DREYER.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 August 1923, Page 1

DREYER.

THE MAN AND 1118 WORK. (By A. Scientist in the “Daily Mail.") In any undertaking the outstandng figure is that of tlie individual who links up the theorist with ihe practical limn. Georges Dreyer. Professor ol Pathology at Oxford, who has recently become prominent in connection with the new tuberculosis cure, is essentially a .scientist of this nature. He first attained fame during the war by finding the solution to a problem which occurred in the laboratory diagnosis of typhoid fever. Blood tests hii-df -been employed in this disease for many years, but it is to Dreyer that we owe the devising ol a method which can bo employed by those having hut little skill, with accurate results. The problem faced by Oxford's professor of pathology was the mass production of typlioid emulsion, which would enable tests to be made in all the laboratories with tlm Briti.-h armies, and furnish results which were comparable. This he did. and for three years at least every bottle of emulsion used m the laboratories was i—tied from Oxford under his supervision and was accompanied by such lucid instructions as to render the method almost foolproof. llis next appearance of note was associated xvitli the construction of a foi inula, for estimating the vital capacity of individuals.

It had been stated that height was the important factor in this connection and that chest measurements were data of little value. It is perhaps characteristic of the man that-, after paying tribute to the work of the men xvho had conic, to these conclusions, he traversed their findings. Ho laid it down in trenchant sentences that vital capacity is a function of weight, that tlio only height measurement of value is that taken when the person under examination is sitting, and that tlie circumference of the chest must lie taken in t>> consideration together with the amount- of aij- expired. On these eoncllistens Dreyer built a. formula which is now widely used. Similarly, when lie came to investigate the question of preparing an antidote to tuberculosis, he was not faced by a new problem nor was the line which he followed out unexplored. Other scientists had had the idea. luu. endeavoured to work it out to the stage of utility and been compelled to admit themselves beaten.

Dreyer appreciated the value of the work- which had gone before, corrected its.errors, and gave, to the glory ol British .science, the world the most promising form of tuberculosis medication which we have had until this date.