Evening star., 1939-11-30
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
Bv Thomas r. Henri.

| ~ A"OHSNo Az AAS'"S'
| More than u per cent of all deaths in
the United States are from nine causes,
according to figures cleaned by the
United States Public Health Service
from the latest vital statistics of the
Census Bureau.
The figures specifically are for 1887.
Examination Of the same reports for
1900 also shows nine causes account
ing for the great majority Of deaths, but
there are striking differences between
the two lists. >
Some Of the most dreaded killers Of
! the turn of the century no longer are Of
sufficient importance to be included.
Such, for example, is diphtheria. 1t
used to be one of the worst Of all. Now
it is practically eliminated. 1t prob
ably could be entirely eliminated If there
could be universal application Of the
| preventive measures now known to medi-
cine.
Influenza and pneumonia still remain
high on the list. 1t was made up two
| years ago, however, before the advent
| of sulfapuridine and when pneumonia
| serums were not SO well developed or
| distributed as at present. Recent re-
| ports indicate that the toll of these two
killers has taken decided drop.
In 1900, of course, automobile acci-
dents were hardly to be considered q
cause of death at all. The few victims
were folks thrown out of carriages by
runaway horses scared at the sight Of
the strange, smoking demons of the new
age on the dusty highways. BY 1887
they had risen into the exclusive aris-
tocracy of death, although for several
years past-with the advent of traffic
lights better methods of traffic control
mechanical progress of the cars them
selves. and education of the public-they
have shown a decided decline
The list of leading death causes, says
the Public Health Service report, draws
intensified attack against diseases and
conditions which challenge curative and
preventive medicine and to which greater
attention should be given
In 1900 the nine leading causes of
death, with their rates per 100000 of
the American population, we're as fol-
lows:
Influenza and pneumonia, 207 tuber-
culosis. 20l; diarrhea and enteritis, 1888;
heart disease, Ill: kidney disease, 80;
cerebral hemorrhage. 81; cancer. So;
bronchitis As; diphtheria, 49,
The comparable statistics for 1887 were
as follows: Heart disease, 268; influenza
and pneumonia. ia; cancer, 112; cere-
bral hemorrhage Sc; kidney disease, 70;
tuberculosis, 3d. motor vehicle accidents
80: diabetes. %; arteriosclerosis II.
This is another form of picture often
presented-that of an aging population.
"It may be expected" says the pub
lie health report, that the proportion
of the population in the older age periods
will continue to increase, the present
factors remaining constant, until a
stabilized population has been reached
The growth of the population will be-
come slower and cease, and finally de-
cline unless the birth rate increases sig
niflcantly or large scale immigration
occurs during the next few generations.
with the great reduction that has
diseases under the impact of public
health effort, and with an increasing
proportion of older persons in the popu-
lation, the diseases in these older age
groups have become major problems in
medical and public health fields. The
Public Health Service is turning it's at
tention to their solution and is engaged
in research with reference to the etiology
and treatment of some of these diseases,
especially heart disease and cancer. In
addition, however, considerable expan-
sion of diagnostic and hospital facilities
may be needed to provide more nearly
adequate specific therapy. X-ray. radium
and surgical treatments which are
necessary in an effective attack"
The heart lifts more than seven tons
an hour foot high when person is en-
gagged in physical labor, according to
calculation of the Journal of the Ameri-
can Medical Association.
During rest it lifts only about a ton
and half. Actually, the journal points
out the best way to rest the heart is to
stand up. This is due to the effect of
gravity in depicting the amount of blood
coming back to the heart and therefore
lessening the amount of labor required.
X X X X
The new profession of biological engi-
neer will emerge soon, says DR.. Karl T.
Compton, president of the Massachu-
sets Institute of Technology.
This new type of engineer, Dr. Comp
ton explained, will be entirely different
from the physician, the public health
expert, or the academic biologist.
In recent years." he said, there have
been increasingly numerous applications
of methods, techniques and ideas of the
physical sciences and of engineering arts
in the solution of biological problems.
This is an enormous field, including not
only the study of man himself, both in
sickness and in health, but also the
study of animals, the development of the
process of food technology and the whole
realm of living matter and its products"
Eighteen branches of engineering have
come into existence in our lifetime, DR..
Compton said. In many. cases not only
has the art itself been development of
underlying the art was unknown a CEN
tury ago.
There are two factors" he said,