VOLUME XXVI. LORENZ IN THE EAST. 1904 ANUARY, 190 LIBRARY The visit of Dr. Lorenz to this country has been almost a royal progress. Probably no eminent medical foreigner who has visited America has been treated to such a continuous ovation by all classes of society, has been so lavishly dined, feted and entertained, as the distinguished Austrian surgeon. Some of our eastern contemporaries were at first rather inclined to turn up their aristocratic noses at the lavish hospitality of the west; but the east in its turn has hastened to do him equal or greater honor. Hundreds of patients have sought treatment in his clinics; hundreds of physicians have fought for admission. He has dined with bankers; hob-nobbed with "plutocrats" and divided honors at the opera with the "star;" all the newspapers and most of the magazines have "written him up" and printed his picture. All very natural, because very human! Lorenz is having the time of his life. He has been lionized, praised, almost worshipped and the newspapers have made him the best-known medical man in the world, whereas a year ago no one had heard of him. * * Some of our highly ethical journalistic confreres have seen fit to comment unfavorably upon Dr. Lorenz's meteoric flight to newspaper fame. They have criticised severely his "indiscretion" as regards newspaper notoriety; they have hinted that his work is overrated and his operation unsatisfactory; some have even cautiously thrown out the innuendo that he should not be given too much credit for the operation which bears his name, since it was first suggested by an Italian surgeon-which no one has denied. This is a kind of belated criticism which leaves a "bad taste," because it is as ungenerous as it is undeserved. If Lorenz crowds some of our own "tin gods" off their pasteboard thrones for a month or two, they can wait. We like him. He is kindly, whole-souled, earnest, determined and generous; we believe the notoriety has come to him unsought; we can even forgive him that gentle fling at Chicago in his speech at the banquet of the New York Bankers Association: "I have had some curious experiences in this country. Perhaps the most curious was in Chicago. The board of health there made me undergo an examination in medicine, although I think I know something of my branch of my profession. NUMBER 1. Curiously enough, some weeks later they made me a doctor of laws, though I know nothing of law." This suggests a contemplative train of thought, which makes us fear that Dr. Lorenz is also a philosopher. But we desist. * * ** As to the free advertising given Dr. Lorenz, just a word. Much of it, undoubtedly, has been rather "sloppy," but after all has it not done more good than harm? A genuine interest in medical matters, even when incited by the yellow press, may be and often is of incalculable benefit in molding public opinion as to the achievements and possibilities of our craft. Why should we leave to charlatans and fanatics the instruction of the people on medical subjects? And why reject the aid of the newspapers when they can help us to accomplish this laudable purpose? THE NOBEL PRIZES. The annual distribution of the Nobel prizes has just been announced. Readers of the Standard will remember that these prizes were provided for by the will of the late Alfred Nobel, formerly a citizen of Stockholm, Sweden, and principally distinguished as the inventor of dynamite from which he made a large fortune. He left more than $8,000,000 to establish a fund, from the income of which, amounting to about $250,000 annually, five annual prizes were to be given to the five persons most highly distinguished by their work in the departments of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and the promotion of peace. This year the prize in physics is divided between the Hollanders, Dr. H. A. Lorentz and Dr. P. Zeeman; the prize in chemistry is awarded to Dr. Emil Fischer of Berlin; that in literature to Prof. Theodor Mommsen of Berlin; in medicine the prize goes to Major Ronald Ross, principal of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; while Prof. Frederick de Martens of Russia, who was prominently identified with the organization and. work of the Hague Conference, receives the prize for the promotion of peace. As regards the award in medicine, nothing could be more satisfactory. Major Ross has undoubtedly done more than any other man to determine the method of transmission of malaria. He may, in fact, be called the father of the "mosquito theory," though other investigators, But the work which will make his name immortal was that done in determining the mode of transmission of yellow fever. In 1900, Dr. Reed, with Drs. Carroll, Agramonte and Lozear, all army medical officers, was sent to Havana to investigate the cause of yellow fever. They conducted several series of brilliant experiments, during which Dr. Lazear lost his life from yellow fever contracted by experimental inoculation. But these experiments proved beyond doubt that the disease is carried by a variety of mosquito, the Stegomyia fasciata, and that fomites do not convey the infective material from one person to another. As a result of these experiments the sanitary authorities have been able to rid the city of Havana of a disease which has scourged it for years and yellow fever may now be placed upon the list of preventable diseases. The immediate results of this discovery have been remarkable; the possibilities which it holds out are tremendous. In this work the erudition and energy of Dr. Reed had much, probably the most to do with the result. His death, which was caused by appendicitis, comes during a period of great mental activity, while he was still in the fulness of his powers. His name will be inscribed upon the lengthening roll of medical martyrs. ELECTRICITY IN MEDICINE. The American Roentgen Ray Society held its annual meeting in Chicago on December 10 and 11. This meeting was interesting from many standpoints, but principally because it gave evidence of the progress that has been made in recent years in the domain of electricity, that is, so far as its application in medicine is concerned. We can arrive at several conclusions in this matter. First, that electricity is, indeed, a wonderful force and one which may in the future occupy a prominent place in our therapeutic armamentarium. Second, that for diagnostic purposes it is an agent which the physician is rather inclined to ignore, and yet it in many instances offers the only solution of an intricate problem in diagnosis. Third, that as a therapeutic agent it is perhaps overestimated by the individual opera tor. * * The electro-therapist is naturally an enthusiast in his work and is, perhaps, inclined to misinterpret his results, but nevertheless, we must in all fairness admit that he is working in the right direction and that his work is bearing fruit. In the treatment of superficial lesions very good results have been obtained by even the most inexperienced. In the hands of the skilled operator the results accruing from treatment with the Roentgen ray in lupus and rodent ulcer can be said to be uniformly good. So far as malignant growths are concerned, that is, epithelioma, the results are not so good. In the hands of some they are very fair and in the hands of others the results are extremely uncertain but certainly encouraging. * In pulmonary tuberculosis the Roentgen ray is less efficient than other more approved methods of treatment. It is merely pronounced an adjunct to other treatment. In tuberculosis of the bones, especially of joints, it threatens to displace other forms of treatment. Its use has been followed by the most beneficial results, some going so far as to say that ankylosis can be avoided. Glandular tuberculosis is not affected in any way by the Roentgen ray. On the whole its use as a therapeutic agent is still problematical and the range of its future usefulness may be considered a matter of speculation. But as a diagnostic agent we are inclined to believe that the general practitioner has not given this agent enough thought. He has at his command a very useful means of diagnosis, especially in cases of doubtful fracture in or about joints. It is to be hoped and desired that more attention will be given to the diagnostic value of the X-ray in the future than it has received in the past at the hands of the general |