MEDICAL NOTES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 4 August 1924, Page 7

MEDICAL NOTES.

RECORD OF CANCER RESEARCH. HEALTH OF THE MIND “NERVES” A MENTAL DISEASE, c .. LONDON, June 3. Since the beginning of the present year about 100 cases of eneephalities luthargiea, or sleepy sickness, and during the past six weeks cases have been reported at the rate of about 20 a week. They are oecuring all over the city, and almost without exception there rio collection between any two cases. There have been 26 fatal’ oases during the. present year. The milder types of the disease are undoubtedly nmv being more freely reported than hitherto.

Dublin doctors who have treated sufferers of this disease with influenza vaccine report good results. The experience of the Ministry of Health, however, does not support the Dublin investigators. Official results appear to show that the respiratory troubles present in influenza are rare in sleepy sickness, and that the infection connected with influenza is keldom to be found in the malady now attracting attention. The Ministry points to dozens of experiments made with the disease in which the injection of the influenza basillus, while sometimes rewarded by a, reaction on the part of the patient, just as often was not. Research has been going on at the laboratory of special pathology at the University College of Dublin for some time, and it is declared that ‘‘pink eye,” so typical of influenza, is also notable in many cases of sleepy sickness. One Dublin medical man is convinced that practically all cases of sleepy sickness, if taken in their eariy stages, may be cured by doses of influenza bacillus vaccine. Fresh light was thrown on the latest method of treatment of general paralysis of the insane and certain other diseases by Dr. Andrew Balfour at the Royal. Institute in his discourse on “Historical Aspects of Malaria.” Until very recently, he said, it would not have been possible to adduce evidence showing any direct benefit to man from malaria, but a surprising development took place a few years ago; when Professor Wagner-Jauregg, of Vienna, began to treat cases of general paralysis of the insane by introducing into! the blood of the patients the organism causing malaria, thereby causing in these patients attacks of malarial fevei\ He had noticed, as had others, the beneficial effects of febrile attacks- in cases of general paralysis, an.d conceived the idea of inducing high temperature at short intervals.. Although patients were treated on these lines as early as 1917. nothing was published on the subject until 1920, but the remarkable results obtained in certain instances, and the fact that, in most cases, distinct benefit resulted, led to extensive trials of the new treatment on the Continent, and later to its. employment in this country. “Ere now,” said Dr. Balfour, “one malady has been used to combat another, but. never before has use been made in therapeutics of' a. serious disease, which, once its good work is complished, can be effectively and speedily control led, as is the case with malaria. The method, promising though it lie, is still in its infancy. It is possible that it- may be applicable to other diseases of the central nervous system. If malaria proves itself able to cope with loeo-motor ataxia, disseminated sclerosis, and paralysis agitans, then, indeed, it will be hailed as a benefactor, and be considered as having in some small degree made amends for its past atrocities.”

