple drillings and 'fillings. ; Xt appears that a Departmental Circu : ,Jjff (No. 1279)' is defeating the object ofithe clause in the Dentists' Xct which J W» intended to enable trained dental abhes to be employed in a public denttt' service. Local authorities'" cannot iSbrd to employ dentists for routine ffiot work. §" -'* County Medical* Officer writes to. "Morning Post" on the subject, the British Dental Association," ays, "can come to an agreement us, together we might induce-the Xjjrdßter to issuo an order enabling the d&llent work being done by trained 'Mid nurses to continue. Failing this, fssoust go for the New- Zealand tldajae. The Government of Victoria jiiwsent their principal dental officer .ojttr-'to New Zealand, and he has re*>wU(L in favour of a similar scheme [' for that State. The dental profession "in, New" Zealand are unanimously in -favour of the scheme. I agree with rßr., Sim Wallace that if the dental ' planes in force in 'Derbyshire, Shef'Jeld/ and Shropshire were allowed to ,s£jnue we might do without the New inland scheme. If they are not, and 'jfflttQ'to tackle the problem of dental lipase, not only in the school children, jgii, amongst the insured persons and Iren below school age, we must {the New Zealand scheme being in>this Cancer Research. j current issue of-the British Journal, Dr. Leitchand hi»- co>t the Cancer Hospital throw new; light on the disease, jitch points out that in his own ry, cancer has been produced tar, tar extracts, pitch, soot, shale oil, and industrial oils JJPi&ve4 from shale, by crude petroleums, oil, and by a tarry sub- , JgjSttee- prepared from isoprene. ObiSpfty* howeyef, the proportion of "lipSers arising from such agents (X----sH&tan, or worms) is smalL A later IfliJareh has been directed into causes llp&ncer operating within the body 10b» gall-bladder was selected as the 3g&of experiment, and guinea-pjgs smn- chosen as experimental animals. JP«sn.'were not a very satisfactory from one point of view, since nas sever been known I 'Mpevelop' any kind of carcinoma ,iafwrally. Operations were performed, "fflkz number of small gall-stones were 4jjwM"ia the gall-bladders of a nnmKFp r of guinea-pigs. Others of the ani-/{Mr-tad small round stone ß placed in ISpR gall-bladders. In a number of .true "glandular" type can- .. seem to follow that, in this -ipaaal at any rate, gall-stones are able 'ircNSet tip cancer. Nor do they accojnbymhy special chemical in HflM* composition, since ordinary pebbles sa» dually efficacious. The cause would Im? to be ordinary mechanical irtitar%S£e result is the more interesting that ,|sPe& or. << calculi" in other regions known to be associated with Pr, and that nobody, by animal exeat,, has induced a cancer here- » merely by mechanical irritation. Jg*f,, J New Ground Broken. conclusions, however, cannot gHaut not be drawn. While roellPlieal irritation does cause cancer in tJOP-fUr bladder of the guinea-pig* there ;9bi assurance that it will do this in sites or in other animals. In_ all -mSS'*'* we have to consider the patfcoJifpi agent on the one hand and the soslllPbk or refractory tissue on the Thus, if tar. is applied to_ ai skin, a skin-cancer will cventubut no amount of tar apflHpifta, wUI cause cancer on a rat s Wm& guinea-pig's skin. Further, tax |l| Pd to the inside of the bowel in a mmb produces no canear-*.o.t tn /° *»«»© is not vulnerable to lißi*« rt «rofer form of irritant. work breaks new ground, ana is -Hflßl* forward towardß knowledge 'JHpeaae«r problem. For the. results • l are quite a?w fonr sepa 'lKl'This is the first time a carcinoma < : «P<fr been produced in a go^f MBffibt animal has never been known any kind of carcinoma natur flHrt is the first demonstration Jhat IHphaaieal irritant can produce mSmiß the first.time a cancer oTthe has ever been produced HBS?aW it is «-W«jSS t]2at a pathological eubstan.ee

developed wholly within the living body v*- e -> a gall-stone) can produce caneer by prolonged irritation or injury. i. Transplanting Hearts. Dr. Stohr, of Wursburg, Bavaria, has succeeded in transplanting a beating heart from one living body to another. The experiment was performed on two embryo salamanders, Dr. Stohr not only transplanting the heart from one to another, but also succeeding in keeping both organs alive and functioning in the same body for some time. The doctor discovered that the power 2 to perform regular contractions is the inherent property of each heart ceil and not a function of the nervous system or of the immediate surroundings of the i heart. He also noted that each heart ) cell or entire heart has a rhythm all its t own, and that it cannot be influenced j by thn rhythm of another heart in the same body. Neither heart cared what 1 ' the other was doing. A rise of tem- • peraturo caused the pulse rate of both r hearts to increase, but in the same pro- . portion in each case. Dr. Stohr also learned that the heart is extremely , jealous of its functions. The two hearts ' battled for the blood stream. If both | were fortunate enough to obtain enough ] ' blood there was no danger to cither's existence, and both developed. The ori- \ ginal heart, however, being first on the j spot, gained supremacy over the row heart in most cases, and the development of the now one eeased. \ In other cases the new heart proved the "stronger, and little by little destroyed the old heart. It was noted that ' when a new heart was first introduced in an embryo salamander development was at first distinctly arrested on the Bide where the grafting was made. After several weeks, however, symmetry was again established, and normal development apparently occurred.