- Email: [email protected]
MEDICAL SCIENTISTS IN THE NAZI ERA
684 titles are so often omitted from reference lists that one usually has to on journal titles. Fortunately in most older journals the language of the contents is that of the country of origin (though a few Scandinavians began publishing in English in the 1930s) and thus the resultant error is too small to affect the findings. The accompanying figure classifies the 83 volumes according to the percentage of references in English. Whereas before 1920 none of the six journal volumes studied had more than 10% of references in English, thereafter a steady rise occurred and now few journals fall below 90%, a figure not approached even by German in its
rely
have always been looked upon as objective and dependable sources of information, as opposed to the sponsored brochures and journals in which the information often is cleverly biased. It would be a pity if confidence in independent journals were to be jeopardised. Anyone who becomes a full-time employee of a pharmaceutical company should automatically resign from the editorship of an independent medical journal. Medical
Department A, Rikshospitalet, 0027 Oslo 1, Norway
PER STAVEM
heyday. The immense economic and scientific muscle of the USA must be
accepted as the main cause of this. But the intrinsic merits of English, with its near-total abandonment of inflexional grammar and its huge and readily expandable vocabulary, should not altogether be disregarded. It has good claims to be the best available language for the purpose. Lancet readers may like to know that according to the Science Citation Index their journal is the most often referred to of all the world’s medical journals. I thank Mrs S. Cammell of the Erskine
library and her staff for much help.
Medwin,
High
Cross Avenue,
BERNARD LENNOX
Melrose TD6 9SX
BOOK PRICES
SIR,-The prices of new medical books are often criticised. Sometimes these criticisms will be justifiable-no industry is entirely innocent of overpricing. As a result of these criticisms the medical group of the Publishers Association has analysed the prices of new books over the past three years. The analysis is less scientific than would be acceptable in a medical research paper. We simply calculated the average price of new titles published by the major British medical publishers, excluding books of the US which are subject to exchange rate fluctuations outside our control and titles which would distort the figures (eg, subsidised books or limited editions). The average price of the 259 titles surveyed in 1982 was 16.11, 286 titles in 1983 averaged 17.00, and 274 titles in 1984 averaged 0 9.85. This is very slightly ahead of the rate of inflation in the UK but medical books are getting bigger. I suspect that the price per page has risen less than inflation. A UK medical book now costs, on average, 20. I rang up a colleague in the medical profession to find out what else a doctor might spend 20 on and I was given the following list-two bottles of whisky, one shirt, a compact disc recording of Mahler’s 9th symphony, 35 days of antidepressants, half an ultrasound scan, 20 litres of antacid, eight courses of anti-bacterials, one-third of a consultant session, half a day of a nursing sister, and one outpatient attendance. Medical books are not really as expensive as some doctors think they are. Oxford University Press, Academic and General Division, Oxford OX2 6DP
RICHARD CHARKIN, Chairman, Medical Group, Publishers Association
SHOULD A DRUG COMPANY EMPLOYEE EDIT A MEDICAL JOURNAL?
SIR,-Once in a while medical-school professors resign from university positions to become full-time employees of pharmaceutical companies. If one of these professors happens to be the chief editor of an independent medical journal, he faces a dilemma: should he resign his editorship at the earliest convenient their
moment or
not? The chief editor has considerable influence-for
example, on the choice of referees, on the decision to accept certain papers or types of paper of his preference, on the choice of editorial writers, and in editorials he himself writes. No matter how conscientious such an editor is, some readers will be afraid that his influence might be subconsciously biased by his full-time job as employee of a pharmaceutical company. Independent journals and books edited and written by university teachers and practitioners
MEDICAL SCIENTISTS IN THE NAZI ERA
SIR,-Mrs Bloch’s review of Prof Benno Muller-Hill’s book (Feb 15, p 375) prompted a search through my files for a copy of a
remarkably similar commentary on the same topic. "Science under dictatorship becomes subordinated to the guiding philosophy of the dictatorship", begins Dr L. Alexander, a psychiatrist who was consultant to the Secretary of War, on duty with the Office of the Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, in Nuremberg in 1946-47.1 Alexander, in concise and methodical prose, outlines the historical evolution of the medical atrocities in Nazi Germany and emphasises that such warped "achievements" of medical science could insidiously infiltrate the morality of medical care even in democratic communities during peaceful years. Though nearly 30 years have elapsed since this article was written it remains relevant. I commend it to your readers. Royal Brisbane Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 1. Alexander L. Medical
science
PETER NOLAN under
dictatorship.
