434 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. ZLVII. No. 1218 



medicine. A graduate of tlie Sheffield Scien- 

 tific Seliool and of tlie College of Physicians 

 and Surgeons, lie emphasized the imx>ortance 

 of chemistry and physics, the two sciences on 

 which he based his clinical conceptions. Com- 

 ing early under the mature and wise influence 

 01 his distinguished father, he received from 

 him the more pure clinical and pathological 

 impress which so much contributed to his 

 broader development. In rapid succession Dr. 

 Janeway became instructor in medicine at 

 N'ew York University and Bellevue Hospital 

 Medical College in 1898, and Bard professor of 

 medicine at Columbia University in 1909. 

 During this period, in 1907, he was instrumen- 

 tal in founding the Russell Sage Institute of 

 Pathology, which throughout its connection 

 with the City Hospital was made a valuable 

 adjunct to the courses in medicine which he 

 conducted. It was natural and logical, be- 

 cause of the work he had done in internal medi- 

 cine, that Dr. Janeway should be called to fill 

 the full-time chair in internal medicine at the 

 Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1914. The 

 acceptance of the new professorship was made 

 at a large financial sacrifice, but his altruistic 

 action was wholly consonant with the broad 

 and sympathetic attitude which he always held 

 toward medical teaching and research. 



Dr. Janeway's untimely death cut short not 

 only a career in medicine which he had inaug- 

 urated with every promise of distinguished suc- 

 cess, but has at the same time deprived The 

 Kockefeller Institute of one of its ablest and 

 wisest counsellors, and the medical profession 

 of a great physician. 



MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY 



Dr. Franklin Martin, member of the advis- 

 ory commission and chairman of the general 

 medical board of the Council of National De- 

 fense, has issued the following statement: 



In view of confusion arising because of differ- 

 ent terms used in various medical groups to desig- 

 nate the same things it was deemed advisable that 

 a conference be held to discuss the adoption of 

 uniform nomenclature. Accordingly, an informal 

 preliminary conference has been held at the office 

 of the medical section of the Council of National 

 Defense and it is believed that a promising start 

 toward reaching the desired end has been taken. 



In a small percentage of instances the same dis- 

 eases are designated by different words. Similarly, 

 injuries of identical nature, identical operations, 

 procedures such as surgical dressings, diagnostic 

 tests and methods of treatment are, in different 

 branches and in different localities, given different 

 names. The same symbol should be used to desig- 

 nate the same condition. There is also lack of uni- 

 formity in abbreviations used in various medical 

 records, such as hospital histories, written orders 

 and laboratory reports. 



It is obvious to all medical men that, as a means 

 of a quick understanding and saving of time in 

 these days when time is so precious, the same 

 nomenclature and abbreviations for all identical 

 things should be used. The men who attended the 

 conference were agreed as to the desirability of 

 such entire imif ormity. 



A net result of the meeting, inasmuch as the 

 Army, Navy and Public Health Service are prac- 

 tically in accord, was the passing of a motion that 

 the Council of National Defense, medical section, 

 should request the Surgeon Greneral of the Army, 

 the Surgeon General of the Navy, and the Surgeon 

 General of the Public Health Service each to name 

 a representative to confer on the matter of agree- 

 ment concerning names of diseases and injuries. 

 It was also voted that after such a list has been 

 prepared there should be called together repre- 

 sentatives of the leading national bodies who 

 should have a voice in such decisions. Once a gen- 

 eral agreement is reached the 20,000 doctors who 

 go back to civil life after the war will automat- 

 ically bring these lists into general use throughout 

 the hospitals of the country. 



Those who attended the conference were Colonel 

 Albert G. Love (for sick and wounded records), 

 Colonel Champe C. MeCoUoch, Jr. (for the history 

 of the war), both as representatives of the Army; 

 Assistant Surgeon Charles E. Alexander, statistic- 

 ian for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, rep- 

 resenting the Navy; Dr. B. S. Warren, statistician 

 for the Public Health Service; Dr. W. H. Davis, 

 of the vital statistics section of the Census Bureau; 

 Dr. W. T. Longcope, as one who could speak for 

 medical colleges; Dr. John W. Trask, who, as a 

 member of the American Medical Association's 

 Committee on nomenclature, could speak for or- 

 ganized medicine, and Dr. Robert L. Dickinson, of 

 the medical section of the Councdl of National De- 

 fense. 



LECTURES ON PUBLIC HEALTH 



Surgeon-General Gorgas has arranged for a 

 series of " Half -hour Health Talks " for the 



