WHAT MEDICINE HAS DONE AND IS DOING FOR THE RACE 44 1 



are infections which have more recently been treated with 

 success by the corresponding antitoxic serums. 



X-rays, discovered by Professor W. K. von Roentgen 

 (1845-1923) at Wiirzberg in November 1895, now constitute 

 an essential aid not only in diagnosis or the detection of 

 what is the matter with patients, especially those with 

 internal complaints of otherwise obscure nature, but also in 

 treatment, particularly that of skin diseases and cancerous 

 growths. First employed mainly to determine the exact 

 position of foreign bodies, such as bullets and needles, in the 

 body and of the ends of fractured bones, its use was extended 

 to the detection of disease in the organs of the chest and 

 abdomen and the skull; by the introduction of substances, 

 such as salts of bismuth and barium and more recently of 

 tetraiodophenolphthalein, opaque to x-rays, the position, 

 size, shape, and movements of the hollow viscera can be 

 studied in Hfe, and thus is obtained knowledge which pre- 

 viously could be suppHed only by an exploratory opera- 

 tion. While medicine has benefited enormously by the help 

 of radiology, surgery, which was made painless by the 

 introduction of anesthetics, safe by the adoption of Lister's 

 antiseptic methods and asepsis, has been assisted by the 

 accurate locaHzation of disease provided by x-rays. The 

 rays of radium are employed for the treatment of skin 

 conditions and especially small cancerous growths there 

 and in some other accessible positions with great success. 



INTERNATIONAL HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS 



The Health Section of the League of Nations is an inter- 

 national organization in the interests of the control of 

 disease throughout the world, in which more than fifty 

 nations are cooperating. By this means early information 

 about epidemics is broadcasted, and much-needed data about 

 tropical diseases are made available. In addition there are 

 governmental, commercial, and privately endowed agencies 

 active in the fight against disease and the resul-ting economic 

 loss. The International Health Board of the Rockefeller 

 Foundation (established in 1909) which cooperates with 

 government agencies and thus acts on the principle of 

 helping those who can and will help themselves, has carried 



