Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-12
Continued From Third Page.)

| Of the spinal column in girl Of l6. He
keeps wishing IF could only find
some way to stiffen these vertebrae"
| Unexpectedly he hears of q surgeon who
| has devised a new method for inserting
an inlay Of living bone. taken from the
| patients own leg. into the vertebrae.
| The patient is brought to the metrop-
oils. put under the surgeons care. and
within O year is well on the road to
health.
Here, once more, Is o man Of SO, with
| indigestion, abdominal soreness and
restless nerves. Several physicians have
examined him and discovered that his
stomach lacks the hydrochloric acid
which is so indispensable to digestion.
| One thing after another is tried. but
without avail. Finally master physi-
clan, familiar with the latest methods
| Of treatment In disorders OF the stom-
ach and intestines, puts him on that
newest Of preparations, originally pre-
pared at the research laboratories Of the
University Of Michigan, which provides
| what Is known as an anti-anemic sub
J stance.
We all still recall the dramatic story
of the airplane express which carried
from Princeton. N. j., to the Mayo
Clinic, in Rochester, Mimi, a prepara-
ton of the adrenal gland for man
| who was almost dead with Addison's
disease and whose life had been de-
SPARED of by the physicians in his
home town. A few doses of the new
preparation quickly restored him.
Illustrations could be multiplied to
show how situations constantly arise in
the practice of medicine that are likely
to baffle the ordinary practitioner. A
hundred and fifty thousand men and
women are practicing medicine IN the
United States to the best of their ability,
but the developments OF medical science
are so rapid that unless these practi-
TONERS are willing to reach out con-
stantly to grasp the newer knowledge
| they will fall to hold the confidence Of
their communities. There Is too great
lag between the discoveries made by
| the leaders in hospital Laboratories and
the ability of the rank and file physi-
clans to use these advances for the
benefit Of their patients.
Diagnosis Methods Advance.
Not only in the matter of treatment
but in the matter of diagnosis also
modern methods are advancing so rap
| idly that the practitioner who remains
| unaware of the newer tests may fail to
| recognize the nature Of many an obscure
malady.
Here Is a man whose body Is covered
with distressing scabby condition OF
the skin. The experience of a number
of excellent physicians has failed to
| classify this case in any Of the known
categories. Fortunately for the patient,
he falls into the hands Of an expert
/ teacher in the field of skin diseases,
who discovers that the patient has long
been taking small doses of medicine
containing iodine. with the result that
his entire body has become hopelessly
stored with this potent chemical sub
stance. Had the condition been recog-
nized sooner the patients life could
easily have been saved.
| A woman Of 40 has suffered for more
J than 80 years with a chronic cough
that made night dismal and the day
| full of distress. All the known sub
stances in the materia medica have
| failed to arrest the cough. Failing into
| the hands of an expert in the field OF
bronchoScopy, an X-Ray plate OF the
! chest reveals q little screw lodged at
! the lower end Of one of the bronchial
! tubes. The patient now recalls that.
] when eight years old. she was playing
with q saucer full OF screws and put
one in her mouth. swallowing 1t uncon-
sciously. The screw had slipped down
| into the wrong tube and had lodged in
| the lungs these many years, causing a
| lifetime of bronchial symptoms. With
the modern bronchoscope the screw IS
soon removed and the patient restored
| to health.
Here is a physician in a large Ohio
city, preparing to sign a certificate stat
| ing that his patients death has been
due to acute uremia. A relative, also a
physician, arrives from the metropolis
| and insists that a poSt-mortem exam
| nation be made before he can consent
to the diagnosis which it is proposed to
put on the death certificate. The pa
tient is found to have died of acute
pneumonia, the presence OF which hao
! not even been suspected.
| In the suburbs of metropolis still
| farther West a young man. scarcely
more than 40. Is found by the village
practitioner to have acute pneumonia:
No studies are made Of the type OF
organism that has caused the infection,
with the result that death occurs with
out recourse to modern pneumonia
serlms.
| Medicine Affects Us All.
In all these cases the physicians have
! lived up to the limits of their knowl-
! edge, but have proved themselves in
adequate in the matter of thorough
diagnosis. We who make up the social
order are coming to realize that med1-
cine is something that affects us all in
| timately. 1t is not merely a science
| that inquiries into the nature OF disease !;
rather, it Is social force, concerned
with the conservation of our health.
| Many complaints have appeared in
recent magazine articles, directed
against the mechanical and impersonal
attitude of the physician toward his
patient. or criticizing his greed for per-
sonal gain or fame. These criticisms
deal with secondary issues. Our prime
concern should be to inquire whether
the well individuals in our communities
are kept from getting sick and whether
the sick individuals are receiving the
best of modern medical care, with thor
oughness of diagnostic method and with
the use of all known therapeutic facill-
ties.
Up to a few years ago 1t was thought
that the university had discharged Its
teaching function in medical education
by training young men and women TO
| become doctors. Once the degree OF
doctor of medicine was granted. 1t was
assumed that the teacher was through
and that the future development OF
each graduate lay in his own hands:
The care of the individual patient and
Of the community have scarcely been
university responsibility. It Is true that
the research function Of the. university
is already well established, so that every
medical center is expected to possess
laboratories where rats and guinea pigs
may be observed for more light on the
body's need for metals or for vitamins,
| or where other experimental inquiry
NAV be made. Similarly, in animal
husbandry. in agriculture and In a
score Of other fields the university has
been provided with adequate funds for
research.
The new demand upon the university
| is that it assume responsibility for the
continued education of every practi-
instinctively dread the peril which they