N EnglJ
Med 1949; 241:
39-47
SAFETY OF FAITH HEALING
SIR,-Dr Oakley and Dr MacKenna (Feb 22, p 444) suggest that patients with diabetes, epilepsy, and asthma may be put at risk by healers who lack understanding of biology, and they refer to a who gave up orthodox treatment after "a faith-healing ceremony at her parish church". Dr Smith (March 1, p 621) describes a man who stopped taking anti-epileptic drugs "after consulting a faith healer". If these doctors will give me more details I will investigate these cases, although the circumstances hardly fit the 7000 spiritual (not "faith") healers within the Confederation of Healing Organisations. Since stories of this kind smear the good as well as the bad, your readers may be interested to know details ofour strict code of conduct which is designed to stop a healer being a party to such sequences of events. The relevant provisions are: (1) When a doctor is involved the healer must operate within the General Medical Council’s rule that the doctor must remain responsible for treatment. (2) Healing may not be offered as an alternative to orthodox medicine but as a complement. (3) If a patient has not consulted a doctor the healer should suggest that this be done. (4) The healer may not countermand a doctor’s advice. (5) Diagnosis is for doctors and not for healers. As a general comment on safety, our insurance policy is perhaps conclusive. It is as comprehensive as that held by doctors-but instead of more than f300 a year that doctors pay it costs only 33p. DENIS HAVILAND, 113 Hampstead Way, woman
London
NW117JN
Chairman, Confederation of Heating Organisations
THE WORLD’S CHILDREN
SIR,-All humane people will be moved by your abstract from a UNICEF report (Jan 4, p 51), with its vivid plea for whoopingcough immunisation. Unfortunately one sentence-often inserted in such reports to reassure malthusian donors-reveals a mistaken view of demography. "Improved childhood survival will eventually lead to a reduction in population growth." We all value the subject of this sentence, but the predicate is misleading, unless you emphasise eventually. Populations grow because more children
rely
have always been looked upon as objective and dependable sources of information, as opposed to the sponsored brochures and journals in which the information often is cleverly biased. It would be a pity if confidence in independent journals were to be jeopardised. Anyone who becomes a full-time employee of a pharmaceutical company should automatically resign from the editorship of an independent medical journal. Medical
Department A, Rikshospitalet, 0027 Oslo 1, Norway
PER STAVEM
heyday. The immense economic and scientific muscle of the USA must be
accepted as the main cause of this. But the intrinsic merits of English, with its near-total abandonment of inflexional grammar and its huge and readily expandable vocabulary, should not altogether be disregarded. It has good claims to be the best available language for the purpose. Lancet readers may like to know that according to the Science Citation Index their journal is the most often referred to of all the world’s medical journals. I thank Mrs S. Cammell of the Erskine
library and her staff for much help.
Medwin,
High
Cross Avenue,
BERNARD LENNOX
Melrose TD6 9SX
BOOK PRICES
SIR,-The prices of new medical books are often criticised. Sometimes these criticisms will be justifiable-no industry is entirely innocent of overpricing. As a result of these criticisms the medical group of the Publishers Association has analysed the prices of new books over the past three years. The analysis is less scientific than would be acceptable in a medical research paper. We simply calculated the average price of new titles published by the major British medical publishers, excluding books of the US which are subject to exchange rate fluctuations outside our control and titles which would distort the figures (eg, subsidised books or limited editions). The average price of the 259 titles surveyed in 1982 was 16.11, 286 titles in 1983 averaged 17.00, and 274 titles in 1984 averaged 0 9.85. This is very slightly ahead of the rate of inflation in the UK but medical books are getting bigger. I suspect that the price per page has risen less than inflation. A UK medical book now costs, on average, 20. I rang up a colleague in the medical profession to find out what else a doctor might spend 20 on and I was given the following list-two bottles of whisky, one shirt, a compact disc recording of Mahler’s 9th symphony, 35 days of antidepressants, half an ultrasound scan, 20 litres of antacid, eight courses of anti-bacterials, one-third of a consultant session, half a day of a nursing sister, and one outpatient attendance. Medical books are not really as expensive as some doctors think they are. Oxford University Press, Academic and General Division, Oxford OX2 6DP
RICHARD CHARKIN, Chairman, Medical Group, Publishers Association
SHOULD A DRUG COMPANY EMPLOYEE EDIT A MEDICAL JOURNAL?
