MEDICAL SCIENCE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 29 November 1924, Page 13

MEDICAL SCIENCE.

THE LATEST TRIUMPH. Dr. C. AV.. Saleeby, writing from Lausanne, calls attention in the “Outlook” to what he calls “tne latest glorious triumph, of medical science”— that is,-the cure of goitre by iodine—and he concludes- by saying:— l “Bright youngsters now engaged in their studies for the. medical profession may caire to consider the last puke ol advice to be tendered m .this, article — to devote themselves, to bio-cheaiistry, and. to think many times .-.before. tiiey commit their future fortunes to the specialism of surgery, the, .neyday of which, praise be, is well-nigh done.'’ “Let me try to tell the tory, for home consumption in every sense, of the latest glorious triumpn of medical science,” says Dr. Saleeby. “Here in Switzerland it may he studied more closely than anywhere else in Europe, but it concerns us intimately and widely in England, for goitre is'very common in London, and the medical officer for Derbyshire has just reported that the disease—long known as ‘Derbyshire neck’—is increasing alarmingly 'there, • and noiv' affects/ -in’ one way or another no fewer than 10 per tent, of the population of that county. “The superb fact is that when we administer iodine suitably, goilie ceases to appear amongst children, ’and' large numbers of existing cases disappear.. The work in Ohio and other parts of the United States and in Switzerland is conclusive, and Triumphant..-' Many interesting questions arise, and the first and most practical is the mode of administration. A wellknown Swiss Professor of Medicine, has a tiny boxwood container, in which'he places a crystal of iodine, to be worn, like a charm, upon a chain’around trie neck; and the warmth of the skin v.ill cause the iodine to be absorbed by it. Evidently there must be hotter ways than that. Another ,is to have a bottle of the familiar tincture of iodine available for school children to rbff at occasionally. Evidently there mus: be better ways than that. “We may add iodine to the sa.t supply, of acountry. In one or two States of the* American Union/in the so-c-died 'goitre belt/ this addition,. I understand, is now compulsory, and if you wish to use table salt free of iodine yop must ‘bootleg’ it into those States. But a competent American .-uirvey of: the various methods inclines to the view that the Swiss methhd Of giving a tablet of chocolate containing an organic iodide is best. Before me is a box of such tablets. They are, of course, as easy to take as anything we ever swallow. ' One or two: a week is the provisional dosage. . A box of fiity costs' orfiy two Swiss francs. Thus for two cr three shillings per annum we may reckon to prevent goitre in' any child. By this means we have accurate dosage, without which the study of any food.or food constituent or drug or. other agent—such as -light or X-rays—is obviously impossible though Constantly at-, tempted.”"