396 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1946 
infection, the attack on contagious diseases, on tuberculosis, and on 
typhoid fever, and the advances in nutrition have had their greatest 
effect. Advances in the treatment of pneumonia and diabetes will 
influence all ages. In comparison with the advances in other fields, 
progress in the fields of cancer and heart disease including that pro- 
duced by rheumatic fever, high blood pressure and hardening of the 
arteries has been insignificant. This is why these conditions seem 
to be more prevalent. Kidney disease, leukemia, various forms of 
rheumatism, many virus infections, and many more diseases still stalk 
our path. We live, so to speak, to die of other things. We escape 
diphtheria in childhood but other unconquered enemies menace our 
later years. 
THE MEDICINE OF TOMORROW 
These then are some of the problems of medicine today. We have 
not touched upon the advances in the large and important field of 
industrial medicine nor on the problems there which remain to be 
answered. There has been no mention of endocrinology—the branch 
of science which deals with hormones. Remarkable discoveries have 
been made and much remains to be learned. We must bear in mind 
that the “wonder drugs” that have been discovered do not control 
all infections. There are many types of infection over which they 
have no influence; for example, most of the infections caused by 
viruses—infantile paralysis, rabies, sleeping sickness, influenza, parrot 
fever, yellow fever, and the common cold. 
Then again the problems of convalescence are rising in importance. 
When most of our efforts had to be directed toward the control of 
infection, we were in the main content to let convalescence take its own 
gradual course. Today, with the high premium on manpower that 
exists, and with the greatly improved methods for the management 
of infections, a legitimate impatience with the slowness of repair has 
arisen. This problem is pointed up by the needs of the Armed Forces, 
where a man is not regarded as well until he is ready to enter the 
firing line again. A reduction of even 33 percent in the duration of 
convalescence would obviously be an important gain from a military 
standpoint, to say nothing of civilian life, where the industrial worker’s 
time is likewise precious. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, re- 
education and rehabilitation take important places in the problems 
of convalescence. These problems are being attacked at present under 
the direction of the National Research Council. Our own laboratories, 
at their request, are at present engaged in the investigation of certain 
phases of this work. 
Psychiatry has, relatively speaking, been a neglected field of medi- 
cine. Within the field of psychiatry must be included not only the 
late manifestations of mental disease which crowd our mental in- 
