College of Physicians

It is difficult for a doctor to get into the American College of Physicians or the American College of Surgeons. Of 157.906 licensed doctors in the U. S., only 98,800 belong to the American Medical Association. Membership in the College of Physicians is but 2,300. in the College of Surgeons only 9.858. Last week 366 newcomers were accepted as Fellows of the College of Physicians when it met in Baltimore.

They took a seemly oath: "... I pledge myself . . . to consider ever primary to my own, the welfare of patients dependent upon my professional knowledge and skill; ever to respect the interests and reputations of my colleagues; as occasion requires, to supplement my own judgment with the wisdom and counsel of competent medical specialists; to render my assistance willingly to my colleagues; to extend freely my professional aid to the unfortunate, the poor and the needy; to advance steadily in knowledge by the reading of authoritative medical literature, by attendance at important gatherings of medical men, by postgraduate instruction from men of eminence and position, and by the free interchange of experience and opinion with my associates.

"Further, I promise, insofar as in me lies, to shun the public press or public gatherings of laymen where my attitude might be regarded as seeking self-advancement; to avoid selfishness and commercialism in my professional practice; to influence patients to appreciate their financial responsibilities to their medical advisers; to adjust my compensation to the circumstances of my patients and to make such charges commensurate with the services rendered and to avoid discrediting my profession by seeking unwarranted compensation. . . ."

Specialists. Although new Fellows swore to consult specialists and hoped that their fellowships suggested expertness in some medical specialty, the outgoing president of the College, Dr. Sydney Robotham Miller of Baltimore,* lammed the specialists: "We have altogether too many specialists and the field is overcrowded by too many incompetent specialists. I may add that no specialist is competent unless he has had several years of general practice."

Medical Missionaries. President Miller incidentally set up an idea of raising funds to despatch medical school professors as medical missionaries among small-town doctors.

Vitamins. Dr. Elmer Verner McColhtm, Johns Hopkins chemical hygienist. observed that the nose of a person who lacks sufficient Vitamin A runs just as it runs from common colds and in sinus trouble. There may be a direct relationship between this vitamin and such rhinitis.

Maternal Manganese. Dr. McCollum also remarked that the lack of manganese in food "evidently destroys the instinct of maternal affection" among rats.

Weak Hearts & Oxygen. Several types of heart disease can be helped by keeping the patient in atmosphere of 40% to 50% oxygen, reported Dr. Alvan Leroy Barach of Manhattan.* The excess oxygen increases the amount of blood the heart pumps each beat and thus aids the flow of blood through hardened arteries, or it helps maintain circulation when the heart is jolted by a blood clot plugging a blood vessel. The oxygen treatment relieves shortness of breath, lowers pulse rate, improves appetite, aids elimination of body poisons. It does not help tuberculosis of the lungs.

Weight Reduction. Sarcastically Dr. Henry Asbury Christian, onetime Harvard Medical School dean, assailed anti-fat nostrums:

"Many vagaries of diet are advised by food faddists which run from nothing but grapes to almost nothing but oranges-- through purely vegetarian, largely meat, fat-poor, salt-poor, vitamin-rich, sugar-poor, carbohydrate-rich, only milk and largely nut diets--with the expectancy that soon someone will exploit a blubber diet. . . . All these dietary regimens seem to succeed in ratio to the psychological influence of the adviser and the psychopathic complex of the advisee." He advised merely eating less ordinary foods and being satisfied with a pound a week loss of weight.

Stomach Cancer. Ammonia, uric acid, urea and aminoacid have recently been discovered in stomach juices. Certainly an increase of those substances is associated with cancer, and perhaps with other diseases. Dr. Lay Martin of Johns Hopkins is trying to find out, hoping that the proportions of those substances in gastric juices may help early diagnosis of stomach cancer. For some undetermined reasons cancer of the digestive tract has become more frequent recently, observed Dr. Thomas Richardson Brown of Baltimore.

Diabetes Criteria. Thousands of people who have not diabetes are being treated for it and refused life insurance because of it, asserted Dr. John Ralston Williams of Rochester, N. Y. Excess sugar in the blood is no positive criterion of the disease, he said. He proposed a method of exactly measuring the output of the pancreas (abdominal salivary gland) whose imperfect function is an essential factor in the cause of diabetes.

Migraine. The young electrician whom the University of Illinois College of Medicine hired because he appeared to be a perfect victim of migraine (TIME, Jan. 19), was fired because rest and good food unexpectedly cleared up his headache.

At Baltimore Dr. Ray Morton Balyeat of the University of Oklahoma Medical School said he had examined 2,728 migraine victims and figured that the U. S. had 4,000.000 of them. He believes that a relationship exists between the headaches and asthma, hay fever, eczema and other allergic disorders. At least he has prevented attacks of migraine by easing attacks of the allergies.

Resolutions. Members of the College resolved to argue with Congressmen and State legislators for the repeal of every law which restricts medical treatment of disease by licensed physicians.

*President for the coming year is Solon Marx White of Minneapolis, who will preside over the College's next annual meeting, at San Francisco. Elected president for 1932-33 is Dr. Francis Marion Pottcnger of Monrovia, Calif.

*Ordinary air contains 21% oxygen. At a height of three miles oxygen is so scant that to live man needs to breathe from tanks of the gas. At four miles oxygen is but 10% of the atmosphere, and airplane motors need superchargers.

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