In Washington

Pipe lines and plumbing do not necessarily produce pure water, warned Dr. Theobald Smith in his presidential address at the Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons (15 medical societies) meeting in Washington, D. C., last week. A pioneer of American bacteriology, he is unimpressed by the elaborate transportation facilities which conduct water from source to faucet. Said Bacteriologist Smith: "The sewage problem is unsolved. All we have done is to convert our water courses into open sewers, with occasional explosive outbreaks of intestinal disease as the result. The time is coming when the intimate relation between water supply and sewage disposal will suddenly develop acute crises in the sanitary affairs of large communities."

The control of disease through sanitation has been almost balanced by the spread of disease through congestion. Although many diseases have decreased, colds, pneumonias, influenza, respiratory diseases are steadily on the increase. New diseases will probably develop.

To cut or not to cut, was the moot point debated at the meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research at the same congress. Should chronic gastric ulcer be regarded as borderline cancer and operated upon accordingly or should it be treated as a simple ulcer? Dr. William Carpenter MacCarty, head of the cancer research division of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., thought it partook of the nature of cancer; 12.5 per cent of all chronic gastric ulcer cases observed at Rochester had died of cancer within 12 years. He was supported by Dr. James Ewing of New York, opposed by Dr. Aldred Scott Warthin, president of the association, who said: "It is almost a criminal thing to recommend the removal of gastric ulcers by operation in order to prevent the possible later development of cancer."

A simple satisfactory cure for cancer of the larynx was reported by Sir St. Clair Thomson of London, president of the Royal Society of Medicine. The one essential is an early diagnosis; the operation is a laryngo-fissure, free from danger to voice or patient. Twenty five years' experience; 70 laryngo-fissures, resulted in 34 patients still alive, 32 who lived from 3 to 19 years after the operation without recurrence of the disease.

Other speeches described the most recent learnings of medicine. Some of the topics:

Heart Disease. The actual money loss from heart disease during the average lifetime is $21,000,000,000 for the U. S.; the loss from tuberculosis $27,000,000,000.--Dr. Haven Emerson of Manhattan. The strain, stress and storm of modern life is increasing the number of heart disease invalids. Alcohol, tobacco, coffee, do not seem to have a bad effect on the heart, as is commonly supposed. Nor do athletics necessarily cause enlargement of the heart. European studies show that oarsmen, skiers and cyclists are the only athletes with hearts affected by their exertions. Overeating and obesity are bad only to diseased hearts.--Dr. Paul Dudley White of Boston. A serum from patients with rheumatic fever (important and insidious cause of heart disease) has shown encouraging effects in 270 cases of the fever.--Dr. James Craig Small of Philadelphia. By means of the cardiotachometer, machine with amplifying vacuum tubes, the tiny electrical current generated by each heart beat makes its record on a paper tape, like those in stock brokers' offices. Thus for the first time doctors can have a continuous record over hours or days of the effect of disease, drugs or exercise on the heart.--Dr. Ernst Philip Boas of New York City and Dr. Morris M. Weiss of Louisville.

Infantile Paralysis. Because statistics suggest that infantile paralysis may occur this summer in mildly epidemic form, wise doctors are collecting serum from their convalescent patients--upon the advice of Dr. Simon Flexner of Manhattan. Rabbits and monkeys can now be immunized against infantile paralysis, by a vaccine perfected at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.--Dr. E. C. Rosenow.

Cod-Liver Oil & Ergosterol. In cod-liver oil, is a substance which contains Vitamin D and which helps both to prevent and cure rickets (bone disease). That substance (provitamin) acts like a solid alcohol (sterol) and is believed to be ergosterol. If ergosterol is exposed to certain wave lengths of ultraviolet light for certain periods the potency of this provitamin is increased so powerfully that, for treating rickets, one ounce of it is as good as six tons of cod-liver oil.--Dr. Alfred Fabian Hess of Manhattan.

Shark Faces. The shark with his leathery snout craving forward for food was "the first vertebrate with a face of typical form." As hands and arms developed and were used for feeding, the need for a reaching, mobile mouth (most antique feature of the face) declined; and at the same time the brain increased in size. Thus man's face grew to take its present form.--Dr. H. H. Briggs of Asheville, N. C.

Seeing Sounds. Some happy progress has been made in electrically changing the sound patterns of words into light patterns, which deaf adepts can read intelligently. To study the cause, cure and prevention of progressive deafness, the American Otological Society is raising $500,000.--Dr. Max. A. Goldstein of St. Louis.