MEDICAL MEN IN CONFERENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 March 1932, Page 6

MEDICAL MEN IN CONFERENCE.

Telegraphic reference during the past day or two to the holding at Auckland of the annual conference of the New Zealand 'branch of the British Medical Association will have indicated that the occasion is not one for a great deal of publicity. What may be called the technical work of such a conference concerns tjie members of the medical profession, and the layman naturally has no desire to intrude. The programme, it has been reported, gives opportunity of lay co-operation in connection with two subjects, the campaign against cancer and a proposal to form a league to aid the deaf, and if the result of the action taken by the conference is to kindle public enthusiasm for those causes it will have done good work. Th© rest of the community, however, may be permitted to interest itself in one or two aspects of the gathering of ■medical men. One of these is the visit to the conference of a distinguished Englishman, Mr. C. H. Fagge, who is senior surgeon at Guy’s Hospital and vice-president of the British Medical Association. For some years past the parent body has maintained a very active connection with the branch in this Dominion and has made a practice of sending out eminent surgeons and physicians to advise their fellow practitioners and, so far as may be, keep them in touch with the progress of medical science. Th© existence of a great British organisation, comprising over 40,000 members, is itself a factor in the scientific advancement attained not only in British countries but throughout the world. The British Medical Association will celebrate its centenary this year, and its members will, no doubt, be proud to review the medical history of the period covered by its existence. Within the last hundred years the secret of anaesthesia has 'been revealed and the discovery of the ■principle of antisepsis has made possible the great development of surgery. The science of bacteriology has made rapid strides in modern times, and, of course, electricity, X-rays and radium have become valuable weapons in the battle against disease. It is particularly gratifying to learn that at one of the public meetings held at Auckland this week mention was made of results obtained with radium that have 'been “almost in the nature of miracles.” Radium, as those who are studying its use are careful to point out, has not completely solved the problem of cancer any more than new measures have scotched the menace of that other scourge, tuberculosis. Progress is 'being made, however, and the more medical men ar r able to consult and co-operate the better will ■be the prospects of success. For that reason the rest of the community may welcome the conference of the British Medical Association in New Zealand and express the wish that its deliberations may enable the members to see more clearly the ideal they are so unselfishly pursuing/ the prevention, rather than the cure, of disease.