THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 March 1924, Page 4

THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

NEW ZEALAND CONGRESS. OPENING PROCEEDINGS. AUCKLAND, Feb. 2D. At the civic reception to the delegates to the Medical Congress, Dr F. G. Gibson, president of the New Zealand branch of the 8.M.A., briefly replied, as did Sir John Lynn Thomas, of Cardiff, England. in his reply, Mr William J. Mayo, the famous American surgeon, said ono reason for the attendance of Americans was because they had met so many members passing through the Home country with whom they had formed acquaintance which developed into friendship. “It is our Home country as well as yours,” lie said with sincerity. ‘‘While wo have the same’ reeling for literature, art, and science, it is our heritage as well as yours.” Regarding the strengthening of the bonds between Britain and America, it was not brought about by actual treaties, but by their spirit. It was the union of spirit, not politics, which enabled the two countries to stand together and accept the world’s challenge. The border Imtween the U.S.A. and Canada, bo said, was an imaginary line only. ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS. The value of accurate diagnosis was j the chief subject discussed by Mr Carrick Robertson in his presidential address to members of the conference at the civic reception in the Town Hall to-night, “For tiie sake of those outside the profession,” ho said, “in

the treatment of disease the most important element is diagnosis. Before you can apply any remedy in a scientific and effective maimer you must locate the source and nature of the trouble. An efficient motor-mechanic who lias to deal with engine trouble does not proceed by guess-work. His first care is to find out exacily what is wrong. He knows well that his efforts at applying the remedy are all in vain so long as he fails to discover the exact cause of the imperfect running of the machine. Patients often come to us with a ready-made diagnosis of their own. Tf wc .should agree and administer some treatment to meet tho case as described by the patient, lie will be satisfied, and probably pleased,

at our recognition of his acumen, but if wo so act wo cease to be scientists, for we well know that the convenient formula, liver out of order, may mean nothing of the kind. These readymade diagnosis will not do. We must exert every faculty, like a detective following a elite, and make use of all our knowledge and experience in clinical diagnosis. Many medical men believed, as [ believed, that with tho

end of the war would come a widespread appreciation of scientific methods. Wo thought that from the returned soldiers and their families the public would have learned such striking lessons on the value of scientific healing that the educational value- of the great experience gained in the war would be very noticeable among us today. It seemed reasonable to hope that men would no longer he satisfied with attempts at healing which were not hased on sound diagnostic methods. So far as one can judge, the lesson has not been taken to heart, at all events as much as one would desire. Haphazard methods seem to bias popular as ever. Mon still pour into the consulting-rooms of selfstyled healers and others who havo never gone through a scientific training and who carry on their alleged work of healing quite apart from the accumulated experience of organised science and the massed acquisitions of or) hudox medicine.” SOLDIERS OF SCIENCE. The stimulus given by association and discussion was emphasised l>y the speaker. It should he remembered, lie said, that in spite of the undoubted value of team work, us demonstrated by medical units in the. latter part of tlie war, medical men bad still to bo numbered among the world’s most pronounced individualists. More especially was this so in a country like New Zealand, where so many doctors had to carry on their practice entirely by themselves in isolated and sparselypopulated districts. Each ploughed his lonely furrow. TTe had his own special territory where he pursued the healing art alone. He was rarely in partnership as were so many lawyers. His deliberations wore not given to the public as were those of ban isters ; ho was not bound by over-visible and palpable tics like the officers and men of any army. Normally ho was alone.

The country doctor was indeed a soldier, a soldier of science in tho forefront of the great battle waged against disease, lint he fought almost invariably as a detached unit, but lie listen-

ed-in so that be was able to pick up messages which told of fortune and tactics learned in warfare against tho physical infirmities of humanity. Tho position of the city doctor was not quite the same, but in spite of the good line of communications, he too, worked mainly as a detached unit with an inevitable tendency towards pronounced individualism. It was in the

I highest degree essential, therefore, J that them should be occasions such as i! the present when the solitary watchers * withdrew from their isolated posts to refresh their minds and to enlarge their ideas. But the advantage of conferences was not merely for the members of the profession; indeed, it

chiefly concerned the public, as tho medical profession existed for the conquest of disease and physical pain Everything that consolidated tlie phni anx of healers was a now benefit to lot

inanity. Moreover, the opinions expressed- by experts at these meetings and published in the Press had an educating value for those outside the profession.

The proceedings of the conference; which will be continued next week, will not be open to tho Press, but official reports will be supplied.