A COSTLY DISEASE

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 March 1934, Page 11

A COSTLY DISEASE

RHEUMATISM AND ITS CAUSES From figures supplied by the Ministry of Health it appears that rheumatism costs approved societies each year something like £2,000,000 in sick benefits, and is responsible for a loss to the nation annually of at least 3,000,000 weeks of individual work. More than 50,000 people die every year in Britain from heart diseases, many of which are of rheumatic origin. A particularly distressing side of the subject is the heavy toll which this disease levies upon young children, as shown by the records of the Hospital for Sick Children Great Ormond Street, and other similar institutions. From these we learn that many thousands of young people enter upon their wage-earning lives severely handicapped by permanent heart weakness and consequent debility. As is the case in nearly all the diseases which afflict humanity, the cause of rheumatism is still a matter of division between skilled and experienced specialists. Dr. G. F. Still writes: “The possibility of direct contagion from person to person is difficult to exclude. On the other hand, the disease may be due to similarity of environment or to inheritance.” About 34 years ago, Dr. F. J. Boynton, who is now senior physician of Great Ormond Street Children’s 'Hospital, in a book written in ( collaboration with the late Dr. Payne, emphasised the idea, as a result of patient and extensive clinical observation, of the strepticoccal origin of rheumatic infection, and this is still favoured by a large number of leading specialists. The University of Toronto having shown an exceptional interest in the work of British scientists. Dr. Poyn-

ton offered them the manuscripts and negatives of his book on rheumatism, and these were accepted by the council, who stated in a resolution which they passed last December: — The council of the Faculty of Medicine, in acknowledging the gift, does so with a deep sense of gratitude to Dr. Poynton. As an acquisition of scientific worth it will be highly esteemed. Those who pass through the halls' of this university, teacher and student alike, will follow with profit the trail Dr. Poynton has blazoned. They are deeply sensible of the value to them and to humanity of the work it represents. As a token of friendship and good will this gift deepens still further the affection and esteem of those who have been privileged to be associated with him in the environment, in which this work was accomplished. By this gesture of friendship this council feels that an interest which scientific -will be enriched with a personal affiliation. THE “GOLD CURE” Details of what is known as “the gold cure” for rheumatoid arthritis were given in a lecture delivered to the Hunterian Society at the Mansion House, London, by Dr. Jacques Forestier, the famous French physician of Aix-les-Bains. He explained how in the last five years he has discovered and developed the cure. By injecting chemical compounds containing gold, Dr. Forestier has, he said, completely cured half of those Who came to him within two years of contracting the disease, and effected radical improvements in the other half.

With cases of longer standing he has effected entire cures about thirty times out of 100, and most of the bal-

ance have considerably improved. One of his cases was a woman of 35, who had been confined to her room for 13 years, most of her joints being completely stiff. After two courses of gold injections—which together lasted nearly a year—she was able to walk without a stick and to resume her work.

Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis by gold has now been generally accepted by the medical profession in France, and, to a lesser extent, in Ger. many Dr. Forestier said. It is often but not so often, successful in cases of so-called “infective arthritis”—that is, arthritis caused by septic tonsils and similar conditions. Dr. Forestier was formerly a Rugby international and is a keen yachtsman and swimmer. He was medical officer in a Zouave regiment during the war, and is a member of the Legion of Honour.