The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1913. THE MEDICAL CONFERENCE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 9 October 1913, Page 4

The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1913. THE MEDICAL CONFERENCE.

The Medical Conference which has just closed a most successful meeting in London, and which numbered amongst its eight thousand adherents most of the superlatively eminent names in the world, has been of unusual interest by reason of the outspoken courage with which it has dealt with some of the complex problems of latter-day curative and preventative medicine. The French philosopher, Voltaire, once declared, in a memorable phrase, that "Medicine is a science of which the sun illuminates the glories and the tomb covers the ! mistakes," but, much truth as there may^ still be in that declaration, and great as the absolute truth of it was at the time at which it was uttered, i we know, that, as a result of incessant experimenting, the accumulated labors j of laboratorists, and the brilliant j chemical discoveries of modern scien- ' tists, the world is indeed more and more becoming freed from disease, and suffering mankind rendered immune from at least a great part of the physical pain which had to be borne in the days of our forefathers. Not a little of this advance in knowledge, both of diagnosis and of treatment, has come about as the result of the constant inter-commanication between the ■ doctors of-many countries, who, placing science as above all national or international conflict, have proceeded patiently with their work through every kind of vicissitude, and who have given their discoveries to the world as a > matter of honour always rather than as a matter of gain. The unanimous vote of such a large body of men placing upon record their conviction of the absolute necessity, in the interests of science for the continuance of vivisection, may perhaps not be shared by laymen with equal unanimity; but there will be few to doubt its honesty, or to deny the wonderful discoveries which have followed on its practice in the past. The recent discussions here and in other countries as to the use of the knife, though doubtless founded upon premises not to be lightly disregarded, found little favor with the great body of medical opinion at the conference; and it is impossible to overlook the fact that the knowledge of anatomy is now so thorough and complete that many operations formerly highly dangerous need not now be feared when undertaken under proper conditions; whilst we must remember that the diagnosis and treatment of a patient by a physician is, as was put by one of them in London, always in some measure "speculative," seeing that under different conditions relating to the individual, the climate, or other aspects, the same medicine will have entirely different effects upon different persons apparently suffering from the same disease, whilst surgery is at least an exact science in the sense that the operator has ocular demonstration of the precise condition in. which his patient stands. On another side, the expert discussions following on the reading of papers dealing with the social evil, the origin of life, the effect of heredity, and the eradication of insanity are likely to be productive of very considerable good to all civilised peoples. The alarming decrease of the birth-rate in nearly all countries in itself makes a corresponding decrease in the death-rate a necessity if we are to hold our own with the uncivilised millions of Africa and Asia in the future ; and it is only by means of preventive medicine, coupled with the best physiological or surgical curative treatment,.^ disease that this can be assured, and in this direction the international exchange of views between those who have made a lifelong study of conditions throughout the would can only be wholeheartedly approved I and encouraged' as being o«e of the safest and surest means to bring about' a permanently increased knowledge for use in alleviating the. ills of the human race.