SIR,-Once in a while medical-school professors resign from university positions to become full-time employees of pharmaceutical companies. If one of these professors happens to be the chief editor of an independent medical journal, he faces a dilemma: should he resign his editorship at the earliest convenient their
moment or
not? The chief editor has considerable influence-for
example, on the choice of referees, on the decision to accept certain papers or types of paper of his preference, on the choice of editorial writers, and in editorials he himself writes. No matter how conscientious such an editor is, some readers will be afraid that his influence might be subconsciously biased by his full-time job as employee of a pharmaceutical company. Independent journals and books edited and written by university teachers and practitioners
MEDICAL SCIENTISTS IN THE NAZI ERA
SIR,-Mrs Bloch’s review of Prof Benno Muller-Hill’s book (Feb 15, p 375) prompted a search through my files for a copy of a
remarkably similar commentary on the same topic. "Science under dictatorship becomes subordinated to the guiding philosophy of the dictatorship", begins Dr L. Alexander, a psychiatrist who was consultant to the Secretary of War, on duty with the Office of the Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, in Nuremberg in 1946-47.1 Alexander, in concise and methodical prose, outlines the historical evolution of the medical atrocities in Nazi Germany and emphasises that such warped "achievements" of medical science could insidiously infiltrate the morality of medical care even in democratic communities during peaceful years. Though nearly 30 years have elapsed since this article was written it remains relevant. I commend it to your readers. Royal Brisbane Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 1. Alexander L. Medical
science
PETER NOLAN under
dictatorship.
N EnglJ
Med 1949; 241:
39-47
SAFETY OF FAITH HEALING
SIR,-Dr Oakley and Dr MacKenna (Feb 22, p 444) suggest that patients with diabetes, epilepsy, and asthma may be put at risk by healers who lack understanding of biology, and they refer to a who gave up orthodox treatment after "a faith-healing ceremony at her parish church". Dr Smith (March 1, p 621) describes a man who stopped taking anti-epileptic drugs "after consulting a faith healer". If these doctors will give me more details I will investigate these cases, although the circumstances hardly fit the 7000 spiritual (not "faith") healers within the Confederation of Healing Organisations. Since stories of this kind smear the good as well as the bad, your readers may be interested to know details ofour strict code of conduct which is designed to stop a healer being a party to such sequences of events. The relevant provisions are: (1) When a doctor is involved the healer must operate within the General Medical Council’s rule that the doctor must remain responsible for treatment. (2) Healing may not be offered as an alternative to orthodox medicine but as a complement. (3) If a patient has not consulted a doctor the healer should suggest that this be done. (4) The healer may not countermand a doctor’s advice. (5) Diagnosis is for doctors and not for healers. As a general comment on safety, our insurance policy is perhaps conclusive. It is as comprehensive as that held by doctors-but instead of more than f300 a year that doctors pay it costs only 33p. DENIS HAVILAND, 113 Hampstead Way, woman
London
NW117JN
Chairman, Confederation of Heating Organisations
THE WORLD’S CHILDREN
SIR,-All humane people will be moved by your abstract from a UNICEF report (Jan 4, p 51), with its vivid plea for whoopingcough immunisation. Unfortunately one sentence-often inserted in such reports to reassure malthusian donors-reveals a mistaken view of demography. "Improved childhood survival will eventually lead to a reduction in population growth." We all value the subject of this sentence, but the predicate is misleading, unless you emphasise eventually. Populations grow because more children