The Wilmington morning star., 1942-09-20
Medical Care
|By LOGAN CLENDENING, M. D

By LOGAN CLENDENING, M. D.
The annual meeting of the
American Medical Association is
for most doctors in North Amer
lea the greatest postgraduate
educational opportunity of the
year. The lecture sessions in
every branch and specially of
mecicine present papers which
represent the. newest discoveries
and Investigations. A new Sec
ton was added this year on Gen.
eral Practice which is a healthy
sign of the times, when laymen
ask me nearly every day why they
can't get a good family doctor,
to whom they can turn over all
their medical problems.
The exhibits of manufa cturers
of drugs, instruments, foods, baby
foods, beds, publishers of medical
books there are at least IL large
firms of this character in North
America provide sound education
his equipment and keep up with
and inspire the doctor to renovate
the times.
But the third educational fea-
ture of the session, the scientific
exhibit, has grown during the last
few years until it is really first in
educational value.
Actual Exhibits
These exhibits, entirely nom
commercial in character, are set
up by private doctors to show the
work they have been doing in their
home town hospitals, clinics or
laboratory. By actual demonstra-
tions or photographs, in many
cases beautiful and elabrate
drawings, and small motion pic
ture exhibits, the new ideas are
shown in succession of booths
like glorified county fair, on the
basis that one look at an actual
demonstration if worth more than
], 1000 words read from any manu-
script.
A doctor hears of some treat
ment given in far away city: he
would like to go see it for himself.
But he hears of five or six of these
during the year; and when he gets
to the American Medical Associa-
ton meeting he finds that they all
have been brought together under
one roof. The demonstrators are
physicians in private practice who
have developed the method, and
have pledged themselves to stay in
their booth at the exhibition hall
every hour it is open and explain
all the details to doctors.
Most of these lectures and ex-
hibits are too technical to attempt
to recount for a lay audience.
Some of general interest at the
1912 session were:
Ballistograph
The Ba1listograph-a sort of bed
table, very finely balanced and
sensitive which records the pulsa-
tions of the, heart. The old doctor
of the last century used to have
trick of diagnosing a certain kind
of valvular disease of the heart
by the rhythmic shaking of the
patients bed. The ballistograph
makes a record of this nature
which has been scientifically ana
lyzed.
AS the blood is pumped head
ward by the heart the whole body
is jolted just as from the kick of
gun. Not only heart disease of
various kinds, but the effect of ex-
ercise, drug action, fever, blood
TRANSMISSION, etc. can be recorded.
Dissolving kidney stones with
out operation is still persistent
hope of patients. A method of
doing this developed in Boston was
shown. But unfortunately for the
hope of patients it cannot be taken
by mouth, but is injected by in
strumentation into the kidney pei
Wis.
Immersion foot is one of the dis
eases developed in this war, as
trench mouth and trench kidney
developed in the last. It is the re-
suit of long exposure to cold, damp
and water while adrift at sea in
open boats. Immersion foot is SINH
lar to frost bite, in that lack of
movement, along with cold, con-
stricts the blood vessels of the
legs.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
V. V. A.:-Does splitting up blood
necessarily mean tuberculosis?
had my lungs x-rayed a year ago
and there was no sign. Since then
I've had baby and been very
run down.
Answer: Splitting of blood
means tuberculosis in SO per cent
of cases. It NAV be an earlv SIGN