Dr. E. Farquhar Buzzard, Physician Extraordinary to the King, Avas one of the speakers at the International Conference of the People’s lie-ague of Health at Wembley. He said it had become the fashion for everyone to discuss his or her bodily ailments, or those of friends and relatives, Avithout reserve or restraint at the tea. or dinner table, Avhereas at a reference to mental ailments there was only silence or whispered comment. They must make everyone recognise that when anyone suffered from “nerves” he suffered from a mental disorder. We all suffered from mental disorders at some time or another. When one avos tired and irritable, and when one made mountains out of molehills, one’s disorder Avas mental, aiid not nervous. “Nerves’’ AAas a term in vented for our deception, because while we did not shrink from talking about our stomachs, Aye dreAv the line at talking about our minds. No doAibt this disinclination arose from the suggestion of. insanity, and from the prevailing idea that insanity avus some dire condition Avhich came as a bolt from the blue, Avithout caii.se or reason. So long as this prejudice about the mind existed everyone beginning to suffer from illhealth would refuse to acknowledge, eA r en to himself, its mental origin. “Jf.” declared Dr. Buzzard, “the prejudice about the use of the word ‘mental’ Avere destroyed, and the employment of the Avord ‘nerves’ abolished in the next ten years, then the biggest step in the promotion of mental hygiene Avould have been taken, and this alone would mark the period as one of the greatest epochs in the advance of medicine and in the promotion of health and happiness.” Sir Fredeiiek Mott, dealing with the subject of “The Study and Treatment of Insanity,” said it had been shown that one of the most fatal forms of mental disease—general paralysis of the insane—could be prevented by the adoption of all those measures which the State and the medical profession and the public had adopted for the prevention and treatment of venereal disease. He strongly advocated the establishment throughout the country of more hospitals on the lines of the Maudsley Hospital. These hospitals for the study and treatment of early cases Avould be much more useful if the laAv could be so altered that patients could he detained for more than tAventy-four hours, even against their Avish. He thought that in such institutions they should ha\e more singing, dancing, and music for the patients. Dr. H. Crichton Miller, speaking on “The Economic Importance of Mental Hygiene.” said there av.ik no hard and fast differentiation between sane and insane. Enlightened opinion realised to-day that some asylum cases Avere curable, that many uncertified cases of mental breakdoAvn could be saved, and that a very great proportion of both might be prevented. Dr. R. G. Ro\Ae said to recognise that the delinquent was made and not born Avould put an cud to the feeling of helplessness and lioiKilessiiess Avhich seized so many who were interested in the subject, and would justify the hope, that changing the environment ami educating the parents and child avouUl do much to prevent the development of delinquency. “Cancer Research at the Middlesex Hospital. 19(X)-192-1 ; Retrospect and Prospect.” is a work just published by Mr. Murray. Tt has been compiled by members of the staff of the Hospital and Medical School, and is issued by i authority of the Cancer and General Re sea rch C omm itt ec.

“The cancer cell is a rebel,write The Times medical correspondent, in the course of » notice of this volume. “It is a cell which lias defied the universal law, which has renounced its allegiance, denied its obligations, and resumed its independence. Hy some alchemy within its own being, it is able to resist the all-compelling force to which, its'iieighbours so readily submit. It grows, it reproduces itself, it moves about, it feeds at the general expense ; in the end it brings, destruction to the general organisation. Yet it is a: child of the common ancestor, a ‘brother by ldocd.’ so ,to sneak,' of every other cell in tbe body"! Here is no intruder which has forced its w,ay into the body, no ‘germ’ of disease, but a member" of the family turned traitor and betrayer. “.From which it follows that the problem of cancer is the problem of the cause of this revolt. What, in the first instance, impelled the honest, hard-working, self-sacrificing body-cell to change its nature:- We do not knew the answer; but readers of this book will discover for themselves how earnestly the workers at the Middlesex Hospital and elsewhere have laboured to supply it, bow many new steps have been taken, and bow patiently truth lias been sifted from error. They will discover that it is quite untrue to suggest that progress has not been made—there is the great recent fact of the experimental production of cancer to refute that idea. They will feel sometimes, as they read, that knowledge has advanced so far that the ultimate goal cannot be very distant.” Hast week the Duke of Connaught laid the foundation-stone of the Research institute in Animal Pathology, which, at a cost of over €3O,(MM), is being added to the Koval Veterinary College. Camden Town. The Carl of Northbrook (chairman of the Hoard of Governors of the collegt, stated that the institute was designed to provide the accommodation and equipment required for the systematic prosecution of researches regarding the diseases of the domesticated animals, and. when completed it would hear comparison with institutes of the same kind in any part of the world. A substantial sum for the erection and equipment of the building bad been provided by the Development Commission. with the approval of tlici Minister of Agriculture, on condition that the governors of the college provided the site and contributed towards the cost. An increased maintenance grant had also been, promised, and the governors welcomed this financial assistance as evidence that veterinary education and research were at lasi recognised as worthy of State support. Tim governors foresaw that a. further considerable sum might be required to provide salaries that would attract to the staff and retain the best men. The national losses inflicted hv animal disease in this country wore stiil immense. The sole prospect of reducing them lay in the hope that more intense and bet-ter-directed study might discover more efficient methods of prevention and cure, and it was reasonable to hope ; that advances made in that direction might prove hopeful to those who worked in tbe field of human pathology.—Wellington Post Correspondent.