The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-08-04

being who is the diagnostician.
And one reason that idea is false
is that the machine simply fur
nishes some data, some facts,
which have to 60 through the
diagnostician's human mind be-
fore they can be interpreted, be-
fore they fall into the right cate
CORY to form the proper conclu-
sion.
The other and perhaps better
reason such ideas are erroneous
Is that no machine on earth is as
delicate and as beautifully COM
petent as the diagnostician's hu-
man eye.
When q trained diagnostician
looks at any abnormality--I care
not what it be-a lump under the
skin, a pair of tonsils, an aching
joint, he instinctively begins TO
make notes. Is it red, he asks
himself, is it tender, how long has
it been there, is it an Inflammation,
or a new growth, or a degenera-
ton, did it start somewhere else?
And instinctively also he is fitting
it into his acquaintance with the
changes in human tissues, des-
cribed by the science Of pathology
or diseased processes, until finally
he has it classified. Then he knows
more than any machine would ever
be able to tell him, what the ma
ture Of this abnormal process is,
what the cause is, what the out
come is likely to be, whether there
is any way to cure or relieve it
Extension Of Vision
The basis Of those judgements
is largely the conditions which his
eye has brought to him. Some
times, as in the case Of disease Of
the chest or the abdomen where
it is located so deep the eye can
not see it, he depends on his fin
gers and his ears.
That is why any extension Of
vision is of such great value in
medical work. We have had a good
many such extensions in the last
few years. Indeed the great value
of the X-ray is that 1t is merely
an extension of our eyes into
opaque tissue. 1t reveals what we
might see in bones, lungs, heart
and stomach if we could tear aside
the flesh. But it is no more than
just the human eye operating
under exceedingly. favorable cir
cumstanees.
Then we have had quite an ar
ray of extensions Of the eye into
the cavities of the body by means
of electric lighted instruments.
The ophthalmoscope to see the re-
tina Of the eye was the first Of
these. Then came the otoscope to
see the eardrum, and the laryngo-
scope to see the vocal cords. And
then series of eyes on sticks that
could be thrust into the dark re-
cesses of the body, the cystoscope
to see the inside of the bladder and
the proctoscope to see the inside
of the rectum.
Peritonescope and Gastroscope
The latest Of these extensions of
the eye are the peritoneoscope and
the gastroscope.
The peritoneoscope Is an electric
lighted stick which can be thrust
through a minute opening in the
abdominal wall and by moving it
around can be put into position to
see all the organs of that region.
Surgeons have long had q proceed
ure they called an exploratory IA
parotomy. This was used in cases
which had puzzled the attending
physicians and surgeons and con-
sisted of opening the abdomen as
for an operation to see exactly
what was present. The periton-
eoscope does an exploratory Ia
parotomy with tenth of the fuss.
None but local anaesthetic is re-
quired and the incision is no big
ger than enough to admit a lead
pencil. Many cases supposed to
be cancer have been found to be
relatively benign gallbladder or
uterine disease in this way.
The gastrocope performs the
same function for the inside of
the stomach. 1t is a flexible tube
with an electric light and lenses
in the end which the patient swal-
lows so that the entire inside of
the stomach can be visualized. Its
great successes have been in the
early recognition of cancer of the
stomach-early enough SO that
they can be successfully removed
surgically.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
A. R.:-Would q teaspoonful
of lemon juice taken daily aid in
keeping a persons weight down
without dieting?
Answer: No. The only thing I,
could possibly do would be to damp
en- the appetite, and that u sub
conscious dieting.