CURE OF GOITRE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4783, 1 December 1924, Page 1

CURE OF GOITRE.

AGENCY OF lODINE. LATEST MEDICAL TRIUMPH. Dr, C. W. Saleeby, writing from Lausanne, calls attention in the “Outlook” to what he calls “the latest glorious triumph of medical science’’ —that is, the cure of goitre by iodine —and he concludes by saying:— “Bright youngsters now engaged in their studies for the medical profession may care to consider the last piece of advice to be tendered in this article —to devote themselves to biochemistry and to think many times before they commit their future fortunes to the specialism of surgery, the heyday of which, praise be, is well-nigh done.”

“Let me try to tel| the story, for home consumption in every sense, of the latest glorious triumph of medical science,” says Dr. Saleeby. “Here in Switzerland it may be studied more closely than anywhere else in Europe, but it concerns us intimately and widely in England, for goitre is very common in London, aaid the Medical Officer of Derbyshire has just reported that the disease —long known as ‘Derbyshire neck' —is increasing alarmingly there, and now affects, in one way or another, no fewer than 10 per cent, of the population of that county.

“The superb fact is that when we administer iodine suitably, goitie ceases to appear amongst children and large numbers ef existing cases disappear. The work in Ohio and other parts of the United States and in Switzerland is conclusive and triumphant. Many interesting questions arise, and the first and most practical is the mode of administration. A well-knowjii/Swiss professor of medicine has a tiny boxwood container, in which he place,? a crystal of iodine, to be worn, like a charm, upon a chain around the neck; and the warmth of the skin will cause the iodine to be absorbed by it. Evidently there must be better ways than that. Another is to - have a bottle of the familiar tincture of iodine available for school children to sniff at occasionally. Evidently there must, be better Ways than that.

“We may add iodine to the salt supply of a country. In one or two States of the American Union, in the so-called ‘goitre belt,’ this addition, I understand, is now compulsory, and if you wish to use tabljp salt free of iodine you must ‘bootleg’ it into those States. But a competent American survey of the various methods inclines to the view that the Swiss method of giving a tablet of chocolate containing an organic iodine is besr. Before me is a box of such tablets. They are of course, as easy to take as anything we ever swallow. One or two a week is the provisional dosage. A box of fifty costs only .two Swiss francs Thus for two or three shillings per annum we may reckon to prevent goitre in any child. By this means we have accurate dosage, without which the study of any food br food constituent or drug or other agent—such as light or X-rays—is obviously impossible though constantly attempted."