The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, JANUARY 11th, 1926. RHEOMATISM.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 January 1926, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, JANUARY 11th, 1926. RHEOMATISM.

K.vuly in December at the head-quar-ters of the Royal Society of .Medicine, London, a joint meeting was held ot the International Society of Medical Hydrology and the Baneology Section of the Royal Society of Medicine, to discuss rheumatism in industry—to discover the cause and secure its removal. Dr Gustave Monod, France (President of tlw* International Society of Hvdrolgy) was in the chair, and there were present representatives of Holland, Denmark, Switzerland, and other countries. Sir George Newman (thief medical olfieer of the Ministry of Health) offered the congratulations of the .Ministry on the effort that was being made by tbe Society to grapple with “this formidable disease.’’ In this country, through the channel of the Govern-

ment. a survey of the incidence oT this disease among the insured population had been prepared. No less than 1:2.000.000 was being spent on sick benefit per annum under the group of rheumatic diseases, and they were losing by this group of diseases, the amazing amount of time among the insured poulatioii of 3.000.000 weeks annually, which was equal to the prodigious loss of time of 60,000 years per annum. Because of these figures the Government was compelled to recognise that those conditions were quite as serious a burden upon the State as some of the well-known diseases. such as cancer or tuberculosis. There was need for more active anil organised treatment, which was at

! present entirely imuleijuate. It was important to realise that they had come to the point when it was necessary in all counties to deal with this malady. They had to he much more careful and accurate, both in the discovery of the cause of infection and its removal, and this meant team work a moil”: medical men—a group of men grappling with it systematically and scientifically. At the Ministry of Health arrangements were being sought bv which they could establish an arthritis unit in which diagnosis, treatment, and prevention might all find some representation. Dr J. Van Breemen, director of the Institute of Physical Treatment, Amsterdam, said that among his conclusions were that the spas should take measures to ensure the efficient treatment of panel patients, and that the foundation of an international committee to more scientific and practical unity into the study and combating of rheumatism was essential. The establishment of clinics and laboratories for methodical research in rheumatism was greatly to he desired. Dr L. ,T. Llewellyn, president of the Balneology Section, said rheumatism in childhood was responsible for an enormous amount of heart disease, and was the recruiting ground from which many of our mid-dle-aged invalids were drawn. It was calculated than in Great Britain there wore between do,ooo and dO,OOO children of school age with organic heart disease. In London routine inspection showed that of children aged 12, !) per cent, of the hoys and 4 per cent, of the girls had heart defects. In the United States cardiac diseases were responsible for one in every sis or seven deaths, tuberculosis being responsible for one in every ten deaths.