'54 



NATURE 



[August 4, 19 10 



urgent attention. Foods that are too soft or too finely 

 prepared are frequently causes of dental decay, and many 

 >erious illnesses, as well as cases of chronic debility, are 

 due to poisons absorbed from the roots of decayed teeth. 



The sour-milk cure, which is now in great vogue, was 

 fully discussed from all points of view, and its benefit in 

 suitable cases was placed beyond doubt. More practical 

 evidence is needed, however, and the discussion will have 

 done much to point out the directions in which this 

 evidence should be sought. 



.An address on surgery was delivered by Prof. Gilbert 

 Barling, in which he discussed the treatment of cancer. 

 He referred in terms of praise to the work of the Imperial 

 Cancer Research. There was evidence that the tissues 

 resisted the inroad of cancerous growths, though little was 

 as yet known of the nature of the resistance. We had 

 not yet discovered the factors which heighten or lower this 

 power of resistance. In considering the means available 

 for the cure or relief of malignant growths, he discussed 

 the application of X-ray and r.idium treatment. His con- 

 clusions were, on the whole, in agreement with those of 

 Drs. Dominici and Wickham. He emphasised the fact 

 that a genuine cure is not to be expected from these agents 

 In cases of advanced cancer, and he further emphasised the 

 great importance of early detection. Only one real oppor- 

 tunity for cure existed, and this was at the first operation, 

 which should be undertaken at the earliest possible stage 

 of the disease, and advantage of this opportunity should be 

 pressed to its fullest extent. 



Dr. J. .Mitchell Bruce, in his address in medicine, gave 

 a brief record of the most important additions to medical 

 knowledge during the period since the association last met 

 in London. 



First came the discovery of the spirochaete of syphilis ; 

 of the part played by the mosquito in malaria and in 3'ellow 

 fever, and by the goat in the diffusion of Malta fever ; of 

 the connection of a trypanosome with sleeping sickness ; of 

 the Leishman-Donovan body with kala-azar ; and of the 

 Diplococctis intracellularis meningitidis with cerebro-spinal 

 fever. The existence of typhoid carriers had been fully 

 demonstrated, as well as the dangers of other typhoid pro- 

 ducts than the stools. The effects of oral sepsis had been 

 workt^d out, and proved to be so widespread, so multiple, 

 and frequently so grave, as to make us ashamed of our 

 previous blindness to a common source of blood infection 

 staring us in the face all those years. Autointoxication 

 proper had attracted professional — and only too much public 

 —attention, and led to the introduction of a great variety 

 of dietetic and medicinal " cures." Of improved methods 

 of observation and diagnosis, blood examination deserved 

 first mention ; and special interest and importance attached 

 to the Widal reaction in typhoid and to the Wassermann 

 reaction in syphilis. Radioscopy, which was coming into 

 clinical use in i8q5, had been greatly improved and ex- 

 tended, more particularly in its applications to the investi- 

 gation of gastric and intestinal disorders and diseases ; and 

 the orthodiagraph must be mentioned in this connection. 

 A great impetus had been given to the study of cardiac 

 Irregularity, and the sphygmomanometer was now generally 

 employed. A real advance had been made in the introduc- 

 tion of lumbar puncture as a means of diagnosis in cerebro- 

 spinal diseases. 



During these fifteen years several new methods of 

 treatment of the first rank h.ive been either introduced or 

 perfected. Chief of all comes serum-therapy and vaccine- 

 therapy. Of great importance is the employment of spinal 

 analgesia as a substitute for general anaesthesia, the dangers 

 of which have been closely investigated in relation to the 

 status lymphaticus, as well as to post-anaesthetic acid 

 Intoxication. Other powerful means of treatment have 

 heen discovered in radium, in the Rontgen rays, and in 

 the Finsen light." 



.\ very complete medical museum formed an important 

 part of the meeting. It included a very valuable series 

 of microscopical preparations showing the blood parasites 

 of malaria, sleeping sickness, and other tropical diseases. 

