New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-08-21
DOCTORS IN COUNCIL.
NOTES ON THE MEDICAL CONGRESS.
Ep1CINE AND sCIENCE-BACTERIoLoG AND
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES SPEECHES
AND wARLIKE SHOWS.
rrRosAsrAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUSE.l
Berlin, August 10.

V.
Berlin, August l 9.
Considerable investigation, conscientiously I'M
dertaken, has led to the conviction that a short
cut to the best results of the Attn International
Medical Congress might be made by study OF the
utterances of few of the representative men who
addressed either the Congress as a whole or one
OF the other of it's sections Or course the Teler-
ence is TO scientific results. The benefit which
about 700 American physicians are deriving from
visit to Europe and glimpse of It's art-treasures
and which 1000 physicians OF all nationaltles
have GOT out of the social pleasures which were the
most popular features of the meeting, cannot be
estimated. The 1000 have debated in sections,
dined in sections, danced in sections and enjoyed
indoor and outdoor music in corpore; and since
they did all this with vastly more enthusiasm than
they listened to the papers read before them, 1t
&c safe 10 assume that the social side of the Con-
gross will not be underestimate when they come
;ndividuallv 10 figure up its value. In three
wears the XIth Congress will meet In Rome
Pathology and the Pope! Laryngology and the
Iaocoorl Vivisection and the Vatican! Bacten-
ology and Baedecker! What mighty hunger 1or
scientific knowledge will fasten upon the perl
patetc physicians Of the States!
The thousand readers and would-be readers Oh
papers before the Congress presented stuIdlcr
phalanx than the 5000 should-haVe-been listeners
and there were not wanting incidents 10 give
warrant to the croal1 with which these desu'ofS
notes were opened. Only one need be men'ioheu'
In the Ophthalomological Section an American
member avaled himself of his privilege to occupy
twenty minutes of the week by reading paper on
the treatment of the eye after an operation ior
cataract What he said known TO all; the
only novelty in the paper was the reader ln'iiia-
+ion tina. the treatment was in any respect novel
or original. One after the other three Americans
arose and protested against the manner oil the
nresentatlon and asked that the subject ne en-
clnded from the subdivision entitled " Amercana
in the review which is a feature of the reports
of the Congress. How many times similar course
might have advantageously been taken can DC leu
IN the imagination. OF course 1t does not follow
from this that many most adnnrapie papers were
not read. With men like Vlrchow, bergn'anh'
Kocb Jevdep. Waldeyer Bardeleben, Biroth, Sir
lanes Paget, Sir Joseph Lister, Slgnor bacCeIh'
Monsienr Bouchard and two score more of men
eoually eminent in their special branches 10 take
mart in the transactions, it would De singular IN
Seed if the Congress had not occasionally caught
= c1imnse OF the Alpine peaks of knowledge In
.ho enartment OF medicine The deplorable 1act
remains. however, that many molchills also struS-
ia into notice The notice only momentary
here it will appear momentous when the clrcuia-
ton of pamphlets begins
vi.
1-sor .bo rrooramme n representative man from
oooh of tbe principal countries represented In
tho Congress read paper before the entire oody'
Germany was represented by Professor Koch, 'he
great bacteriologist; England by Slr JOSEF ii'oi
s,1ose antiseptc spray has been one of the great
Rouchard Sweden by Professor Axil Key; America
~, Uoratio Wood of Philadelphia; Italy by
S;onor Cantani; Austria by Herr Meynert; and
.h Netherlands by Herr Stollvis. 1t was n some
,rbo+ striking circumstance that the papers Oh
Iietar and Koch read on the first DAY, taken
IN connection with the scientific address WIN
which Professor Virchow supplemented his address
of welcome should have co-operated 10 Illus
trate what progress medicine is making TO-
ward exact science. Nlrchows ADDRESS was al
II: h;s,orv Of medicine from the days OF the
apcients down to our own. Inc oNeIulio" ",
Co1oric svstem. which had held the world
orslovod for nearly 800 years, had emanclpatcd
oo;orce. investigation supplanted tradition, ana
l,nowledre took the place of simple pehei. nc
,nost careless observer. he thought, can see th@u
the likeness of modern medicine 10 the oIo
Immoral pathology has grown lnhnltesinalN snl"ii'
We now possess, in the true sense Oh 'ie "'i"' "
medical science. The microscope, thermometer
ontical and acoustcal apparatus have entered lh'o
,be service of the physician. The Technology OF
the healing art has become scientific. fhyslcS
ord chemistry are not underestimate, but recogni-
,on of the fact has been won that neither phS sics
nor chemistry has yet been able 10 explain sat
isfactorily the processes of life and disease 10
this exclamation biology must contribute Inc
scientific problems which confront medicine are
for the greater part concentrated in the discovery
NJ the life of animal and vegetable cells, ana
tho relationship which is the chief concern OF
bvqenic Investigation is the struggle between
those cells and bacteria. Much of individual ana
endemic disease is comprised in the combat be
tween animal cells and their vegetable enemies,
and the duty of the physician is TO help the animal
cell to victory.
Professor Virchow must not be held responsible
for these words. They publish only the impress
sons made upon clay" mind by dsqulsltlon
which though dealing with an abstruse subject,
was fascinating for its beauty and elegance OF
statement and It's exhibition Of skill in holding
the attention and they forced themselves ire
quently into the thoughts of the layman IN the
course of the week when leaders in the art, which
according TO Professor Virchow is now become a
science told of the special stages which that
science has reached. They came TO mind, Tor
instance when Sir Joseph Lister, discussing
the present state of antseptc surgery, confessed
that his spray not advantageous TO healing, as
he at first believed, and that it did not destroy
the germs of disease which were In the air. lie
also stated that he not predisposed i'll favor
of strong solutions. But that, perhaps, is side
issue. More forcbly still did they recur when
Professor KOCH stoutly asserting the value of his
science of Bacterology acknowledged the limta-
tons which hedged it about all sides. Just now
lie is chiefly interesting himself in the bacillus
which he believes is the cause Of consumption, and
he took an carly opportunity TO assert that the
characteristics Of that pcstifcrous organism are
so marked that it is impossible for investigator
10 cnnfnnnd il with another EYen while the