medicine and other sciences

810

from time immemorial. The medical literature ofancient India is full of references to this disease.But whereas in progressive communities of Europeand America it is on the downward trend, and likelyto become still less prevalent, in the crowded cities,and even the villages of India, it is still on the increase,and until the habits of the people alter there is everyprospect of further spread. There are two remarkablefacts which, amongst others, should attract theattention of Indian reformers to the question ofventilation particularly. It is well known that cattlein the warmer parts of the peninsula, where the mostthey have in the way of housing is a roof without walls,hardly ever suffer from tuberculosis, though manyof them are under-fed and neglected ; and Europeans,who mostly live in large airy houses, with windowsand doors thrown wide open, are similarly almostimmune. An open-the-window campaign, if it metwith general success, would do more to free India oftuberculosis than all other measures taken together,and would improve health in other respects also.

MEDICINE AND OTHER SCIENCES.

THIS year the seasonable pronouncements on themodern medical outlook in connexion with the openingof the autumn session at the medical schools provided,as usual, stimulating and provocative material.Sir Farquhar Buzzard dealt not directly with thecurriculum but with the organisation which definesit, finding little to criticise and much to commend ;Sir George Newman considered how best the student’straining may be coloured by

" the preventive principleand the preventive trend" ; while Prof. H. R.Dean concerned himself chiefly with the relation ’,of medicine to the sciences often called ancillary,which he prefers to call her daughter sciences. Hechides them gently for affecting a superiority to theirmother because she is proud to do useful work, whilethey pursue knowledge for its own sake. His remedyis that not unknown in domestic life-to use the

proceeds of their labour to support the joint household.He would certainly make every effort to keep themin close touch with each other and with medicine.Dr. A. E. Cohn,’ of the Rockefeller Hospital, NewYork, favours development on rather different lines.He accepts the view that medicine is largely themother of the sciences, but holds that now that shehas shed chemistry and physics and biology, sheought to get rid of therapeutics and hygiene, leavingherself free to study the processes and arrangementsof diseased life without necessarily having any ideaof consequent practical action. A diseased person,in short, is worth studying as a biological phenomenon,just as a healthy earthworm is worth investigation.Those who think that our medical students are

already taught in a shockingly unpractical mannerwill probably read Dr. Cohn with horror, if they readhim at all. A little reflection may lead them to a moresympathetic view. Practical advance comes sometimesfrom direct attack, but more often through someside line, and it is always based on a great ground-work of abstract knowledge. For all our knowledgeof anatomy, physiology, and chemistry, our under-standing of diseases as such, is very imperfect : this

may well be because, as Dr. Cohn argues, we havelooked on diseases, as resultants and not as things inthemselves. What applied medicine needs to augmentits capacity to prevent and cure is a better groundworkof abstract medicine, and it is this fundament which

1 Medicine, Science and Art, by A. E. Cohn, Chicago. Univer-sity Press. 1931. Pp. 212. $4.

Dr. Cohn urges us to study. With this advice Prof -Dean would certainly not disagree, nor would hedisagree that the proper concern of medicine is the.study of the phenomena of disease as they are manifest.in affected persons. But when Dr. Cohn proceedsto argue that Laennec’s dictum that the aim ofmedicine is the cure of disease is no longer true, hewill find few followers. Possibly a slight but importantadjustment of nomenclature would make his viewsmore generally acceptable. The demands whichDr. Cohn makes for the science of medicine are

exactly those which others make for the science ofpathology. ____

THE DR. ALFRED COX TESTIMONIAL

FUND.

As we announced recently, Dr. Alfred Cox will,retire from the post of Medical Secretary to the’British Medical Association, which he has so longoccupied and with such distinction, at the centenarymeeting of the Association in London next year..Dr. Cox has held the position, including three yearsduty as Deputy Medical Secretary, for 25 years, andhas discharged the heavy duties not only with unfail-ing devotion to the Association but to the substantialbenefit of the whole medical profession. At the recent

meeting of the Association at Eastbourne it was

decided that a Fund should be raised to provide a.

permanent memorial of the man and his work. Itwas decided that the memorial should take the shapeof a portrait to be placed in the B.M.A. House, anda substantial personal gift to Dr. Cox himself. Thisgift will take the form of a cheque, accompanied bya volume recording the names of the subscribers tothe Fund. An appeal has now been made to the.members of the B.M.A. for subscriptions

" not exceed-

ing 10s. per member," and a prompt response is

requested, having regard to the time that will b&

necessarily occupied in the preparation of the bookof subscribers. Replicas of the presentation portraitwill be available at prices according to the style.requested. All correspondence relating to the depart-ment of the hon. treasurer of the Fund should be-addressed to Mr. N. Bishop Harman, at theB.M.A-House, Tavistock-square, London, W.C. Dr. E.Rowland Fothergill is acting as hon. secretary to the.General Committee.

THE Council of the Royal College of Physiciansof London have decided that it would be inopportuneto hold the annual Harveian banquet arranged forOct. 19th in this time of economic stress and politicaluncertainty. Dr. Hutchinson’s oration will be.

delivered, as usual, at 4 P.M.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY,-A new foundation, established at 19, Warwick-crescent,London, W. 2, has arisen out of the " Children’s Clinic" "which was first started in Clarendon-road, Kensington.Its activities include the provision of a one-year trainingcourse for workers with difficult, nervous, and delinquentchildren. Part of this course is to be taken at the Univer-sity of London and part of it at the institute, the honorarydirector of which is Dr. Margaret Lowenfeld. Shorter-courses are to be available for medical men and women..The subjects to be covered include anatomy, physiology,psychology and comparative psychology, psycho-pathologyand mental hygiene, growth, common myth and fairy tale-in relation to work done by children, principles of rhythmicwork with maladjusted children, the designing and keepingof records, and practical work in the playroom. A con-siderable period of time will be devoted to the study ofcomplete, carefully-analysed records of children attendingthe clinic. Examinations will be held and certificates.granted to successful candidates.