 The Imperial Cancer Research showed a beautiful collec- 

 tion of snecimens. lantern-slides, and diagrams giving a 

 very good idea of the valuable methodical work which is 

 Ix'ing carried out by this institution under the directorship 

 of Dr. E. F. Bashford. In the museum, the value of 



NO. 2127, VOL. 84] 



Rontgen-ray diagnosis was again to the fore, for many of 

 the sections showed negatives, prints, lantern-slides, or 

 diagrams to illustrate the Rontgen-ray appearances in 

 various diseases. There was also a large exhibition in 

 which numerous firms of publishers, instrument makers, 

 chemists and druggists, and manufacturers of special foods 

 and dietetic preparations showed their most recent work. 

 In the electrical apparatus section, the great power of the 

 modern generating apparatus was very obvious, each firm 

 being able to show apparatus capable of giving so powerful 

 a spark that a Rontgen-ray photograph could be taken by 

 a single flash. Different contrivances were shown to 

 accomplish this, including various forms of mercury jet 

 interrupter, of electrolytic interrupter, and the well-known 

 Snook apparatus, in which an alternating current is 

 generated and transformed by means of a step-up trans- 

 former placed in a bath of oil, the secondary current being 

 rendered unidirectional by a simple contrivance. A new 

 apparatus was shown by Messrs. Schall for raising the 

 internal temperature of the body by employing the thermal 

 effect from a high-frequency apparatus. In a spark-gap 

 where the electrodes are separated only by the thickness 

 of a sheet of paper, undamped oscillations are generated at 

 the rate of more than a million a second. Similar oscilla- 

 tions are used in wireless telegraphy for the production of 

 continuous oscillations. The voltage of this new type of 

 generator is less than 3000, but currents of 500 to 3000 

 milliamperes are used, and the patient feels nothing except 

 the rise of temperature. The method is said to be useful 

 in chronic cases of rheumatic and gouty origin. 



The social functions included a reception by the Corpora- 

 tion of the City of London at the Guildhall, a garden-party 

 at Ranelagh, receptions at the Natural History Museum 

 and at a large number of hospitals. Special services were 

 held in Westminster .Abbey and Westminster Cathedral. 



There was a large and distinguished assemblage for the 

 annual dinner, at which Dr. Butlin presided. The Earl of 

 Aberdeen, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, emphasised the good 

 work of the British Medical .Association, and expressed his 

 opinion that those responsible for measures of social and 

 hygienic reform should come to the association for direc- 

 tion as to the best means by which such reform can be 

 carried out. .As an example of a much needed reform, he 

 dwelt on the unnecessary and noxious fumes from motor- 

 cars. In referring to the valuable scientific papers delivered 

 at the various sectional meetings, he selected for special 

 note the paper by Sir ]. J. Thomson, the eminent Cam- 

 bridge physicist, in which he pointed out that certain sub- 

 stances could be made to give out a radiation which had 

 much the same physical properties as some of the radiation 

 given out by radium, and suggested that these radiations 

 might be found to have the same effect upon the tissues 

 as those at present obtained by the application of radium. 



The Bishop of Kensington, speaking at a breakfast given 

 by the National Temperance League, said that temperance 

 owed no small debt to the British Medical .Association for 

 the new light it was constantly throwing on scientific in- 

 vestigation. It was to the professional men rather than 

 the politicians that we must look for the solutions of the 

 social problems of the day, foremost among which was 

 that of temperance. 



Thus medical progress was discussed in all its aspects 

 ai fhis — the greatest annual meeting by far ever held bv 

 the British Medical .Association — and the discussions added 

 new vigour to the work of observation and investigation. 



THE IXSTITITIOX OF MECHAMCAL 

 ENGINEERS. 

 'T'HE summer meeting of the Institution of Mechanical 

 ■*■ Engineers took the form of a joint meeting with the 

 .American .Society of Mechanical Engineers. More than one 

 hundred and fifty members of the latter society took part 

 in the meeting, which opened in Birmingham on Tuesday, 

 July 26. The reading and discussion of papers occupied 

 the mornings of Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Thursday 

 the party proceeded to London, where a convers.azione was 

 held at the Institution House in Westminster. On Friday 

 morning further papers were read and discussed in the 

 lecture hall of the Institution of Civil Engineers, kindly 

 lent for the occasion. The institution dinner took place 



